A year after winning a first-ever regional championship in boys’ lacrosse, Midland-Dow is back in the quarterfinal round.
Sixth-ranked Midland-Dow built a big lead, withstood a late surge by seventh-ranked Traverse City United, and finished strong to win Wednesday’s Division 1 regional final 15-8 at Midland Stadium.
Midland-Dow (16-3) will face third-ranked Detroit Catholic Central in Saturday’s 5 p.m. quarterfinal in Swartz Creek.
Midland-Dow led 4-2 after one quarter and outscored TC 4-1 in the second to carry an 8-3 lead into halftime before scoring five more goals in the second half to extend to a 13-3 advantage. TC stormed back late, netting five goals in a three-minute span to cut it to 13-8 with four minutes remaining, but Midland-Dow finished the game with a pair of unanswered goals to seal it.
Will Kuper led Midland-Dow with four goals, while Ryan Stadelmaier had three goals and two assists, Ryan Pomranky also had three goals, Kyle Riter had two goals and an assist, and Tucker Pomranky added a goal and an assist.
Cal Stearns scored Midland-Dow’s other goal, while Eli Elza had two assists, and Ryder Zastrow added an assist.
"(Midland-Dow goalkeeper) Tate Clerc had 11 saves and played the best game of his career, and
Aidan Wardell did an outstanding job on faceoffs, winning 12 out of 27,” noted Midland-Dow coach Joe Stadelmaier. “I thought our defense played really well. We made some adjustments to our game to help slow down their offense. Gabe Malace had eight ground balls and three controlled takeaways."