Parchment Team On Verge of Never Playing Putting Off End As Long As Possible

By Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com

October 17, 2023

PARCHMENT — With just five returning players and no coach, things looked bleak for the Parchment soccer team at the beginning of summer.

Southwest CorridorBoy, have things changed.

Former football offensive line coach Jesse Roder agreed to take the head soccer coach’s job and, with some intensive recruiting, the Panthers not only fielded a team this season but are headed into tonight’s Division 3 District Semifinal with an 11-6-1 record.

Those 11 wins are two more than the last three years combined and make this the first time in 14 years Parchment has had double-digit wins.

In fact, the Panthers’ record over the previous three seasons was 9-41-3 overall.

Athletic director Brennan Davis credits Roder for the turnaround.

“Our first-year coach has done an excellent job creating a positive environment for the team,” Davis said. “He is focused on building character and camaraderie within the program. Academics, participation, relationships, reliability are all important to Coach Roder.”

The players echo those accolades.

Junior goalkeeper Brady Caswell said it was an angry team the past two seasons with a lot of fighting among teammates.

“This year, everyone’s excited to play, ready to play, a little hungry to play, and I love that,” Caswell said. “Everybody works hard, and that’s the big change.

From left: Parchment coach Jesse Order, Brady Caswell and Caden Ragan.“You can see it out there. We’re faster, we’re stronger, we have more ambition this year because no one pushed each other before.”

He credits the team’s defense for his own success this year.

“That’s one thing that has changed a lot over these last couple years,” the keeper said. “I used to see 20 or 30 shots a game and we’ve cut that down to about half, which gives me a way better chance at saving shots and less chance of getting injured.”

Major choice

Roder had a big decision to make before taking the head coaching job: His son, Brady Newington, is a senior lineman on the Panthers football team.

But Roder, who played soccer in high school while growing up in Garden in the Upper Peninsula, liked the challenge of turning the soccer program around.

Roder, who also coaches powerlifting and track, recruited from those ranks.

“Most of our athletes are first-year soccer players,” he said. “I approached a bunch of my powerlifters and told them I thought it would be right up their alley, so let’s give it a shot, and they did.”

Because of their dismal record the last few years, the Panthers have been underdogs in most of their games this season, including their District Quarterfinal last week, a 2-1 shootout win over South Haven.

“Last year they beat us 8-0,” Roder said. “We knew they were going to be a little confident, but our team’s philosophy starts with, ‘We’re going to outwork everybody in everything we do.’

Micah Shank [5] steps into a kick. “We do an hour conditioning every day when we have practice. We played 100 minutes of soccer last night, and not a lick of them was tired.”

Roder also mandates lifting two days a week and has his own solution to any in-team fighting, holding players accountable.

“We have a three-strikes-and-you’re-out rule,” he said. “If you argue with a teammate once and I warn you about it, you’re sent home and you miss the next game.

“Do it again, you miss another game. You do it a third time, you’re off the team.”

The coach has given out just one warning all season.

Key players step up

Freshman Cameron Wagner, who leads the team with 26 goals, made an immediate impact.

“That kid’s vision of the field and his soccer IQ at the age of 15 is leaps and bounds beyond many coaches,” Roden said. “He’s got a real bright future in front of him.”

Wagner and teammate Caden Ragan were selected to the Southwestern Athletic Conference all-conference team Saturday.

Familiar with past Parchment teams, Wagner figured this season would be more of the same.

“I wasn’t going to take it seriously, but thought it would be good for conditioning,” the freshman said.

“Once (the season) started, it became more like a family.”

Wagner credits the coach with his success.

“The coach made me condition a lot, which helped me,” he said. “He changed dribble moves which I couldn’t even think of. At home, now I do the drills he taught me.”

Ragan was the one who fired the winning shot last week.

“I was the fourth (kicker) and I took the (shot) before the other person,” Ragan said. “Brady saved their fourth and saved us the game.”

Roder said the goalkeeper has been strong all season and is the most analytical and intelligent person he has met as far as goalkeeping goes.

The Panthers’ Cayden Brown [4] defends.“During the game, he watches people and the way they play the ball off their foot,” the coach said. “He sees which way they go with the ball more often than not.

“So when we got into the shootout situation (in Districts), he actually was telling the ref before he walked up there which way the kid was going to go, and he guessed right every single time. He didn’t get to all the balls, but he still managed to pull off a couple stops which gave us the win.”

Another captain who has been on the team all four years is central defensive midfielder Ty Mulka.

“First two years weren’t the best,” he said. “My friends kept me on the team. This year was our best year.”

If Parchment did not field a team this year, “I was afraid we’d have to merge with our rival school, Comstock,” he said.

The coach said Mulka has been a workhorse.

“He’s been here every single day for everything,” Roder said. “He’s never missed, and he has a relentless work ethic.

“For being a small guy (5-foot-10, 150 pounds) he loves to put a body on people, so he plays a really physical style of soccer. Does a great job seeing the field, and he’s got a laser of a shot.”

Senior center midfielder Wyatt Nieboer said, “I thought 100 percent there would not be a team this year. I found out during the summer.

“I was just happy to play. I knew there was a new coach, and I heard he was really good, which he is, but I didn’t think there was going to be a massive change like there is.”

Roder said Nieboer is a “high energy, a bigger-bodied kid (5-8, 190). His work ethic will not let people beat him. He’s a honey badger.”

Not ready to end

Having tasted success this season, Ragan said the team is not ready to end it.

“The people want to play more,” the junior said. “We’ve had more practices that are actually helping us as a team.

“Things like the weight room are helping build the team and make us stronger, which helps us win games.”

Roder said Ragan, who is one of the captains, has good leadership qualities.

From left: Wyatt Nieboer, Ty Mulka and Cameron Wagner. “He has a natural good touch on the ball,” he said. “He’s very aggressive, very physically dominating. Does a great job going up to get balls, contesting people.”

The Panthers will have a tough test tonight when they host Grand Rapids South Christian (12-4-2), ranked seventh in the state in Division 3 and coming off a bye.

“They’re really good,” Roder said. “They move the ball really, really well. It’s going to be a tough test.

“The kids are excited about soccer around here, and that’s something we want to bring back. We’ve got eight seniors on the squad, probably the last time they’re going to play, so we’re trying to eke out as much time as we can.”

Caswell said all the credit goes to the coach.

“Thank Coach Roder for helping change everything here,” the goalkeeper said. “He’s been one of the biggest parts in changing the culture, changing the team, changing how we play soccer.”

Other seniors on the team are Devin Wilson, Myles Brooks, Kriss Patel, Tyler Lingbeek, Darius Baker and Akhil Veecumsee. Juniors are Keagan Cole, Trey Sukola, Conner Moynihan, Elijah Damron-Webster and Luka Lagina, while sophomores are Tyrone Edwards, Micah Shank, Cayden Brown and Hayden Hose.

Pam ShebestPam 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) Parchment’s Darius Baker, left, controls possession during a game against Allegan. (2) From left: Parchment coach Jesse Roder, Brady Caswell and Caden Ragan. (3) Micah Shank [5] steps into a kick. (4) The Panthers’ Cayden Brown [11] defends. (5) From left: Wyatt Nieboer, Ty Mulka and Cameron Wagner. (Action photos by Shawnia Preston/Oh Shoot Photography, head shots by Pam Shebest.)

Gull Lake Clinches D2 Title on OT Winner

November 7, 2020

By Tom Kendra
Special for Second Half

COMSTOCK PARK – Eron Sylejmani is considered one of the best high school soccer players in the state and in the running for the annual “Mr. Soccer” award.

But on Saturday, the Richland Gull Lake senior forward proved he might also be the most resilient.

Despite getting stymied over and over again by a dynamic performance from DeWitt senior goalkeeper Patrick Woodbury, Sylejmani never gave up or got discouraged and finally broke through with the winning goal early in the first overtime session to give the Blue Devils a 1-0 victory in the Division 2 Final at Comstock Park High School.

His goal secured for Gull Lake (16-2-1) its first boys soccer title since 1993.

“I saw that the keeper was leaning a little to my right, so I shot it bottom left and, luckily, it went in – unlike the 500 other ones,” said Sylejmani with a wry grin, exaggerating only slightly.

The Blue Devils held a lopsided 27-6 edge in shots, and an 11-4 edge in corner kicks.

Gull Lake was on the attack basically from the start, with DeWitt Renwick, AJ Boucher and Ryker Corstange also having their chances. But the back line of the Panthers’ defense (particularly Woodbury in goal) was the essence of bend-but-don’t-break.

Gull Lake coach Matt Streitil lauded his team’s patience, teamwork and positive attitude.

“We just needed one, but you start wondering if it’s really going to happen,” said Streitil, who is in his sixth year. “They could have gotten frustrated with each other and they could have started yelling at each other, but instead they came together.”

After Sylejmani’s goal, off an assist from Renwick, at the 8:00 mark of the first overtime session, DeWitt started pressing and had some of its best scoring chances of the afternoon over the final 18 minutes.

Senior Zach Stephan lofted a perfect free kick right in front of the goal, which was headed just over the crossbar, in the first overtime session. Then the Panthers had another great opportunity off a corner kick with 4:00 remaining in the second portion of overtime, but freshman Gull Lake keeper Braden Minehart smothered it on the ground.

“Give credit to Gull Lake, they pressed us and we were never able to play quite like we wanted to – maybe a little bit there at the end,” said sixth-year DeWitt coach Joe Ishraidi, a former standout player at DeWitt who has brought the program back from a sub-.500 season just two years ago. “It turned out to be a season that we will remember forever.”

DeWitt (13-5-2) was in the Finals for the first time in school history, an incredible run for a team which caught fire after finishing third in the Capital Area Activities Conference Blue.

Gull Lake, captained by senior defender Riley Folk and junior midfielder Boucher, also defeated DeWitt 2-0 in a regular-season game Sept. 26.

Saturday’s was actually the first outright boys soccer state championship in Gull Lake school history, as the first two titles were shared when those Finals ended in draws in the pre-shootout era. The Blue Devils shared Class B titles with Madison Heights Bishop Foley in 1988 and Detroit Country Day in 1993, and finished runner-up in 1983.

Gull Lake had an outstanding team last year, which entered tournament play undefeated and ranked No. 1, before getting shocked by Coldwater in the District Semifinals and finishing 17-1-1.

That loss motivated this year’s team, Streitil said, and propelled it to the state championship level.

“These guys have ignited our community,” said Streitil, who is assisted by Colton Johnson, Jimmy Prescott, Sebastian Rodriguez, Dan Tennant and Corey Dryer. “We’ve had grandparents at our games this year that had never gone to a soccer game before.

“At a time of COVID, it has given our town something to be excited about.”

Click for the full stat summary.

PHOTOS: (Top) Gull Lake’s AJ Boucher (4) works to swing the ball past DeWitt’s Ethan Anderson. (Middle) Dominic Roudabush maintains possession for the Blue Devils. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)