The biggest part of the season is just around the corner for the Reeths-Puffer boys soccer team.
At this point, everything leading up the Division 2 district tournament is just a warm-up for that competition.
That included a 4-1 loss to Caledonia at home on Thursday night in the final O-K Green conference game of the season.
The Rockets flirted with the top of the O-K Green standings earlier in the season, but the conference has a lot of great teams from Division 1 schools, and they Rockets have a lot of players who are just gaining varsity experience.
They finished the season with a 3-5-1 mark in the O-K Green, after losing the last four conference games. R-P is 7-7-3 overall.
But the conference games have been valuable, because they have toughened the Rockets up for districts, which begin next week. Last year R-P lost to Cedar Springs in the district title game 1-0, and they want to take the next step this year.
The Rockets will host Greenville next Wednesday in their district opener.
“We’re in a unique situation where the competition we play all year just sets us up to be battle-tested,” said R-P head coach Kody Harrell. “We told our boys in this format, you don’t have to be the best team of the year to win a championship, you just have to be the hottest team at the right time.
"We’re staring to really move the ball around a lot better, and we’re so close to playing a perfect game defensively. I am excited to see what kind of run this group can make."
Caledonia only led 1-0 at halftime, then scored two more goals in the second half to go up 3-0.
R-P broke the shutout with about 17 minutes left when Antonio Nelson-Lee stole a pass and rifled in a shot from about 35 yards out. Caledonia finished the scoring with a late goal.
"We did a lot of things right, and despite the score, I feel better about our chances of winning a district title after seeing how the boys played tonight," Harrell said.
The Rockets will wrap up the regular season with a non-conference game at Spring Lake on Saturday.
