Portage Northern High School Men's Soccer

Game Summaries Fall 2004

Huskies rise above Maroon Giants. It is certainly the Central portion of the Huskies schedule. Portage Central last game, Kal Central this game, and over to BC Central this Thursday. At Kalamazoo Central’s new field, Portage Northern prevailed 3-1. KC kept things interesting by scoring with about 13 minutes left, but the Huskies held on.

Northern wasted little time early in the game as in the second minute Justin Bailey pushed a pass right up the middle to a charging Chris Walker who juked one way while flicking the ball the other way into the net.

Twenty minutes later Luke Thurston weaved a web of defenders into a knot before also tapping the ball past the goalie, giving the Huskies a 2-0 halftime edge. Luke also scored early in the 2nd half after punching a short-hop pass from a teammate past the goalie. In an attempt at a hat trick, Luke broke free and from point blank range sent a hot one toward KC goalie William Jackson, who made one of the better looking saves of the year.

Peter Milonas did a nice job in goal the second half, with Central’s only goal coming on a brief lapse in the defense (or was it the old “sleeper play”…where did that guy come from anyway?). Stephen Labadie played most of the game at sweeper and helped the defense hold down some of the speedy KC forwards.

The Northern JV squad met the JV squad from K-Central on Tuesday evening and came away with a 3-0 victory. It took the JV squad some time to get cooking in the heat on Tuesday but Kevin Kay finally broke through for a goal to put the Huskies on top midway through the first period. The half ended with Northern still clinging to a 1-0 lead. K-Central then came out fired up to begin the 2nd half and pushed forward, placing a number of dangerous opportunities in front of the Northern net before the Huskies re-grouped and began playing Huskie-like soccer. Ronald Dewberry found the back of the net with just over 8 minutes to play, and Aaron Stinson added an insurance goal as Northern's JV squad extended their unbeaten streak to 7 games and improved their record to 6-0-1.

Senior spotlights: Chris Walker used his speed to score the first goal tonight (funny that his name is “Walker”). His speed often makes defenders look a little like turtles. Chris probably really liked that, since when he was young he was a BIG fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Chris had it all, even the Turtle table and chairs. Chris felt he was one of the turtles, and one afternoon decided to take his sword to his Dad’s favorite floor plant (Shredder), which prior to the sword fight stood 3 to 4 feet tall. In the end, nary a leaf remained. “Splinter” would have been proud. Keep up the great hustle, Chris.

Speaking of hustle, Eric Newcomb flies around the field like a competitive warrior. Even when Eric was just three, he could not wait around for his time to come on the sport fields. When his older brother was playing baseball, and mommy and daddy’s attention would be diverted even briefly, Eric would climb the fence and run on the field. The umpire would stop the game to have Eric retrieved. Eric made it onto the field five times in one game alone! The umpire had to have a serious talk with Eric about how he could hurt himself. OK, Eric, NOW you can play.

Huskies split with Mustangs with the Portage Central Varsity prevailing 1-0 shortly after the Northern JV extended their unbeaten streak to six games with a 1-0 victory.

Everyone in Portage showed up for this one, except perhaps those people with plasma TVs. It was another beautiful night for high school soccer, and another awesome game between the two rivals. All those middle school and club soccer friendships were put on hold for about 80 minutes.

Northern and Central battled gamely for 34 minutes when an incidental handball 20 yards in front of the goal resulted in an Eric Alexander kick that skimmed the bottom of the crossbar just beyond his Vardar teammate's reach for the game’s only score. Super shot by Alexander the Great!

Most of the game’s shooting action was in the first half. Midway through the half a Central shooter was denied at point blank range by a diving Eric Staver; a Mustang header hit the cross bar; a Huskie barrage (2 headers and a kick) within seconds of each other negated by Central goalie Kevin Melotti.

The second half was a game of ball control, with the Mustangs controlling a majority of the period. It was another major defensive struggle, with some scrums mixed in with soccer. However, when the 80-minute friendship sabbatical ended, many Central and Northern players were seen rebuilding their friendship right there on the field. That is what is great about this rivalry.

As expected, the JV squads of Portage Northern and Portage Central engaged in a hard fought match on Thursday evening, with the Huskies emerging with a satisfying 1-0 victory over their crosstown rivals. The first half was back and forth, with neither team able to control play for any stretches of time. The defenses for both teams allowed few good scoring chances during the first 35 minutes of play. In the second half the Huskies began to control play and possess the ball, and ultimately broke through for the difference maker with about 10 minutes to play. Kevin Kay received a quick pass ahead from Matt Hecker, maneuvered efficiently around the PC defense, and finished nicely to give PN a one goal lead. Despite increased pressure from the PC offense which produced a few dangerous opportunities during the final minutes of the game, the Huskies held on for the 1-0 victory. Andrew Novaria got the shutout in goal for PN. The Huskie JV squad has now allowed only one goal in their last 5 matches and their record remains unblemished at 5-0-1.

Senior spotlight: Thursday night, Blaine Rueber outran one of the faster humans alive (Central’s Tommy McCurdy) to get to a loose ball. Blaine’s parents were not sure of his speed early in life, until he stopped crawling. When his parents got home from work and let two year old Blaine out of his car seat, he would just take off sprinting across neighbor’s yards. His mother Michele would often kick off her heels in hot pursuit. When not running, Blaine would model kitchen utensil ware… on his head. Blaine’s family wants to thank all the coaches he has had throughout soccer, especially his first one for six years, Rick Staver (hey, I didn’t know that guy knew soccer!). Great job Blaine.

Huskies open conference season with shutout wins over Wildcats. In the sequel to “Men in Black”, Mattawan brought its Oscar hopeful “Man in Pink” show to the Huskies field Tuesday night. The colorful Mattawan keeper actually performed very admirably throughout the contest, holding the Huskies in check for nearly the entire game.

With just over ten minutes left in the first half, the Huskies pummeled the Mattawan keeper with three successive shots. Andrew Jongeward took two of those and Aaron Kowalisyn the other, but each was rejected, one on a diving save. Then, with five minutes remaining in the half, Jongeward would not be denied from 25 yards out, giving the Huskies their only goal, and a game winning goal at that.

Chris Walker contributed some exciting hustle and passing late in the contest, to go along with the tremendous effort given by all those who contributed to the win. The defense held tough, especially when Mattawan neared the goal. The defense has given up just five goals in seven games (three shutouts). The offense has created many opportunities, and has scored on just enough of those opportunities to get Northern off to a 5-1-1 start.

Earlier, on another gorgeous evening for soccer the Northern JV extended their undefeated string to 5 games as they dispatched of the Mattawan JV in workmen-like fashion. The Huskies quickly built a 3 goal cushion by the half on goals from DJ Jarrad, Matt Blair, and Ronald Dewberry. The second half was more of the same as they wore down the Wildcats enroute to a 5-0 victory. Second half goals came from Kevin Kay and Michael Lara. Matt Hecker and Mitch Kinner both chipped in with two assists each for the game.

PN defeats Rockford 2-1. Tuesday Aug 31, the PN Huskies took on the Rockford Rams, the school that many observers get confused with Division 3 colleges. With more than one hundred fans looking incognito in an attempt to watch the game through sunglasses (can't we turn that field around?), the Huskies drew first blood after about ten minutes of action. With a free kick ten yards outside the box, Kyle Bend It Like Hitson spun a shot into the far upper corner of the net.

Northern again seemed to control the action throughout the game, getting off many more shots than Rockford. The Rams bent but did not break, and kept the game interesting until the very end. Midway through the second half, PN finally got what was hoped to be an insurance marker, with Kyle Hookin Hitson setting up a header goal by 6'10" Andrew Jongeward. OK, he plays that big when it comes to headers.

That insurance goal came in handy only three minutes later when the Rams countered when one of their players escaped to an opening and lofted a shot over the Huskie goalie. The final score of 2 to 1 was in jeapordy until the very end, when a Rockford header attempt went just wide with three seconds left on the clock.

The Husky JV team continued their undefeated ways on Tuesday evening with a hard fought victory against Rockford 2-0. On a beautiful afternoon for soccer, the Huskies took the lead on a Ronald Dewberry finish with just over 9 minutes left to play in the first half. Although controlling possession for much of the second half, the clinching goal did not come easily for the Huskies, but was finally netted by Kevin Kay with just over 4 minutes remaining in the contest. The Northern defense only allowed 3 shots on goal and Andrew Novaria got the shutout in goal for the Huskies. The victory improves the JV record to 3-0-1 as they head into big games with Mattawan and PC next week.

Huskies play to draw with TCW. Traverse City made the long trek to Portage Northern Saturday morning, and they seemed far from groggy after the long trip. TC came out controlling the action in the early going, and went up 1-0 midway through the first half. The score seemed to wake up the Huskies however. Later in the half, on a mid-field free kick off the foot of Tim Granaderos, a streaking Luke Thurston, with no regard for his noggin, headed the ball perfectly into the new and improved Northern nets.

With the forecasted 70 degree high turning into a steaming 95 degree heat index, many fans risked their lives by heading for the cheap seat wooden bleachers under the shade tree. Others wiped their brows and hung tough on the flaming metal bleachers. The men on the field however fired up for a gritty second half.

At the 16-minute mark of the second half, after a scramble by the Northern net, the ball popped out to a drooling Justin Bailey, nearly 45 feet from the hole. His subsequent blast zipped past a stunned goalie, who later admitted he thought the ball had exploded on impact. With a 2-1 lead and time winding down, things were getting intense. A few second half saves near the net by Blaine Rueber and Huskie goalie Eric Staver kept the lead intact, however with four minutes left a streaking TC player, with a Huskie defender in tow, somehow got off a strong left-footed kick into the right corner of the net. The 2-2 tie held until the end.

In the early match, the JV scored with less than 20 seconds to go to earn a 1-1 tie. Best wishes to JV player Collin Doud. Our thoughts and prayers are with a speedy and complete recovery of your leg injury.

Northern Splits with West Ottawa. Portage Northern’s varsity soccer team opened their regular season schedule Tuesday night at West Ottawa. The rain held off, but déjà vu did not. Last year W.O. knocked off the Huskies 1-0 after being seriously out shot. In this year’s version, the same result. Even though out shooting the Panthers 235 to 3 (OK, it sure seemed we had that many), West Ottawa scored the game’s only goal with just 17 minutes left in the game. Northern shooters could not penetrate the Panther guarding the net, with a last- second first half blast from Andrew Jongward hitting the cross bar, and a second half rocket by Luke Thurston rejected by their diving goalie. A large Huskie fan contingent saw a very good game, even though the end result may have been frustrating. These fans left knowing from this performance that we are all in for an exciting and successful season. Thanks for your awesome effort. In the early match, the PN JV won 2-0.

Northern opens with good showing at Husky Invitational. On a cool clear Saturday at the plush Portage Soccer Complex, 10 teams came to tune up for the regular season soon to begin. After many practice sessions and two scrimmages, PN was eager to test themselves.

The Huskies defeated Muskegon Reeths Puffer 3-1 in the opener. The first goal of the season came on a PK when Justin Bailey sent the keeper diving one direction while his shot rocketed the other way. The second goal came when Matt Toepper finished efficiently on a nice pass from Chris Walker (set up by some nifty footwork and another nice pass by Bailey). The final goal for the Huskies came off a restart from the Huskie side of the field when Greg Vincent made a long run while Andy Jongeward timed his kick perfectly; Vincent collected the ball and buried his shot (some of the older spectators thought they looked like Joe Montana and Jerry Rice on that play!).

In the second game, Forest Hills Central controlled play in the first half, but the 0-0 halftime score gave the Huskies from Portage Northern some confidence, and they came out and played a stronger second half. PN hit paydirt halfway through the half when Matt Toepper chipped up a well-placed cross to Luke Thurston who headed the ball perfectly, just skimming the inside of the near post on the way in. Eric Staver is credited with a well-earned shutout against a very strong team, and he had lots of help from his teammates, including Tim Granaderos who kept Jake Stacy under control, along with Justin Bailey and the defense, who collectively bent but did not break. Congratulations Huskies.

Eaton Rapids was the opponent in the finale and PN controlled play from start to finish. The final score was 5-0 with goals from Matt Toepper (twice), Luke Thurston, Eric Newcomb, and Brett Knight, assisted by Aaron Kowalisyn, Eric Newcomb, Toepper, and Zach Hurd.

The JV opened their season with a strong showing against the Loy Norrix varsity, winning 3-2 on a late goal with about a minute to go in the game. Final score: 3-2