MUSKEGON — Whitehall soccer coach Adam Prince and North Muskegon coach Jeremy Tjapkes go way back to Prince’s time coaching under Tjapkes with the Norsemen, so the two always schedule a summer scrimmage between their teams. With North Muskegon already considered a big favorite in this year’s West Michigan Conference, the scrimmage doubled as a barometer for an experienced Vikings team.
Early returns looked good, as Whitehall looked connected and confident against the Norsemen on the latter’s new turf field. No one was too focused on keeping score, but the Vikings scored at least four times in the scrimmage.
The new field is located where the baseball field previously was, and is not yet fully ready for the season - or at least, the spectator area isn’t. Fans brought lawn chairs to sit on to view the game, but Tjapkes said the school plans to install small bleacher areas, as well as backstop nets to catch balls that get past the goal. (A more robust spectator area was part of a recent school bond that was voted down.)
Prince said his hopes for the season got higher watching the team perform at a camp at Oakland University last week, where college coaches told him they thought his team looked the most together of all the squads there.
“Last season we sort of finished all over the place,” Prince said. “We weren’t very organized...(This year), they go as a team, and they do things as a team, and they watch out for each other. It makes a coach kind of proud that he can just say, ‘Hey, do this,’ and (know it’ll get done). I’m really optimistic about this season.”
Most of the Vikings were on hand for the scrimmage, including up-and-coming sophomore keeper Garrett Taylor. Whitehall has a three-year starter in net with Andon Palmer, so Taylor’s pushing him for the job is a mark of how impressive he’s been. Should he win the job, or a share of it, that would give Whitehall the ability to deploy Palmer elsewhere on the field, perhaps further strengthening the team.
“Garrett just got back this week,” Prince said of the sophomore, who plays keeper for a club team out of Grand Rapids. “He was at the University of Wisconsin at a goalkeepers camp.”
Prince is hopeful this season will reap some seeds from Whitehall’s past two seasons, in which inexperienced players had to take the field earlier than they might have under ideal circumstances. That’s created a seasoned group of juniors and sophomores, and three Vikings who received all-conference mention will return this fall.
“Watching us play against (North Muskegon), who probably will be considered the favorites, with what they haven’t lost and what they’re bringing back, I think we’ve got a really good chance of being real tough,” Prince said.
