The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
The year's biggest moments
Jerry Hinnen
PUBLISHED: June 26, 2008
With the entirety of the 2007-2008 high school sports year now behind us, it's time to take a look back at what made it such an incredible, remarkable, amazing 10 months — even if words like "incredible, remarkable, amazing" weren't always up to the job.
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We're going to be listing the top 10 single moments from the year — five from Milan sports and five from Saline. These are the moments that caused the biggest adrenaline rush, that came with the stakes at their highest, that simply meant the most to those of us lucky enough to be watching.
We're presenting them in no particular order, with three from Milan and two from Saline this week, and the proportions flipped next week. Enjoy.
1. Big Reds come up big at state finals. This is actually a two-in-one moment because you could make an argument that the two greatest individual performances turned in by Milan athletes this year, given the stage, came from two unassuming Big Red girls within two weeks of each other last November.
One came at the Michigan International Speedway Nov. 3, where I watched sophomore Jordan Tomecek race in to the lead pack with less than a mile to go in the state cross country race. She would go on to break her own school record and place fourth with the 12th-fastest time of any girl in the state.
The other came from junior Maura Donahue, who on Nov. 17 crushed the field in the 200-yard freestyle and then fairly well obliterated it in the 500 freestyle, winning by more than 13 seconds to bring the Holland Aquatic Center crowd to its feet. She was named the Division 3 Swimmer of the Meet.
With Tomecek already the fastest cross country runner ever at Milan and Donahue on her way to becoming one of Milan's most decorated swimmers, their fall already promises to be historic once.
2. Saline wins a boys' basketball district. The last time Saline won a district tournament in boys' hoops before 2008, I was 1 ? years old, Ronald Reagan hadn't been elected president yet, and though I don't know the exact figure, I somehow don't think gas cost $18.47 a gallon.
It was 1980, specifically. But this year's Hornets survived a difficult early schedule, gained momentum late in the year, and were the on-paper favorites against Lincoln in the district final.
The Railsplitters, however, looked to have the game all-but sewn up with 16.6 seconds left, ahead by three and with Saline's Kyle Larsen at the line for two. Larsen split the pair, but Tyler Bagbey rebounded the miss and laid it back in to send the game into overtime -- and Saline's fans into hysteria. The Hornets didn't look back, going on to win by three in overtime.
Bagbey's play was the biggest one in what turned out to be not just the start of the Jay Plitzuweit era, but the biggest Saline season on the hardwood in years.
Now Brian Cox picks two moments from Milann football and softball:
"3. Big Reds blank SMCC. I know, I know. I picked this outstanding moment as a highlight of the fall season back in November, but it has held up over the ensuing months and, at the close of the 2007-08 high school sports year, I feel confident identifying this as one of the most satisfying moments I've ever experienced at a high school football game.
Even though the game was not on the line with three minutes left to go and Milan up 20-0 over St. Mary Catholic Central, when the Big Red defense forced a fumble inside the 10-yard line to keep the Falcons from scoring and to preserve the shutout, the sidelines and stands exploded with exhilaration.
The Big Reds had not defeated SMCC since 2002 (a squeaker, 24-23) and the last time the Falcons were blanked was nine years ago.
The shutout was Milan's first against SMCC in 13 encounters since 1964, including a playoff game in 1991.
It was a huge, memorable moment that will stand out for a long time to come.
4. Hoffman fans side. You've got to love watching Milan freshman softball pitcher Kat Hoffman do her thing. She is intense, with a unique style, and can appear at critical times to enter a world comprised of only the mound and the plate. Think of it as the Hoffman Zone (play unnerving music here).
In the Division 2 regional semifinals, Hoffman entered that zone in the bottom of the sixth inning after Trenton finally managed to tie the game at 1-1 and put the go-ahead run on third with no outs.
The tension was so thick for Milan fans you couldn't cut it with a hacksaw.
The question I had with my white knuckles gripping the fence was whether the freshman on the mound could handle the pressure. It was weird because I swear you could almost see Hoffman enter her zone. An eerie calmness descended over her face. Her eyes appeared to focus on another dimension.
And she proceeded to strike out the next three batters, ending the threat in amazing fashion.
Milan ended up losing the regional game 2-1 in nine innings, but the fact of the loss is already blurring in my mind. What stands out crystal clear is Hoffman fanning the side with the go-ahead run on third. That was a moment worth remembering in any year."
5. Saline runs at the head of the pack. As I've chronicled in a pair of columns the last two years, it's extremely difficult to tell much of what's going on during the state cross country finals. Massive packs of runners go by, making it difficult to even see the runners you're trying to follow, much less gauge what kind of position they're in.
But when one of them happens to be part of the very first group of runners around one of the last curves on the course, that's a good sign. And when two more go by within the next few seconds, that's good, too. And when the Swedish exchange student flies by way faster than you expected him to and the fifth guy is just a tick behind him, that's when it goes beyond good to spine-tingling.
All of that wasn't enough to win Saline their first boys' state cross country title. But it helped make for a heck of a day at the Michigan International Speedway.
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