MUSKEGON — Reeths-Puffer didn't get the same kind of mercy-rule win over Mona Shores that it stunningly obtained earlier this season in Monday's rematch, but the Rockets did more than enough to hoist the Causeway Cup trophy as 6-1 winners, closing the regular season well.
The Rockets turned their attention to the postseason, which begins Thursday when they host Muskegon in the first round of districts. It's a district coach Kody Harrell is confident his team is ready to tackle because of the strength of schedule it faced this year.
"By no means is our
district going to be easy to win, not even close," Harrell said, noting that unbeaten and top-ranked Fruitport, which beat R-P this season, is in the district. "But when you think
about the depth of how to get to where you want to go, it's
not as challenging as what our regular-season schedule was. You create
self-inflicted adversity at that point. I think when you see the boys
staying
really positive about their chances to go win a district and go compete
for that first regional win in program history - just
like winning, losing can be contagious too."
The Rockets (9-8-1, 6-4 O-K Green Conference) looked like a team prepared Monday, especially early on, scoring twice in the first 12 minutes and peppering the Sailor net with shots. The game wasn't even 30 seconds old when Trent Hanks got on the board for the Rockets, and later on, it was Nick Clemens responding to his coach's exhortations to attack the net and slicing through the defense for another goal.
Harrell said he thinks while possession is obviously a virtue in soccer, sometimes teams focus on it at the expense of using their athleticism to create scoring chances, which was why he was on Clemens to get to the goal.
Reeths-Puffer's Saif Abunayla (center) splits a pair of Mona Shores defenders to attack the net during Monday's game at R-P. The Rockets won, 6-1.
"So many
times, people think you need to put six, seven or eight passes together,
but sometimes it becomes possession without a purpose," Harrell said. "We're still
trying to teach our boys, we can play a little long
ball. We can play over the top. We can play split defenders. Or we
can knock four or five passes around and make those defenders move side
to side. We're just trying to teach them to be well-rounded
players, not just because that makes you feel good as a coach when you're really teaching the game and you've got guys who
can be complete players, but more importantly than that, we become a
really hard team to scout because we can score at different angles."
R-P kept control of the game throughout, with Zac Sampson adding a pair of goals later in the game to lead the barrage. R-P appeared poised for another mercy-rule win after scoring its sixth goal with 25 minutes still to play, but Shores showed some gumption late to stop the scoring from there. The Sailors even got their own score with nine minutes to go. The game also became, as you'd expect in a rivalry, physical and chippy as things went along.
R-P ended the regular season in third place among a top group of four quality teams in the O-K Green. The Rockets have also won three of five since a midseason 2-6 slump, which has impressed their coach.
"I can't stress enough, I think
they've done a really good job at really keeping their eyes and sights
set on the big picture," Harrell said. "The boys stayed really locked in
and excited to just have their opportunity to go out
and play and compete and represent the school and community. I'm just
proud that they're taking the wins with class and they're
taking the losses as learning opportunities, and I think that'll pay
dividends."
