By John Raffel
MaxPreps.com
In the southwest corner of Michigan, by the shores of Lake Michigan, Stevensville-Lakeshore is electrifying the community with its championship style of boys basketball.
As the 20-game regular season reaches its closing, Stevensville-Lakeshore and coach Sean Schroeder have enjoyed a 16-0 record and hope to emerge as contenders for the Class B state title when the state playoffs start next month.
"I think we've exceeded expectations," Schroeder said. "We knew we'd have a good team. Our league is pretty balanced. There's only been one other team here at Stevensville that's been undefeated during the regular season."
Defense has sparked the Lancers all season. Lakeshore is giving up just 38.1 points per game and has held four teams to fewer than 30 points.
"Defensively, we've been solid most of the year," Schroeder said. "That's been our strong point. We're balanced as a team."
Junior Troy Peter is averaging 16.5 points per game while senior Joe Welch is averaging 9.5 boards per game.
Going undefeated hasn't been easy, Schroeder pointed out.
"We've played some pretty good teams," Schroeder said, pointing to the likes of Harper Creek and St. Joseph. "We have some tough games coming up. It won't be easy going 20-0."
The Lancers face St. Joseph tonight (Feb. 23), and travel to 13-4 Harper Creek next Wednesday.
Volleyball
Next week, St. Louis' volleyball team will enter the postseason with hopes of extending its streak of 18-straight Class C district championships.
The team, located northwest of Flint, has been a small-school power in volleyball for 20 years. Gary Stanglewicz has coached at the school for 23 years and in that time has enjoyed two state titles in 1999 and 2001.
This winter, St. Louis is off to a 29-23-6 record but still is considered a favorite to win a district crown.
"We've struggled a little bit," Stanglewicz said. "We've lost some close matches that we could have won."
St. Louis hopes to win the Tri-Valley Conference.
"We'd like to keep our streak going for district championships," Stanglewicz said. "Hopefully, we'll get all of our girls healthy. There are some issues we have to deal with."
Erica Hale, a 5-4 setter, is a returning All-State selection for St. Louis. Junior Jackii Pierce is a strong outside hitter.
"We're a very short team so defensively, we have to play tough," Stanglewicz said. "We have a tough schedule. So that helps."
Wrestling
Michigan held its team regional tournaments Wednesday with the title-winning teams in the four divisions advancing to the Final Eight March 2-3 at Battle Creek's Kellogg Arena.
Among the eight teams advancing to the quarterfinals was Addison, which has won the last two Division 4 titles and presently has a 36-3 record.
"We got through the district and regionals very handily," Addison head coach Rick Sherry said. "But we'll have a tough quarterfinal match against Hesperia."
Addison graduated five seniors from last year's team.
"We'll have to see how this year's team shakes out," Sherry said, adding that the Sharks have been strong in the upperweights.
"Our guys at 171, 189, 215 and 285 pounds are all seniors. I think we're pretty strong."
Leading the way at 189 pounds is senior Tom Schneider, who has a 51-0 record.
Eight teams wrestle in each division at Battle Creek March 2 for the quarterfinals. The semifinals are Saturday morning, March 3, and the finals are Saturday afternoon. The individual state finals are March 8-10 at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
