Petoskey meets the end in quarterfinal, but bar more than raised in 2025-26

LAKE CITY — When the final buzzer rang out in the Lake City gym Wednesday, March 18 in what became Petoskey’s final game in a historic season, PHS senior Lauren LaHaie kept a smile on her face. And rightfully so. Sure, the moment may have called for tears, maybe hanging heads after a Division 2 quarterfinal loss to Flint Powers Catholic in a 53-38 final, but a smile and head held high as she hugged teammates seemed to fit better.

After all, LaHaie and her teammates were just part of a playoff run no Petoskey team had put together since well before they were born. It had been 27 years and LaHaie chose to celebrate that after giving it her all against Powers. “We started at the beginning of the season and talked about our goals and our goal was to be here,” LaHaie said.

“It was to be conference champs, it was to be district champs and regional champs. We accomplished it all, but one we didn’t get was the Breslin Center. But, we had a great group and there’s nobody else I’d rather have done it with.

You can’t be sad it’s over, we have to be happy that all happened. ” A senior seeing the bigger picture in a crushing moment is a big reason why the Petoskey girls team ended up where they did. That regional title that put them there was just the second ever by a PHS girls team and the first since 1999, so a 22-4 season like that isn’t just rare, it’s beyond that.