In the end, defense was still the best spot for Liam McHugh.
Earlier in the season, the Reeths-Puffer soccer team was having some defensive issues, and the offense was lacking some depth, so head coach Kody Harrell moved McHugh, an outstanding athlete with a powerful leg, from a defensive to a forward position.
If the defense was going to give up goals, Harrell reasoned, the Rockets would just have to score faster than other teams, and he figured there was a better chance of that with McHugh up front.
McHugh got a few goals, but the move didn’t make much difference, and in the meantime the defense continued to lag.
Late in the season Harrell moved McHugh back to his normal center back position, and since then the Rocket back-line defenders – McHugh, JT Fansler, Conner Mammen and Ethan Pennington - have become extremely stingy.
R-P junior goalkeeper Gage Hopkins (left) and senior center back Liam McHugh.
Last week, in fact, the Rockets didn’t give up a single goal in three tournament games. They defeated Allendale 3-0, Ludington 3-0 in the semifinals and Spring Lake 1-0 in the finals to win a Division 2 district championship.
The title was a huge accomplishment for a talented team that underperformed most of the season and went into districts with a disappointing .500 record.
Now the Rockets will face a really big test on Tuesday when they face highly-ranked Forest Hills Northern in the first round of regionals at Cedar Springs High School.
FH Northern, 12-3-3, defeated the Rockets 5-1 in a game in late August. Reeths-Puffer will be looking for its first regional win in program history.
If the R-P defenders play like they did last week, the game should be closely contested.
McHugh in action earlier this season against Fruitport. Photo/Joe Lane
The tight defense was extra important in the district finals against Spring Lake, because the Rockets failed to score themselves. The only tally of the contest came when a Laker player accidently put the ball in his own net, so there was no room for error on the R-P defensive end.
“We definitely had some nerves going into it, particularly against Spring Lake, which has a lot of strong attackers, but we wanted to do the program proud and make the alumni proud,” said McHugh, a senior in his third season of varsity soccer. “I think we thrived under that pressure.”
McHugh says he isn’t sure what suddenly clicked for the R-P defense in the past few weeks.
“We went into the season with a lot of confidence on defense,” McHugh said. “He had almost our full defensive line coming back, but it just wasn’t working. It might have been the pressure we were putting on ourselves.
“We lost a couple of games letting a lot of goals in, then the conference tournament came around and it started clicking. Me and Fansler know when to step up and when to stay back, and Conner and Ethan, our outside backs, started playing outstanding. It all clicked at the perfect time, and it’s been a team effort.”
McHugh blasts a ball against Allendale in districts last week. Photo/Andrew Johnson
Harrell notes that he moved McHugh back to a defensive position for a game against Zeeland East in the conference tournament, which was when the Rockets started to heat up.
“He’s just a freak athlete,” Harrell said. “He can jump super high. When he goes up for corner kicks he has the crossbar of the goal at his chest. He’s also extremely fast and confident on the ball. He can absolutely ping the ball, over 40 yards now.
“Against Ludington last week, you could tell they had not played against a defender like him all year. Ludington is extremely physical, but they were getting frustrated with McHugh. He’s very tough to move off the ball, he will come and take it from you, and he’s great at slide tackling. He times it perfectly.”
Of course the defenders can’t stop everything, and sometimes balls got through in the district tournament games.
But none of them found the back of the net, because junior goalie Gage Hopkins, a three-year varsity starter, has been playing as well as he has all season.
Hopkins goes to the ground to stop a shot against Forest Hills Northern. Photo/Joe Lane
Hopkins stopped four shots against Allendale, five against Ludington and eight against Spring Lake to record three shutouts in one week.
Hopkins, like the rest of his team, had some struggles earlier in the season, but is playing with a lot of confidence at the perfect time.
“I just wasn’t mentally into it, and I felt like maybe I had to live up to something,” Hopkins said about the rough weeks of the season. “Then in practice and games we switched our focus to just relaxing more and having fun.
“Now it’s about just being there for each other, instead of, hey, we need to win conference, or hey, we need to get the first regional win in school history. Now we’re just relaxing, and I’m having fun with my boys.”
Coach Harrell said Hopkins has risen to the challenge over the last few weeks and has been playing great again.
Hopkins gets ready to boot the ball against Western Michigan Christian.
“He’s been much more mentally focused the last three weeks,” Harrell said. “That’s a testament to his character and work ethic. He’s really been locked in.
“He’s very vocal and keeps the guys organized in front of him. He’s very confident in receiving the ball and making passes under pressure.”
Hopkins said the Rockets are in a much better place, in terms of confidence, than they were when they lost to Forest Hills Northern in August.
“I feel like we can play with any team and at least hold our own,” the goalie said.