The 2004 High School Team tournaments were hosted at Alma College for the second time. Despite the snowstorm (our only one of the season), 43 teams made it to Alma. Thirty years after the inception of the event, we held the largest Michigan High School team tournament ever. And, similar to the Elementary and Junior High events, this event boasted a large number of new schools, five in the championship and two more in the reserve section. Chris Ballard directed this event, assisted by Stan Franklin.

In the Reserve section, multiple upsets plagued the field, as there were five draws on thirteen tables! The first of these came on table one as Kearsley C proved to be a bit too much for the young Ann Arbor King team to handle. Early positions appeared to favor Kearsley C to win the match, but King prevailed on boards 3 and 4 as Kearsley C wrapped up victories on boards 1 and 2, including a very creative game by Dale Almasy. Table two featured 2004 Junior High Team Co-Champions, Monroe MS, in a 3-1 victory over Clio B. Monroe HS B shut-out a 3-player Detroit Winterhalter team on table 3. Flint Kearsley B was stalled on table four in a draw with newcomers Byron B.

Notably absent from the Championship section were the 2003 first and second finishers, Detroit Renaissance and Ann Arbor Huron, and fifth place team Detroit Chadsey. First round action was much calmer in the Championship section than the Reserve section as the higher seeded team prevailed on each of the eight tables. Top-seeded Flint Kearsley A rolled Dearborn Fordson A with a 4-0 score on table one to get things started, Monroe A likewise shutout Clio A on table two. Detroit Southeastern A and Detroit Cass Tech A also scored 4-0 victories over their opponents, Goodrich A and Battle Creek Math & Science A.

And now, a short interlude from a clearly biased reporter. I was very excited about attending the high school team event this year, not only because we had an exciting field of players in a beautiful facility, but also because I wasn’t directing it. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love directing, but after having worked at the elementary and the junior high events on the two previous weekends, being a spectator at this event was positively delightful. This year, there were five Kearsley teams that joined the fray. And, each of those teams had an alumni team member as their assistant coach. As an alumni team member, I was assigned to Kearsley C, and I was very proud of the team performance. Go Kearsley C! Kearsley was not the only program with lots of teams and extra teams. Goodrich, in a form reminiscent of their second place performance from 2 years ago, brought 3 teams and an alumni assistant.

Round two proved just as taxing as round one for the top seeds in the Reserve section. Monroe MS and Monroe HS B both scored 3-1 defeats of their opponents, Cheboygan A, and Detroit Southeastern B, respectively. This was the only loss of the tournament for both Cheboygan A and Southeastern B. There were draws on the next four tables of the Reserve section as Brighton B and Cass Tech B were equal on table three, Detroit Robeson and Cheboygan B drew on table four. Ann Arbor King was again held to a draw, this time by newcomers Tecumseh on table five. Flint Kearsley B was again stalled as they drew with Detroit Northern B on table six. Kearsley C earned their first victory by defeating Ann Arbor Huron on table eight. Ann Arbor Huron played their first games after taking a half point bye in round one.

In the Championship section, round two did little to break the perfect Swiss as there was only one slight upset, coming in a Detroit Murray-Wright 2.5-1.5 victory over Detroit Southeastern A on table three. This was the only loss of the tournament for Southeastern A. Murray-Wright is a team to watch for in the future as they last year competed in the Reserve section for the first time. Flint Kearsley A was victorious over a young Detroit Cass Tech A team on table one, as was Monroe A over Dearborn A on table two. Both of these matches were won with 3-1 scores with Randall Brooks defeating Scott Thach to add 1 point to the Cass Tech column and a rapidly improving Nick Perlongo defeating Max Morefield to give Dearborn their point. Table four was not much trouble for Detroit Finney A as they won 4-0 over Brighton A. This was Brighton’s first appearance at the tournament. Look for them to do well in the future as well. Four first-time teams lost on tables five through eight as Dearborn Fordson A and Clio A shut-out Livonia Franklin and Byron A, respectively, on tables five and six, while Goodrich and Battle Creek Math & Science scored 3-1 victories over University of Detroit Jesuit and Frankenmuth, respectively.

The matches in the Reserve section were more decisive in round 3 as there were only two drawn matches. One of these however, occurred on table two as Detroit Northern A prevented Monroe HS B from achieving a perfect score. Monroe MS won all four games against Brighton B on table one. Flint Kearsley C(!) and Kearsley D prevailed over their opponents, Detroit Robeson and Detroit Cass Tech B on tables three and four, respectively. Ann Arbor King returned to form by scoring their first victory of the event over Cheboygan B on table five. Kearsley B also scored their first victory, over newcomers Mendon on table six. Detroit Southeastern B scored their second victory over Dearborn B on table seven and Cheboygan A also moved to two points with a victory over Clio B on table eight.

In round three, the matches on the top tables were much closer and more intense than the scores might indicate. Kearsley A defeated Detroit Finney A 3-1 on table one, but gave up two draws. Monroe A defeated Detroit Murray-Wright, winning on all four boards. Southeastern A and Cass Tech A got back into the trophy hunt by winning on tables three and four over Fordson, and Clio, respectively. Goodrich A also improved their total to two points by defeating Dearborn A on table five.

Entering round four, only one team remained undefeated in the Reserve section. Monroe MS settled into their seats at table one and waited to see who would challenge them in the final round. Three teams had 2.5 out of a possible three match points. Flint Kearsley D drew the short straw and faced the Junior High Team Co-Champions on table one, while Kearsley C(!) faced Monroe HS B on table two.

On table eleven, Dearborn Fordson B defeated Detroit Finney B. Earning bronze medals from their efforts at the event were Bilal Harp and Mohammed Cherri, boards three and four for Fordson B, as well as Tyson Cochran, first board for Finney B. Clio B and Tecumseh drew on table ten. Vijay Caplon won a bronze medal on board three for Tecumseh and Trevor Council won a bronze medal playing board two for Clio. League rivals Byron B and Goodrich B drew on table nine. Chris Lybrink scored three points to win a bronze medal on board three for Byron. Detroit Winterhalter was victorious over Ann Arbor Huron on table eight to become the first team with 2.5-match points. Robert and Nataiya Taliaferro won bronze medals on boards one and two, respectively, for Winterhalter. Detroit Robeson drew with Detroit Cass Tech B on table seven. Jonathan Evans and Robert Hughes won bronze medals on boards one and two, respectively, for Robeson. Robert Forsyth and Anthony Martin won bronze medals on boards three and four, respectively, for Cass Tech B. Cheboygan B was victorious over Brighton B to finish in sixth place with 2.5-match points and 11.5-game points. Winning bronze medals on boards three and four for Cheboygan were Nathan Luttmann and Charles Ciarkowski, respectively. A decisive match on table five propelled Detroit Southeastern B into third place with three match points and twelve game points. Drake Stewart was perfect on board two to earn a gold medal. He was joined by bronze medalists Brandon Brooks and Eric King. Tyrone Watkins earned a bronze medal on board three for Detroit Northern B. A very close match tipped Cheboygan A into the trophy circle. They finished in fourth place with three match points and ten game points. All Cheboygan players were led by a gold medal performance from Benjamin Brown on board three. Flint Kearsley B put up a strong fight, but only Brad Beagle, gold medal winner on board four, was victorious in the 2.5-1.5 match. Ann Arbor King, having found their groove, defeated Detroit Northern A on table three to finish in fifth place, with three match points and ten games points. Ivan Kacir and Justin Walker won bronze medals on boards two and four, respectively, for Detroit Northern A. Justin Walker’s quest for gold was stopped in the last round by gold medal winner, Andrew Elenbogen. Conner McGuckin won a bronze medal on board three.

And now the drama from the top two tables; neither of these matches went as long as others in the room, and both were determined by 3-1 scores. Kearsley C took an early lead on table 2 as Dale Almasy won straight away on board one. Dale earned on bronze medal for his effort. However, Dale’s win was negated almost immediately as Derek Robinson notched a point for Monroe B. Derek finished with a perfect score and a gold medal. As the match on table two continued to see-saw, Monroe MS slowly picked apart Kearsley D on table one. Matt Schofield completed his gold medal performance on board four for Kearsley, but Collin Smelcer and Christian Murphy prevailed for Monroe MS on boards two and three, respectively. They both earned bronze medals, as did teammate, Thomas Hoffman on board four. And, returning to table two, Sasha Noori stopped on his way to a perfect score by Will Scheller on board two and Brad Castellese won on board four to earn a bronze medal. Thus, the match on table two stood Kearsley C 1 – Monroe HS B 3. Kearsley C finished just out of the trophies, and Monroe HS B became the only team to have 3.5 match points. Would this be enough for a share of first place? Only a win on board one by Kevin Ormechea would prevent Monroe MS from earning their second title in as many weekends. However, his solid position only lasted for about 20 moves before Ashley Carter gained an advantage and completed a perfect score. Thus, Monroe MS finished first in the Reserve section, and Monroe B finished second.

Turning our attention to the Championship section, table one was oddly reminiscent of tables one and two from the Reserve section. After three rounds, the only two perfect scores belonged to top-seeded Kearsley A and second-seeded Monroe A.

A sweep by Clio A over Frankenmuth A on table six earned Clio the eighth place trophy with two match points and nine game points. Arin Puckett won a bronze medal on board four. Dearborn A lost to Dearborn Fordson A on table five, but Nick Perlongo drew to earn a silver medal for Dearborn A on board three. Goodrich A defeated Detroit Finney A on table four to leave Finney in seventh place with two match points and nine game points. Finney A was led by a silver medal performance from first board, Derek Wilder. The victory by Goodrich A moved them into fifth place with three match points and eight game points. Anthony Onica and Ryan Starski won bronze medals for Goodrich on boards two and four, respectively. Sandwiched between Finney A and Goodrich A, in sixth place, was Brighton A. Brighton A lost to Detroit Southeastern A on table two in the final round to finish with two match points and 9.5-game points. Josh Maddock won a bronze medal for Brighton on board two. League rivals Detroit Cass Tech A and Detroit Murray-Wright met on table three. Cass Tech A won the match by a 3-1 score. Randall Brooks won a gold medal on board one and Michael Harris added a bronze medal performance on board three. Cass Tech A finished in fourth place. Prince Barlow was the only member of the Murray-Wright team to score a point in this match. His final point, earned him a bronze medal. Detroit Southeastern A’s victory on board two put them at three match points and twelve game points behind a perfect performance by Kevin Smith and bronze medal performances from Roland Samuel and Jonathan Williams. Draws on boards two and four on table one left silver players with silver medals as David Whatling and Eric Myers earned silver medals for Flint Kearsley A and Gerald Paulovich and Kalyan Ramakrishnan earned silver medals for Monroe A. Intense time pressure on boards one and three created some tense moments, but tenacious play by John Gattinger and Max Morefield earned them gold and bronze medals, respectively and gave Monroe A clear first place. Detroit Southeastern A’s twelve game points to go with their three match points moved them into second place, while Kearsley A with 11 game points slipped to third.

Thank-you to all of the players and coaches who attended this exciting event in its 30th year.