Lakeview wins fifth All-City boys soccer title in a row
BATTLE CREEK — With five titles in a row, Lakeview proved again it is the king of soccer in the city with a dominant performance in the All-City Tournament.
Lakeview defeated upstart Battle Creek Academy, 3-0, in the All-City championship final in boys soccer action on Friday at Lakeview High School.
"That's five in a row for us. The program is running pretty well right now," Lakeview coach Trent Heil said. "This group of seniors have been working hard. We have high expectations for this year and winning the city was goal No. 1 and we checked that off."
The defending city champion Spartans saw a new face in the final, playing a Battle Creek Academy team in its first year invited into the All-City tourney. The small private Class D school tried to slow the game down, and played a lot of defenders back in an effort to compete with the more experienced Lakeview team.
That BCA tactic resulted in a low-scoring contest early as Lakeview led only 1-0 at intermission off a goal by the Spartans' Isaac Hernandez with 7:04 left in the half.
Hernandez was in the right place at the right time and also had a goal on a deflection early in the second half to give Lakeview a 2-0 lead with 22:34 left in regulation. The Spartans' final goal came with 5:30 remaining on a shot by Hung Ling.
"We had to be patient. They were defending with 10 guys. They had all 10 guys within 20 yards of the goal," Heil said. "They had a good game plan. They put 10 guys in the box and that was frustrating for our guys at time. So we just had to be patient."
Lakeview rolled past Pennfield in the All-City semifinal, 7-0, to advance.
Battle Creek Academy tied Harper Creek, 2-2, in first round and advanced after a shootout. BCA then beat Battle Creek Central, 2-0, in the semifinals.
Holding Lakeview down most of the contest in the final was BCA keeper Nathan Thomson, who came up with several athletic saves.
With BCA in the field, the tournament was moved to Friday instead of the traditional Saturday option at the request of the Seventh-Day Adventist school. BCA coach Shadrach Grentz was happy with the effort of his team after it became the surprise of the tournament.
"Very proud of the guys. I didn't know what was going to happen today. But I told them, anything was possible when we started the day," Grentz said. "I think this was a good starting point for our season. If you look at it, we basically played Class A teams all day today and we are Class D team. So, if we can compete at this level, there is a lot of thigs that are possible for us this year."
In other action, Pennfield opened the tournament with a 2-0 win over Calhoun Christian/St. Philip. In the consolation bracket final, Harper Creek defeated Calhoun Christian/St. Philip, 4-1.
Contact Bill Broderick at bbroderi@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on Twitter @billbroderick
This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Lakeview wins fifth All-City boys soccer title in a row
