Sophomore Will Banfield dropped a beautiful corner kick near the end of the first half. It squirted out of the pile of players and right to junior Tyler Poth. It was his first score of the season; he netted in a great ball to give the boys varsity soccer team a 1-0 lead. The Rangers capitalized on that early goal and won 3-0 against number-two seed Cedar Springs in the opening round of districts last Thursday.

“From the first minute to the last, the boys put in an absolute complete performance,” head coach Paul Kramer said. “We controlled the tempo the whole entire game along with the flow of it.”

In the first half, the Rangers finally were putting together a great game after a long stretch of highs and lows. Seniors Ryan Fitzgerald and Jayden Savin led the way on the defensive side, shutting down the Red Hawks attack—the piece of the field Cedar Springs was known for coming into the contest. And after Tyler’s goal and after 30 minutes of play, the Rangers held a 1-0 halftime lead. 

In the second half, early on, sophomore Bennett Nieuwkoop took a pass on the right wing and drove it into the Red Hawks’ defense for a goal. Not 10 minutes later, sophomore Kyle Webb took a ricocheted pass inside Cedar spring territory and drove the ball into the far side of the net, giving all of the momenta to the Rangers with a 3-0 lead at the halfway point through the second half. The boys kept possession of the ball for almost the whole entire time after that, tiring out the Cedar attack and running away with a 3-0 postseason win over the Red Hawks.

“It was a good performance, especially after the weather-shortened game against Byron Center,” coach Kramer said. “[We] can’t wait to play Lowell after losing to them previously this season.”

The boys now move on to the district semifinals, where they will meet crosstown rival Lowell at Forest Hills Eastern on Tuesday, October 19 at 5 PM.