Troy Wins the Division 1 State Title

Troy High boys soccer won the MHSAA Division 1 state championship Saturday, Nov. 7, beating Livonia Stevenson 2-1 at Grand Ledge High School. The Colts finished 19-0-2, unbeaten, and won their first state title since 2003, MHSAA.com, The Oakland Press and The Detroit News reported.

The final

Troy scored twice in the first half. At 5:46, Faris Ibrahim scored off a free kick Ryan Wind sent in from about 40 yards. With 16:36 left in the half, Kevin Garay took a corner kick, Cole Cusmano flicked a header toward goal and Connor Hotts put it in from close range for a 2-0 lead.

With 13:05 left in the half, Niko Zhuli scored on a penalty kick for Stevenson. Neither team scored in the second half. Troy outshot Stevenson 15-3, and Stevenson goalkeeper Luca Allevato made six saves, according to the MHSAA box score.

The Oakland Press reported that Cusmano, a midfielder and co-captain, left early in the second half and did not return. The MHSAA play-by-play shows Garay replacing Cusmano at 33:20, in the first half, and does not show Cusmano again.

“We talk about that in the locker room to come out fast in games and put teams under early. There are always nerves early on in games, and you kind of want to capitalize on that in the attacking third. We did that in the state semi. We scored in the first 75 seconds, and today again we scored two pretty early goals.”

— Troy coach Adam Spinks

“Twenty-one games in, I hope we can manage a game now at this point in play. Losing Cole was big, but in a way it gave us more energy because he has been a big part of this program and a big part of the season, and that performance was for him.”

— Spinks

“It feels amazing. It’s everything I’ve ever dreamed for. All my years here, we’ve always been a good team. But we’ve never been able to get it and bring it home. And now that we’ve brought it home it just makes it feel so much better.”

— Blake Kuiper, Troy senior co-captain

Source: MHSAA box score; MHSAA.com, Nov. 7; The Oakland Press, Nov. 8; season game list, via Locals Thrive; MaxPreps

League and state

Troy won the OAA Red this season. In the last five years, Rochester Adams (2022 and 2024) and Troy Athens (2023) also won Division 1 titles from the OAA Red, The Oakland Press reported, and Troy is the only one of those teams to win the league title in the same season. Before Troy, the last OAA Red champion to win the state title was Troy Athens in 2019, the paper reported.

Troy finished 19-0-2, according to MaxPreps, the MHSAA box score and The Oakland Press. The two ties were 1-1 at Troy Athens on Tuesday, Sept. 15, and 0-0 with Birmingham Seaholm on Tuesday, Sept. 29. The Locals Thrive game list has the same results, except that it leaves the Sept. 29 game unscored.

Source: The Oakland Press, Nov. 5 and Nov. 8; MHSAA box score; MaxPreps; season game list, via Locals Thrive

The playoff run

• Monday, Oct. 19: beat Royal Oak 4-1 in the district
• Wednesday, Oct. 21: beat Birmingham Seaholm 4-2 in the district final
• Tuesday, Oct. 27: beat Warren Cousino 5-1 in the regional
• Thursday, Oct. 29: beat Utica Eisenhower 2-0 in the regional
• Wednesday, Nov. 4: beat Salem 5-2 in the state semifinal at Troy Athens. Cusmano scored 1:15 in and Kevin Garay scored three goals, The Oakland Press reported.
• Saturday, Nov. 7: beat Livonia Stevenson 2-1 in the state final at Grand Ledge

The district rounds are as Troy’s athletics site lists them. MaxPreps marks the Oct. 19 game as a tournament game and the Oct. 21 game as a league game, and the last four as playoff games. MHSAA.com reported that Troy won all six of its playoff games in regulation and outscored opponents 22-7.

Source: season game list, via Locals Thrive; Troy athletics site; MaxPreps; MHSAA.com, Nov. 7; The Oakland Press, Nov. 5 and Nov. 8

Stevenson’s season

Stevenson reached the final in Louis Sala’s first season as coach, and beat East Kentwood 1-0 in its semifinal on Wednesday, Nov. 4.

“I’m super proud of my guys and to be back here for the first time since 2008, I don’t know if any of them were born yet. I love this group.”

— Stevenson coach Louis Sala

Source: The Oakland Press, Nov. 8; season game list, via Locals Thrive

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Note on a name: Connor Hotts is spelled as coach Adam Spinks, the MHSAA box score and The Oakland Press spell it. Troy’s 2025-26 athletics roster spells the name Conner Hotts.