A Look Back at Year 2:  2005

By Paul Rosenbrook

We returned to the practice field in August 2005 with a good deal of excitement.  We had gained a lot of experience in our first year and returned every player from the previous season.  We also added some talent in the form of some JV call-ups, the transfer of Sophomore Eric Fish from Waterford Mott HS, and Sophomore Eric Parks joined the team after spending the previous Fall playing for his club team.

We began our season with the christening of our beautiful new stadium on August 27, 2010 in a 13-0 win over Hart High School. 

The first half of the season was a roller-coaster ride as we struggled with consistency.  We would occasionally over-achieve in a game, only to follow that performance with an equally uninspired match and lose to a weaker team.  Through the first 12 games of the season, we had compiled a disappointing 3-7-2 record.

After four consecutive wins against lower-level teams, we travelled to Portage Central for a match that was truly David vs. Goliath.  PC was a top-10 Division 1 team with the player who would go on to win the Gatorade National Player of the Year that season, and we were a second-year Division 3 program with a losing record.  We decided to play a compact 5-4-1 formation to limit space and attacking opportunities for the Mustangs.  Eric Parks was dynamic as the lone striker, counter-attacking at every opportunity, effectively attacking in 1v2 or even 1v3 situations.  Shots on goal were even at two for the half, as both teams went into halftime scoreless.  Though we were spending much time in our defensive third under fire (corner kicks were 10-0 for the game), we still managed to limit their shots, and the game was still scoreless when Parks pinged one off the goalpost with just minutes remaining.  The game ended in a 0-0 tie.  At that moment, we walked off the field having built an incredible amount of chemistry and confidence, and the feeling that we could play with any team in the state.

After a heart-breaking 1-0 conference loss a few days later to Calvin Christian, despite having out-played them, we finished our regular season with three consecutive victories.  We finished the regular season with a 10-8-3 record, a great accomplishment considering we began the season just 3-7-2.  We were on a roll, with State Playoffs just around the corner.

We hosted our first-round Districts game with Northpointe Christian, who at 17-3-0 were ranked #4 in the state.  They had dominated us earlier in the season in a 6-3 game at their home field, but now they walked in to face a different team.  The FHE crowd was large and loud as a fog settled in just above the turf.  The game was an absolute battle, back-and-forth, highly-skilled, but with neither team able to gain an edge.  Finally, it was Eric Parks who broke the scoreless tie on a rebound inside the 18 with just 6:48 remaining in the game.  However, Northpointe equalized just 43 seconds later on a goal scored from a long throw-in.  Both teams continued to battle through the overtimes, but when the dust settled, the flow of play ended in a 1-1 tie and would move into a PK shootout.  After Northpointe scored their final PK to even the penalties at 3-3, Senior Josh Quador stepped up to the spot and buried a perfectly-placed shot to earn us the victory. 

We moved on to play Otsego in our 2^nd Round Districts match, a team who had defeated us in PKs at the beginning of the season.  We came out with energy and confidence, peppering their goal, but were held scoreless until Eric Parks scored in the 27^th minute.  After Otsego was reduced to 10 men following a red card, we played a bit more conservatively, looking to limit their attacking opportunities while we counter-attacked.  The game would end in a 1-0 FHE win, and we were moving on to the District Final.

The District Final game saw us matched with Calvin Christian, a talented team with whom we had built an almost bitter rivalry over the course of just two seasons.  They had edged us out for the OK Silver Conference Championship that season after a defeating us in a pair of 1-0 games.  In another rematch in which both teams played with every ounce of determination, it was FHE who would score the first goal this time around:  Eric Parks scored in the 27^th minute off a free kick into the 18.  Sophomore Ross Peterson, a converted field player who had become our starting goalkeeper, kept Calvin off the board by making 4 saves for the game.  As the time expired, we celebrated our first Districts Championship—one that was well-deserved as we were forced to play the top 3 teams in the draw and had overcome the odds by beating them all.

Our first Regional game was against Dowagiac at Calvin Christian, a field without lights.  The Regional game the day before (Comstock Park v. Parchment) had gone into overtime, and due to the lack of light, the teams had to return to the field prior to our game to play the 2^nd Overtime.  It appeared that light wouldn’t be a factor in this one, as FHE scored twice in the first 22 minutes on goals from Scott Howard and Eric Fish.  However, Dowagiac scored twice in the final 18 minutes to equal the halftime score at 2 goals apiece.  Neither team was able to find the net in the 2^nd Half, and as we played toward the end of the 1^st OT, it began to get very dark.  MHSAA representatives told us that if neither team scored a sudden-death goal by the end of the 1^st OT, both teams would again have to return the following day to finish the game.  As the seconds wound down, Eric Parks struck volley from the touchline, a high-arcing shot from 35 or 40 yards away…the goalkeeper struggled to track it in the near-dark conditions, and it fell neatly into the goal with just 0:02 seconds remaining in the game.  Needless to say, we all went a little crazy as we moved on to the next round with a 3-2 overtime victory.

The Regional Final at Calvin Christian saw us face Parchment.  We raced out of the gate as Eric Parks scored a hat-trick in the first 16 minutes of the match.  Senior Zak Zeoli put us up 4-0 with a goal in the 43^rd minute.  We began to take our foot off the gas as we lost focus and began to look toward our next match.  As a result, Parchment came roaring back with 3 goals, bringing the score back to 4-3 with 6 minutes remaining.  Reeling, we managed to hold them off as we won our first Regional Championship and tried to comprehend how we went from such a horrible beginning to the Final Four, all in one season.

The State Semifinal was played on November 9 at Shelby High School on a night in which the wind chill was near zero.  The winds gusted and occasionally the snow fell.  Our opponent was Elk Rapids, who at 18-5-2, were one of the finest teams around.  They pummeled us early, controlling possession and creating dangerous opportunities.  ER scored the first goal of the game in just the 6^th minute.  We were now faced with trying to come back against one of the state’s top teams and had to do so without our leading scorer, Eric Parks, who sustained a training injury.  We were barely clinging to that one-goal deficit when our offense came from an unlikely source:  Senior sweeper Rob Saliers struck a brilliant 35-yard volley in the 33^rd minute to equalize before the halftime break.  In the 2^nd half, Elk Rapids continued to pummel our goal mercilessly as we just tried desperately to stay in the game.  With 10 minutes left in regulation, it was Saliers again who settled the ball, attacked the open space in front of him as he crossed the center line, and hit a shot from 30 yards that very clearly was going to go well over the goal…the opposing goalkeeper was well off his line and didn’t even move, as he read the ball clearly going over his crossbar, but with one of the night’s frequent 40 mph gusts, the win knocked the ball nearly straight down and into the empty net.  We held on for dear life to our lead and the final whistle sounded, sending us into the State Championship game.  Following the game, the despondent Elk Rapids coach would state in an interview with the Grand Rapids Press:  “We out-everythinged them and they beat us”.

The State Final was played on November 12 at East Kentwood on a beautiful Fall day.  The stands were packed with the Forest Hills faithful as people from all of the district’s schools came to watch the Cinderella Story play out.  The opponent was Detroit Country Day, the perennial powerhouse who were the defending State Champs, and had laid claim to 10 other state championships at that time in their program’s history.  Despite being a bundle of nerves, our guys played their guts out.  The game was scoreless at halftime and the shots were even.  The 2^nd half was another story as DCD ratcheted up the pressure on our defense…Senior Zak Zeoli, normally a substitute, never came off the field in the 2^nd half, as he could strike a goal kick 60+ yards in the air and that was the only way we could release the pressure on our defense.  Time after time, they came at us and we turned them away repeatedly until they were finally able to get on the board with just 6:39 remaining in regulation.  The score remained 1-0 and we had a fantastic scoring chance with 0:10 seconds remaining as Scott Howard found Eric Parks’ head with a free kick, but the shot went just inches wide of the far post.

The clock had struck midnight, but it was a fabulous ride.  Our loss in the State Final was just our 2^nd in a string of 16 games.  This team was the perfect example of what can be accomplished when you have the right mix of chemistry, guts, confidence, and luck.  I still feel that sense of pride every time I walk past the banner hanging in the gym at FHE. 

In the days to follow our final game of 2005, several members of our team were recognized by the state.  Eric Parks, Rob Saliers, and Andrew Kelly were named to the All-State teams.  Coach Matt Roberts was named the Michigan Public High School Coach of the Year for Division 3.  And our team achieved our first state ranking, a #2 Final Ranking for the season.

This is the second in a series about our program's history.  I hope this helps the current players and families understand how we got to where we are and link our present to our past...