By John Raffel
MaxPreps.com
East Grand Rapids is doing it again.
The Pioneer football team won a state championship in November. The basketball team wouldn't mind brining home more hardware in March.
East Grand Rapids started off its basketball season at 6-0 overall and is ranked No. 1 in several state polls.
Tuesday night, the Pioneers stayed undefeated with a 70-60 O-K White Conference victory over Greenville.
DeMarcus Grady scored 12 of his 30 points in the first quarter. Justin Anyjiong added 20.
"Greenville played very well. They came after us," said East Grand Rapids coach Ed Crisman. "Although we had a few guys play sick - DeMarcus was not feeling well and Preston Burrell was sick before the game. Greenville played us tough."
The Pioneers are expected to go 20-0 during the regular season and then take dead aim at the state title during the playoffs.
Wrestling
Mason won state championships in 2003, 2005 and 2006 in Division 2. Could it happen in 2007? Bruce Martel, who coaches the team in the Lansing area would like to think so. Mason, state runners-up in 2004, has been accustomed to going to the state title match.
His team has started out 7-2 but Bruce Martel wouldn't be surprised if another state title trophy comes his school's way.
"We're building our team," Martel said. "As we get healthy and get everyone in our lineup, we'll be solid. We have six or seven that graduated from last year. We're young, which means we'll be real tough next year."
But he still has high hopes for this season.
"We're strong all the way through our lineup," Martel said "The competition is tough. We lost some to graduation in our upper levels. We're very strong in the lighter weights."
Allegan, ranked No. 1 in recent polls, plus Greenville and Eaton Rapids, will be solid contenders for the title, Martel. said. "We get around the state very well and see a lot of opponents," he said.
Competitive Cheer
In Michigan, basketball is the sport that draws the largest number of fans to the state finals. What's No.2? Volleyball? Softball? Track?
It's competitive cheer.
Yes competitive cheer remains a popular draw for fans, and in that respect, it's a top draw for spectators. The season started earlier this month and ends in early March.
So far, so good, for state power Breckenridge, a Saginaw-area school, that has won competition at Central Montcalm and Belding to open the season.
Under coach Deb Gaines, Breckenridge won three straight Class C-D titles 2000-02 and in 2004-06. Pewamo-Westphalia, by winning the title in 2003 stopped what would have been seven straight crowns for Breckenridge, which was runners-up in 2003.
"We have to progress everytime we're out there," said Gaines. "The kids work hard every year. That's been the key. I set my expectations high. We want to get up to the next level."
Skiing
It's been a down winter for Michigan high school ski teams for one main reason - lack of snow. Most schools were scheduled to begin their seasons this week, but it didn't happen because too much green grass is still on the ground during what has been a unusually warm start of January in Michigan.
"I can't remember a season, except for one, in my 14 years of coaching, where we've struggled to get snow at this particular time of year," said Greenville Coach Jack Wood, whose team competes in the Greater Grand Rapids Ski Conference, with home meets at Cannonsburg Ski Area, near Rockford.
But the week of New Year's day, Cannonsburg was closed down. Earlier this week, it opened with temperatures getting into the 20s and with Cannonsburg's snow-making machines able to get going.
Rockford is considered the big-school power on the west side of the state. The state finals are set for late February in northern Michigan.