MONTAGUE — Montague's magical 2024 season continued Monday night with a hard-fought, physical 3-2 victory over Oakridge, fueled by some remarkable work in goal by senior and first-year keeper Robby Smith.
With the score tied 2-2 and 26 minutes to play, Smith made a diving deflection of a point-blank shot by Oakridge's Connor Arevalo, sparking an opportunity in the transition game. The Wildcats cashed in that chance with Trevor Trevino's second goal of the game, which turned out to be the game-winner. That extended Montague's program-best win streak to 10.
Smith was a big reason it was a game-winner, turning back a direct free kick with a one-handed save with nine minutes to go. His defensive teammates then walled off an indirect free kick after the Wildcats were whistled for a foul.
"That save he had was epic," Montague coach Brandon Mahoney said of the one-handed stop, which came despite the ball being deflected by a teammate. "It was one of those ones where you can see the deflection coming, it's going in the corner, and you're like, 'How did Robby see that? How did he get his hand on that?' Amazing work."
It was a bit of a surprise that Montague (13-2, 7-0 West Michigan Conference) had to fight so hard for the win after a dominant first half ended with a 2-0 Wildcat lead. Trevino got on the board first, 7:24 into the game, with a great individual effort, beating the Eagle keeper to a long pass and getting around him for an easy tap-in. Montague later got off to a quick start after an injury delay that resulted in a Javari Aldridge score.
Oakridge's Landon Meacher ensured things wouldn't be easy for Montague in the second half, scoring two impressive goals in under three minutes. His second goal was a jaw-dropping 40-plus yard laser off his right foot after weaving his way through the Montague defense.
The Wildcats haven't had to face a lot of on-field adversity, but with their perfect conference season on the line, they rose to the challenge to keep it going.
"When those two goals happened, we dumped it out," Smith said. "We forgot about it. It was a 0-0 game (for us) at that point. We've just got to keep playing our game, keep playing Montague soccer. When we do that, we score goals."
Mahoney said he wasn't surprised at his team's response to the Oakridge surge, which amounted to getting back to basics. For Montague, that means getting the ball on the feet of Lucas Husband and Jonah Henderson, two of its best ballhandlers, and letting them go to work.
"When (Husband) and Henderson can possess back there in that defensive mid spot and then we can build up from there, we have so many more opportunities," Mahoney said.
Trevino, the league's top goal-scorer, continued to excel despite drawing extra attention from every opponent. In addition to his two goals, Trevino was credited by Mahoney with having a handful of crossing passes that, had a teammate been in position to finish, could've produced more goals.
Scoring efficiency will be a focus for Montague down the stretch as it looks to secure its first-ever WMC championship. It won't be easy; North Muskegon, with only one league loss, is chomping at the heels of the 'Cats, and the two teams are slated to close WMC play against each other. Before that, Montague must take on a very good Fremont squad - on the road - that beat the Wildcats twice last season.
"Fremont, last year, played us pretty physical in both of the matches we had them, during the season and during that (district) semifinal," Mahoney said. "They played us very physical. I think playing this physical match beforehand and not having an easy time with it is helpful. I think if we would have come in here and it would have been a 8-0 (game), we would have gone in with probably too much confidence, right on the verge of being cocky. We've got to reset. We know what we can do. We've got to finish the opportunities. We've all got to work. They've really done a great job with that all season.
"We're used to always being the hunter at the end of the season, trying to knock off somebody big, whether that's a North Muskegon or a Whitehall or whatever, and now everybody's coming to us and they want to take us. The boys have stood up to the pressure, which is good."
