Houghton’s Louis Bendolinski, 25, will likely defeat Cheboygan’s Hayden Wheelock, 9, in a district playoff game Thursday in Houghton.
Written by Eddie O’Neill
eoneill@mininggazette.com
HOUGHTON – History was made Thursday on the Houghton High School soccer field when the Gremlins hosted and won the first-ever MHSSA (Division 3 District 33) district tournament soccer game. They defeated the Cheboygan Chiefs 9-0. The game ended at half-time due to the eight-point mercy rule. The Gremlins scored early, pleasing coach Mark Runibos.
“We took care of business.” he said. “We knew on paper we were the better team, but we took the game seriously, played hard and played well. We had a lot of assists. The focus is on ball movement, so it was good to see that.”
His ball movement was good, leading to two hat tricks. Ethan Heckel and Oliver Papp each scored three goals.
The scoring began less than two minutes into the game when Josh Bennett beat the Chiefs keeper for a penalty kick. Haeckel scored the first two goals less than three minutes later, and Pap’s first goal at the 35th minute gave the Gremlins a 4-0 lead.
Papp scored the sixth and seventh goals, while Caleb Wiitanen scored the eighth goal and Henry Runibos scored the ninth goal at 11:18.
“The more we can spread the wealth, move into space and pass the ball, the better off we’ll be going forward.” Coach Runibos added.
Cheboygan coach Bob Miller said he and his young team knew what they were getting into, traveling north Thursday to play an experienced Houghton team.
“This year has been a challenging year for us.” he said. “We don’t have the numbers or the experience. We played some games with just 10 players. But despite the difficulties, they never gave up. They have big hearts and We want to get better and we have a lot of freshmen that continue to play together, so our future is bright.”
to the next
The Gremlins will head to the state on Monday for a game against Grayling in the MHSSA Division 3 District 33 semifinals on Tuesday in Grayling, Michigan.
“We haven’t played them, but they lost to Marquette and we lost and tied with Marquette. So we have a common opponent.” Lunibos said. “Hopefully we can bring home the victory.”
