FHC golf has competed as an MHSAA division one team in what seems like forever. However, this past winter, the team dropped down to division two. Forest Hills Central is now the largest school in division 2 golf. Instead of competing with powerhouses like Ann Arbor Skyline and Detroit Catholic Central, the Rangers are now competing with schools such as East Grand Rapids, Northview, and Lowell.

With this historic change, how much is really affected? The answer is quite a lot. To begin, to even make it to the state finals, the team has to make it out of a completely new region. Some may say it should be easier by competing with smaller schools, but that is not always the case. Sometimes, these smaller schools are actually much better. For example, Lowell is smaller than FHC and has been in division two for a while, but last season, the Red Arrows beat the Rangers in multiple conference matchups.

Captain Nicholas Notarnicola commented on the change. “We will be competing more at our skill level in my opinion which will give us a better shot at regionals and maybe even states.” Nico is one of the many individuals who believes it should be easier to make it to the state finals, and some of the facts do support this. Greenville, for example, has not beaten FHC in golf in recent memory. With this drop to division two, Greenville is in the same region as the Rangers.

This change will affect the team in postseason play rather than the regular season. Assistant coach Mitch Timyan spoke on how the plan is to keep the schedule as difficult as possible despite the change. “The division we play in does not affect our season prep. At the end of the spring, we will be competing to shoot the best team score we can. Preparation for that always has and always will start before the season starts and continue all the way through.” The Ranger golf team will be forging along like normal during the regular season, and it sounds like a strong regional performance should be expected.

Last year, the Rangers played in one of the toughest regions in division one. With powerhouses like Forest Hills Northern and Mona Shores, the team did not have a strong showing, just sending team captain Joe Murdock to states as an individual. This year, the team is looking to bounce back. Key team member Brett Comiskey is aware of just how much the team wants to make it out of this year’s regional. “It really means a lot to the team this year. We didn’t perform last year, so we’re really looking to make up for that.”

The team didn’t perform last year in a stacked region, and now it appears that FHC has caught a break moving into a supposed much easier one. If the eyes weren’t on them beforehand, one can bet that everyone will now be watching to see if the team can take advantage of this historic move down to division two.