Greg Esler led De La Salle to its first state semifinal appearance since 2007. He was named the county boys Coach of the Year. FILE PHOTO

Armada and Dakota in the girls game and De La Salle and New Haven in the boys are winners of annual Macomb County basketball awards.

John Baerwolf, who led Armada to the Blue Water Area Conference championship, was named the girls Coach of the Year, and Dakota, led by Player of the Year Tara Bieniewicz, was named Team of the Year.

Boys Player of the Year Romeo Weems sparked Team of the Year New Haven, which was joined in the state semifinals by De La Salle, led by Coach of the Year Greg Esler.

Award winners were selected by the sports staff at The Macomb Daily.

Baerwolf’s Armada team ended Croswell-Lexington’s dominance of the BWAC and finished 20-2 overall. The Tigers went 14-0 in the league.

A four-year starter, Bieniewicz averaged 13.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists as the senior point guard for a Dakota team that tied for the MAC Red Division championship and won MAC Red/White and Class A district tournament crowns, finishing 19-4. She shot 41 percent from the field and 76 percent from the free throw line.

Dakota also was named Team of the Year in 2013. Baerwolf won Coach of the Year for the first time.

Weems averaged 23.5 points, 10.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 4.8 steals while leading New Haven to its county-record fourth consecutive regional championship. The 6-foot-7 junior who has scholarship offers from multiple Big Ten schools was named state Class B Player of the Year by The Associated Press for the second consecutive year.

The Rockets won 26 games in a row – that stretched the 2017 state champions’ overall winning streak to 52 in a row -- before falling to Grand Rapids Catholic Central in the state semifinals.

Weems was the third Rocket named Player of the Year since 2015. Dmonta Harris won in 2015 and Eric Williams Jr. in 2017. New Haven was also named Team of the Year in 2015 and 2017.

Esler’s Pilots reached the Catholic League A-B Division tournament championship game before falling to U-D Jesuit, and then in the state tournament De La Salle defeated the Cubs in a quarterfinal game for a berth in the semifinals at the Breslin Center.

The semifinal appearance was the second by DLS under Esler, following a 2007 trip to East Lansing.

The Rockets and Pilots gave the county two boys semifinalists for the second time, the first since De La Salle and Parkway Christian advanced that far in 2007.

It was the fifth Coach of the Year award for Esler. He also won in 2008 and 1995 as the DLS coach, and in 1994 and 1989 while with Lake Shore.