*written in September*
At the time of writing this, the Forest Hills Central men’s varsity soccer team is currently 15-0-3. As one of the best teams in the state, their hopes of making it to the state championship game are higher than ever, but they know they still have work to do to get the team the trophy. Noah Richards, an FHC student, has heard about the soccer team through voices in the hallway.
“It’s always good to have a good sports team in our school, it’s what we need to be known for,” says Richards. “I know they’ve been doing well this year, but I didn’t know they were undefeated.”
Varsity soccer’s success didn’t just appear out of thin air; the team had to work very hard to get to this point, and use the team’s strengths to their advantage, as player Jacob Witham said.
“The biggest strength of our team this year is our chemistry,” Witham says. “We went to the Boyne invitational early in the season, and through our team’s bonding up there, we have become very connected through all our games.”
A majority of the players believe that the team chemistry is the biggest strength of the team this year. The chemistry of the team is very important to how well the team does, as it lets the players trust each other and be able to communicate.
Finishing last season with a record of 13-5-2, Varsity soccer missed last year’s playoffs. They started that season 2-4-1, but turned things around by going undefeated the next 12 games, only ending 1 in a tie. In the last game of the season, Central lost to the Forest Hills Northern Huskies with a final score of 4-3. Although they missed the playoffs, that kind of turnaround in the middle of a season gave the Rangers hope for this season, and with changes during the offseason, as stated by player Kason Schneider, the Rangers knew they had a lot in store for this season.
“I feel like the team has changed a lot, but just looking at how our mentality has changed, losing a tough game last year really gave us more drive to do better this year,” Schneider said.
The Rangers started this season off at home against Harbor Springs, where they dominated with a final score of 9-1. On the same day, FHC then beat Seaholm with a close score of 1-0. Keep in mind that their first 6 games of the season were before school started, which shows how hard they had to practice during the summer.
“I think a strength we have has been the defense and our strong back line, they rarely ever let anything through,” Schneider said. “I think the most rewarding part of this season so far has been team bonding, which really gave the team more chemistry.”
The Rangers then won their next 5 games against Charlevoix, Huron, Detroit Country Day, South Christian, and Ottawa Hills. They then had their first tie of the season against Rockford at home with a final score of 3-3.
The Bachert Brothers are currently balling out for Forest Hills Central, with senior Ben Bachert leading the team in goals per match with 0.6, and Sophomore Jake Bachert leading the Rangers with 0.5 assists per match, 10 goals, 9 assists, and 29 points this season.
Ryan Webb has been a concrete wall in front of the goal, having saved 49 shots as a goalkeeper. Schneider has split the goal with Webb, recording 10 saves this season for the Rangers.
Sophomore Lucas Moeller leads the Rangers with 20 shots this season and has recorded 5 goals.
Although the team has had to overcome multiple obstacles during the season, that hasn’t been a speedbump for them as they continue to dominate every game.
“Our team has overcome some very close games this season,” Witham stated. “And we’ve had lots of injury trouble as well for the team.”
FHC is currently the top team in the Ottawa-Kent – White league with a record of 8-0 against the conference. Following behind them is Byron Center with a record of 1-0, and Lowell with a record of 2-0-1 against the OK White conference. Central also leads the Michigan Class 2 league, with Edwardsburg and Fruitport behind FHC.
Going to many games this season, FHC student and soccer fan Tristan Theron has been very impressed with how their season has gone so far.
“The team has played pretty well together, their passing is looking really nice, and they’re scoring some nice goals,” Theron says. “I just think they need to put a little more pressure on their opponents in their next few games because I think they will be tough ones.”
The Rangers’ last 4 games are against the Catholic Central Cougars, the Christian Eagles, the East Grand Rapids Pioneers, and the Forest Hills Eastern Hawks. These are important games the Rangers must win if they want to keep their championship hopes alive coming into the playoffs. Soccer fan Jack Porter expresses his thoughts about how much support this team has received this year.
“I believe our Soccer team has done amazing this year, and I think they can go pretty far into the playoffs,” student Porter says. “I don’t believe this team gets the credit it deserves. Everyone should go out and support the team.”
Being undefeated at this point in the season is truly incredible. The amount of work and practice the varsity soccer team has put into this season has been outstanding. Although the regular season is almost over, this team needs all the support it can receive to finish the season as strongly as possible and enter the playoffs with high hopes. The recognition this team has is short of what they deserve, and the accomplishments of this team this season will lead them into the playoffs with high hopes of the state championship.
