New Haven Grows into Class B Contender
March 24, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – Eric Williams, Jr., has learned a lot about becoming a champion these last few seasons.
And as Williams has grown, so too has New Haven’s success on the basketball court.
The Rockets will find themselves playing in their first MHSAA championship game Saturday night, thanks to a 78-49 win over Benton Harbor on Friday in what was the program’s first Semifinal as well.
Williams had 22 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals, continuing a closing run that could see him leave an unprecedented legacy at the school. He had 11 points, six rebounds and two steals in the first quarter Friday, setting the tone from the start.
“I just came out looking to be aggressive more, because last game I was just out there. I think I had to come in and prove something,” Williams said.
“I’ve learned I’ve just gotta stay calm and not get stage fright on the big stage. Learning to play defense and what team basketball really is, I think I’ve learned that over the (last) few years.”
New Haven (25-1) will face Ludington in the final game of this season, Saturday’s 6:30 p.m. Class B Final.
Williams, a 6-foot-5 guard, entered this week averaging 20.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 3.8 steals per game. New Haven coach Tedaro France II said after Friday’s win that upping his defense has made Williams a complete player – and that newfound all-around game has made him “one of the hottest players in the state right now.”
The first Semifinal came three days after the Rockets' third straight Quarterfinal. They are now 72-5 during this three-season run, and Williams’ rise is just an example of how experience has benefitted the team as a whole.
“That’s something as a coach you can’t teach,” France said. “Kids have to play in big games, and sometimes like with these guys, we have to fail first before we have success. And we’ve failed a lot.
“Me, I say to our kids, let’s win today. And in practice each day, we fail. I say, let’s learn from our mistakes. I don’t mind if they make 10 mistakes, but let’s not make the same ones. And I think our kids are learning to play through adversity. They know they can make mistakes, then just go back and get back on defense."
Following Williams’ hot start, New Haven took a 22-10 lead into the second quarter and a 43-19 advantage into halftime. The lead got up to 38 during the fourth quarter before Benton Harbor (22-4) finished on a 9-0 run.
The Tigers entered the postseason ranked No. 5 by The Associated Press – New Haven was No. 3 – and had plenty of success as well this season. But they struggled this time to get into a groove against an opponent that beat them at their own game.
New Haven excelled defensively, holding Benton Harbor to 33 percent shooting and taking advantage of 17 turnovers. The Rockets turned on the transition game, to the point Tigers freshman center Carlos Johnson said, “When we’re running up the floor … they were already up there.”
Benton Harbor also is used to outrebounding its opponents, and Johnson had 10. But as coach Corey Sterling said, it was like New Haven had “two or three Carloses” – the Rockets won the rebounding edge 44-31.
“Pretty much we do pressure defense and get out in transition, but they didn’t turn the ball over and they made shots, and that’s pretty much it,” Sterling said. “It seemed like they had an answer for everything we threw at them tonight.”
In addition to Johnson being one of the most highly-regarded freshmen in the state – and finishing with nine points and five blocks to go with those 10 boards – the game also featured one of the state's top sophomores in New Haven forward Romeo Weems, who tallied 14 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. Sophomore guard Roland Jeffery II added 10 points for the Rockets.
Junior guard Elijah Baxter scored 14 points to top Benton Harbor, which played in its second Semifinal in four seasons – and perhaps began a string of championship weekend trips to come.
“We’ve only got two seniors really in our rotation, and this is a good experience for guys like Elijah, Carson, Shawn (Hopkins) and Dennie (Brown),” Sterling said. “Now we know how to get here … now let’s work hard in the summer to take the necessary steps to try to win it all.”
PHOTOS: (Top) New Haven’s Eric Williams, Jr., (2) looks to pass over Benton Harbor’s Carlos Johnson. (Middle) The Rockets’ A.J. Crawford III splits a pair of Tigers defenders during Friday’s Class B Semifinal.
Future Has Arrived as Port Huron United Continues Impressive Climb
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
May 8, 2024
Brad McDougal knew when he returned to the Port Huron United lacrosse program in 2019 that in order to grow it to what he thought it could be, he’d have to build for the future.
His plan was simple and time-tested: Start a youth program that would get players within the school system playing together more frequently and against better competition, preparing them to one day be varsity players.
It didn’t take long to see that it could work, and perhaps better and faster than he had hoped.
“We’ve known for a while (this was the year),” McDougal said. “Basically, when I started with that youth team, my ambition was if I can get four or five kids that have been coached, then build around them for the varsity program, that would be great. It turned out to be 15 of them.”
Behind 15 seniors, the majority of whom were part of McDougal’s original youth team, Port Huron United is competing at a level it never has before. United is ranked No. 9 in the Division 1 MPR following a 10-3 start, and won the Macomb Area Conference Red title for the first time in program history.
It’s a history that McDougal is plenty familiar with, having been a high school junior when the program began in 2006. McDougals have been part of the program ever since, whether it was him as a coach fresh out of high school and now, his brother Ben as a player, or his father Brian as a coach at various levels throughout all of it.
“Being around it as long as I have, that has sunk in,” he said. “The amount of teams that are reaching out to us now that never would have before – teams reaching out for film, ‘How were you able to defend this?’ Teams reaching out for scheduling that I think would have just ignored the email a couple years back. It’s definitely not lost on me.”
It’s also not lost on the players, who have heard McDougal talk about the program’s beginnings and have also seen first-hand a quick ascent.
As freshmen, this current group of seniors were a major part of a varsity team that played in the MAC Blue – the MAC’s divisions are based on performance, with Red being the highest – dominating it and earning promotion to the MAC White the following season. Another unbeaten league season put United into the MAC Red in 2023, and while there were some growing pains in going 2-3 against higher-level competition, there were signs of better things to come.
“The second my class joined, we just dominated our leagues,” senior goalie Danny Moore said. “We went from Blue to White to Red in three years. Last year in the Red, we went 2-3, but it wasn’t without close games. I think (the rise) definitely stunned us a little bit. Not a week goes by that I don’t think about the giant leap we took. It’s like a world record long jump.”
Moore said the team started this season “like a cannonball out of the cannon with too much gun powder” as this group of seniors knew it was their last opportunity to play with one another.
United was dominant in its MAC Red season, going 5-0 and out-scoring opponents 61-12, not allowing more than three goals in any single game.
On the season, it has outscored opponents 136-50, led by senior goal-scoring threats Silas Klink, Jacob O’Hare, Nate DeLand, Matt Graham and Tim Monaghan. Moore is stopping more than 80 percent of the shots he’s faced, behind the defense of seniors Jack Bennett and Max Williams, and junior Parker Quinn, among others.
That’s despite a beefed-up nonconference schedule, which McDougal put together to better prepare his team for the upcoming postseason.
“We have a way harder schedule this year,” Klink said. “We haven’t ever made it to the Regional Final in all the program’s history, so that’s a big goal. I think scheduling all these teams, Coach McDougal knew what he was doing to get us battle-tested.”
Boys Lacrosse Regionals open May 16, and Lake Orion – which defeated Port Huron 11-4 in the season opener – is the host of United’s bracket.
Winning a Regional is the next goal for Port Huron, and McDougal repeatedly tells his team he wants a Michigan trophy. They’re ready to do all they can to make that happen, but also aren’t shying away from the possibility of blowing away his expectations once again.
“State champs,” said Bennett, who has committed to play lacrosse at Albion College along with Moore. “We want to go all the way. It would just be like – I don’t even know how to describe it. For the program, it would further push lacrosse at my high school and Port Huron. Twenty years ago, we didn’t even have a lacrosse team, so I think it would really push lacrosse in Port Huron.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Port Huron United’s Silas Klink (1) makes a run at the goal against Macomb Dakota. (Middle) Matt Graham (12) maintains possession against the Cougars. (Photos by Margaret Quinn.)