Yesterday, I looked at the Girl’s tourney and who may emerge as the representatives to play in Novi for the titles. Today, we’ll look at the Boy’s tournament and see who the favorites are and who may surprise.
Thanks to John Locy who arranged the regional sheets and created an actual bracket that is readable and does not take a degree in business flow-chart creation to understand. Yes, there probably is a college program that allows you to pursue a BA in the field.
Division I
After seeing some of the D I powers play this past week, I’m anticipating the potential finals matchups.
This year’s “Region of Doom” is clearly Region 2 (Lansing Catholic) which features Hartland, Brighton and Haslett, three quality teams.
Region 4 should be competitive – Northville, Walled Lake Northern, South Lyon East, Lakeland and Livonia all have legitimate shots at the title. Northville has a slight edge, but they have only played nine games this year – will the lack of work hurt them.
Region 6 features Brother Rice. It will take a monumental effort to get close to them.
Lake Orion is the top seed in Region 5, but there are three teams that are traditionally strong: Rochester Adams, Bloomfield Hills and Troy Athens. There should be some good games at Troy Athens.
Rockford, Saline, Catholic Central look to be clear-cut favorites in their regions.
The final region in D I is Region 8. Played in Oxford, Clarkston will get tough competition from Midland and Grand Blanc. The Wolves would only have to get past one of them to advance to the quarter finals.
Predicted Final Four
1. Brother Rice
2. Rockford
3. Hartland
4. Catholic Central
Sleepers: Saline, Clarkston, Brighton, Midland
Division II
The Division II landscape appears to be the best it has been in a few years. Forest Hills Central, East Grand Rapids, Detroit Country Day are the favorites, but they will get fierce competition from Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, Okemos, and Forest Hills Eastern. In the last few years, it was FHC and EGR and everyone else was trying to break through. FH Eastern did in 2019 but was routed in the final.
The regular season thriller between EGR and FHC provides hope for a close final – it may not be between those two teams, but I’m sure the fans of lacrosse are hoping for a battle.
It looks to me that Region 9 will provide the most drama. Traverse City St. Francis is the top seed with Forest Hills Northern, Spring Lake and Jenison in the #2, #3, and #4 spots, respectively. We could see some great games in the semi-final round and of course, the finals.
The other regions all have 1 excellent team as their top seed, which makes the state quarter-final games most intriguing.
Predicted Final Four
1. Forest Hills Central
2. Orchard Lake St. Mary’s
3. East Grand Rapids
4. Detroit Country Day
Sleepers: East Lansing, Portage Northern, Caledonia, Okemos
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