OAKLAND / LIVINGSTON SPORTS BRIEFS: Lakeland knocking at the door; Novi linkers on rise
BY DAN STICKRADT
CORRESPONDENT
dan.Stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
WHITE LAKE — Many soccer teams in Oakland and Livingston counties have populated the boys’ soccer rankings over the years, and Lakeland is finally starting to knock on that door.
Perhaps the most improved team in this soccer-crazy region this fall, the Eagles are off to their best start in school history, with a record of 9-2-2 near the end of September.
The Eagles have sat in the shadows of Walled Lake Northern and Walled Lake Central in recent years, but they headed into October leading the KLAA North Division with 13 points halfway through the league season.
Senior Eric Reiter leads Lakeland with double-digits in scoring and has emerged as one of the top snipers in Oakland County.
KLAA WEST KICKS
Every season dating back to 2009, when Grand Blanc left the Big Nine Conference to join the KLAA West Division, Grand Blanc and Brighton finished as the top two teams in the league in boys’ soccer.
Brighton and Grand Blanc appear to be the top two in the division again this season, with both in double digits in league points at the mid-point of the campaign. Although both schools have featured numerous state-ranked teams over the years, neither program has ever won the state title in boys’ soccer.
Brighton and Grand Blanc tied for the division title last season, with Grand Blanc advancing to the 24-school KLAA Tournament final before falling to eventual Divisiion 1 state champion Canton.
Hartland, which also competes in the KLAA West, finished 0-9-1 in the league last season but has already seen vast improvements this season, with three division wins and an 8-3 start.
NOVI LINKING UP FOR BEST SEASON
It’s down to the final month of the girls’ golf season, and Novi has experienced its best season to date.
Along with multiple top five finishes at various tournaments this season, Coach Deb Harris watched her Wildcats post their highest-ever Oakland County Division 1 Tournament finish in September. Novi shot 328, one stroke behind tournament winner Lake Orion and one shot ahead of Rochester. Both Lake Orion and Rochester have logged weeks at No. 1 so far this season — meaning Novi is quite capable of contending for top honors.
“We have done well all season long. We’re one of the top teams in our Association [Kensington Lakes Activities Association], and we’ve played well in a lot of tournaments,” said Harris. “We won at Traverse City [Loerber Invitational] and have consistently played well at tournaments this year. We are not surprised to do so well here.
“Our goal is definitely to get to the state tournament again this year,” she added.
Novi finished in an all-time best fourth place at the Division 1 state final a year ago, with a two-day total of 675. It sat 32 strokes behind state champion East Kentwood but only 10 strokes out of second.
Novi started its girls’ golf program in the mid 1990s. The Wildcats first qualified for the state final in 2009, when they placed 15th in Division 1. Novi finished ninth in 2010 and again in 2013 before its first top-five finish last year.
The Wildcats only have one senior on the varsity roster, No. 5 golfer Maya Grandstaff. Alexa Hatz, Abigail Livingston, Leah Kiura, and Lauren Henry have all been consistent this season and will be back again next year.
“We should be really good the next couple of years. We only graduate one,” said Harris.
KLAA rival Brighton, a longtime state power, is also climbing the charts fast, rising to No. 3 behind Rochester and Lake Orion, both of the OAA Red Division.
LCS MOVING AGAIN
Livingston Christian School is some two decades old, but the tiny Christian school has housed itself in multiple locations in that time.
Located in the old St. Mary’s building near downtown Pinckney the last several years, the school is planning a move to a new location south of Brighton this year.
The Knights, who have been independent since the Metro Christian Conference disbanded in the late 1990s, joined the MHSAA five years ago. Livingston Christian offers boys’ and girls’ basketball, boys’ golf, and girls’ volleyball in high school and hopes to grow its enrollment and athletic department in the near future.