Harbor Springs wins 1st regional game since 2002

Oct. 24—CLARE — Plenty of light for Harbor Springs this time.

Just a few days after finishing a district championship win over Charlevoix in near darkness, the Rams claimed a regional game victory Tuesday for the first time since 2002 in the well-lit confines of the artificial turf field at Brookwood Athletic Complex in Clare.

That doesn't mean things were that much more comfortable, despite the lack of rain and consistent light sources.

Harbor Springs topped Roscommon 2-1 in the Division 4 boys soccer regional semifinals, holding off a furious seven-minute Bucks barrage at the end to advance to Thursday's regional championship against Leland.

"Before the game tonight, I said, 'Ships aren't meant to stay in the harbor,' which is a reference to be comfortable being uncomfortable," Rams third-year head coach Jeff Suffolk said. "Because we have so many young players on the team, we knew that there'd be nerves. ... That last seven minutes, those guys dug deep — they left the harbor."

That also leaves Harbor Springs with a chance to win the program's first regional title since the 2002 squad accomplished that feat.

Rams freshman Henry Juneau kicked off the scoring with a goal 11:07 before halftime, assisted by Nash VanSloten.

A minute and a half later, Roscommon caught a break on a high shot that hit the crossbar, bouncing down into the box where Ben Hamina evened the score 9:37 before the half.

Niko Reskevics — one of six seniors for the Rams, compared to 10 on Roscommon's roster — converted a pass from Charlie Baker into what would end up as the game-winner and the contest's final goal 2:03 prior to halftime.

"We needed that," Juneau said. "It was great. He never gave up on the play. Perfect left-foot shot. Nothing more you can do. It's amazing."

Reskevics' left-footed shot went far post for a 2-1 lead. With Juneau added to the offense, he moved back to midfield after scoring 14 goals last season. Thursday's game-winner was his third goal this season.

"I was at the right spot, right time," Reskevics said. "Perfect pass from Charlie Baker. It just feels great."

Roscommon took quite a while to manmark Juneau, the freshman phenom who scored his 38th goal of the season.

The Bucks didn't park the bus, but the Rams offense put it in neutral.

"We kind of played a little on the defensive side first," Roscommon 14-year head coach John Sinnaeve said. "That was maybe a little bit of a mistake, but the kids played great."

Harbor Springs would do that in the final 10 minutes, with the Bucks generating two corner kick opportunities and several other chances that were eventually snuffed out by goalkeeper Greyson Rife and the defense.

"We changed formation the last seven minutes to be a bit more defensive," Suffolk said. "But credit to them, they had fight all 80 minutes. We knew that they'd be a really athletic, strong team because they're primarily seniors."

No. 6-ranked Harbor (16-4-3) started the playoffs with a clean sheet in districts, shutting out Mackinaw Island and Charlevoix by a combined 11-0 margin.

Both the Rams and Comets head into the regional finals having given up only one postseason score.

"It starts in the back with Braeden Flynn. We don't play on turf, so we relied on our athlete, Braeden, who's a phenomenal basketball player," Suffolk said. "He could see the spin. He could play the ball. He was just doing everything right back there."

The Rams face Leland for the regional title Thursday, back at Brookwood at 6:30 p.m. The Comets knocked Harbor Springs out in the district opener, 2-1, two years ago.

"You watch Leland, they form triangles with movement, they're overlapping," Suffolk said. "They're really well-coached, and they also have the benefit of seniors and they've been here a bunch. They're a powerhouse, and it's how we wanted it to be at the beginning of the season. We always had our eye on Leland in the regional finals. Sometimes plans come together."

Juneau is six goals away from Harbor's season goal-scoring record of 44, set by Terrence Frank in 2007. Juneau already holds the Rams' freshman goal-scoring mark.

The Rams set goals before the season, like many teams do. They didn't shoot for low-hanging fruit, that's for sure.

"One of the goals at the beginning of this season was to get to the state championship," Reskevics said. "Personally, I didn't know if that was going to happen. But now? Very possible. We all believe it."