A Look Back at Year 4:  2007

By Paul Rosenbrook

We approached 2007 with a great deal of optimism.  We were returning all 11 starters from the 2006 team, along with 2005 starting forwards Eric Parks and Eric Fish.  Our Senior class was very strong and the Freshman players who had played such a prominent role the prior season now had a year under their belts.

Our starting lineup consisted of 5 players who had previously been named All-Staters:  Goalkeeper Graham Wallace, defender Andy Engle, central midfielders Scott Howard and Zac Tolsma, and forward Eric Parks.  Super Sophs Lawrence Murray, Kyle Haverkate, and Ben Thomas again filled starting spots, along with Junior standouts Zach Myers and Josh Schultz, and Senior Eric Fish.  Prominent reserves were Brandyn Hockstra, Fred Smyser, Mitchal Rosendall, Tyler Tooley, Zach Retterath, Miles Vincent, Alex Zuhl, and Adam Hoffhines.

We began our schedule in impressive fashion , winning our first 6 games by an average of 7 goals as we defeated Middleville TK (5-0), Byron Center (7-0), Otsego (6-1), Cedar Springs (9-1), Comstock Park (8-0), and Coopersville (9-0).  In that stretch, we outscored our opponents 44-2.

Our next game was with rival East Grand Rapids in a cold, rainy night at EGR.  Everything that could have possibly gone wrong, did.  We gave up two early goals before Eric Parks scored on a free kick, sending us into halftime down 2-1.  We played very poorly in the second half, still struggling to adjust to the wet conditions, and EGR ran all over us.  When the smoke cleared, we had been beaten 4-1.

We rebounded the next day with a 6-0 conference win over Wyoming Park, followed that with a 6-0 win over Wyoming Rogers, a pair of 8-0 victories over Sparta and Cedar Springs, and a 9-0 win over Comstock Park.

We played our last game in September 2007 in a game versus in-district rival Forest Hills Central.  FHC’s Potter scored on a service to the far post 16:28 into the game.  In the ensuing kickoff, Eric Parks touched the ball to Scott Howard, who proceeded to beat 4 of 5 FHC defenders on a direct run right up the middle of the park, scoring the equalizer just 11 seconds later.  To this day, it remains one of my favorite moments in FHE soccer, seeing Scottie’s emotion and determination take over, and watching it make its mark on the game.  Scott would score the game-winner on a header with just 3:49 left in the match, to send us off with a 2-1 victory.

Our next stretch of games included wins over Coopersville (8-0), Wyoming Park (6-1), a tie versus Portage Central (1-1), and wins versus Wyoming Rogers (8-0), Sparta (8-0), and South Haven (5-1).  We finished our regular season at 17-1-1 and had claimed the OK Blue title.

Our first Districts game was an 8-0win over Greenville, which included a Brandyn Hockstra hat-trick in a 15-minute span in the first half.

Our second Districts game was with Forest Hills Northern, a good team who packed the box defensively and looked to counter-attack, something they were quite adept at.  We went into the half 1-0 after Eric Parks scored on a free kick in the 33^rd minute.  Our midfield transitioned wonderfully from attack to defense, allowing us to continue our attacks and limit the number of FHN counters.  We outshot them 16-2 for the game, but the score stood at 1-0 until Scott Howard scored in the 62^nd minute and Miles Vincent on a backheel in the 80^th minute, ending the game with a 3-0 result.

The District Final was a memorable one.  It was a re-match versus East Grand Rapids, who had thoroughly taken us apart earlier in the season.  EGR struck first, 10:15 into the game, to take a 1-0 lead.  The two teams were toe-to-toe in an intense midfield battle of 50-50 balls.  Freshman Mitchal Rosendall went up for a 50-50 ball and EGR’s Sam Joyce came through his back in an attempt to win the ball:  as the two players went up, they clashed heads, resulting in a gash to Joyce’s eyebrow and a large gash in the back of Mitch’s head.  Mitch left the facility to be attended to as the teams fought on.  Zach Myers scored in the 36^th minute to send the teams into halftime deadlocked at 1.  The second half was scoreless, despite both teams opening up their style of play and creating numerous scoring opportunities.  I will never forget:  with about 10 minutes left in the game, I felt a tap on my shoulder:  I turned around and Mitchal Rosendall was standing there, telling me he was ready to play.  He showed me the staples up the back of his head to close his wound and his father confirmed that the doctors had given him medical clearance.  I debated putting him back into the game after his injury, but finally sent him back onto the field, where he promptly proceeded to score the game-winning goal on a beautiful side-volley with just 1:57 left to play.  Storybook moment.

In our first Regional game versus Fruitport, we came out sluggish.  I could see it in warmups, the guys looked a little bit spent, perhaps from the emotional win we eked out against EGR last game.  Though we possessed the ball pretty well, we looked very reactive and lost the battle of 50-50 balls.  The halftime score was 0-0 and during the break, the guys and I implored each other to dig in and pick up our energy level for the second half.  We did just that and Brandyn Hockstra opened the scoring for us 6 minutes into the second.  8 minutes later, Fred Smyser capitalized on a 1v1 chance with the Fruitport goalkeeper.  Scott Howard rounded out the scoring 4 minutes after that, ripping a shot that caromed off the bottom of the crossbar and into the net.  In the first 18 minutes, we had put ourselves up 3-0, a score that would stand, and we were off to the Regional Final.  Here’s the MLive article on the game:  http://blog.mlive.com/advancenewspapers_news/2007/10/hawks_overcome_slow_start_to_b.html.

We met up with Northview in the Regional  Final at Cedar Springs.  They were a solid team, but we wasted no time in coming out with a sense of urgency this time.  We outshot them 11-1 in the first half, with a goal coming from Scott Howard, and went into halftime up 1-0.  Northview came out determined in the second half and outshot us for the half, but our defense stood tall, holding them off until Eric Fish would score in the 68^th minute to give us a 2-0 lead.  That’s the way the game ended and we reveled in the win.  We were on to our second Final Four in three years.

We entered the State Semi game on Halloween night with a 22-1-1 record and would face off with #1-ranked Unity Christian, who was 23-0-1.  A combined 45-1-1, the two teams definitely showed their quality in this one:  it is one of the best games I have ever coached.  Unity got on the board first after a tremendous volley by Travis Vegter from the top of the 18, just a beautiful goal.  Following the goal, Unity put loads of pressure on us, and it took awhile to regain our composure:  their attack came in waves, but we managed to hang on to the 1-0 deficit.  We played an absolutely brilliant second half, locking Unity in their defensive third of the field, but we just couldn’t find the net.  We went from our 4-4-2 formation to a 3-4-3, then to a 2-4-4 as we were desperate to score the equalizer.  Finally, with 1:36 left in the match, Scott Howard turned at the top right-corner of the 18 and lofted a shot into the far upper 90 to tie the game with his 22^nd goal of the season.  We carried the momentum into overtime, again trapping Unity in their defensive third, and peppered their goal with shots.  After one such attack, Unity played an outlet pass up its left flank, where it was carried into our end on a quick counter-attack:  the ball was served across the mouth of the goal, where Unity wing midfielder Robbie Schrier scored the golden goal on a beautiful diving header.  It was a heartbreaking defeat.  Here’s the newspaper article on the game:  http://blog.mlive.com/advancenewspapers_news/2007/11/unity_booters_turn_back_fhe_in.html.

What a season!  We finished 22-2-1 and scored the fourth-most goals in state history (139).  We allowed just 13 goals in those 25 games and totaled 16 shutouts.  Eric Parks set school season records in goals (28), assists (19), and points (75), and was named 1^st Team All-State.  Scott Howard was named 2^nd Team All-State and Zach Myers received Honorable Mention.

This is the fourth 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...