YEAR IN REVIEW: It will be hard to top the magical moments of 2011?

When looking back at the year gone by, it’s hard to really place a ranking order of some of the great sports moments. It truly goes down to just a matter of opinion.

It could be your favorite local high school team or athlete, college team, professional team, either here or overseas, or it could just be one iconic individual that you follow.

The choices are literally in the millions.

On a local level, we are not going to put a ranking order on these priceless moments, although there are some memorable moments that stood out.

So as we head out of the Christmas and New Year’s celebrations, let’s take a look back at the last 12 months and some of the highlight moments from the www.northoaklandsports.com coverage area.

Please feel free to register and comment at the end of this editorial or any of the other 15 thousand-plus files on this digital publication. We want to hear from you.

But for now, some of the grand moments in our corner of the world for the year departed, 2011:

ALL THAT ‘MAT’TERS

Oxford’s wrestling team went from the pits in the mid-1990s with a slow climb to the top of the charts in 2011.

The Wildcats, who reached the Final Four for the third straight time and fifth time in school history, finally walked off the mats as a state champion — in fine fashion — and far from a winless season in 1994.

Oxford’s road to glory, which included a league championship in the rugged OAA Red Division and multiple victories over top-10 teams throughout the season, ended with a 26-25 victory over top-ranked and defending state champion Novi Detroit Catholic Central.

The meet was clinched with a win in the final weight class. Senior Dylan Smith defeated Catholic Central’s Evan Toth 9-3 in the final match of the state championship dual meet — a win over the same wrestler who defeated Smith three months earlier at the Oakland County Championships.

NET UP

Tennis state championships are common in Oakland County every year, in both boys tennis and girls tennis.

Yet there were a pair of titles here in North Oakland County, that stood out.

Clarkston’s girls team overtook the No. 1 spot in the Division 1 state rankings midway through the spring season, topping previously unbeaten Midland Dow at a tournament, and then running the tables to capture the Division 1 state title, the first in school history.

Previously, the other girls tennis teams form the NOS coverage region was Troy in 2003 and Rochester Adams in 1987.

On the individual side, Rochester’s Kelsey Dieters put the finishing touches on a grand career that featured a 107-5 record. She regained possession as the No. 1 player in the state by running the tables in 2011 at No. 1 singles and reclaiming the Division 1 state championship she earned as a sophomore. As a freshman and junior, Dieters, who is now at Ohio State, reached the state semifinals but her loss in the semifinal round as a junior was an upset.

Dieters went on to win the 2011  Miss Tennis award, becoming the school’s fifth female state athlete of the year in a variety of different sports in less than three years.

BLUE COLLAR

Auburn Hills Avondale’s boys soccer team used its old blue-collar work mentality to gain some state glory in 2011.

The Yellowjackets fell out of the state rankings despite a brutally-tough schedule in mid-September but still put together memorable run the second half the season, which included 7-0 run in the postseason and the school’s first Division 2 state championship in that sport.

Avondale’s run included a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over rival Bloomfield Hills Andover in the semifinals and the same result over Spring Lake in the state finals. The Yellowjackets had four come-from-behind wins in the state tournament run.

ON THE LINE

Oxford’s football team finished under .500 in 2010 for the first n 2011, Prescott Line and the rest of the Wildcats seniors vowed not to let that happen again.

It didn’t, and Line was one of the state’s best comeback stories.

The senior running back had an incredible year over a 10-game schedule to win the MetroPCS/State Champs Mr. Football award.

Line compiled over 2,400 rushing yards and 38 touchdowns while collecting a 153 tackles. The three sport-athlete was also the 215-pound individual state champion in wrestling, a member of the team state championship wrestling team and a varsity thrower in the shot put and discus in track and field.

MAGIC ON ICE

A decade ago, Lake Orion’s boys hockey team suffered through a three-win season, as many of the Dragons’ top hockey talents in the hallways did not play high school hockey. That has slowly changed in recent years and the team put together a memorable run last in February and March of 2011.

Lake Orion captured its first regional championship and eventually advanced all the way to the Division 1 final Four before falling to eventual state champion Novi.

REBUILDING

Troy’s softball team was set to take a major step back in 2011 and was labeled as a rebuilding team. Yet the Colts, under the direction Tom Calnen, did out together some postseason magic.

After a season of many highs and lows and a middle-of-the-pack finish, the Cotls pulled some upsets and advanced all the way to the Division 1 state quarterfinals. Troy had graduated two thirds of its players from its 2010 squad that reached the state semifinals.

Some programs don’t rebuild, they reload.

SMALL-TIME

Troy Bethany Christian enjoyed a great week last May. The Bruins captured a pair of state championships—on delay.

With the Michigan Association of Christian Schools state finals in girls soccer and baseball first slated to be played on Memorial Day weekend, the Bruins had to come back the following Tuesday to complete their state finals games.

The Bruins’ girls soccer team posted a 1-0 victory over rival Rochester Hills Christian in the MACS finals, while at the same time, Bethany Christian’s baseball team rallied back from a huge deficit to down Davison Faith Baptist and win the school’s first state title in the sport since 2000.

SWEAT REPEAT

Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes didn’t sneak up on anybody in 2010-11. After winning the Class D state championship in girls basketball in 2009-10, the Lakers put together another memorable run to state glory in 2010-11.

Among the tournament wins was a 43-41 victory over Marine City Cardinal Mooney, where the Lakers staged a late fourth quarter comeback. WOLL also defeated top-ranked Central Lake, which featured Miss Basketball award winner Jasmine Hines, in the state semifinals.

SENIOR-LESS SPECIAL

Clarkston’s boys ski team had quite a season last winter, putting together tone of their best overall campaigns and post their highest state-meet finish to date.

The Wolves placed second at the Division 1 state finals…with a twist. Clarkston did not have a single senior in its top six, meaning the Wolves will have an experienced group to try to go after the school’s first elusive state title.

Stay tuned on that quest.

STRAIGHT DOWN THE FAREWAY

Auburn Hills Oakland Christian’s boys golf team turned some heads by winning the prestigious Oakland County championship despite being a 220-student Class D/Division 4 school at the time, they became the smallest school to ever win the county championship in that sport.

It didn’t end there for the Lancers, who won several tournaments with multiple other top-10 team finishes in tournaments with much bigger schools.

The Lancers went on to take over the No. 1 spot in the coaches association rankings and eventually captured the D-4 state title for the first time in school history.

BRIDESMAIDS RELOAD

Rochester Stoney Creek’s girls golf team finished second in the state in 2011, that coming after graduating tow Division I college golfers and the 2010 Miss Golf, Devon Compton. It also marked the second straight season that the Cougars finished second in the state after claiming fourth in 2009.

The Cougars, who had several top three finishes at tournaments this past fall, were led by Gabby Yurik, who claimed Miss Golf for 2011, giving the same school the state’s top honor of individuals in back-to-back years.

It also marked the third straight year that a golfer from the greater Rochester area claimed the Miss Golf honor. Rochester’s Christine Meier won the award in 2009. Yurik, Compton and Meier were all Division 1 individual state champions as well.

Meier also had a fine year in her own right. A top-five performer at Michigan State, Meier captured the Michigan Amateur title in July out at Prestwick Village near Milford.

DROUGHT HAS ENDED

Few programs had to wait as long for a league championship as long as Holly’s football team. In 1952, the Bronchos won the Wayne-Oakland league. Winning seasons have been hard to come by since then, as this program had less than a dozen winning campaigns since that season, which occurred in the pre-rock-n-roll era.

In both 2010 and 2011, Holly reached the postseason, the first time the Bronchos have done so in back-to-back years. Holly won the Flint Metro League championship this past season, putting an end to its 59-year hex on the grid iron.

TWO IN 1

For the first time since the inception of mega league Oakland Activities Association in 1994, no girls volleyball team from the league was able to reach the Final Four until 2011, when Clarkston and Lake Orion both did the trick.

Lake Orion eventually defeated Clarkston in the state semifinals at Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena A before the Dragons succumbed to Rockford in the Class A state finals.

Could the door be opened for future OAA teams?

OAKLAND PUNCHES ANOTHER TICKET

Behind the stellar play behind future NBA second-round pick Keith Benson, Oakland University’s men’s basketball team made a return trip to the NCAA tournament.

This time they lost to Texas in the first round, 84-80. But not before the Golden Grizzlies posted a 34-2 regular season record against Summit League competition in that span, plus two back-to-back 3-0 runs through the Summit League tournament. That’s 40-2 overall against Summit foes in two years, by far a league record for a two-year period.

END OF AN ERA

After nearly 40 years of coaching college basketball, Garth Pleasant, the man who built tiny Rochester College’s men’s basketball program into a United States Collegiate Athletic Association national powerhouse, retired from coaching.
Pleasant eclipsed 700 wins in December, 2010 and his team finished fifth in the nation in the USCAA last March. Pleasant’s teams won four national titles with several top-10 finishes throughout his career.

The very next day after the national tournament, his son, Klint Pleasant, took over as the head coach. His current team finished 2011 with three straight wins and is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation in the USCAA polls.

It was an eventual year at Rochester College overall. The Warriors also learned they at they gained acceptance in to NAIA for national tournaments, and will proceed with dual membership in the USCAA and NAIA in the future.

Rochester College’s women’s basketball team also reached the national tournament last March, the softball team captured the USCAA national title, the women’s volleyball team reached the USCAA Final Four, the baseball team qualified for the national tournament and defeated Division I Oakland University in a game in April, and the men’s golf team finished as the USCAA national runner-up in November.

That’s one national title, two final fours and countless success stories for Rochester College.

Coach Pleasant, can still be found in the gym, following college and high school games several days a week.

BITTERSWEET GOODBYE

Tim Storch built Troy Athens’ soccer teams into state powerhouse teams beginning in 1981 and finally called it quits in June after his girls squad won the OAA Red Division and district titles but lost in a shootout to Utica Eisenhower in the Division 1 regional semifinals, four wins shy of another state title.

Storch, the winningest coach in boys and girls soccer in the NOS coverage area and top-10 in state history, didn’t stay out of the game very long.

Retiring in his family home in July, he was quickly hired in July as the boys and girls soccer coach at Alpena High School. By the end of the season, his boys team was one of more competitive squads in all of Northern Michigan.

BRANNON SHINES

Olivia Brannon’s junior soccer season was cut short in 2010 with a broken foot three weeks before the start of the state tournament. She returned to the high school pitch in 2011 and had a fine season, which resulted in a spot on the All-State Dream Team and winning the Miss Soccer award.

Brannon was of four local athletes in the NOS coverage area to earn state athlete of the year award in 2011. She became the Red Hawks first player to win Miss Soccer in 11 years.

FINAL FOUR COLTS

Troy’s girls soccer team and boys soccer team both reached the Final Four in the same calendar year.

The Colts’ girls soccer team advanced to the Division 1 Final Four in June and eventually lost in the state title in 2011 to Novi, 1-0.

Troy’s boys followed that up with winning the OAA Red Division for the third straight season and advanced to the state semifinals before falling to Grand Haven (1-0).

Hudsonville Unity Christian was the only other soccer program to land both of its boys and girls soccer teams in the Final Four in 2011.

GRAND OVAL

Despite the injuries to two of its top athletes, Auburn Hills Avondale’s boys track team still had a sterling effort at the Division 2 state finals. The Yellowjackets recorded 40 points with a trio of state championships to tie for third overall.

Avondale won the 400-meter relay and 800-meter relay, and Trevon Salter won the 400 meters to highlight the day.

LANCERS’ ROADBLAOCK

Auburn Hills Oakland Christian has become a model of consistency in Divisions 4 boys soccer over the years and reached the state’s Final Four for the seventh time in 18 years this past fall.

The Lancers finally saw their road end against its longtime nemesis, falling to Allen Park Inter-City Baptist in overtime in the state semifinals. It marked the fourth time in seven seasons that Oakland Christian reached the semifinals.

YEAR TO REMEMBER

There were countless other memorable moments in 2011.

Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes (softball) and Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest (baseball) both reached the Division 4 state quarterfinals in June. Clarkston reached the regional finals in boys and girls basketball in the same season and return a bulk of their respective talent this season.

Troy Bethany Christian finished as the MACS state runner-up in girls basketball, falling on a buzzer-beater to Davison Faith Baptist, while Rochester Hills Christian reached the Final Four in the same tournament for the first time. Troy Bethany Christian also reached the MACS state semifinals in girls volleyball and boys soccer this fall.

Clarkston’s baseball team reached the Sweet 16 back in June, Rochester Stoney Creek won their first-ever district contests in baseball and boys basketball before losing in the district finals. Troy Athens made the football playoffs with their first winning season in seven years.

Troy Athens reached the Division 1 Final Four in boys lacrosse and Clarkston the state quarterfinals in the same tournament. Holly’s boys tennis team captured its 11^th straight league title.

The list continues.

Dozens of teams won league, district and regional championships, and hundreds of athletes earned all-league, all-district, all-regional or all-state honors, or even gained a collegiate scholarship.

Will 2012 bring forth the same amount of success. Could it be greater?

It will be tough to top 2011…truly a year to remember.

(Daniel Stickradt is Senior Editor of the AdaVan Media Group’s wwwnorthoaklandsprots.com, CEO of the Stickradt Media Group and a veteran journalist of 19 years in the Detroit, Michigan, area. He can be reached by e-mail at dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com and follow on Twitter@LocalSportsFans.)

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