Balanced Falcons Bring Title Back Home
November 9, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
East Kentwood’s exit in the 2011 District Final was the team’s earliest from the MHSAA boys soccer tournament since 2003.
Although it came against a formidable opponent, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, that was ranked just a few spots lower and had beaten the Falcons earlier in the season, the loss still didn’t sit right for a team that had won three of the past four Division 1 Finals.
East Kentwood made the fixes this fall to push that championship run to four of the last six.
The Falcons get a Second Half High 5 this week after finishing another title push with a 1-0 win over Grand Blanc in Saturday’s Division 1 Final at Troy Athens. They finished this fall 22-1-4.
“Every team has a personality, and the personality of this team was unity,” Conlon said. “That’s not coach-speak. They bought into each other, bought into their roles, were very unselfish.
“Last year, we focused on the wrong things, and that bit us at the end of the season. When you play great teams like Grand Blanc and Novi, it comes down to trusting teammates. And we won a 1-nothing tight game … because we trusted someone up top, and he scored.”
East Kentwood totaled an impressive 85 goals this season, considering especially the strong schedule again this fall. That lone goal in the Final came from junior Emir Cengic, a defender who will be part of the attack in 2013 but hadn’t scored this season before tapping in the team’s final goal of 2012.
That ending was indicative of the balanced contributions from all over the field. Senior midfielder Charlie Constantino is perhaps the team’s best-known talent, and he had a solid 10 goals and 11 assists. But senior forward T.J. Ifaturoti led the team with 16 goals and senior defender Tyler Moorman also added 10. Senior midfielder Josh Hagene had a team-high 12 assists, with junior forward Erick Pizano also totaling 11.
The balance extended to the net, where senior Denis Duratovic had nine shutouts and a 1.0 goals-against average. But sophomore Peyton Gonzalez finished the run with shutouts in the Semifinal and Final, giving him four in eight games with a 0.38 GAA. Both were beneficiaries of a group that prided itself on defense although it was known more for its attack.
“There’s definitely a pressure on the guys. We have a bunch of our former players who come back and tell them how good they were, so the guys have expectations to live up to,” Conlon said. “Honestly, we don’t talk a lot about state championships. We talk about doing the right thing and focusing on the game at hand. It sounds like coach-speak, but really, that’s what we focus on
The Falcons final moments of 2012 were part another show of unity and tribute to one of many who helped establish the program’s success and expectations before them. They posed in the team photo with their trophy and medals wearing black T-shirts with the words “Seal Team Three” in honor of former player David Warsen. The Navy Seal played for East Kentwood from 2001-04 and died in August in Afghanistan. Two of his brothers also played for the Falcons; Ryan was the main keeper when the team won its previously most-recent title in 2010.
“Today was just a fun celebration,” Conlon said after the photos were taken. “That’s the way we looked at the day.”
PHOTO: East Kentwood goalkeeper Peyton Gonzalez (far right) prepares to snag a shot amid teammates and Grand Blanc players during the Falcons' 1-0 win in the MHSAA Division 1 Final. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Performance: Holland's Jose Penaloza
November 9, 2017
Jose Penaloza
Holland Soccer – Senior
Penaloza, a four-year varsity starting forward, averaged more than a point per game during the Division 2 tournament to help Holland claim its first MHSAA Finals championship. He scored his final high school goal in the Dutch’s 3-0 win over East Lansing in Saturday’s championship match to earn the Michigan Army National Guard “Performance of the Week.”
An all-stater as a junior – when he scored 26 goals – Penaloza missed 10 games over five weeks this season after suffering a right knee sprain in his team’s first home game against rival Holland Christian. But his scoring touch was fully returned by playoff time. He ended the season with eight goals and nine assists, but with six goals and four of those assists over seven postseason games. Holland was one of three first-time champions at this year’s Finals, and has become known locally over the last few seasons for breaking team huddles with a “Los Dutch” shout – a unifying nod to the various ethnicities of its players. Penaloza – a fan of Real Madrid and Pumas of the Mexican league – moved to Holland from California in sixth grade and didn’t play soccer at his new school until friends got him to come out in eighth grade. He joined the high school varsity a year later as a freshman and four years later capped his career with 40 goals and 27 assists.
As part of his school work, Penaloza attends classes in auto body repair at the Careerline Tech Center in Holland. He had been focused on following that career path, but of late he’s begun considering as well studying entrepreneurship and playing soccer at the college level – with an eye on potentially starting a business after school is done. He said he enjoys hands-on work and being part of the before-and-after process of auto body repair – even as he excels in doing damage to opponents’ chances on the soccer field with his feet.
Coach Greg Ceithaml said: “Jose Penaloza is one of the hardest working players I know, making his success well-earned. He plays with great emotion, and his passion is contagious. I was very upset to see his season truncated by injury, but his persistence and dedication to return to the pitch were inspiring. I was very happy to see him contribute to the team's ultimate success in winning a state championship.”
Performance Point: “It was a feeling that I probably won’t ever be able to describe,” Penaloza said of his championship match goal. “I felt like as soon as I kicked it in it was just such a relief to our team. It gave us the confidence for the whole game. … I feel like once they see me going, that it gives them motivation. As soon as I score, it’s a feeling like, ‘He’s in this game. We’ve got to pick up ours and just do the best to keep that going.’ If I score, they feel like, ‘We’re doing really good. Let’s keep it up. We can do more.’”
Coming back strong: “Having such a great year last year gave me so much more motivation to keep going this year. I wanted to do as much as possible, make everything I could. And then getting hurt gave me a step back. I felt like everything was over at that point. (But) I took my injury really seriously. I did everything I had to … as soon as they gave me treatments and what to do, I did them. It was just more motivation to me to get back on the field and do what I do, what I love best.”
Seen from the sidelines: “Our reaction time, how we start the game, how we react after we or the other team scores. I was just seeing small points (watching while I was injured) where we can increase just by simply talking with our team – some small things we can do to get better. I witnessed it myself. I saw it through my teammates, so once I got back I was like, I can’t be doing what they’re doing. To have a change, you’ve got to be the change. … Almost daily, they were telling me like, ‘Hey, we need you back’ or ‘We wish you were back already. Why can’t you be back?’ So it was giving me motivation to come back. Once I got the news that I was playing, they were really excited about it.”
Great expectations fulfilled: “My class, eighth grade year, we went undefeated. We didn’t have every player we did our senior year, but we picked up some very talented players that helped us through it. When we were eighth graders and went undefeated, we were like, ‘We’re going to win state.’ Our junior year we made it to Regional Finals, so we were kinda expected to make it at least that far this year. And we all had it in mind that we’re not just going to make it this far to end where we did last year, so it gave us more motivation to keep going. The next thing we knew, we were in the state finals.”
Shout out to Los Dutch: “It was just something to get us going. The fact that for so many years, we just said ‘Dutch.’ And then we started saying we’re not just one race; we’re more than one. So when we say ‘Los Dutch,’ I feel like every time we said it, it just brought us together, that we acknowledge all the different races and yeah, we didn’t really care about it. It just brought us together even more. … (To my teammates:) We made it. We’re state champs.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2017-18 school year, Second Half and the Michigan Army National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom or protect lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2017-18 honorees:
November 2: Karenna Duffey, Macomb L'Anse Creuse North cross country - Read
October 26: Anika Dy, Traverse City Central golf - Read
October 19: Andrew Zhang, Bloomfield Hills tennis - Read
October 12: Nolan Fugate, Grand Rapids Catholic Central football - Read
October 5: Marissa Ackerman, Munising tennis - Read
September 28: Minh Le, Portage Central soccer - Read
September 21: Olivia Theis, Lansing Catholic cross country - Read
September 14: Maddy Chinn, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep volleyball - Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Holland's Jose Penaloza controls the ball in the midfield during Saturday's Division 2 Final. (Middle) Penaloza is introduced before the championship match.