Surging Boyne City Shining in Spotlight
April 25, 2019
By Chris Dobrowolski
Special for Second Half
Boyne City is a force to be reckoned with on the girls soccer pitch.
Katie Harmeling still remembers when that wasn’t the case.
“Our first two years we were struggling a lot,” said the Ramblers’ senior defender. “We got mercied a lot of the time. Just had a lot of trouble as a team.”
The Ramblers won just six games during an inauspicious first two years of Harmeling’s career, but my how things have changed.
Boyne City went undefeated through the regular season last year while winning its first Lake Michigan Conference title and started off this year with an unbeaten streak of seven games. The only game the Ramblers have failed to come out of victorious was a 1-1 draw with league rival Harbor Springs. Otherwise, they have been dominant, winning games by an average of six goals and posting five shutouts along the way.
“We’re continuing to improve each game we play,” said senior keeper Cora Hauger. “Now that we’re getting into the thicker part of our season, we’re starting to figure out what needs to be done and we’re starting to connect more as a team and work together in that sense. We keep improving each game.”
Boyne City received a big boost, and began to see its fortunes turn around, when a large and talented class of freshmen joined the program last season after years of honing their skills at the youth level and on the club circuit. Seven started in their first year, and right from the beginning they showed they were ready to lift the Ramblers to new heights in spite of their youth.
“I knew (we) were going to be getting a good influx of players coming in,” said head coach Ed Fantozzi, who is in his fourth year leading the varsity. “The youth program is excellent. It feeds a lot of kids. It’s building, even on the boys side. It’s a great feeder program.”
Because Boyne City had never experienced success in girls soccer, the common belief was that the Ramblers were catching teams by surprise last year. That’s not the case now, however, as Boyne’s reputation has changed quickly. The Ramblers suddenly have a bulls-eye on their backs.
“Last year we came out of the gate and nobody knew who we were,” said Hauger. “This year we’re battling back from everybody knowing who we are. We kind of have to overcome that in the sense that nothing we do is surprising. Everybody knows about the big throw-ins. Everybody knows who our shooters are. Everybody knows we have a strong midfield. We just have to play our game.”
The light is now shining brightly on the Ramblers, and they are proving capable of handling the added attention they’ve brought upon themselves.
“People are focusing on us more than they might have in the past,” said Fantozzi. “It brings a different dynamic to the season. Winning is awesome, but it’s also one of those things where you have to learn how to deal with it. We have a young team and they’re handling it well. They’re a very mature group.”
Boyne City has a well-rounded squad overall. The Ramblers possess dynamic goal-scoring ability and are backed by a stout defense.
“We don’t look at it like one person is the reason why we are winning. It’s a team effort,” said Fantozzi. “The twins (Jordan and Taylor Noble) are phenomenal forwards, but without the rest of them they’re not going to be phenomenal by themselves. It is all of us who are doing this — from me, to the two assistant coaches that are helping out, to all the girls — we are a team. We work together. We win as a team, we lose as a team and we tie as a team.”
Knowing it could now win games and championships, Boyne City wanted to take the next step and bolstered its schedule this season. The Ramblers already have played, and beaten, much larger schools such as Traverse City Central and Alpena. They also have a match next month against Freeland, the Division 3 runner-up last year.
“That was one of our first steps this season was to get some highly-competitive games that pushed the envelope, that shook things up a little bit,” said Fantozzi. “We can pick up nonconference games and say, ‘Oh, we want to pad our record,’ but we’re really trying to pick up as many games that push us past our limits, put us out of our box of comfort.”
It’s all in an effort to perhaps add more championships to the board on the gymnasium wall; the program finally was able to attain a board detailing the school’s girls soccer titles when it won a league crown. The Ramblers are looking to repeat in the Lake Michigan Conference as well as win postseason hardware. Last year Boyne City saw its season end in heartbreaking fashion with a 2-1 overtime setback to Harbor Springs in the District Final. That loss came after it had beaten the Rams twice during the regular season.
“To be cut short on our season was very hard,” said Harmeling. “We were all very upset. It was really hard all around. That loss has given us something to work toward this year.”
The Ramblers don’t just want to stop at a District title, either. They feel they have what it takes to make noise even longer than that.
It’s quite a contrast from just a few years ago, but it’s also made some of the older members of the team appreciate the prosperity they are now enjoying.
“It’s a phenomenal feeling to go from being on that team where we didn’t play very well and we didn’t have very much talent on our team — we worked hard but we didn’t have much talent — to progressing to being a senior and a leader on this team where we have the potential to go very far,” said Hauger. “It’s just a really cool feeling to see the evolution of the Boyne City soccer program.”
Chris Dobrowolski has covered northern Lower Peninsula sports since 1999 at the Ogemaw County Herald, Alpena News, Traverse City Record-Eagle and currently as sports editor at the Antrim Kalkaska Review since 2016. He can be reached at sports@antrimreview.net with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Boyne City's Jaelyn Jarema (4) works to maintain possession against Grayling this spring. (Middle) Inanna Hauger (7) finds an opening to move the ball ahead against Kalkaska. (Photos by Sports in Motion.)
'The Beast' Powering Traverse City St. Francis Into Contenders Conversation
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
April 25, 2025
Her teammates don’t call her by her nickname, but they’re quite aware of why she’s earned it.
Her coaches definitely use the nickname, and fondly.
And opponents … well, they just know she fits the description when on the soccer pitch. They often employ double and triple teams to try to stop her.
Her name is Sidney Peters and she wears number 14 for Traverse City St. Francis. She was an all-state selection last year as a sophomore, leading St. Francis to the Regional.
She’s now well-known as “The Beast.”
“She is just so physically sound and she’s not afraid to go body to body, and she’s not afraid to take over the game and control it just by moving out of the way and not taking on contact,” said her coach Scott Conway. “She always has her head up, always looking to distribute first and then if she has to hammer, she takes it over — that’s what I love about her.”
Despite sitting out one of the Gladiators’ eight games this season to nurse a lingering ankle injury, Peters has seven goals and a team-leading 12 assists.
The Glads got off to a 5-0 start this year before taking a couple of tough losses. They got back on the winning track this week at Kingsley. They’re looking to pick up three wins this weekend at the Big Rapids Invitational as they take on Gaylord, Ludington and the host Cardinals.
“I think it was hard coming off a win against Williamston and then playing two tough teams,” Peters acknowledged. “There was a lot of reflecting lately coming into the game with Kingsley about our performance and what we need to do to get better. We wanted to really control the game a little bit more than we did the last few games.”
Peters took control in the 5-0 win over Kingsley on Wednesday. She dominated possession and worked the passing lanes while picking up assists on four of the Gladiators’ five goals.
That win is helping Peters and her teammates look ahead to this weekend’s tournament and also matches against bigger schools down the road including Midland, Marquette and Pontiac Notre Dame Prep. Now 6-2, the Gladiators have found themselves ranked in the top 10 all season in Division 3, including at No. 7 this week.
“I am really looking forward to those games that are super important,” said Peters. “It’s showing people smalls schools can do it. When we go against big schools — even if it’s a loss — if we put up a good fight and show we can hang, that’s something to be proud of, I think.”
Peters plays competitive travel soccer in the fall and trains all winter. She’s always striving to grow her game and improve. Among her strengths, Conway noted, is her ability to maintain composure under pressure while constantly striving for success.
She was stoic and calm growing up, with high levels of mental strength and toughness. Her family and coaches believe that those traits, paired with her physical strength and aggressiveness, make Peters a perfect fit for the sport.
“Sid is playing out of her mind,” said Conway, now in his sixth year at the helm for St. Francis. “She’s my top player. She’s already coming out strong with her stats this year, and I expect them to improve.”
Becoming “The Beast,” so the story goes, happened during her youth soccer days. Her spectacular freshmen year led Conway to go public with the name. And while her teammates don’t say the name, they do acknowledge it with their actions in practice.
“They definitely don’t like to go up against me in practice,” Peters said of her teammates. “They’re like, ‘She’s going to push me over’ or whatever, but I’ve never heard it (the nickname).”
Among her favorites aspects of soccer is the physical play, Peters admitted. It started in her center back playing days in youth soccer. She began receiving attention from opponents as she was named all-state honorable mention as a freshman.
“Coming from my freshman year where I wasn’t known to my sophomore year where people start to know you playing you two times per season, and it’s like, ‘Let’s put a girl on her and try to mark her’ and after that it started to be ‘try to take her out, let’s foul her,’” Peters said. “It’s part of the game — when two or three people are going at you, it is going to get physical.”
Peters isn’t the only reason the Gladiators are looking forward to great things this season. They are coming off an 18-2-1 finish a year ago and are led in goals scored by junior Riley Collins with 12, while senior Lillian David has added 11.
And they have a strong defense led by center back Grace Rowe and stingy goaltender Paisleigh Upshaw, who was second-team all-state as a sophomore. The Glads have allowed only six goals this spring.
“We’ve got some of the top players in the state, especially D3,” Conway said. “I am very blessed to have them part of the St. Francis program.”
After St. Francis won its first Lake Michigan Conference girls soccer title last year, the league was disbanded. The Gladiators are playing as independents this spring.
That has the Glads focused solely on a run through the Regional. They’ll have to repeat as District champions first, heading to the Hart District where they could face Clare, Kingsley, Manistee, Reed City, Remus Chippewa Hills and the host Pirates.
“The expectation is for us to continue to develop and get better as a squad,” Conway said. “And then make a nice postseason run, and I truly believe with this group of girls we shouldn't have any problem doing that.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at tomspencer@chartermi.net with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Traverse City St. Francis’ Sidney Peters (14) controls possession against Kingsley. (Middle) Peters and teammate Reese Muma (4) exchange high-fives during their game against Williamston. (Photos by Julie English.)