The 2023-24 Mid Peninsula boys' basketball and girls' basketball teams, coaches and statisticians pose for a photo with the Mackinac Bridge in the background on Feb. 9, 2024 in St. Ignace, MI.

There’s something special about a combination.

Peanut butter and jelly. Baseball and hot dogs. Tom Brady and Bill Bellichik.

But there’s one combination that flies somewhat under the radar. One combination that can take over cities and those who inhabit them. A combination that displays loyalty over specific colors.

Friday nights and high school sports.

In the fall it’s Friday nights spent under bright lights for football games, cheering on the home team in hopes of beating the team from the wrong town that dons the wrong colors. In the winter it’s Friday night basketball games spent indoors in high school gyms, because playing basketball outdoors in a Michigan winter is about as close to the definition of insanity as one can find.

But for Mid Peninsula high school, Feb. 9’s basketball action didn’t fall on a stereotypical Friday night. In fact, the Wolverines’ were hitting the road for a Friday afternoon varsity doubleheader in a far away land. A place that requires travel by land and by sea (but in this case, the sea is actually Lake Huron).

Mid Peninsula hit the road for a pair of games against an opponent it never played before. An opponent most high school sports fans in the state of Michigan most likely doesn’t even know exists. The Wolverines faced the Lakers, but not the ones from Los Angeles or Lake Superior State University.

These Lakers are from Mackinac Island.

Combining athletics and academics

In order to understand the matchup, one thing needs to be clear: yes, Mackinac Island indeed has a school that also has athletics.

Mackinac Island is known as a tourism hot bed when the state is not covered in snow. The island draws nearly a million people per year in tourism alone. Streets are flooded with people soaking in views, exploring nature or getting their hands on world famous fudge.

But in the winter, the island is home to 583 people, according to the 2020 US Census. These people travel by foot, bike, snowshoe or snowmobile. Mackinac Island Public School, according to MHSAA.com, has 26 high school students for the 2023-24 school year.

Mackinac island sophomore Emma Duke prepares to receive high fives from teammates before a game against Mid Peninsula on Feb. 9, 2024 at Mackinac Island Public School.

So how does a school with that small of a student population field teams large enough to compete in high school athletics? With help from a few MHSAA rules and a few rules of their own established in 2000, the Lakers compete in soccer, volleyball, basketball, track and field and golf.

Head coaches for teams are paid positions. The 2023-24 school year is the first year where the athletic director position is a separate position and not part of the superintendent/principal position.

Per MHSAA rules, any school that has between 51-100 students can bring up eighth graders to play varsity sports if necessary. Schools with less than 50 students can bring up eight and seventh graders if necessary.

With 26 high school students, the Lakers rely on junior high students to help flesh out the roster. Its 2023-24 girls’ basketball team features one senior, one junior, three sophomores and a pair of seventh graders. Their boys’ team features three seniors, three juniors, one sophomore, one freshman, two eighth graders and two seventh graders.

But how does a school with such a small student body entice kids to play sports in the first place?

According to Mackinac Island athletic director and math teacher Christina Alexander, the school created an incentive for students to participate in athletics.

Since 2000, any student who participates in and completes a high school sport season for Mackinac Island gets a quarter of their mandatory physical education credit covered. A student can play four years of a singular high school sport and never have to take a high school gym class.

Students who decide to skip on sports and take gym class instead are still not immune to eligibility rules. Those who don’t play sports must have no worse than a 70% in any of their classes to attend Mackinac Island sporting events.

“It’s wonderful being able to have games here and have a large gym at our school,” Alexander said. “Having these facilities for our students is beneficial, and that just goes back to the academic piece by any way we can intertwine athletics and academics.”

Mid Peninsula’s Kacie Branstrom (31) heaves a 3-point shot during a game against Mackinac Island on Feb. 9, 2024 at Mackinac Island Public School.

But how do the Lakers find teams to play? Well, they’re not the only secluded school in the state of Michigan.

Mackinac Island is part of the Northern Lights League. This league features schools with similar obstacles when it comes to enrollment and, to an extent, location.

For the 2023-24 basketball season, the NLL includes Hannahville Nah Tah Wahsh and its high school enrollment of 56 students, Big Bay de Noc (58 high school students), Beaver Island (18) Kinross Maplewood Baptist (27) Ojibwe Charter, located in Brimley (45), Grand Marais, located in Burt Township (29) and Wetmore Munising Baptist (48). (Click HERE to see where these schools are located)

In total, the NLL’s combined student enrollment is 307 students, big enough to compete in Division 3 in this year’s boys’ basketball tournament and still smaller than 58% of high schools in the state of Michigan.

“We find it’s beneficial to play against those smaller schools,” Alexander said. “We do also like competition against schools that may be a little bit bigger than us or on a different level than we are. I think it’s important for our students to be able to compete with other students from those schools.”

The league also features a regular season champion and a tournament champion in its sporting seasons. For Big Bay de Noc girls’ basketball, it’s been four-straight seasons at tournament champions and three regular season championships since 2020.

“It’s a league where you can have eighth graders start on varsity. You can have a team that only has six or seven girls in the whole school going out for basketball, still have a team and still be successful,” Big Bay de Noc girls coach Bob Pederson said. “Some of my seniors started as eighth graders. Now they’re seniors and it really shows the development over the years instead of sitting on the bench. They get out on the court and get that valuable experience.

“There’s a lot of camaraderie, the girls like each other. They text each other on social media. It’s pretty cool.”

The biggest challenge the Lakers face is transportation, especially in the winter months.

The only ways to get to Mackinac Island is by ferry or by plane. Snow and ice forces Mackinac Island to adjust its schedule at any given moment.

But for Mid Peninsula, all was clear on this day. No snow storm, no ice to shut off routes for ferries. It was a business trip, but on a school day.

Combining athletics with lifelong memories

It’s 7:30 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 9. With a total of 191 students K-12 housed in one building, it’s a quiet morning.

Players slowly make their way to the school. Before they step on the bus they are offered breakfast provided by the school. There’s also a plethora of snacks and Pop-Tarts on the bus.

By 7:55 a.m., the bus, driven by Wolverines’ girls’ basketball coach Kristie Hemminger, is en route to St. Ignace.

It’s a 137-mile trek to the dock, followed by a 40-minute ferry ride. But in 2024 and decent cell phone service, the players are easily kept entertained. At least for those who opted not to catch up on sleep.

A wide array of conversations break out on the bus ride over. Some topics make sense, like why is the Mackinac Bridge magically the divider between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan?

Some are slightly out of left field. After watching Tik Toks of groundhogs, some kids are left wondering if groundhogs could make good house pets.

Then there’s the bold proclamation of senior Bradely VanDamme. He believes he could easily defeat Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark in a one-on-one game. VanDamme claims he would find success in the post. He was also the only one who believed that.

Then, about 15 miles east of Manistique, the bus randomly pulls over. It’s 9:19 a.m., two hours until the ferry ride and less than four from tip-off, and the engine warning sign illuminates on the front dash.

Fortunately, there was incredible cell phone reception, so there was little to no worry from the kids. But the adults did everything to make sure that the show could go on.

Fortunately, it was a faulty sensor. After a quick reset everything was back to normal. The show continued with no more hiccups.

After a quick stop at a rest area and a group photo outside of St. Ignace overlooking the Mackinac Bridge, the Wolverines arrive at the dock in St. Ignace 50 minutes early.

By 11:15 a.m. the team is on open waters. It’s a 40-minute ride, but with wind gusts up to 30 knots, waves up to 4-feet tall and an ice bridge still fairly solid, the ride is anything but smooth. The ferry rocks back and forth like a weird combination of a sleepless parents arms desperately trying to get an infant back to sleep meets the town drunk stumbling down Main St. at 3 p.m. on a Wednesday.

Members of the Mid Peninsula basketball teams chat to kill the time aboard a ferry to Mackinac Island on Feb. 9, 2024 on the waters of Lake Huron.

Once the team arrives at the island it’s a ½ mile walk from the dock to Mackinac Island Public School. A 35 degree day is combined with the wind, which is biting harder than a rabid dog’s teeth on a peanut butter covered steak.

Then the team arrives at the gymnasium (view that by clicking HERE). There’s three rows of blue bleachers on either side, a weight room on the upper portion looking over the gym floor.

It was gametime.

Mid Peninsula senior Kristin Koth (32) receives high fives Hope Brungraeber (4) Rachel Johnson (5) Josie Hemminger (15) and Olivia Nummilien (22) before a game against Mackinac Island on Feb. 9, 2024 at Mackinac Island Public School.

First up was the girls, who fell behind 35-21 with 4:29 remaining in the third quarter. The Wolverines then clamped down defensively, keeping the Lakers scoreless for 12:30 while going on an 11-0 run, capped by a layup from Hope Brunngraber to pull within three points with 1:42 to go off a layup from Hope Brunngraeber. Senior Rachel Johnson attempted to tie the game with 59.3 left, but her triple came up short. The Lakers got a layup to go up 37-32 with 14 seconds remaining to seal the game.

Up next was the boys, who entered halftime down 26-15. But Mid Pen came to life in the third stanza. Sophomore Dane Micheau scored all 10 of his points in the third quarter. Combined with a pair of triples from senior Bradley VanDamme and a basket from senior Caleb Lofquist, the Wolverines led 35-32 entering the fourth quarter off a 20-6 outburst.

Mid Peninsula sophomore Michael Jenkins Jr. (3) delivers a pass during a game against Mackinac Island on Feb. 9, 2024 at Mackinac Island Public School.

With layups from Lofquist and freshman Cyler Brunngraeber, the lead opened to 39-32 with 6:41 left. The Lakers scored 14 of the game’s final 16 points to claim a 46-41 win.

After the games it was another ½ mile back to the dock, this time through the heart of the town and out of the win. It was a walk down Cadotte Ave., then onto Market St., then down Hoban St., which featured the lone open restaurant, Kingston Kitchen at The Village Inn, on the journey back to Main St.

But Main St. wasn’t its normal vibrant self. On this day Main St. felt abandoned, outside of a few people riding bikes, a few snowmobiles parked on the streets, a couple business owners doing work on their shops and as many road apples as one brave soul could stomach (view that by clicking HERE).

While the Wolverines left Mackinac Island with losses, they gained an experience few high school student athletes experience in their lifetime. They got to play on Mackinac Island.

“I don’t think it’s set in for them  because they’re young,” said Hemminger, a Mid Peninsula graduate who got to experience the trip with her daughter Josie. “I think later down the road when they talk they’ll say ‘hey, you know what, when I was in high school we got to play on Mackinac Island.’ I think that’s just going to bring all the experience, completely. Even if I didn’t have my daughter playing, the kids are my kids because I’m a bus driver. I know the kids, I know the parents.

“It was a great experience.”

While Mid Peninsula takes students to Mackinac Island on a field trip in elementary school, this trip offered a new environment and purpose.

“That was definitely different, especially during the school day,” said Wolverines’ boys coach Carl Brunngraeber, who also teaches sixth grade at Mid Peninsula. “I know they had students coming in and out, it was definitely a different experience overall. Our gym has bleachers really high on one side of the gym, they have three rows on each side.

“It’s definitely different, but it was a great experience.”

Mid Peninsula boy’s basketball head coach Carl Brunngraeber (middle) chats with sophomore Michael Jenkins Jr. (3) and freshman Cylar Brunngraeber (3) during a game against Mackinac Island on Feb. 9, 2024 at Mackinac Island Public School.

Brunngraber also got to experience the trip with his family. His daughter Hope is a sophomore on the girls team. His son Cyler is a freshman on the varsity team. He has another son, Carson, who serves as team manager. Even his wife got to tag along to make it a family trip.

But most of all, students of Mid Peninsula High School got a one of a kind memory

“It’s a really cool experience. Hopefully we will continue it,” Carl Brunngreaber said. “I coach a lot of different sports, so I know a lot of the kids in school. That’s the goal every day, right? Give them an experience every day.

“It’s absolutely amazing.”