East Lansing Rallies Again to Repeat
November 1, 2014
By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
BRIGHTON – It took nearly the entire game for East Lansing boys soccer star DeJuan Jones to find the net in the Division 2 championship game Saturday.
When he did, it not only was worth the wait, but provided the Trojans with the winning margin for their second straight MHSAA championship.
Jones assisted on the game-tying goal late in the second half and scored in overtime to spark East Lansing to a come-from-behind 4-3 victory over Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood in a thrilling, seesaw game at Brighton High School.
It was the fifth MHSAA championship in boys soccer for East Lansing and gave the Trojans back-to-back titles for the first time. Jones scored in East Lansing’s 2-0 victory over Spring Lake in the championship game last year, but this year’s goal was more crucial to the outcome.
“Last year, we were definitely more relaxed through the game, and this year was more of a nail-biter,” said Jones, a senior forward/midfielder who said he will play for Michigan State University next year. “We’ve been determined all year, and we were not going to go out on a loss, especially in the state championship game. We really wanted to make history, and we did it.”
East Lansing, champion of the Capital Area Activities Conference Blue, finished 24-2.
The Trojans held a 2-0 lead late in the first half, but Cranbrook Kingswood made it a one-goal deficit just before halftime. The Cranes added two more goals in the second half and held a 3-2 lead with less than seven minutes to play when Jones set up Elmedin Celovic, who scored the tying goal on a header in the 34th minute of the second half.
“That’s the type of player that he is,” East Lansing coach Nick Archer said of Jones. “He will see someone in a better position and lay the ball off. He’s a very unselfish player, and he has the talent to play both sides of the ball. He’s a real team player.”
The goal not only tied the game, but seemed to fuel East Lansing with some much-needed momentum.
“I just wanted to put it in the back of the net when I saw it coming,” Celovic said. “From there on, we just had to fix every mental breakdown that we had earlier that caused them to come back in the game and take the lead.
“I think after the tying goal before overtime that we did take the momentum. After that, the little huddle we had, we regrouped, and we weren’t going to let them have anything. We were just going to hang on to the ball, and we didn’t want them to come back in the game.”
In the first 10-minute stretch of overtime, Jones provided East Lansing with the lead when he crossed from the left side of the net and put the ball in the far corner in the third minute for an unassisted goal.
“I saw a space in the area where I took a shot before, so once I got there, I knew if I hit the shot hard enough, it would find its way to the back of the net,” Jones said.
The goal capped an incredible postseason run for Jones, who scored in each of East Lansing’s seven tournament games, including a five-goal performance in the District Final. He had 11 goals in seven playoff games and finished the season with 23 goals and 15 assists.
Still, the goal did not immediately end the game as overtime consists of two 10-minute periods, regardless of whether one team scores. The teams switched ends, and that was crucial as a strong wind blew from goal to goal and certainly provided the team with the wind at its back something of an advantage.
East Lansing maintained its momentum and kept Cranbrook Kingswood from scoring. It was the second consecutive victory in overtime for East Lansing, which nipped Mason 3-2 in overtime three days earlier in their Semifinal.
“These last two games, I thought I had a couple of gray hairs to give up. I know I don’t have anything left,” Archer said. “We were very fortunate to come out on top both times.”
Celovic got East Lansing started quickly when he scored in the first minute of the game with assists from Jones and Chris Pridnia.
“We just wanted to start out strong and take the lead early and put pressure on them,” Celovic said.
“When I saw the ball drop back, the first thing on my mind was to not kick it over and just put it in the back of the net.”
Midway through the first half, Zach Lane gave East Lansing a 2-0 lead when he beat the goalkeeper with a low shot to the left part of the net on a free kick. It appeared the Trojans would take that lead to halftime, but Ken Kernen of Cranbrook Kingswood outmaneuvered a defender and scored into the far corner of the net from the left side with five seconds to go to the cut lead to 2-1.
“It was a beautiful goal,” Cranbrook Kingswood coach Chad O’Kulich said. “Kenny has just stepped up his game. It was a fun goal to create; they’re still fighting with six seconds left.
“That goal was a huge momentum-shifter because going into the half down 2-0 against East Lansing would have been tougher. We knew we had the wind, so we felt good regardless of what was going to happen. But to score that goal and shift the momentum for us was huge because now you go into the locker room euphoric and elated and ready to go. And we knew we had the wind.”
With the wind at its back, Cranbrook Kingswood scored twice in the second half to take a 3-2 lead. Kernen tied it with his second goal of the game with a header off a throw-in from Simon Heidingsfelder.
When the clock got inside 10 minutes to go in the second half, East Lansing, playing into the wind and trailing by one, had to find a way to score.
“When we went down, we were a little nervous, but I told the boys, ‘We’ve been here before with Mason and Grand Ledge twice,’ ” Celovic said. “I told them, ‘There is nothing to worry about. We still have 10 minutes, that’s a long time.’
“It was just, ‘Give it everything you’ve got.’ The last 10 minutes of the game we’re down one and just give it everything you’ve got and just play with your heart. That’s what we did, and we just pressured them.”
Both goalkeepers were tested and came up with big saves. Cranbrook Kingwood outshot East Lansing 18-16 as Cranes goalkeeper Trevor Stormes had six saves. East Lansing goalkeeper Chris Wallace made five.
It was a thrilling way for East Lansing to win, but a tough way for Cranbrook Kingswood to lose.
“What a battle, what a game,” O’Kulich said. “To be down 2-0 against an East Lansing team and come back and make it 3-2 just shows the character this team has played with the entire season. They’re never out, they’re never down, and they battle until the last second.
Cranbrook-Kingswood, champion of the Detroit Catholic League AA, finished 19-3-1 and appeared in the championship game for the first time
“We walk out of here with our heads held high, and we walk out with the same positive culture that we’ve had this entire season,” O’Kulich said.
PHOTOS: (Top) East Lansing players including Andy Millar (6) and their fans celebrate the Trojans’ second straight MHSAA Division 2 championship. (Below) East Lansing’s Quinton Hay and Cranbrook Kingswood’s Garrett Powell (16) work for possession. (Top photo by HighSchoolSportsScene.com; below photo by Hockey Weekly Action Photos. Click for all team and action photos from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Dynamic Duo Leads Hackett Title Hunt
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
September 18, 2017
KALAMAZOO — When he was just 3 years old, Max Keenan was out in the yard kicking around a soccer ball.
With a father who played and coached professional soccer, Keenan was not just kicking, he was learning.
“We’d go in our front yard and we had a net and he’d just come out and play with me,” the Hackett Catholic Prep junior said. “He’d have me dribble, shoot, do whatever.”
Those fundamentals have paid off.
Keenan is part of an Irish squad that is 6-0-2 so far with an eye gazing toward the MHSAA Division 4 soccer tournament in November. Led by Keenan and junior Brennan Creek and bolstered by an experienced and talented cast, Hackett debuted in the first state coaches poll of this season as the No. 4 team in its division.
The Irish have flirted with a Division 4 title, losing to Burton Genesee Christian, 3-2 in overtime, in the Final two years ago and Muskegon Catholic Central, 4-3 in overtime, in a Semifinal last year.
“The special part for me is I played Michigan high school soccer,” said Max’s dad, Chris Keenan, who was born in Manchester, England, and came to the United States at age 14. “There’s a tradition here, and to watch Maxwell go through it and play in those events is just unbelievable.
“His freshman year, Hackett played in state final. He had an unbelievable season. I played in the (MHSAA) Final with Gull Lake and actually lost that game, 3-2 (to Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett in 1983).”
Chris Keenan also was runner-up for Michigan’s Mr. Soccer Award in 1984 and made the all-state Dream Team.
Now he watches his son begin the journey.
“Maxwell has grown up around soccer his whole life,” his dad said. “I would watch soccer all the time, so he would grow up almost like a gym rat.
“He is nationally known. We have a lot of colleges right now interested in him.”
Powerful pair
Max Keenan and good friend Creek give the Irish a powerful 1-2 punch.
Keenan leads the team with 12 goals, while Creek has nine. Each has four assists.
Last year, Creek was second team all-state and Keenan third team.
“Max and Brennan were on the field together from probably 4 years old,” Chris Keenan said. “They’ve participated and trained. They’ve got these skill sets.
“They’re both being looked at for D-I (college soccer). For me, I look at those two, I think having each other as teammates they’re a force to be reckoned with right now.”
The Irish prepared for the Southwestern Athletic Conference season with a tough nonleague schedule, including Division 2 defending champ Mattawan (0-0 tie) and D-3 reigning champ Grand Rapids Catholic Central (2-1 win).
“We’re fortunate to have all sorts of competitive teams in our conference and nonconference schedules,” Hackett coach Ian Troutman said. “Divisions 1 through 4, the teams that we play or scrimmage, most of our offensive players make an impact right away. But Brennan and Max definitely draw a lot of defensive attention.
“They really help us open up everything else, and in some circumstances they can be dominant on their own.”
Said Creek: “The harder competition makes us play more defensive. In the playoffs, defense wins games. It’s just preparing us for the best.
“The Mattawan game didn’t feel like a win, but it was definitely a success.” The win against GRCC “was a big one; that was huge.”
Troutman took over the Irish reins three years ago.
With the open position and with his son entering his freshman year, Chris Keenan said he had no desire to apply for the job, although he has a solid pedigree: two NCAA Division I national championship games as a player; induction into three halls of fame including Gull Lake’s; his selection as the 14th pick in the 1988 professional draft; a pro career with the San Diego Nomads and Detroit Rockers; plus his time as a pro soccer coach and owner of Kingdom Indoor Center since 2004.
“I don’t coach my son,” Keenan said. “I am listed as a volunteer assistant coach at Hackett. I don’t go to the tryouts, I don’t go to the training sessions. I go and sit on the bench.
“The head coach makes substitutions, gives the team talk. I like being on the bench to be involved, to watch. Ian’s a really good coach. I want my relationship to be dad-son, not coach.”
Building a contender
Starting on the varsity team as a freshman was a challenge, Max Keenan said.
“It was pretty hard,” he said. “We had big seniors I had to go against, but I think after a while they started giving me more respect after I kept scoring goals and playing well.”
He and Creek grew up playing together on club teams and push each other on the field.
“It’s just kind of a competition,” Keenan said. “We always try to one-up each other. Since we’ve been playing together for who knows how many years, we just have a really great connection.
“If he moves, I know where I’m gonna go and he’s gonna give me the ball. It’s just like we’re on the same page every single game.”
In spite of losing all-state goalkeeper Matthew Carpenter to graduation, the Irish have two solid stoppers in senior Joe Carr and sophomore Breyton Franklin.
“I think the two goalkeepers we have that were switched back and forth have benefited from the competition and just driving each other to improve,” Troutman said.
“Breyton’s done very well and he’s certainly a starting goalkeeper some days, and he can come off the bench and make an impact as well.”
Troutman said Carr has been a platoon player since his sophomore season.
“He’s a really smart kid who understands the game,” Troutman said. “He’s athletic and he’s got great hands.
“The skill set from baseball has transitioned well to goalie, and it has served us well in many games.”
Carr was a defender before going in net.
“It helps me read what the defense is going to do because I can think, ‘What would I do?’” he said. “It helps me kind of predict how the defense is going to move with the attacking players.”
He said sharing time in net can be difficult.
“That just means I have to work harder in practice,” Carr said. “Usually when I’m on the sidelines, coach has me throw on my game jersey and I go in on defense or in the game somehow.”
Getting in a playoff game, even briefly, whetted Franklin's appetite.
“It was during the playoffs (last season) and I got to have one save against Lawton, and then I came right back out,” he said. “It was a great experience.
“Watching how the game’s played at the varsity level drastically improved my view of the game: the increased speed of the game, what I have to do. My expectations rose. It gave me a better standard.”
Junior Aidan Gillig is third in team scoring with four goals and four assists, while sophomore Stephen Hough has three goals and two assists.
More keys to this season will be sophomores Connor Wurtz, Hough and Anders Johansson, Troutman said.
“They started in the state semifinal game last year as freshmen,” he added. “They continue to build off that experience from last year.”
Keenan and Creek are not only Irish teammates, but they have three Super Y League national titles between them. Each has one and they have one together playing on the Kingdom club team.
Creek sees a difference between his roles on his high school and club teams.
On the club team, players are the same age but “in high school, I try to help out the younger kids and help them improve.
“The competitive side of soccer makes it fun. That’s what I enjoy,” he added. “Since I’ve been younger, day in and day out, I’ve been working hard and practicing every day. Getting frustrated at myself for messing up is probably the hardest part.”
Other seniors on the team are Jacob Wurtz, who was all-state honorable mention last season, Matthew Sherwood, Jackson Bradshaw and Johnathon Benjamin. Other sophomores are Daniel Amat, Ryan Cook, Michael Benjamin and Ricardo Ochoa. Freshmen are Charles Prom and Tobias Kuhn.
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Kalamazoo Hackett's Brennan Creek, left, and Max Keenan share a laugh this season. (Middle top) Keenan controls the ball during play this fall. (Middle) Hackett coach Ian Troutman and Chris Keenan. (Middle below) Creek works to keep possession while getting away from a defender. (Below) Senior keeper Joe Carr and sophomore keeper Breyton Franklin. (Action photos by Jennifer Bodway Burhans; head shots by Pam Shebest.)