Five years ago: The best team in West Ottawa history made it to the D1 title game
The 2017-18 Holland West Ottawa boys basketball team went 25-3 and made it all the way to the Division 1 state title game. This photo was the cover of the team’s program taken by Laura Veldhof.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Holland West Ottawa boys basketball team was a lot of fun to watch in 2017-18 season. They would go down as the best team in school history with a 25-3 record.
On March 23, 2018 - five years ago today - West Ottawa beat Novi 53-50 to advance to the Division 1 state championship game.
I was lucky enough to cover that team for the Holland Sentinel newspaper.
The starters were Tyler Bosma, Xavier Wade, Nick Wehrmeyer, Drew Pederson and Liam Cavanaugh. All of them would go on to play college sports on some level.
Bosma is in his fifth year on the University of Kentucky baseball team. He easily could have played Division II basketball. Xavier Wade has won back-to-back National Championships on the Ferris State football team. Pederson has been playing Division I basketball the past four years - kind of. He has been a practice player for the University of Michigan women’s team along with his little brother Blake Pedersen. Cavanaugh just finished his fifth year as a college football player at Davenport University and Wehrmeyer played one year on the Hope College JV basketball team.
They were coached by Steve Windemuller and Jim Otteman was the assistant coach. Both of them retired from coaching last year.
Some of the West Ottawa seniors pose together for one final time at the Breslin Center on March 24, 2018. From left, Sean Cavanaugh, Liam Cavanaugh, Tyler Bosma, Nick Wehmeyer, Danny DeForest and Drew Pedersen. (Photo | Lenny Padilla)
The team would go on to lose in the championship game to Clarkston, a team that was the reigning state champs and had superstar Foster Loyer on the team. Loyer would score a stunning 40 points against the Panthers in a 81-38 drubbing.
I’ve been a sports journalist for a long, so I don’t root for teams. I don’t usually care who wins. But I will admit, I do root for certain players. On this team, I had two: Bosma was an elite athlete but just a great kid. Soft spoken, but commanded respect with his play. But my favorite player on that West Ottawa team was Danny DeForest. He was a good ball handler and a solid shooter, but he was the kid that made everyone laugh. And he didn’t try to. DeForest would go on to Belmont University where he also was a practice player for the women’s basketball team for a couple of years.
Here is the story I wrote the day that West Ottawa lost in the championship game:
“GOOG’S GANG CAREERS END END AT BRESLIN'“
EAST LANSING — When a small group of scrawny little kids got together to play during recess in elementary school, or shoot around on the basketball court with a ball that was bigger than them, they would talk about making it to the Breslin Center.
Nine years later, they are a lot taller, a lot more athletic and still playing basketball.
“This weekend was a dream come true,” West Ottawa senior Tyler Bosma said. “We’d picture it, we’d talk about it, we’d dream about it. We even talked about being here when we were back in elementary school. We’re like ‘we’ve got to get to The Breslin some day!’ We got here and I’m really proud of our guys.”
What started out as the Goog’s travel basketball team when they were little boys, ended on Saturday in the Class A state championship game. The Panthers didn’t end in a win, they lost to a powerful Clarkston team, 81-38. But it was the journey that they enjoyed most.
Eight of the nine seniors on the West Ottawa basketball team began their careers together in third grade: Bosma, Sean Cavanaugh, Danny deForest, Jon Hofmeyer, Chet Johnson, Drew Pedersen, Xavier Wade and Nick Wehrmeyer. Liam Cavanaugh would also join the crew.
“It started when we were in third grade at Fellowship Church,” deForest said. “Coach Boz (Duane Bosma) got the base of us together and he added a few more kids. We were all together up to fifth grade.”
The West Ottawa basketball team celebrates after beating Niles in the Division 1 state semifinals at the Breslin Center on March 23, 2018. From left, Sean Cavanaugh, Danny DeForest, Nick Wehrmeyer (5) and Jon Hofmeyer. (Photo | Lenny Padilla).
The team was started by Duane Bosma and Scott Pedersen, whose kids were the same age and needed a team to play on.
“Both of them have college experience and coach Bosma played for the Holland Blast and both of them played at Hope,” Drew Pedersen said.
They were a motley crew of boys who were good at basketball, but they didn’t have jerseys.
“We were playing travel basketball teams with a bunch of (future) Division I players and we’re playing in our orange, short-sleeve t-shirts without uniforms,” Bosma said with a laugh.
They got a sponsor from Holland restaurant Goog’s Pub and Grub, which is owned by Brad White.
“Our coach is a friend of the owner,” Wehrmeyer said. “We didn’t have any nice jerseys and (White) decided to sponsor us. That was fun. Not a lot of teams expected us to be that good wearing those weird jerseys. Those are some good memories.”
Wehrmeyer, who is now one of the shorter players on the West Ottawa roster, said it wasn’t always that way.
“I was actually taller than Xavier for awhile, until like sixth or seventh grade,” he said with a laugh. “I was one of the taller guys on the team.”
But it was Bosma who would tower over his buddies.
That’s just all we’ve known, ever since we were tiny, it’s been the same,” deForest said of the now 6-foot-6 Bosma.
The boys are tight friends on and off the court and they have two “dads” to keep them in line.
“It tightens our community because we see our coaches when we’re hanging out at each other’s houses on the weekends,” deForest said. “They’re always there for us. It’s like having two more dads for all of us.”
Said Bosma: “We go to Young Life together, we go to church together, we hang out on Saturday nights together.
We don’t go out and party, we just get together and play video games or whatever. We have a good time.”
Now that their basketball journey has ended, it’s hard to digest.
“It’s just fun to be together,” Pedersen said. “Just being there with each other and playing on the same court. It’s been great.”
From the playgrounds of Waukazoo and Lakewood Elementary schools to the Breslin, West Ottawa’s Goog’s Gang has been together.
“When we’re older, we’ll look back on this run. It will be pretty cool to think about,” Wehrmeyer said. “We talked about getting here for, I dunno, forever. It’s pretty crazy that we’ve had the same core of guys together for that long. And to be this successful is pretty amazing.”
