![Potter's House/Everest soccer](/sites/default/files/2021-11/211106_D4_2H.jpg)
Puma-Quick Potter's House Wins Matchup of 1st-Time Finalists
By
Perry A. Farrell
Special for MHSAA.com
November 6, 2021
NOVI – Wyoming Potter’s House’s first trip to the Division 4 soccer championship match was a successful one, to say the least.
On Saturday at Novi High School, the Pumas (24-3-1) lived up to their nickname, racing past Clarkston Everest Collegiate 3-0 to claim their first Finals title.
It was the first Finals appearance in boys soccer for both schools.
On its way to the championship, Everest (18-3-4), which had nine freshmen on varsity, beat No. 4 Royal Oak Shrine, No. 11 Lansing Christian and No. 10 Bad Axe.
Potter’s House had knocked off No. 2 Grandville Calvin Christian, with the Pumas winning three one-goal games and their District final in a shootout on their way to the Final.
Saturday’s battle wasn’t as close.
Potter’s House, boasting nine players taller than 6-foot, took the fight to Everest with their quickness for most of the first half as both teams missed a couple of scoring opportunities.
“These guys have been working passing patterns for the last month-and-half,’’ said Pumas coach Mike Colago. “Guys have been hitting their spots, playing between the lines. A lot of experienced players and a lot of guys buying into what we are doing. We just try to dominate from the beginning and play really fast.’’
That philosophy worked again.
Forward Jonathan Stout, the team’s leading scorer and a Michigan State recruit, finally got the Pumas on the board with a boomer from 25 yards out at the 15:27 mark of the first half. It was his 27th goal of the season.
“There were a bunch of alumni here and guys I played with in the past,’’ said Stout. “This is the first time we’ve made it this far. For future generations coming here, they can say we can do this because the team before us did it. It builds confidence.’’
Quickness paved the way for the Pumas’ second goal as Yosia Mukanda put the eventual winners up 2-0 with nine minutes left in the first half when the Mountaineers were unable to clear the ball out of their end.
“Until we get that first goal, we’re just pushing and pushing and pushing,’’ said Stout. “Once we got that first goal, in my head, I thought we were going to set back. But Yosia and Rukundo (Masengesho) had other plans.
Masengesho wasn’t technically credited with a goal because it hit an opposing player on the way. But he was the initiator of the action that led an Everest defender to accidentally put the ball in his team’s own net with 5:59 left in the half to make it 3-0.
“In the second half we’ve had to hold onto those leads, but we were fortunate enough to have a three-goal lead instead of a one-goal lead to hold onto,’’ said Stout.
PHOTOS (Top) Jonathan Stout (13) leads the attack for Potter’s House while Everest defenders Lucas Cross (10) and Luke Walker (22) pursue. (Middle) The Pumas’ Yosia Mukanda (16) and Mountaineers’’ Charlie Reichert (5) race downfield. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
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A Grand Charge to the Semifinals
October 29, 2012
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Grand Blanc soccer coach Greg Kehler knew what needed to happen as the regular season was drawing to an end. He just hoped it would before time ran out on his senior-dominated team.
Exactly half the Bobcats’ games this fall had been decided by a goal. They scored only 32 during the 18-game regular season. Somehow, despite that lack of offense, Grand Blanc entered the District tournament two weeks ago 10-6-2 after finishing second in its division of the competitive Kensington Lakes Activities Association.
But as the playoffs began, Kehler was still waiting to see his players show the necessary edge to turn close calls into close wins. And time was running short – 17 of the team’s 25 players are seniors, and the next loss would be their last.
“What was really so frustrating with me is I’ve been with these guys, some for three years (and) one guy is a four-year guy. And it was almost like I was talking to them and telling them I can’t do this,” Kehler said. “We can talk. We can write up things all we want, change formations, run different plays. But it’s gotta come on the field. They’ve got to find a way to do that and get everyone on board.”
The seniors came through. Their teammates followed. The Bobcats have won five tournament games and will face Utica Ford on Wednesday for the opportunity to play in an MHSAA Final for the first time since finishing runner-up in Class A in 1987.
Grand Blanc (15-6-2) gets a Second Half High 5 amid a run that has to be considered at least a little unexpected. The Bobcats might have a bevy of seniors, but graduated Mr. Soccer Zach Carroll and all-state second teamer Yamann Sahlool this spring. They didn’t add to Carroll’s string of four league titles and probably wasn’t a favorite to reach the season’s final week.
But Kehler's group has found its collective scoring touch with 18 goals during the postseason, beginning with a 7-1 win over Flushing in their District opener.
The Bobcats haven’t been able to avoid close games since – the last four have been decided either by a goal or in overtime – but Grand Blanc has come out on top in each, including 5-3 over No. 4-ranked Rochester Hills Stoney Creek in a double overtime Regional Semifinal.
That's the biggest tournament win on paper, and especially considering the Bobcats had lost to Stoney Creek 4-0 earlier this fall. In the rematch, they trailed 3-1 and only forced overtime by scoring off a corner kick with less than a minute to play in regulation.
But it was how Grand Blanc finished the game before that set the tone for its continuing success.
The Bobcats trailed Lake Orion 2-0 in the District Final, then took a 3-2 lead before the Dragons tied it up again with less than 14 minutes to play. Grand Blanc junior Nick Berklich then knocked home the game-winner with just a minute left.
“A lot of things from that game carried over to Stoney Creek,” Kehler said. “When we lost 4-0, I thought we played well. But we had mental mistakes, and we were playing a different formation than now, and after that game we changed some things. We thought we were better than a four-goal difference against them.”
Kehler, in his 14th season coaching the varsity – and with more than 400 wins combined leading both the boys and girls programs – has never had a team quite like this one. Nearly half of his seniors played junior varsity last season, and he wanted to keep them all although his teams generally go only about 20 or 21 players.
Only five seniors start, but all contribute especially in practices made more competitive by the ability to put out a second team that can run an opponent’s formation and scheme and challenge the first teamers.
Although his defense is a little on the younger side (but with two two-year juniors), the offense is paced by four-year varsity standout Chris Sullivant and three-year player Dominic Mastromatteo. The latter scored four goals last week – three against Stoney Creek and the winner against Walled Lake Central.
Those two seniors also were part of some significant close calls before this fall. Last season ended with a 1-0 loss to Walled Lake Northern in a Regional Semifinal. The 2010 team fell to Sterling Heights Stevenson in a Semifinal shootout. Before those two entered high school, Grand Blanc also lost a 2008 Semifinal in overtime to Livonia Stevenson.
And even that 1987 loss, to East Lansing, was 2-1 in overtime.
But Kehler believes all of the recent close calls are paying off. These Bobcats have found that extra when it counted, an edge they’ll try to keep for two more games.
“I knew we’d be good, but we kinda struggled early. I was kinda questioning if we had what it took,” Kehler said. “Every year with the players you have coming back, you’re optimistic. But … I’m very pleased with how we responded to this season and how it unfolded.”
PHOTO: Grand Blanc’s Ali Mukhtar (11) works to control possession against Saginaw Heritage earlier this season. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com)