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Highlight Reel: Boys Soccer Finals
November 7, 2015
By John Johnson
MHSAA communications director
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, Mason, Grand Rapids South Christian and Burton Genesee Christian won MHSAA boys soccer championships Saturday.
Click below for MHSAA.tv highlights from all four games, plus links to watch them in full.
Division 1
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central 2, Canton 0
Rangers First Goal - Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central scored once in each half in the Division 1 title game against Canton. Anthony Bowie gets the first tally with 17:25 left in the period.
Insurance Goal By Haji - With 1:30 left to play, Forest Hills Central gets its second goal, by Mohamed Haji.
Watch the whole game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Division 2
Mason 3, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern 2 (Shootout)
VanNortwick Blast - Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern scored first in the Division 2 title game with Mason. Evan VanNortwick's blast from way out found the top of the net with 15:13 left in the first half.
Bulldogs Tie It - Early in the second half, Mason's Christian Jordan heads in a corner kick to tied the score at 1-1.
Barrington Bangs It In - Things looked good for Forest Hills Northern when Travis Barrington headed in a cross with 2:32 left against Mason to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead.
Wild Goal Ties It Again - In a wild play in front of the net, Mason's Christian Jordan gets the goal with 38 seconds left in regulation to tie the game against Forest Hills Northern at 2-2.
Shefkiu Finishes It - On the final kick of the shootout, Mason's Lirim Shefkiu scores to give the Bulldogs the Division 2 title.
Watch the whole game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Division 3
Grand Rapids South Christian 1, Williamston 0 (Shootout)
Selvius Stops - The big save in the shootout for Grand Rapids South Christian came when Sailors keeper Carter Selvius stopped a shot by Austin Brown of Williamston.
Championship Kick - In the shootout, Zach DeKock scored the winning goal for Grand Rapids South Christian.
Watch the whole game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
Division 4
Genesee Christian 3, Kalamazoo Hackett 2 (OT)
Soldiers Score First - Cole Russell gets the game's first goal with 10:01 left in the first half for Genesee Christian.
Knoll Goal - Kalamazoo Hackett ties the game 10 minutes into the second half when Will Knoll directs the ball in off a restart.
Rose Smelling Sweet - Genesee Christian took a momentary lead with nine minutes left in regulation when Tyler Rose scored.
Amat Knocks Down The Door - Hackett tied the game at 2-2 with 7:11 left in regulation when James Amat knocked in Max Keenan's free kick.
Oliver’s Twist For The Win - Jesse Oliver got the game winner for Genesee Christian with about a minute left in the first overtime period.
Watch the whole game and order DVDs by Clicking Here.
PHOTO: Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central’s Mohamed Haji (10) had one of his team’s two goals in the Division 1 Final.
![Troy Athens celebrates its overtime win in Saturday's Division 1 Final at Grand Ledge.](/sites/default/files/2023-11/231104_D1_2H.jpg)
Troy Athens Comes Back Again, This Time to Claim Program's 6th Finals Win
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
November 4, 2023
GRAND LEDGE — Usually if a soccer teams falls behind late in a state championship game, there’s a big “uh-oh” and sense of dejection.
But falling behind late against Brighton in the 2023 MHSAA Division 1 Final put Troy Athens in a comfort zone.
“We were behind in the District Final, we were behind in the Regional Semifinal, we were behind in the Regional Final, we took the lead in the Semifinal but then fell behind, and we were behind again tonight,” Athens head coach Todd Heugh said. “Certainly, there’s a lot of resolve and resiliency in our group.”
As it turned out, it was championship resolve and resiliency for Athens.
Thanks to a goal late in regulation that tied the game and one more 2:59 into overtime, Athens is once again a Finals champion in boys soccer following a 2-1 win over Brighton.
The title was the sixth in program history for Athens (20-3-2).
The winning goal with 7:01 left in the first portion of overtime came from senior Manny Aigbedo, who put home a loose ball in the Brighton box after a mad scramble following an Athens corner kick.
“I just kneed it,” Aigbedo said. “I got anything I could on it. Just a little bit and went in. I didn’t even know I scored at that moment because there was so many people trying to get it.”
The game was scoreless until 9:02 remained in regulation, when Brighton took a 1-0 lead on a goal from senior Colin Robertson.
The goal came after a flurry of shots on Athens goalkeeper Adam Ethridge, who initially stopped Brighton leading scorer Devlin McGinnis on a point-blank shot in the box. A rebound caromed to Brighton junior Owen Buckley, but he was stopped by Ethridge.
But with Ethridge out of the net, another rebound came to the left side of the box to Robertson, who fired a shot into essentially an empty net just past multiple Athens defenders who tried to scramble back to the goal line.
From there, Athens pressured to get the equalizer, and finally did.
With 1:56 remaining in the second half, senior Brody Fahnestock stepped into a fast-paced shot from roughly 30 yards out that went past Brighton’s keeper and into the goal to tie the game at 1-1.
The tying goal seemed to deflate Brighton (19-4-2), which was less than two minutes from winning a first Finals championship in school history.
Athens dominated the overtime period, outshooting Brighton 10-1 overall and 8-0 on goal.
“When they got that tying goal, it kind of took the wind out of our sails there at the end,” Brighton head coach Mark Howell said. “We knew overtime was going to be an uphill battle trying to climb back in it momentum-wise. We knew they had a lot of experience returning on the big stage. It just didn’t fall the way we wanted it to.”
Athens got off to a slow start this season, but got rolling in September and never looked back, showing once again there’s no substitute for experience as the team had 16 seniors.
“We don’t always play the prettiest brand,” Heugh said. “But we’re usually organized, and we usually are going to fight to the end.”
Click for the box score.
PHOTOS (Top) Troy Athens celebrates its overtime win in Saturday's Division 1 Final at Grand Ledge. (Middle) The Red Hawks' Daniel Kadiu (23) races upfield with a Brighton defender chasing.