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.
Long-Pursued Goals Becoming Expectations for Much-Improved Kearsley
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
August 30, 2023
Lucas Groulx could see this coming.
During his freshman year, when the goal some nights for Flint Kearsley boys soccer was “don’t get mercied,” Groulx knew there were better times ahead.
Much better.
With a 4-1 start to this season, those wins already eclipsing the total from the entire fall of 2021, it looks like he’s being proved correct.
“It doesn’t really surprise me at all,” the junior center back said. “I knew from the get-go that the guys I was playing with are really good. I could definitely see that (success coming) later on down the road.”
It’s still very early, and nobody at Kearsley is hanging a banner. The goals of winning a District championship and finishing among the top three in the Flint Metro League still require plenty of work.
But the feeling is different now. There’s no longer just hope that all of that is possible. It’s becoming an expectation.
“We don’t want to just be in games; we need to win those games,” Kearsley coach Art Moody said. “All those next steps that we talked about, we set those goals and we set them up three years ago. Midway through last season, that’s when the corner was turned. That’s when it was like, ‘OK, we can compete.’ Getting double-digit wins, that was a big deal for the program. Now, it’s like, that’s not even a question anymore. We’re doing way better than that now.”
Moody, who has won three MHSAA Finals championships coaching the Flint Powers Catholic girls program, is entering his third season at Kearsley.
In his first year, the team won just one regular-season game, but made a run to the District Final.
Year 2 saw the Hornets go 10-11, another major step forward.
The majority of that team was coming back this fall, including top scorers Caden Saxton and Tony Romero. Saxton, a senior, holds the school record for goals in a season (24) and career (52).
The back four, led by Groulx and classmate Saul Granados, returned intact, along with holding midfielder Danny Sanson and goalkeeper Aiden Tipton. All six received some form of all-league honors in the Metro.
And for many of the returning players, their experience playing together goes well beyond high school. Saxton’s father Keith, who is the school’s athletic director and Moody’s assistant, coached many of the current Hornets as kids on the MESA Sharks, a local travel team.
“We were all bonded,” Sanson, a senior, said. “We were pretty much family to each other since we were growing up playing with one another.”
That’s all led to the thought within the program that this is the year to truly make a mark and put Kearsley boys soccer on the map.
This season opened with four lopsided victories, and then a surprise from the Michigan High School Soccer Coaches Association: The Hornets were listed in the Division 2 rankings, coming in at No. 12.
“It felt incredible,” Sanson said. “I didn’t even expect that, to be honest. It was an incredible feeling for all of us. We were all so proud.”
Even Groulx, who had faith all along, had to get some extra confirmation on this development.
“When I first saw it, I honestly didn’t know if it was true or not,” he said. “Then it really kind of dawned on us that we need to set a new standard here at Kearsley. It’s definitely going to push us to try and excel and just play better overall.”
Rankings are often downplayed by coaches and players, even if they’re typically well aware of them.
But Moody, who consistently sees his Powers girls near the top of the list in their division, was OK with letting his players soak this one in a bit.
“I made that comment that we got recognized at the state level, and that’s something that’s never happened to Kearsley,” he said. “I told them it’s not because of your record. You get recognized if coaches say your name. You get recognized if coaches are saying, ‘That’s someone to watch out for.’”
Of course, celebrating the ranking has a limit, and while the Hornets dropped their first match after its release – a 3-2 loss against Lake Fenton – they’ve decided to use that recognition to further fuel them to achieve their true goals.
“I feel like it motivates us to be better, but it also puts a little bit of pressure on us,” Sanson said. “We have to keep our standards high and just be doing the best we can every time we go out on the field. We’ve gotta bring it. Bring it, bring it, bring it.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Kearsley’s Carlos Granados (7) steps into a kick during a game against Durand on Aug 21. (Middle) The team celebrates its Hornet Invitational championship Saturday after defeating Birch Run and Saginaw Nouvel. (Below) Caden Saxton (6) makes his move during last season's game against Armada. (Photos courtesy of the Flint Kearsley athletic department.)