Repeat Champ Soldiers Finish D4 Shutout
November 5, 2016
By Jeff Chaney
Special for Second Half
COMSTOCK PARK – There is always a question posed to a team that has just won consecutive championships – a question that is sometimes not that easy to answer.
Is it harder to win that first title, or harder to defend?
The boys soccer team from Burton Genesee Christian let its results do the answering, as it made a historic run through this year's MHSAA Division 4 Tournament.
The Soldiers capped off their second straight championship run with a 3-0 win over Muskegon Catholic Central on Saturday at Comstock Park High School.
It was the Genesee Christian’s 16th shutout of the season, and incredible seventh shutout in seven games during the tournament.
With Saturday's goal total, the Soldiers outscored their opponents 27-0 during the great run.
And leading the defensive way for Genesee Christian was senior goalie Zach Noecker, who did nothing to hurt his 0.63 goals-against average heading into Saturday's title game. He had seven saves against the Crusaders.
"This is amazing," Noecker said. "I have a great defense ahead of me, starting with (senior defender Tyler Rose). They are all phenomenal, and we are all best friends. Our goal for this postseason was to go for the shutout, because you can't lose if you don't get scored on."
A confident keeper and defense like that has made the Soldiers offense able to gamble and push a little harder, and they did just that Saturday, especially early.
In the game's first 16 minutes, Genesee Christian put two goals on the board.
The first, at the 31:58 mark, came on a beautiful corner kick by senior midfielder Cole Russell – a corner kick that found the back of the net.
The second, at 24:14, also came on a corner kick, but this one was fielded by Rose, then passed to senior forward Caleb DuPree, who headed the ball past Crusaders goalie Connor O'Neill.
DuPree scored again with just over three minutes to play in the first half on a spectacular unassisted goal.
"My coach always makes fun of me for not playing defense," DuPree said. "For the past two seasons our defense has been remarkable. They make it easy for us forwards, knowing we just have to be at the right place and time our moments. They do all the dirty work."
Great problems to have, a stingy defense and goalie, and a dynamic offense. And all this coming from a school with 114 total enrollment and 23 on the soccer team.
"This is a testament to these guys' work ethic," Genesee Christian coach Doug Anderson said. "(Assistant coach Chris Rainear) and I have a system we are trying to run, and these guys buy into it. And I'm telling you, it really works. When you get a group of guys, 23 of them, that sell out and say they will do anything to win a state championship, then you have a good chance to win."
Anderson said one of things he worried about early in the year was complacency after winning the program, and school's, first MHSAA championship in 2015.
"This was a tough one," Anderson said. "You want to get the guys motivated at the beginning of the year, and at the start of the year we had a philosophy of 'Win from Within.' And I told the guys if you want to win again, it will have to come from within yourself. And luckily I have a senior class that didn't need to be prodded too much."
Muskegon Catholic Central coach Bill Moulatsiotis said his team's lack of experience in a game of this magnitude finally caught up with the Crusaders.
"I think our inexperience showed today," Moulatsiotis said. "The gravity of the game, and the implications of what this might mean for the boys, was a lot. We tried to keep it as normal as possible, but obviously Genesee has been here before, and they knew what to do."
PHOTOS: (Top) Burton Genesee Christian players rush to get a hand on the Division 4 championship trophy. (Middle) Soldiers forward Caleb DuPree gets a foot on the ball with MCC’s Robert Ahern defending.
Byron Center Savoring Every Day as Program-Best Playoff Run Grows
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
October 23, 2024
BYRON CENTER – Almost every day during the last few weeks, Byron Center boys soccer coach Chad Bays has been asking his players the same thing in an attempt to inspire them.
“The postseason is a new experience, and every time after we survive a game I say, ‘Boys, guess what we get to do that other teams don’t?’” Bays said. “And they yell, ‘Practice!’ Because we don’t want this to be our last practice. We try to build that excitement.”
It’s likely that the question was repeated Tuesday night following a thrilling 2-1 win over Grand Haven in a Division 1 Regional Semifinal. A penalty shootout was needed to decide the winner.
This is the farthest a Byron Center boys soccer team has advanced in MHSAA Tournament, and it’s come on the heels of the program’s first Ottawa-Kent Conference Green championship.
“We’re trying to make history, but taking it one game at a time,” Bulldogs senior keeper Luke Philo said before the Regional Semifinal. “We want to go as far as we can with this group. I’m not ready to be done playing soccer with this group of boys.”
A number of factors contributed to this year’s success.
The program made strides last fall under Bays in his first season at the helm after a stint as the junior varsity coach.
Byron Center finished third in the conference in 2023 – its highest finish in league play – and with a young team.
As this year began, Bays noticed something early on that gave him hope for continued improvement.
“We had tryouts, and for the first time ever, I had a complete team all make the fitness test requirements,” he said. “They came in fit and they came in ready, which was very exciting because we could just hit the ground running.
“I've just really been happy with the amount of growth I've seen in the guys and the amount of work they’ve put in in the offseason, individually.”
Philo said the team was determined to be in the best condition possible before the season started.
“We were always on the field in the offseason running,” he said. “While travel teams practiced, we were on the outside running. Trying to get to that next level. A lot of the guys were in the gym lifting weights and putting on pounds. Just always running trying to get in shape for the season.”
Byron Center has a strength and conditioning program, Bulldog Power. It has become instrumental in the team’s development.
“A lot of guys got bigger and stronger,” Bays said. “Bulldog Power does a great job, and the guys were really committed. We were young last year with a lot of sophomores, and we were getting pushed off the ball. They committed themselves to not letting that happen this year. Their offseason work has really shown.”
Junior midfielder Kaleb Smith, the team’s leading scorer, said there also were high expectations for this season. And the team delivered with an outright title, losing only one O-K Green game and tying another in back-to-back early-October games.
“We always looked at it as if we treat each game like the state championship, then we will continue our season,” Smith said. “And our goals were set pretty high because we knew that we were good enough, and we wanted it. Everyone puts the effort in on and off the field and just works well together.
“Winning the conference was really fun, and this has been a blast. I love all my teammates because they play their hearts out, and it's awesome to be around that.”
Team chemistry has been another important aspect. It’s a tight-knit group that has formed a brotherhood.
“This has been the most fun I've had with soccer in my life for sure,” said Philo, who also was on Byron Center’s Division 2 championship hockey team last winter.
“It’s been a riot, and I love my team. It’s like a family to me, just hanging out with a bunch of my brothers all the time. We love being around each other and it’s so much fun, but we still get results and get the job done.”
Byron Center improved to 17-4-1 on Tuesday and already has established a school record for wins in a season.
Last week, the Bulldogs won a District crown for only the second time in school history.
“We were all hoping we could have this type of success, and I was confident in our coaching staff,” Philo said. “I felt like we had the pieces the last two years but just couldn't figure everything out.
“I had a feeling that we had something special, but we just had to figure out how we were going to play with each other.”
The bond among them has translated to the field, according to Bays.
“They play so well together,” he said. “We defend well and build from the back well. That allows (us) opportunities. We do a pretty darn good job in all three phases of the game.”
Dean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for five years after serving at the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years along with shorter stints at the Ionia Sentinel and WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Byron Center players raise their District trophy in celebration last week. (Middle) The Bulldogs take a team photo in front of their net. (Photos courtesy of the Byron Center athletic department.)