MONTAGUE — Montague believes its soccer program has reached a high enough point that it can lose great talents to graduation and continue to produce solid results.
This season will be a test of that belief as the Wildcats graduated all four of the players who received all-conference mention following a solid 10-9-1 season last fall: Chris Aebig, Andy Hernandez, Eli Bunton and Carter Mahoney.
“Losing those guys, they’ve always been involved for years and years and years,” Montague coach Brandon Mahoney said following a conditioning day in July. “(Assistant coach) Chris (Aebig, dad of the younger Chris) and I had contact with those kids since they were five. They’d been playing soccer and been around each other for years. To not have those core kids come back, it’s tough. But there’s still plenty of players out there. We still have a lot of kids that can play.”
It was a busy offseason for Montague’s players, some of whom - along with Whitehall players - were part of the U19 White Lake Breakers team that took first place at the Fresh Coast Classic in Petoskey.
The Wildcats are high on the athleticism of some of their younger players, particularly Korben Sanchez and Michael “MJ” Jones, who have some varsity experience and were fixtures at Montague’s offseason workouts. Sanchez projects as a defensive starter on either the right or left wing, while Jones is likely ticketed for somewhere in the midfield.
“We definitely have some athletes,” Mahoney said. “There’s a group of younger kids coming up, some freshmen coming in that are going to challenge some of those older kids for a spot on varsity, which is nice to see. It’s nice to have those kids pushed a little bit.”
Montague brings back some other veterans as well. Lucas Husband will play defensive midfield or center back alongside Sanchez, and Trevin Silvers will flank Jones somewhere in the midfield. However, with the big gaps left behind by the graduated players, a lot of spots will be filled by relative newcomers. Steven Aebig, Chris’ brother, is a Wildcat freshman this season and the coaches are looking forward to seeing where he fits in the lineup.
“He went up to a couple of (summer league sessions in Ludington), and he really impressed me,” Mahoney said of the youngest Aebig boy. “Good touch, control, what I expected out of an Aebig kid. Another good kid that’s coming up is Austin White. (During workouts,) he’s making those good decisions with passes in possession and talking on the field.”
One spot that won’t be quickly determined is keeper, where Bunton was an imposing obstacle, both literally (he’s 6-6) and figuratively, for opposing strikers. Mahoney thinks three or four players are likely to take a shot at playing the position, and the competition may well continue into the season.
Even with all the changes, the ‘Cats believe they can solidly finish in the top third of the 11-team West Michigan Conference. North Muskegon and Ludington are presumed favorites due to the returning talent they have, and Fremont is the defending WMC champion. The ‘Cats upset the Norsemen last year to deny them a share of the conference title, and North Muskegon will no doubt seek revenge when Montague visits to cap this year’s WMC schedule.
Montague will get a chance to work out a lot of kinks early as it participates in tournaments each of the first two Saturdays of competition. This coming weekend will see the ‘Cats at the high-caliber Oakridge Invitational (powerhouse Williamston opposed Montague in a game there in 2023), and Montague will play at the Kent City tournament the next Saturday.
“We’ll have a lot of time in,” Mahoney said. “We’re going to be a little sore (afterwards) but it’ll be alright.”
