Top 5 Upsets
Sarah Schenck @ Girls Wrestling State Tournament
In her and the program’s first season of girls wrestling at Forest Hills Central, Sarah performed extremely well at the State Tournament. In her weight class of 125 pounds, she pinned three straight opponents—all with much more experience than she had–to be able to reach the championship round. Although she fell in the finals, she had a great performance and made history for FHC while helping the Rangers to finish in fifth out of 105 teams. She was the first-ever girl to make the State Finals in school history and will be back next year to try and capture the first state title for girls wrestling.
Boys bowling vs Cedar Springs
In its last regular-season match, the boys bowling team faced off against Cedar Springs. Junior Ben Kastner led the team with a 232 to close out the game 16-14 in a huge upset. In the previous matchup between FHC and Cedar Springs, the Red Hawks crushed the Rangers 28.5-1.5, but this time everything changed. Junior Ryan Andrews also led the way, scoring in the 180s and allowing a clear path to the win against a big opponent.
Wrestling vs Mona Shores
After a vigorous and energy-sapping loss against Fruitport, the varsity A wrestling team took on Mona Shores. Many of the guys had some tough matches earlier that day and were drained but still wrestled hard against the Sailors. Leading the Rangers was sophomore Caden Jacobs, who pinned a state-qualifier in nine seconds. Mona Shores is a very good wrestling program traditionally; unfortunately for the Sailors, many of their guys were unable to participate, and the Rangers earned many points due to forfeits.
“I had a really good match against a kid who had similar skills and was a state-qualifier,” Caden said. “I ended up catching him in a couple of seconds, which was big. It was a great feeling to trump Mona in this one.”
Hockey vs EGR
After falling to arch-rival EGR last season in the playoffs for a season-ending loss, the Rangers were very eager to play the Pioneers. Senior goalie Carl Mielock played an incredible game for the Rangers, saving a lot of shots on goal from EGR. The Rangers dominated the game from the start, as junior Cole Beaufait scored 2 goals on the night and senior Nathan Hartline and junior Peter Bardelli each scored once to give the Rangers the dominating 4-0 win.
Boys varsity basketball vs Rockford
Coming into the Cornerstone University Holiday Tournament championship game, the Rangers were very banged up. Two senior starters, Josh Wise and Tate Hallock, were both injured, and the Rangers were playing their best opponent to date. Rockford came into this game at 5-1, including beating Muskegon—an area powerhouse—by 18 points. FHC’s defense against the Rams was air-tight, holding them to just three made three-pointers and allowing them to shoot just 39% from the field. Junior guards Mitch Wilkinson and Jimmy Scholler combined with senior forward Dan Deindorfer for 54 of the Rangers’ 60 points in the 60-46 victory.
“That win was huge,” Jimmy said. “It gave us confidence that we were as good as any team in the area since [Rockford] was highly-ranked and beat a really good team in Muskegon.”