09/14/2006

Prep Soccer Season Overview

Elk Rapids, West aiming for titles

Cherryland Conference is very competitive

BY JAMES COOK

jcook@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Two area powerhouses are looking to turn the corner and go the next step.

Elk Rapids and Traverse City West, the area's only two teams ranked in the coaches association poll, have something to prove.

The Elks are aiming to get past the semifinal roadblock that has impeded them for three years, while TC West is hoping to turn its Big North Conference dominance into a long playoff run.

Elk Rapids has let its junior varsity team play most of its Lake Michigan Conference slate while the varsity goes off in search of games to better prepare the Elks for the postseason.

TC West, meanwhile, has weathered an incredibly demanding early-season schedule that included three opponents ranked in the top six and came out with a 5-1-2 mark.

The Cherryland looks like it is at its most competitive level in years, with Suttons Bay, Northport, Traverse City Christian and Leland all coming in with excellent teams, and the Lake Michigan will be wide open without the Elks' varsity in the mix.

With Gaylord emerging as a contender in addition to the Traverse City squads, the Big North also shapes up as a potentially tight race.

The Elks are hoping to break the semifinal jinx that has plagued them for three years. ELK RAPIDS hosts both districts and regionals, and the semis would again be at Shelby.

With most of their team back from last year, the Elks have a legit shot at a return to Shelby. But Roscommon is in their district, and Cheboygan awaits in regionals.

The junior-laden roster has only four seniors.

"Whatever we do this year, we'll repeat next year," said coach Al Gredlein.

The Division 3 squad is 6-3 playing a schedule you'd expect from a top Division 2 or even a Division 1 team. They have beaten Petoskey, Cadillac, Muskegon Catholic and Cheboygan, and suffered one-goal losses to Traverse City Central, Gaylord and Marquette. Not only is the varsity playing bigger schools, but the junior varsity is competing with varsity teams on a regular basis.

"I think it will help both teams," Gredlein said. "The JV is getting tougher every night."

The Elk close the season with a tough five-game stretch of Cheboygan, Muskegon Western Michigan Catholic (ranked No. 1 in Division 4), Gaylord, Petoskey and TC Central.

The Elks return leading scorer Garrett Gribi, a junior forward, and junior Dan Werth is back in net, with a new coach. Elk Rapids added former Aquinas player and TC Central assistant Nate Plum as a goaltending coach.

"Last year (Werth) was all-state and this year he's even better," Gredlein said. "I attribute a big part of that to Nate."

The Elks are making the transition from man-to-man to a zone defense this season.

Junior midfielder Ian Sliger leads the team in assists and is second in points, and junior Mike Greiner is back after missing three games with an injury. Sweeper Lroen Mercer also missed a trio of contests with an injury sustained in the season opener against the Trojans. Junior defender Peter Schugart, a transfer from Cleveland, adds to the defense.

"We don't have a Casey Townsend on our team, but we've got a lot of strong players," Gredlein said.

Big North

TRAVERSE CITY WEST is the team everyone has their sights set on.

After dominating the BNC for five straight league titles, some view this as the year that West may be vulnerable.

That hasn't been the case so far. The Titans started off the league slate 3-0 with wins over Alpena, Petoskey and Gaylord and have earned the No. 8 ranking in Division I after a 20-2-1 mark last year, the second-most wins in school history.

That season ended in disappointment, however, as injuries and suspensions cost the Titans a shot at marching toward the state title. TC West was stopped in regionals.

Scoring won't be a problem with West, with Casey Townsend a goal-scoring machine and possible Mr. Soccer candidate. But the Titans lost their starting goaltender and four defenders from last year.

West was able to schedule games with No. 1-ranked Warren DeLaSalle, No. 2 East Kentwood and No. 6 Rochester Stoney Creek.

West's only setback this year is a 1-0 loss to DeLaSalle, while the Titans battled East Kentwood to a scoreless tie and defeated Stoney Creek.

"You get to the point where you can get those games because of what you did in previous years," West coach Jason Carmien said. "We don't need to go 20-0. Everybody makes the playoffs. It's not football."

Townsend had 21 goals last year, and he and teammate Dan Kellogg are tied for the BNC scoring lead with six points through three games.

"We've been able to get behind teams and score," Carmien said. "I just like the attitude of this team. They're gritty and fighters."

Other starters for West include center midfielder Drew Nichols, senior goaltender John Nowak, senior sweeper Sam Coughonour and senior midfielder Kace Lovejoy. Sophomore John Gourlay steps in on defense, and sophomore Curt Olson plays outside mid.

"Things look good," Carmien said. "I think we'll get better as the season progresses."

The rest of the Big North better hope not.

TRAVERSE CITY CENTRAL has a record class of 15 seniors, giving the Trojans depth and experience.

Senior captains Travis Heeren, Kyle Broadway and Brian Grost pace the veterans, with fellow seniors Ted Groenvelt, Chris Burgess, Mike Waisanen and Jeff Byl at forward, Gunnar Groesbeck, Matt Grove and Hunter Brauer in the midfield and Shane Harvey, Patrick Kelly and Andy Terhune on defense. Senior Sam Trippe also joins the squad in the midfield.

Sophomore Dane Macdonell returns in net, with David Harman playing a key role on defense.

"The core of the team has worked together on varsity for two years, and have taken their losses over the past seasons," Central coach Andy Valdmanis said, "but are poised for a successful run at the best of the Big North Conference in Traverse City West, Petoskey and Gaylord and beyond."

The Trojans started off the season with a win over Elk Rapids and is 4-1 so far this season, 1-1 in league action.

GAYLORD has stepped it up under coach Sean Byram and is 4-2-1 early in the season, with ALPENA a surprising 3-2-1, 1-1 in BNC games.

CADILLAC (2-5, 0-1) and PETOSKEY (1-6, 0-2) have struggled early in the season.

Cherryland

With the future of the Cherryland Conference up in the air with the impending defections of Buckley and Leland, there figures to be as tight a race for the title as there is a tight a schedule to keep the league together.

Suttons Bay, Traverse City Christian and Northport look to duke it out for supremacy in the league.

The Norse were regarded by many as pre-season favorites, but an early loss to Christian has thrown things into doubt.

"It looks like the conference is up for grabs," Northport coach Marshall Collins said.

Suttons Bay hosts a district that includes Cherryland schools Buckley, Leland, Northport, Suttons Bay, TC Christian and Glen Lake.

"The Cherryland Conference is considered one of the toughest in the state and winning the conference will be a major test," said TC Christian coach Ron Christie. "Hard work and a couple of good bounces will send our team into regionals."

TRAVERSE CITY CHRISTIAN has the early leg up in the league, going undefeated in conference play. Northport and Suttons Bay each have one Cherryland loss, both to Christian.

The Sabres return three all-conference players in center midfielder Matt Beemer, sweeper Mike Rudolph and fullback Matt Yeiter, who are also the team's captains.

Eric Hofstra and Mitch Wierenga bring good vision to the midfield and Eric Pardini returns in goal.

Newcomer Daniel Mustard adds some spice to the defense and Jason Send helps in the midfield.

The Sabres were 9-8 last year.

SUTTONS BAY won the league last season and made a playoff run to the Division 4 semifinals.

But the team lost a good deal of its team that went 18-4-1 last season.

Former Alma College all-MIAA midfielder Randy U'Ren takes over the Norse program.

Goaltender Matt Ness, sweeper Ben Darling, midfielder Alex Dingrando and forward Jesse Wright — all seniors — will be expected to lead the team on the field.

"They have the potential to be really good this year," U'Ren said. "But it's really difficult for a team to have three coaches in as many years with different coaching styles."

U'Ren preaches a possession style of play, while former coach Tom Singer emphasized an attacking game that used only three defenders.

The Norse lost senior defender Kent Eikey to a torn ACL the second day of practice.

Sophomore Jason McKisson steps in at sweeper and sophomore Shane MacDonald at midfield.

The Norse host districts and have added lights to their home field so they can host their first night games this season.

Andrew Ness, a former Suttons Bay player last year, joins U'Ren as an assistant coach.

NORTHPORT has its largest team in Collins' seven years as a coach — the last four years as coach and the previous three as an assistant.

With 21 players, including 13 back from last year's third-place Cherryland team and district finalist, the Wildcats are able to rotate players in and out of the game more, and it has showed so far as Northport has gone 3-1.

"In past years we've had to play the starters pretty much the whole game, and we had problems with cramping," Collins said.

With the high-scoring trio of Cody Brown, Ryan Blessing and Basil Stowe up front, the Wildcats have a potent offense and a stingy goaltender in three-year starter Drew Mitchell. Add in senior defenders Matt Kehl and Nathan Scherrer and sophomore backs Shane Detwiler and Max Raphael and the defense is in good shape.

Senior Nolan Raccich and junior Eric Johnson start in the midfield with Blessing. Foreign exchange student Brian Salas from Costa Rica adds depth to the strikers.

LELAND has been red-hot in non-conference action, but 1-3 in the competitive league.

The Comets are 6-0 out of conference play.

"We're essentially out of the league hunt," coach Rob Boynton said. "It gives us a month to work on some things and experiment to get ready for districts."

The Comets are hoping they can carry the Cherryland torch in the post-season this year. A different Cherryland team has reached the state semifinals in each of the past three years (TC Christian in 2003, Northport in '04 and Suttons Bay in '05).

In order to do that, they need to snap a streak of three 1-0 district losses to Northport. Leland dropped a one-goal game to the Wildcats already this season, but all three of their losses have been close one-goal contests.

The Comets are led by senior midfielders Matt Larson and Brad Dunklow and senior netminder Tyler Kenney. Junior backs Adam Nedow and Ryan Korson head up the defense, and junior forwards Eric Larson and Brian Zaryczny. Eric Larsen has scored six goals already this season.

Leland lost its top two returners. First-team all-state forward Ryan Paulton (31 goals) moved to Arkansas and Matt Lichty is now playing football for Glen Lake.

GLEN LAKE has a young team, with just five upperclassmen on its roster for first-year coach Mike Hasselbeck, who coached in the Cincinnati area for 31 years.

Lake Michigan

With Elk Rapids playing its JV team in most Lake Michigan Conference games, the race could be up for grabs.

The Elks, a perennial power in the league, received permission to have their junior varsity play their conference games in order for their varsity team to seek contests against more top-flight competition as Elk Rapids looks to break its three-year streak of losses in the state semifinals.

HARBOR SPRINGS won its first district title in Division 3 last year, going 13-7. Leading the Rams returnees are leading scorer Josh Manker and defender Riley Ford, both of whom were first-team all-LMC a year ago. Terrence Frank, an honorable-mention all-league pick last year, joins Manker up front, and senior Trent Moody steps in at goaltender for graduated Payne Schanski.

EAST JORDAN has a pair of fourth-year varsity players in Jeff Keyser and Michael Carter among five seniors. Senior David Waterson is in his third year on varsity for Peter Elliott's Red Devils, who have to replace 17 players from last year's squad, including two-time all-LMC pick Brandon LaCount.

BOYNE CITY has its program numbers up, with 30 players out for the team, including eight freshmen with travel team experience.

All-Lake Michigan senior forward Matt Keiser leads the offense and honorable mention selection Oli Ryan heads up the defense, with senior midfielders Ryan Witten and Jason Fountain. Junior midfielder Phil Conklin joins Keiser and Ryan as team captains.

CHARLEVOIX has fallen on hard times this season, with a young squad with only three players with three or more years of experience on the field. The Rayders started 1-5, but also started off slow in 2005 before bouncing back to finish third in the league.

All-league defender Trevor Mays is one of the top returnees, with sophomore Collin McDonough in net and forwards Colin Campbell, Josh Godfrey and Alex Buday adding some scoring punch.'Mays and Godfrey are the team's only two senior starters.

GRAYLING is looking to take a big step forward under third-year coach Loren Cobb.

The Vikings, 2-16 last year, have already won as many games as a year ago, and hope that is only the start.

Senior forward Adam Crittenden and senior sweeper A.J. Anter lead things for Grayling, which boasts 10 freshman on its roster and three foreign exchange students that are making a difference early.

"This is my best team since I have been coaching at Grayling," Cobb said. "I've had some great individuals over the past few years, but not a group of guys who work so well together. Our goal for the year is 12 wins."

KALKASKA enters its second year of varsity soccer under coach Andrei Henegariu.

Others

CHEBOYGAN got off to a 3-0 start for the 2006 season after an 11-7-2 campaign in '05 and is now 7-1.

Senior Jacob Spence had six goals and six assists in the first three games, with sophomore Brad Stempky adding in six goals and four assists for the high-scoring Chiefs. Senior net minder Hayden Herrick and senior Brandon Richardson are also key cogs for Cheboygan.

"This team plays good selfless soccer and its members seem to be centered on what is best for the team," said coach Tom Markham.

BENZIE CENTRAL has made the leap to a .500 team over the last few years. Now the Huskies are aiming higher.

Coming off a 10-9-1 season, a young Benzie squad relies heavily on juniors.

Seniors Rory Johnson and Joe Morse anchor the defense and are team captains, while All-Region honorable mention pick Andrew Addis scored 13 goals last year as a junior and junior goalie Steve Smendzuik entered the year with 14 career shutouts.

"Team depth and skill is improved over past years and leadership will be a key factor with a large underclassman roster," said third-year coach Don Cunningham.

The Huskies could get a boost from freshman forward Colin Towersey and sophomomre transfer Brad Frostic.

HARBOR LIGHT CHRISTIAN had one of its best years last year, posting a 15-6 record and its first-ever district title.

This year's team will be retooling, although the squad has leading scorer Rob Wendt back up top. Ben Cole was the team's third-leading scorer last year as an eighth-grader. Mark Fila, David Klevorn and Andrew Kruzel are also returning starters, and Brandt Cole takes over in net.

BURT LAKE Northern Michigan Christian is the definition of a young team.

The Eagles don't have a single senior or junior on their roster, and at least half of the team is comprised of middle-schoolers.

Josh Fosmore is the starter in net, and seventh-grader midfielders Paul Chatfield, Stephen Thompson and David Thompson also play a lot. Josh Lovitt is one of the team's top defenders.