'That pain is a privilege': Historic season closes for Harbor Springs in regional final

CLARE — One step at a time.

When you’re playing in a game as big as the Harbor Springs boys’ soccer team was Thursday night in Clare and things don’t go your way, it’s easy to get caught up in the moment.

That moment where failure enters the mind is tough to stop.

But, for the Rams, it should only have taken up space for the blink of an eye following their 1-0 Division 4 regional championship loss against Leland.

The 2023 season, after all, was a giant success and a major step forward for the program. The pain they were in the midst of feeling is one most around the state had felt long ago.

“As the clock was winding down and all the seniors were out on the field, it wasn’t just the season, it was the previous 36 months winding down. That hurt a lot to see that pain,” Harbor Springs coach Jeff Suffolk said. “But, I told them, ‘That pain is a privilege. You guys earned that right to feel this way. Take in all the feels, but know what you did.’ They changed the look of this team and this school and now the underclassmen have to pick up the flag and carry it from here.”

The loss closed out a 16-5-3 overall season for Harbor Springs, while Leland advanced into the Division 4 semifinal round next week, where they’ll meet Muskegon Western Michigan Christian, who topped Grandville Calvin Christian in a 3-0 final.

Heading in, Suffolk and the whole Harbor team knew the challenge ahead. The Comets (18-4-1) were coming off a state semifinal trip from a year ago and clearly knew their way around the postseason.

“Credit to Leland, Rob (Sirrine) is a great coach, they’ve been here a ton,” said Suffolk. “There were no nerves on their sideline. I don’t think we had a ton of nerves, but we had a lot of respect for Leland.”

Harbor came out fired up to be in the positon they were in Thursday, picking up a number of early pressures. Nothing came out of it, however, and things eventually went to half in a 0-0 game.

It wasn’t until just under 21 minutes left that the Comets put a goal on the board following a free kick opportunity, which eventually bounced around and found the foot of Ignacio Creamer, who delivered the goal.

Harbor’s best chance then came following a free kick as well, though a diving stop was made for the save with five minutes to play and an ensuing corner kick sailed to the opposite end of the field.

“We didn’t have our best night in all moments tonight, but they definitely dug deep in large stretches and tried to will it to a victory,” said Suffolk.

A program as small as Harbor’s, that had gone through such a tough stretch, can sometimes feel like an insurmountable challenge to turn around, like opening a pineapple farm in Northern Michigan, but Suffolk has managed to grow it to sweet success in just three short years.

The Rams collected a 3-0 record against Big North Conference teams this season, to go with a runner-up finish in the Lake Michigan Conference, delivering champion Elk Rapids their only two draws of the season.

They also set a program record for shutouts in a season (13) and had a freshman nearly break the season-scoring record in Henry Juneau and his 38 goals.

“I’m all in on this group,” said Suffolk. “They were 4-14 that first year and then we ended 16-5. I’m more proud of them from January, they’ve just got their license and they’re driving around the bay to the (Petoskey) Field House asking me for the code to go train at 8 o’clock. They didn’t do that once, they did it six nights a week. They bought in and that part makes me the most proud.

“They turned it around in three years and that’s pretty wild. That’s a credit, too, to my assistant coach Dan Barnadyn, Trevor Flynn did a great job with them in the spring as well.”

The senior group for Harbor Springs incldues Jackson Deegan, Everett Shepherd, Nash VanSloten, Sam Miller, Niko Reskevics and Michele Ferlito, a talented class that Suffolk had a tough time seeing play their final game.

The bag of emotions that comes in a season finale – especially one as deep into the postseason as Harbor’s – also includes excitement for next season, which Suffolk could dig up a little afterward.

“A lot of gratitude tonight to the seniors and what they did to right this ship and that class of juniors, sophomores and freshman are a special group too,” he added. “They got a taste of it and you could see in their eyes how bad they wanted that. We’ll be back here. I’m sure of that.”

One step at a time.

Contact Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at dkochanny@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DrewKochanny, and Instagram, @drewkochanny

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Harbor Springs soccer caps historic campaign in regional final vs. Leland