MUSKEGON TWP. - Everyone knew it was going to be a learning season for the young Reeths-Puffer lacrosse team, with a fair number of losses along the way.
So how much have the Rockets learned while battling through a sometimes painful 3-13 campaign?
Well, consider this. About a month ago they lost to Jenison 17-0, which surprised nobody, considering Jenison has a team with lots of juniors and seniors, and R-P has a roster with lots of freshmen and sophomores.
But things were quite a bit different on Monday night, when Reeths-Puffer gave Jenison a run for its money before falling 10-4 in a rematch played at R-P.
R-P's Braeden Monette (27) watches his shot go in the goal. Photo/Jeremy Clark
The game was very close through three quarters before the Wildcats scored four unanswered goals in the fourth. R-P actually led by one after one quarter, and only trailed by one at halftime.
The strong performance came four days after R-P won its third game of the season in a 9-8 comeback thriller over Grand Rapids Christian.
It's clearly a more mature, confident R-P team taking the field as the season nears its end.
Now the classroom time is over for the Rockets, because the regular season is over, and the team will have to apply the lessons it's learned under win-or-go home pressure.
R-P's Ian Wright (1) gets ready to shoot. Photo/Jeremy Clark
R-P will host Coopersville on Wednesday night in a pre-regional game in an attempt to keep its season alive, and the Rockets are looking forward to it, according to head coach Josh Robidoux.
"They have learned a ton," Robidoux said about his players. "We're not done yet. We're ready for Wednesday and we're planning to win on Wednesday. They want to keep playing, and I want to keep playing. It will be the first time having some postseason fun for a lot of them, and I am excited to see how they handle it."
The Rockets were clicking on both ends of the field and in goal for most of the game."
They had lots of quality shots on the Jenison goal, and would have scored more, if it weren't for the efforts of standout Jenison goalie Spencer Strelecki.
R-P's Jack Bahorski (9) plays some tough defense. Photo/Jeremy Clark
Ian Wright led the attack with two goals while Cohen Beck had one goal and three assists. Coach Robidoux credited Gabe Feirick for being dominant on faceoffs.
On defense R-P was downright stingy for the majority of the game. The best moments came in a roughly two-minute stretch near the end of the first half, when Jenison controlled the ball in the R-P zone.. The Wildcats sustained the attack, but couldn't put the ball in the Rocket net, mostly due to several bad passes that were forced by aggressive R-P defenders.
Robidoux credited defenders Cooper Kejonen and Ben Adams for playing well on the back end, and Trent Plummer for doing a great job of clearing the ball from the R-P zone.
Reeths-Puffer goalie Gavin Wright was also outstanding again, stopping 11 shots that could have made Jenison's margin of victory much larger than it was.
"Our defense played great tonight," Robidoux said. "Lots of positive stuff from our defense. That was their best game of the season. They played lights out."
R-P's Gage Bouwman (15) takes instructions from Coach Josh Robidoux. Photo/Jeremy Clark
The Rockets opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game with a goal by Ian Wright. Jenison tied things up three minutes later on a goal by Sam Jemkins, but Wright struck again with 1:08 left in the first quarter and R-P led 2-1 heading into the second.
Jenison had a 3-1 advantage in goals in the second quarter and led 4-3 at halftime. R-P's lone goal was scored by Braeden Monette.
Jenison scored again with 5:28 left in the third quarter and pulled ahead 5-3, then Beck found the net for the Rockets less than a minute later, making it a one-goal game again.
A bad break came with only eight seconds left in the third when R-P experienced some confusion on the defensive end and the Wildcats slipped in a late goal and took a 6-4 lead into the fourth.
Jenison dominated the final quarter, scoring all four goals. Three of those came from Jenkins, who finished with five in the game.