COMPETITIVE CHEER: Dominating effort: Stoney Creek, Rochester Adams finish 1-2 at Division 1 state finals
BY DAN STICKRDT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
GRAND RAPIDS — A season of dreams came to a thrilling end for Rochester Stoney Creek Friday night.
The top-ranked Cougars put the finishing touches on a brilliant campaign by winning all three rounds and capturing their second state title in a decade at the Grand Rapids DeltaPlex.
Rochester Stoney Creek became the fourth team in Class A/Division 1 history to win more than one state title, as the top-ranked Cougars captured the Division 1 state championship Friday at the DeltaPlex in Grand Rapids.
“We had just a fantastic season. The last few weeks we were at our best,” said 17th-year Stoney Creek coach Tricia Williams, whose program has qualified 12 times over 17 years of the school and nine times in the past decade. “We also won it in 2010, but I don’t think we performed as well that year as we did this year. It changes when you have different judges, but we were as clean as we could be this year.”
Stoney Creek collected an impressive three-round score of 792.72 points to win by nearly four points and dominating the talented field. Crosstown rival Rochester Adams finished second in the eight-school field with 788.90 points — the second straight season the Highlanders finished as the state runner-up and the third time in school history they have finished second in the MHSAA state finals.
Perennial powerhouse Grandville finished third at 787.18 points, while Brighton (785.82), Grand Blanc (785.82), Sterling Heights Stevenson (782.62), Utica Eisenhower (781.38) and Hartland (777.30) rounded out the team scores
It marked the first time two schools from the same district occupied the top two slots at the state finals since Rochester and Rochester Adams finished 1-2 at the 1996 Class A state finals.
Rochester Stoney Creek 17th-year head coach celebrates with the Division 1 state title trophy in hand Friday night at the DeltaPlex.
Stoney Creek, which featured seven seniors on a roster of 23, won a total of seven championships this season to go along with two runners-up and one third-place finish. The Cougars had some injuries in January which led to three tournaments where Stoney Creek did finish on top.
That period was squelched with some dominating efforts down the stretch, especially in the state tournament and the state finals in particular.
“To win by as much as we did with all of the good teams out there is really amazing,” noted Williams.
Over the past month, Stoney Creek won four straight competitions, including sweeps at the district, regional and state finals.
Over the past 26 years and since the introduction of the MHSAA state tournament in 1994, only five schools have won state titles in Class A/Division 1 and the Cougars now place fourth in the large-school division. Rochester leads with 14 state titles, followed by Grandville (6), Southgate Anderson (3),
Rochester Adams finished in the runner-up slot at the MHSAA Division 1 state finals and for the third time in program history Friday at the DeltaPlex.
Stoney Creek (2) and Sterling Heights Stevenson (1) and all are part of the elite company.
“As a program you always want to qualify and survive, then place as high as you can at the state finals,” said Williams. “This team really wanted to try to win it this year. They worked so hard and after we overcame a period where we had some injuries and some kids out (in January). We came back and were really strong in the last month. I knew at the beginning of the season that we could be really good and this team has a great work ethic and set some high goals. They ended up with one of the better teams that I’ve seen in my 24 years of coaching competitive cheer. (With today’s scoring system), we’ve had some of the highest scores the past few weeks.”
Stoney Creek had the highest scores in all three rounds and finished with one of the highest state finals point-totals since the MHSAA switched the scoring system in 2013. The Cougars scored 238.7 points in 
Round I, 232.42 points in Round II and capped off the fine day with 321.60 points in Round III to round off the title quest.
Rochester Adams has made quite a resurgence in the last five years under coach Brook Miller. The Highlanders were fifth in 2017 and second in both 2018 and 2019.
Adams scored 237.1 points in the first round, 230.4 points in the second round and 321.4 points in the third round at this year’s state finals. The Highlanders had the second-highest scores in Round I and Round III, while finishing third to Grandville in Round II by .28 points.
“I couldn’t be more pleased with this group. Last year we had a lot of seniors so we were really going for one of the top places,” recalled Adams coach Brooke Miller. “This year we were a lot younger but we still came on really strong. I am really pleased because finishing second with all of these great teams is not easy. It’s not easy just getting out of the district or regional. We were in the toughest district and finished second there and we finished second (to Stoney Creek) at the regional as well. We were consistent all season and we were one of the top teams at every single competition we (entered) this season.”
Adams graduated a large senior class last year and fielded seven seniors, six juniors, six sophomores and four freshmen this season, the most ninth-graders the Highlanders have had on varsity in several years. The Highlanders still rose to the occasion with a fine campaign.
Adams actually defeated Stoney Creek for the OAA Red Division league championship and finished in the top three at all of the tournaments they competed in this season.
“Our juniors have already talked about next season and they want to finish higher,” added Miller.
Category: Competitive Cheer, Featured Articles, High School, High School (M-Z), NOS reference, Prep Wraps, Rochester Adams, Rochester Stoney Creek, Sport, Top Stories, Uncategorized
