Mason Comes Back, Comes Through in D2
November 7, 2015
By Butch Harmon
Special for Second Half
COMSTOCK PARK – The soccer season ended Saturday similarly to how it started for Mason.
The big difference was that the Bulldogs were hoisting the Division 2 championship trophy at the end.
Mason earned its fourth boys soccer championship with a 3-2 victory against Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern in the Division 2 Final at Comstock Park. The teams played to a 2-2 tie through regulation and overtime before Mason outshot Forest Hills Northern 4-3 in a shootout.
Mason almost didn’t make it to overtime as Forest Hills Northern scored a late goal with 2:32 remaining in regulation to take a 2-1 lead. With time running down, however, Mason turned up the pressure in a frenzied effort to tie the match. That effort paid off when, with 38 seconds left, Christian Jordan knocked a shot in during a scramble in front of the Forest Hills Northern net that tied the game.
“We just went full out,” Jordan said. “After they scored to take the lead I thought we were about to lose. We just attacked the net. We made a play called number six, and Caleb Graham took a shot on goal. It bounced right to me, and I just poked it in. When I scored that goal, I just ran to our student section and was pointing at them. It was incredible.”
Fellow senior captain Holden Dippel had a little more confidence in the comeback than his teammate did.
“I knew we could come back,” Dippel said. “We’ve been down and have come back before this year. It happened to us in our first game of the season against Williamston. We fell behind by a goal and came back. We started the season this way, and we ended it with a comeback.”
To complete the comeback, however, the Bulldogs needed to go through a pair of 10-minute overtime periods that were scoreless, sending the match into the penalty-kick shootout.
Dippel gave Mason the early lead when he scored in the first round after Forest Hills Northern missed its first penalty kick.
Both teams scored in the second round of the shootout with Travis Barrington scoring for FHN and John Kingman answering for Mason.
In the third round Forest Hills Northern missed again while Mason’s Tristan Pease scored to put Mason up 3-1 with two rounds left.
FHN then cut the margin to 3-2 on a goal from Hunter Barrington, and Mason was unable to answer. Northern’s Diego Compean kept the Huskies’ hopes alive with another score, but Mason’s Lirim Shefkiu then scored the deciding goal, setting off a wild Mason celebration for its first soccer title since winning Division 2 in 1997.
“It feels so good,” Dippel said. “We’ve been talking forever about getting a state title. This is just insane. To win it in our senior year like this is just crazy.”
Mason coach Nick Binder knew exactly what his players were feeling, as he was a member of that title team in 1997.
“As a coach I feel so great for these kids,” Binder said. “I’ve known a lot of these kids since they were 5 and 6 years old. This is exciting for the whole community. It’s always been a goal of this team to win a state title. Growing up playing soccer in Mason, it’s always a goal to win a state title.”
The title was hard-earned as Mason needed to battle from behind for almost the entire match.
Forest Hills Northern took the first lead at 15:13 of the first half when junior Evan VanNortwick scored.
Mason came back to tie the match at the 31:15 mark of the second half when Jordan scored on a header, making the score 1-1.
The two teams then battled it out as the second half wound down. Forest Hills Northern applied some heavy pressure late, and with 2:32 remaining in regulation Travis Barrington scored on a header giving the Huskies the 2-1 lead and pulling them within seconds of a first-ever soccer title.
“We just had 38 seconds to go but they got one on us,” Forest Hills Northern coach Daniel Siminski said. “It was a scramble in front of the net, and it’s hard to describe. (Mason) earned it. It is what it is. I have no regrets because the kids did all they could do. There were 118 teams that started the tournament in Division 2, and we ended up playing on the final day. We knew our season was going to end one way or another.”
Forest Hills Northern ended the season with a 22-2-3 overall record. Saturday’s appearance was its first in an MHSAA Boys Soccer Final.
Mason ended with a 24-3 overall record.
“Our guys just kept battling,” Binder said. “Even when we were down at halftime, they believed. They believed at the end of regulation and they believed in the shootout. Their confidence never wavered.”
PHOTOS: (Top) A Mason player looks for an opening with Cameron Leitz (12) blocking the way. (Middle) Forest Hills Northern’s Hayden Strobel heads the ball while surrounded by Mason defenders.
Several Northern Michigan Hopefuls Setting Up for Potential Postseason Success
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
September 9, 2022
Not a whole lot is changing — yet — in the Big North, Northwest and Lake Michigan soccer conferences this year.
Traverse City Christian, an independent, is taking on schools from all three and wants a different District result to get back to Regionals this fall. And, perhaps surprisingly, Kalkaska is looking to change things too.
Traverse City West, Elk Rapids and Christian loaded up their early season with strong nonconference competition. Nothing new. And Leland and Buckley, fast becoming arguably the biggest rivals in northern Michigan, did the best they could to schedule nonconference competition aimed at leading to yet another deep postseason run.
Of course West and Elk Rapids have their eyes on the postseason — again — as well.
West, coming off its annual Labor Day weekend tournament hosting Grand Haven, Midland Dow and Mason, is off to a 6-1 start, posting shutouts in its first four contests. Christian is 5-1-1.
Elk Rapids is off to a 2-5-1 start. That’s not a misprint.
And, by the way, Kalkaska is undefeated in regulation in its first six games.
That’s not an error either. Third-year coach David Wagner has his Blazers playing well and has seen some stellar goaltending by junior Kayden Dueweke-Gonzales. A shootout loss is the only blemish.
Wagner is hoping his team can pick up more wins than has been the case for some time for the Blazers in the Lake Michigan Conference.
“I think we will be much more competitive than we were last year,” Wagner said of the Blazers, who are 5-1 overall and 2-0 in Lake Michigan play.
Nate Plum, now is his 15th year at the helm of Elk Rapids, is not overly concerned about his team’s win-loss record at this moment. He’s more concerned with the Elks learning from their experiences and hopes he will see stronger competition in the Lake Michigan Conference this year from teams like Kalkaska.
Despite what many would call a slow start, the Elks are still rated among the state’s top Division 3 soccer teams and are drawing the attention of the soccer community across the state.
Elk Rapids has made many postseason runs under Plum, who came into this fall with a 241-102-33 record as the Elks coach. Elk Rapids reached the Division 3 Semifinals last season before losing a shootout to the eventual champion, Grand Rapids South Christian. The Elks also reached the Semifinals in 2020, falling to South Christian. Elk Rapids has won four straight District titles, the last two in part because of one-goal and shootout wins over TC Christian.
The Elks prioritize playing teams like they may see at the end of the season, allowing the competition and conditions to force improvements. Teams are getting stronger in the Lake Michigan Conference, Plum is excited to note, but Elk Rapids hasn’t lost a league game in five years.
So the Elks have looked for opportunities to play on turf and tough environments like TC West and East Grand Rapids.
“The boys would rather be playing in late October than racking up wins now,” Plum said. “I know I’ve got to put them in situations where they have to get better — the only way the boys can get better sometimes is play games we’re not going to have the ball the entire time and they’re going to challenge us and put us in uncomfortable spots.
“When the games really matter at the end of the year and we find ourself in tough situations, we can say, ‘We’ve been in something like this, and we’ve seen it before,’” he continued. “Maybe putting us in those situations are more important to me than wins.”
TC Christian, a long-time regular and postseason opponent of the Elks, has its eyes set on knocking off the Elks in the District this time.
The Sabres are getting closer, but they haven’t made a Regional appearance since 2010. They will host the Elks on Sept. 20.
Roy Jay Montney, who owns a 37-10-3 record with the Sabres, said since they are independent, his program schedules every game with the postseason in mind.
“We are not in a league, so we are thinking of the postseason,” Montney said. “We’re preparing for the postseason each game.”
The coaches share mutual respect.
“Elk Rapids is great program,” Montney said. “They’ve put together a consistent team and program for years.
“They will be strong and they will come out to play, and hopefully we’ll be ready for it.”
Christian is not ready to focus on the Elks yet. They will play Holland, Midland and Traverse City Central before that Sept. 20 meeting on the pitch.
“They’re (Sabres) tough competition, no question about that,” said Plum. “A lot of times I feel the one during the season is a soccer game and the next one is a bunch of emotion.
“Nobody wants to lose come October, and everyone is playing like it’s their last game,” Plum continued. “They have to make it really tough to win the District and you’ve got to give them credit for that.”
The Elks have been led by junior Alex Smith, who has four goals and two assists so far. The Sabres have been led by senior Henry Reineck’s six goals and one assist.
Buckley, coming off its first Northwest Conference championship won last fall, is hoping to repeat but again must get past perennial league champ Leland (2-2-1), which has made many deep postseason runs including to the Division 4 championship in 2018.
Leland reached the Regionals in 2019 and 2020 before suffering a 1-0 District championship loss to Buckley in 2021. Rob Sirrine, now in his second year as the head coach, was an assistant coach for the Comets during those runs.
“We’ve got a really young team this year and are excited to see which underclassmen step up and contribute,” said Sirrine. “Our goal is to make it to Regional Finals at a minimum.
“We’ve had a few solid games and a few lackluster games so far, but it’s early,” he continued. “We’ll be working out the kinks over the next several weeks to be ready for playoffs this year.”
The playoffs will come after home and away games with Buckley in league play. The Bears and Comets are competing in different Division 4 Districts this year. Instead of loading up the nonleague schedule, capturing a league crown is critical to the Bears’ postseason preparation, veteran coach John Vermilya pointed out.
“We haven’t gone to the lengths of like Elk Rapids, TC Christian and Leland,” he said. “They’re always playing the biggest dog they can get.
“We’re trying to get a flavor of what is outside of our conference,” he continued. “We are just trying to win games and get one of the two seeds in District play.”
The Bears are going into a game today with Manistee, a Division 3 team, at 4-3-1. They’ve recently benefited from two Spanish and one Italian exchange student entering the district.
Buckley lost to eventual Division 4 champion Wyoming Potter’s House Christian in a Regional Semifinal last year.
Meanwhile, Traverse City West (6-1) is eying another postseason run and taking on Holland on Saturday. The Titans picked up a win in their conference opener Thursday over Petoskey.
Since taking over the West helm in 2015, Matt Griesinger has guided the Titans to a 123-30-15 record, District championships the last three seasons and Division 1 Finals appearances in 2019 and 2020.
The Titans have won the Big North Conference the last 12 years. Griesinger credits senior goalie Trae Collins for much of the early success this fall. Collins has a goals-against average of 0.81 through seven games.
Petoskey dropped to 6-5 overall with the West loss.
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Elk Rapids' Caden Moore (9) gets his head on the ball during an Aug. 23 game against Petoskey. (2) Keeper Kayden Dueweke-Gonzales leads Kalkaska in its warm up before Thursday’s win over Boyne City. (3) Henry Reineck kicks the ball around during a Traverse City Christian practice. (4) Traverse City West keeper Trae Collins takes a moment during his school’s junior varsity game. (Top photo by Kate Parrish, Kalkaska photo courtesy of the Blazers’ athletic department, and Traverse City Christian and West photos by Tom Spencer.)