MUSKEGON TWP. - After an up-and-down regular season, the Reeths-Puffer boys soccer team was more than ready for the state tournament to begin.
That welcome new opportunity arrived on Wednesday night, and the Rockets embraced it, overwhelming visiting Greenville 6-1 in a Division 2 district tournament quarterfinal game at R-P’s Eric Marcil Field.
The Rockets, now 8-7-1 on the season, advance to the district semifinals to play Ludington on Monday at 5 p.m. at Sparta High School, in a rematch of a great semifinal last year.
Cedar Springs and Big Rapids will play in the other semifinal the same night, and the two winners will meet in next Wednesday’s championship game.
R-P's Antonio Jackson-Lee (11) races past defenders. Photo/Jeremy Clark
The district tournament means a great deal to R-P this season, for a couple of reasons.
For one thing, it’s a fresh start following a regular season that started with a lot of promise, but faded a bit toward the end.
Around midseason the Rockets, with a lot of first-year varsity players, were a bit surprised to find themselves in the middle of the championship race in the very tough O-K Green conference, following a tie with powerful Byron Center, and victories over Jenison and Mona Shores.
That dream ended down the stretch of the season, however, when R-P lost its last four conference games.
“I told our guys to use that as motivation,” said R-P head coach Kody Harrell. “We weren’t able to get a couple of results we wanted, and now it’s all about districts. A couple of games did not go our way, so let's do everything we can to not feel that pain again.”
AJ Jackson (26), who scored R-P's first goal. Photo/Jeremy Clark
The Rockets also remember last year’s district tournament, which ended in heartbreaking fashion.
R-P beat Ludington 2-0 in an overtime thriller in the semifinals, before falling to Cedar Springs 1-0 in the championship game.
Harrell knows there are tough games ahead - starting with 13-2-4 Ludington on Monday - but he believes his team is capable of competing with any opponent left in the district bracket, including Cedar Springs, which the Rockets tied 1-1 earlier this year.
“We are so hungry to get another crack at Cedar Springs, or whoever it is in the finals,” Harrell said. “We are excited to be in the same district again this year, because we have an opportunity for redemption.
Cam David (9) blasts a shot. Photo/Jeremy Clark
“I almost feel guilty about talking about Cedar Springs, though, because we have to beat Ludington first. With a great coach like Kris Anderson, who had a first round bye and has a whole week to game plan, it’s going to be a really tough game.
"They have good players and a good system. They are the one seed in our district, and I told our guys to treat them that way.”
The Rockets came out on full blast on Wednesday, controlling play and peppering the Greenville goal with the first six shots on the game.
R-P’s AJ Jackson opened the scoring 3 ½ minutes into the game when he popped a rebound into the Yellowjacket net.
The Rockets celebrate a goal. Photo/Jeremy Clark
The Rockets went up 2-0 with about 21 minutes remaining in the first half when Kam David blasted a shot from just inside the box past the Greenville goalie.
The Yellowjackets finally managed a little offense and got a goal from Oliver Larsen about five minutes later, but R-P answered with 7:42 left when Evan McHugh scored, giving the Rockets a 3-1 halftime lead.
Reeths-Puffer had a 14-3 advantage in shots on goal in the first half.
The second half was more of the same, with the Rockets collecting a goal from Matthew Hansen about nine minutes in, followed by a penalty kick goal from London Carpenter and another goal by Hansen.
R-P ended up outshooting Greenville 27-4 in the game.
