Maple Valley News

03/01/2025

The Maple Valley varsity boys’ basketball team found a way to slow down a Potterville team that hit ten three-pointers in the first half of its MHSAA Division 3 District Semifinal at Maple Valley High School Wednesday.

An answer never came against a talented Pewamo-Westphalia team in the district final Friday back at MVHS. The Pirates took a 76-38 win over the Lions in the district championship game.

The Pirates had 14 different players score and half of them hit at least one three-pointer. Grady Eklund hit five of his team’s 15 three-pointers and finished with a game-high 17 points to lead the Pirates. He had 14 of those points in the first half as the teams rolled through their benches in the second half.

Maple Valley had nine different guys score led by Teegen McDonald’s eight points. Kelvin Nevins-Davis buried a couple of corner threes and finished with seven points. The Lion team got six points each from Jake McDonald and Cam Murray.

While the Pirates shot the lights out, Lion head coach Ryan Nevins said the P-W team might be the best defensive team one of his squads has everer played against.

The Pirates have not lost a district ballgame since 2015, winning nine district championships since then …

Read more in next weekend’s edition of the Maple Valley News …

02/13/2025

Springport had 14 fewer points than in the first ballgame of 2025.

Maple Valley had 24 more.

That's progress.

The visiting Springport varsity girls' basketball team kept the Maple Valley girls winless in the Big 8 Conference so far this season by scoring a 63-37 win at Maple Valley High School Tuesday, but the final score showed big strides from when the two teams met in the first ballgame of 2025 back on Jan. 7.

Spanish exchange student Ines Sanchez led the Lions with 12 points and sophomore guard Aubree Roth put in 11 in the loss. The Lions haven't had a lot of nights this season with two girls in double figures, and everyone on the team is getting more confident with the basketball in their hands.

The Lions got six points from senior forward Taylor Casey and four from freshman center Abbigail Harvey …

Read more in this weekend’s edition of the Maple Valley News …

02/07/2025

It just didn't fall right for the Lions.

The match ups didn't fall right and the one last attempt at a trip by freshman Kade Wright didn't fall right.

It would have been an upset for sure for Wright to defeat Saranac senior Andrew Wittenbach, the Red Hawks' lone returning regional qualifier from a year ago.

Wright got his shot in at the start of the 165-pound match, the final bout of the MHSAA Division 4 Team District Final at Saranac High School Wednesday. Saranac held a 40-36 lead and the Lions last, best hope was really for the freshman to find a way to get a pin. Wright managed to get a single leg hold on Wittenbach, but had a tough time trying to trip up the Saranac senior and get him down to the mat.

When Wright finally did get Wittenbach to stumble midway through the first period, Wright lost his balance too. The more experienced wrestler came out on top at the end of the fall and soon earned the pin that clinched Saranac's 46-36 victory.

A trio of seniors, Ryan Bollone, Landen Winsor and Wittenbach earned pins in the final three matches of the district final to turn what had been a 36-28 Lion lead into a ten-point Saranac victory. Up until that final stretch, the Lions had won five of the six flights that were contested in the district final, all by pin.

The Lions got victories in the first four weight classes to start the dual with a 24-0 lead. It took Lion junior Tyrese Robinson some time to finish the deal, but he eventually stuck Saranac's Jacob Bollone 4 minutes and 44 seconds into their 175-pound match that opened the final. Lion junior Jackson Burpee, a state qualifier a year ago, took a forfeit win at 190, a weight class he has bumped up to the past couple weeks with an eye on a run back to the state finals at Ford Field.

Maple Valley senior Skyler Cook got taken down by Saranac's Eric Lake right at the start of the 215-pound match, but made a quick recovery to pin Lake 59 seconds into the match. The Lion team then got a pin from junior heavyweight Joe Long midway through the second period of his 285-pound match against Whyatt Hicks.

The rest of the way, the Lions added a pin by freshman Roman Schilz in the 113-pound match against Isaac Delinsky and a pin from exchange student Filip Nowak midway through the second period of his 144-pound match against the Red Hawks' Seth Purchase.

Maple Valley opened the night with a 54-30 win over Fulton in the district semifinals while Saranac was outscoring Carson City-Crystal 54-22 …

Read more in this weekend’s edition of the Maple Valley News …

01/17/2025

It seems to be a script the Lions have written for themselves. A decent start; a little lull before the half where they fall in a hole; and fight like mad to try and get back in the ballgame in the third quarter.

They finally got the ending right.

The Maple Valley varsity boys’ basketball team dug out of a 16-point halftime deficit to score a 75-72 win over Bronson in a Big 8 Conference ballgame at Maple Valley High School Thursday.

Sophomore guard Teegen McDonald had a game-high 36 points and senior guard Jake McDonald finished with 19 points for the Lions, but it took an all around team effort to fend off the Vikings and their star senior guard Kamron Brackett who finished with 34 points.

Bronson took its big halftime lead with Brackett scoring 19 points in the second quarter with the help of three three-pointers and a 6-for-6 performance at the free throw line in the quarter. The Vikings led 45-29 at the half in a ballgame in which they had a 13-12 lead at the end of one quarter.

The Lion defense did a better job of getting over screens int eh second half and held him scoreless in the third quarter and to “just” nine points in the third. He did bury a three in transition with eight seconds left that cut the Lion lead to 73-72 at the moment. Teegen hit a couple free throws to push the Lion lead back to three points with 3.4 seconds left on the clock, and Bronson’s Owen Losinski couldn’t get the ball off his hip as he tried to hoist up a desperation three after crossing half-court before the buzzer.

Bronson couldn’t keep Teegen from getting to the basket, and the Lion team got nearly all of its scoring done around the rim. Coach Nevins was pleased with his guys’ work on the glass, the way they pushed the ball to score in transition, and the all around defensive effort in the second half.

The Lions improve to 4-8 overall and 2-5 in the Big 8 Conference with the win. They have now won back-to-back ballgames in conference play and will step outside the Big 8 for a trip to Delton Kellogg Monday. The Lions fell by 17 against the Panthers in the season opener at Maple Valley High School back in November.

Junior guard Bradley Cushing chipped in six points for the Lions in the win over Bronson, freshman guard Kelvin Nevins-Davis had five points and junior Eli Wright and senior Jimmy Wiggs had four points apiece.

01/15/2025

An improved round two helped the Maple Valley varsity competitive cheer team to a runner-up finish in its division at last Thursday’s Caledonia Purple and Gold Invitational. The Lions finished shaking off the holiday break rust in the Fighting Scots’ big gym and then followed that up with a runner-up finish at the first Big 8 Conference jamboree of the season Monday …

Read more in this weekend’s edition of the Maple Valley News …

10/29/2024

Five individual state qualifiers ran their last race before heading to Michigan International Speedway for the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Cross Country Finals on Monday afternoon at the Barry County Meet hosted by Hastings at Charlton Park.

That group included three seniors: Jacob Draaisma and Ava Crews from Thornapple Kellogg who won individual county championships and helped their Trojan teams to titles too, and Hastings’ Brandon Simmons who was the runner-up to Draaisma on the day. For 17 other seniors, it was their final varsity cross country race and Hastings athletic director Mike Mohn and the local varsity coaches took time to honor those seniors as the sun began setting behind the historic Charlton Park village.

Crews is now a three-time Barry County individual champion, and a four-time state qualifier. She won Monday’s race in 19 minutes 15.0 seconds. The only girl to ever beat her in a Barry County race, Hastings sophomore Caroline Randall who is a two-time state qualifier herself, was the day’s runner-up with a time of 19:44.1

The Thornapple Kellogg girls’ team put nine girls among the 14 All-Barry County honorees including first-teamers Crews, Peyton Hardy (third), Madison Kietzman (fourth), Meghan-Jane Skidmore (sixth) and Alaina McCrumb (seventh), and second-teamers Carmen Reynolds (eighth), Amya Gater (ninth), Hailey Lee (tenth) and Avery Hagemann (13th).

The TK team finished the day with 21 points followed by Hastings 59, Delton Kellogg 63, Lakewood 99 and Maple Valley NTS.

Randall and the top five Trojans were joined in earning all-county first team honors by Delton Kellogg senior Kylie Main who was fifth overall. The rest of the top 14 also included Delton Kellogg senior Jillian Leclercq (11th), Lakewood freshman Raelin Schrock 12th and Hastings junior Berta Fabrega Vivas (14th). The Maple Valley team was led by senior Isabel Emerick who was 19th overall.

The Thornapple Kellogg girls have won the Barry County Championship for as long as anyone can remember. The TK boys’ victory Monday snapped a three-year winning streak by the Hastings boys. TK last won the county meet in 2020.

The TK team had six of the top 14 finishers in the boys’ race. Draaisma had a winning time of 17:06.2. Senior Hunter Tietz was TK’s number two with a sixth-place time. The Trojan team had sophomores Grady Galaviz and Elijah Frazer place eighth and ninth and senior Case Dykhouse and junior Noah Donker 13th and 14th.

The Trojans won with 37 points ahead of Hastings 58, Lakewood 67, Delton Kellogg 77 and Maple Valley 110.

Saxon senior Micah Johnson was third in his final race.

Lakewood and Delton Kellogg both had three guys among the top 14 including DK sophomore Landon Madden who threw out an impressive PR at his team’s MHSAA L.P. Division 3 Regional in Allendale to qualify for the state finals in his first varsity cross country season. Madden led the DK team Monday with a fifth-place finish and the Panthers had junior Nick Muday 11th and freshman Jace Hilton 12th.

Lakewood was paced by senior Riley Johnson who was fourth overall. The Viking team had sophomore Bryce Goodemoot seventh and sophomore Kaden Rohrbacher tenth.

Maple Valley sophomore Tyler Curtis led his Lion team and was just 3.5 seconds behind the last of the all-county honorees in 15th place.

The Lion boys’ team also had sophomore Quincy Page 21st, senior Doug Smalley 23rd, sophomore Cameron Murray 27th, senior Jeremiah Penny 28th and sophomore Brayden Joseph 37th.

Behind Isabel Emerick for the Lion ladies, freshman Lydia Emerick was 28th, senior Brianna Gurd 36th and senior Arial Coleman 37th.

09/14/2024

The Maple Valley varsity football team rallied from a 16-0 halftime deficit, scoring 27 points in the fourth quarter alone, to earn a 33-16 win at Quincy for its first ever Big 8 Conference football victory.

Jimmy Wiggs returned two interceptions for touchdowns in the second half, capping both ends of the Lions’ comeback. He intercepted a Quincy pass in the end zone and returned it 100 yards for a touchdown to finally spark the Lions int the second half, getting his team within 16-6 at the time in the third quarter, and then picked off another one and took it back 37 yards for a score with just under two minutes left in the game.

In the fourth quarter the Lions dominated. They pulled within 16-13 thanks to a 37-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jakeb McDonald to Skyler Cook and kicker Kelvin Nevins-Davis’ extra-point kick. Maple Valley took its first lead of the ballgame with 2:15 to play on a one-yard TD run by McDonald and another Nevins-Davis e.p.

Back Carson Milbourn powered the Maple Valley offense with 19 rushes for 76 yards.

Wiggs was stellar on defense adding a team-high 12 tackles too. McDonald and Chris Mock had eight tackles each for the Lions. McDonald and Alex Shepard also picked off Oriole passes, and McDonald and Cook recovered fumbles.

The Lions are now 2-1 overall this season and 1-1 in the Big 8 Conference.

09/07/2024

Maple Valley was bested 34-6 by visiting Springport in its first ever Big 8 Conference football game.

The Lions got an 8-yard touchdown run from Jeremiah Penny at the end of the first quarter to get their team within 7-6 of the Spartans, but Springport tacked on two more touchdowns before the first half was through to take control.

Springport quarterback Gibson Overweg was 14-of-15 passing for 194 yards and one touchdown and ran for a TD too. Daniel Dyster scored three times for the visitors.

08/30/2024

Kelvin Nevins-Davis drilled a 32-yard field goal as time expired to give the Maple Valley varsity football team a 9-8 win in its return to 11-player football Thursday.

It was a 9-0 run for the Lions in the final minutes of the fourth quarter to come out victorious.

The Lions scored with just under three minutes to play in the fourth quarter to pull within 8-6 of the visiting Potterville Vikings. Quarterback Jakeb McDonald connected with Eli Wright on a ten-yard touchdown pass and the Lions just needed a two-point conversion to tie the game. The Lions were certain that McDonald got across the goal-line on his two-point try, but the officials disagreed leaving Maple Valley still down two points with 167 seconds left on the clock.

An on-side kick attempt was unsuccessful, but the Maple Valley defense came up huge driving the Vikings backwards and then getting a hand on the Potterville punt to make the Lion offense's last chance a little more hopeful.

Jakeb McDonald and the Lion offense managed just enough to get Nevins-Davis in range for the game-winner. Reciever Teegen McDonald drew a facemask penalty and Wright had a big 25-yard catch on the final drive.

“The kids never quit. I am so proud of them,” first-year Lion head coach Trent Harvey said.

Potterville had held an 8-0 lead for more than two quarters after getting a four-yard TD run form Ezzy Taylor midway through the second quarter.

Both teams turned the ball over twice. Tyrese Robinson recovered two fumbles for the Lions' defense while Taylor picked off two Jakeb McDonald passes. The Lions went to the air more often in the second quarter as the Viking defense stuffed the box to stop the run and eventually it paid off.

Wright finished the game with four catches for 59 yards and Teegen McDonald had five receptions for 54 yards. Jakeb was 10-of-27 passing for 125 yards. Jeremiah Penny led the Lions on the ground with 13 rushes for 53 yards., and coach Harvey was really happy with the way his backs blocked in the passing game too.

Skyler Cook led the Lion defense with nine tackles Jackson Burpee had seven and Penny six.

Read more about the season opener in the Sept. 7 edition of the Maple Valley News …

08/28/2024

Former President Donald Trump will be visiting Potterville Thursday turning the Vikings into visitors themselves. The season opening varsity football game the Potterville team was supposed to host against the Lions is being moved to Maple Valley High School. Kick-off is set for 7 p.m.

Attention: Varsity Football Schedule Update

08/16/2024

New Maple Valley varsity football coach Trent Harvey and the Maple Valley High School football program began their first official practices in preparation for a return to 11-player football this week.

The 2024 MHSAA sports season kicked off Monday with the first practices of the “fall” sports season. Maple Valley athletes opened practice in football, volleyball, cross country and boys' soccer.

The first contest of the Lions’ fall is slated to be a varsity boys’ soccer game at Laingsburg this afternoon. Those Lions host Dansville at the high school Monday. The Lions plan to play all their soccer games at the high school moving forward.

Cross country and soccer teams are allowed by the MHSAA to begin competition today. The first day of volleyball competition is set for Wednesday, Aug. 21, with the Maple Valley varsity heading to Dansville for a quad.

The varsity football team (pictured along with the JV at practice Wednesday evening) opens the season on the road at Potterville Aug. 29.

06/14/2024

They won more baseball games than any varsity baseball team in Maple Valley history.

But like those guys before, the 1975 state runner-up team, then ballplayer/now head coach Bryan Carpenter’s 1993 district championship team, and all the rest - just not the last one.

The pin-striped, powder blue, blonde-haired magic the Maple Valley boys wielded through their state tournament run finally ran out inside Michigan State University’s McLane Stadium in East Lansing Friday.

The Lions (29-8) were bested 5-1 by number one-ranked and defending champion Beal City (31-7) in the state semifinals, after three straight come-from-behind, late-inning victories to claim their program’s first regional championship in 49 years and a spot in the MHSAA Division 4 final four.

The Lions’ couple best chances to catch the Aggies, after the Beal City boys built a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, ended in the glove of Aggie second baseman Cuyler Smith.

Maple Valley seniors Connor Joseph, Ayden Wilkes, Callan Hoefler and Cam Carpenter all took one of their last varsity at-bats in the top of the fifth inning, and the Lions couldn’t have really hoped for more as they tried to dig out of a 4-1 hole. But Beal City made the plays that state champions make.

Right fielder Bennett Glide lunged toward the right field line to make a catch an inch above the grass keeping Joseph from a leadoff single. Wilkes beat out an infield single and Hoefler walked to put two on with one out, and it looked like more late-inning heroics were coming from the Lions.

Beal City pitcher Josh Wilson, who went the distance to save Aggie ace Cayden Smith for Saturday’s state championship game, struck out Lion junior Jakeb McDonald on three pitches for the second out of the inning, leaving Cam Carpenter as the potential tying run at the plate with two out.

Cam took a ball, watched a strike go by and then fouled one off down at his feet. He hit a little liner on the 2-2 pitch towards right centerfield.

McDonald said he doesn’t always keep a close eye on the field from the dugout when his team is down, but he did jump up to get a view when he heard the ting off Cam’s bat.

“I just see [the second baseman] jumping up and thought that might have a chance to go over, and then they might have to put in their ace to pitch, and we’ll have a rally going, but he barely caught it.”

“I can’t believe that kid caught that ball,” Cam said. “I was trying to battle with two strikes and I hit one over the kid’s, well I thought I hit it over his head, and the kid made an amazing play. You can’t be mad. I was hoping to score a run. There is only so much you can do.”

The Lions’ one scoring rally, in the top of the fourth, started with a ball the Aggies should have caught, but didn’t. Cam hit a pop-up down the left field line with one out and raced safely into second base as the ball dropped in off the Aggie shortstop. Two pitches later, freshman Teegen McDonald doubled into left to score Cam from second.

Senior Andrew Shepard was hit by a pitch with two out and Teegen McDonald still on second, but Carson Milbourn gounded out to Caylen Smith at second for the final out of the inning.

The Aggies answered right back with a run in the bottom of the fourth and then added another in the bottom of the fifth.

Beal City will play in the MHSAA Division 4 State Final for the third consecutive season Saturday. The Aggies were the state runners-up in 2022 and won the whole darn thing in 2023.

The Lions were just the third team to score against Beal City this postseason. The Aggies have shut out four foes and forced three mercy rule shortened ballgames this postseason.

The Lions didn’t cower in the face of the defending champs, and there weren’t any heads hanging and not many tears (among the players at least.) There was pride.

Jakeb McDonald pitched the the Lions allowing five runs on six hits and three walks. Hoefler threw the sixth inning allowing one hit.

Jakeb said he felt like he had a better grasp of how to handle the talented, top of the Aggie lineup after it hit him hard in that first inning.

Wilson got the complete game win on the mound for the Aggies. He struck out eight and walked two.

Maple Valley had three hits, two singles from Teegen and one from Wilkes.

Wilkes got one more at bat after that fifth-inning single. He came up after two quick outs in the too of the seventh. He popped the first pitch he saw up to Aggie first baseman Owen Mckenny. Beyond the bag at first, Wilkes dropped his helmet and held his head with his fingers in his bleach blonde hair before being gathered in by his teammates.

Coach Carpenter hopes for more good things to happen for Maple Valley baseball in the future.

“We are definitely senior led, but you saw some of the little kids here that have blonde hair,” coach Carpenter said. “That is our best recruiting tool right there is what those guys just did this year. We have a great group of seniors that we’re going to miss like crazy, but we’ll go at it again next year.” …

Read more in the June 22 edition of the Maple Valley News …

06/14/2024

MHSAA Division 4 Baseball State Semifinal: Beal City 5, Maple Valley 1.

More to come …

06/08/2024

It started to rain right before the trophy presentation.

That didn't stop Cam Carpenter, Ayden Wilkes and their teammates from furiously searching every nook and cranny of the first base dugout and surrounding area for every water bottle they could find inside Cornerstone University's Dewitt Stadium in Grand Rapids. There wasn't a big Gatorade jug in sight, but one way or another they were dousing the winningest head coach in Maple Valley baseball history, Bryan Carpenter.

Mission accomplished - in more ways than one. The Lions got to soak their head coach and the last goal on the preseason list, earning a spot in the final four at Michigan State University, has been completed.

Maple Valley came from behind in the sixth inning or later for the third straight time in the MHSAA Division 4 state tournament to score a 4-2 win over 16th-ranked Hackett Catholic Prep Saturday afternoon in the state quarterfinals. The Lions also came from behind to score a 5-4, eight-inning win over Adrian Lenawee Christian in their regional final Saturday morning at Cornerstone, and they scored the tying and go-ahead runs in their regional semifinal in the bottom of the sixth at Concord Thursday.

For the third straight time senior Andrew Shepard was in the middle of the late rally. He dropped down a squeeze bunt with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the sixth against Hackett, bringing Jakeb McDonald home from third, to tie the game at 2-2.

That RBI sacrifice bunt left the Lions with Cam Carpenter at third and Noah Musser standing on second base.

With his knees shaking, the Lions' Carson Milbourn swung and missed at two pitches from Hackett reliever Tyler Brand. Milbourn would say later that Brand was the hardest throwing pitcher the Lions have seen yet in the postseason. Down in the count 1-2, Milbourn got ahold of one. His RBI single into center scored Cam and Musser to give the Lions' their two-run advantage.

The Fighting Irish pushed across single runs in the first and second inning against Lion starter Teegen McDonald, but he kept pitching his way and kept getting outs. He got the win throwing six innings in which he gave up two runs (one earned) on three hits and two walks. He struck out four.

Callan Hoefler got the save in relief. He threw a perfect top of the seventh striking out the first guy he faced on three pitches and then getting a couple groundouts on the infield to clinch it.

The 29-7 Lions will face 30-7 Beal City in the MHSAA Division 4 State Semifinals Friday, June 14, at 9 a.m. inside Michigan State University's McLane Baseball Stadium at Kobs Field. Beal City, ranked number one in the state in Division 4, beat Lansing Christian 12-0 in its regional final Saturday in Muskegon and then beat the quarterfinal host Western Michigan Christian 10-1 to earn its spot in the semi's.

A few of the Lions wondered aloud on the turf at Cornerstone Saturday if they might finally earn a spot in the state's top 20 rankings now that they're among the final four teams left playing Division 4 baseball in the state of Michigan.

The last time the Lions won a regional championship was 1975. That team reached the Class C State Final where it fell to Bronson 8-1.

The Lions' sixth-inning rally against Hackett started with singles by Jakeb McDonald and Cam Carpenter. Teegen McDonald struck out after failing to get a bunt down, but Musser walked behind him to load the bases for Shepard's and Milbourn's clutch at-bats.

Maple Valley got its first run of the game in the bottom of the fourth. Cam blasted a leadoff triple over the Fighting Irish centerfielder. Teegen McDonald walked to put runners on the corners with nobody out.

Once Hackett starting pitcher Brooks Basler got set up back on the mound, Teegen started a slow trot towards second. The Fighting Irish bit, running slowly towards Teegen at first, but then they started throwing the ball around. Teegen kept the pickle alive long enough for Cam to see an opening, and he broke for home. Cam slid in safe, the ball got away, and Teegen wound up on third. He was stranded there though.

The Lions weren't quite perfect on defense either. Hackett started the top of the sixth with its 3-4-5 hitters coming up. Andrew Rann put a ground ball at Musser at third and it bounded through his legs. Next up was Noah Emmer, who grounded into a fielder's choice taking Rann's spot at first. Tyler Beech stepped into the batter's box and belted the ball to deep left field. Shepard, the Lions' left fielder, broke in first and then tried to leap up and snag it as it sailed over his head. Luckily for the Lions Christian Willis, who was in running for Emmer, didn't get a good read on the play and was held up at third.

Teegen got an infield pop up and a strike out to get out of the jam without allowing a run.

For the game, Cam Carpenter was 2-for-2 at the plate with two runs scored and he was intentionally walked once. Wilkes was 2-for-3 with a walk out of the leadoff spot. Hoefler, Jakeb McDonald and Milbourn had the only other Lion hits.

Renner had an RBI single for Hackett in the first inning and Kyler Higgins had a two-out RBI triple in the second inning.

Basler went 4 1/3 innings on the mound for Hackett. He was charged with one run on four hits and two walks. He struck out four. Brand took the loss allowing three runs in 1 2/3 innings. He gave up three hits and walked two while striking out one …

Pick up a copy of this week’s Hastings Banner to read more before Friday’s state semifinal, or look for more in next weekend’s edition of the Maple Valley News …

06/06/2024

Andrew Shepard hit it.

Concord left fielder Collin Thompson twisted and dove for it, but with the wind helping push the ball a little further towards the line he just couldn’t get there.

The ball hit the warning track in the corner.

Maple Valley varsity baseball coach Bryan Carpenter kept waving guys around third base. Teegen McDonald scored easily from second base. Noah Musser scored from first. The throw in to try and catch Musser got away behind the plate and Shepard kept trucking around second and into third, where his celebratory screams were that much louder to his teammates in the third base dugout and where coach Carpenter was standing to offer a hearty high five.

Shepard hit a two-out, two-run double that brought home what would prove to be the game-tying and game-winning runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Lions finished off a 3-2 win over the the Concord Yellow Jackets in the MHSAA Division 4 Regional Semifinal at Concord High School Thursday afternoon by putting them down 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh.

The whole go-ahead rally for the Lions started with two outs and a 1-2 count on McDonald. He hit a pitch into left field for a single and then Musser did the same. It was the first time the bottom half of the lineup for either team had caused a problem for the opponent all game.

The Lions head to Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids Saturday morning looking to win their first regional championship since 1975 (the year coach Carpenter was born). A regional victory would also mean they play in the state quarterfinal ballgame Saturday afternoon …

Read more in this weekend’s edition of the Maple Valley News …

06/02/2024

Lion senior Evan Brandenburg had his best sprints ever to qualify foe the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 State Finals.

He wasn’t too far off his PRs in the 200-meter and 100-meter dash at the the state finals at Hudsonville’s Eagle Stadium at Baldwin Middle School Saturday, and he had his second best long jump distance ever.

All that earned him two state medals. Brandenburg placed third in the long jump with a leap of 21 feet 4.75 inches and finished eighth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.35 seconds.

A time of 11.76 left him 13th in the prelim’s of the 100-meter dash.

Brandenburg was joined at the state finals by a pair of Maple Valley pole vaulters. Senior Nic Martin got over the bar at 11-0, but couldn’t quite match his 11-6 PR from earlier this season. Lion sophomore Athena Morehouse gave it her best shot at the girls’ opening height, 7-3, a mark that would have required she best her PR by nine inches.