Photos by Scott DeCamp | CatchMark
WHITEHALL — Montague’s boys soccer team had been playing well down the home stretch of the season. The Wildcats were a dangerous squad and West Michigan Conference champ Fremont knew it.
In Wednesday’s Division 3 district semifinal at Whitehall, Montague put Fremont in a position the Packers hadn’t been all season: Trailing first in a match.
But with the will of a champion, Fremont took over in the second half for a 3-1 victory over Montague. The win puts the Packers (19-1-1) in Saturday’s 2 p.m. district finals against Manistee (11-5-2), which defeated host Whitehall, 3-1, in Wednesday’s nightcap.
Montague closes its season with a 10-9-1 record.
Watch the video below to see each of the goals and to hear from members of both teams:
Here are more details and notables from the match:
- Montague got on the board first when senior Carter Mahoney sent a corner kick toward the goal and junior Trevor Trevino got his foot on the ball, redirecting it inside the right with 3:46 left in the half. It marked the first time this season that Fremont had trailed first in a match.
- Fremont thought it had netted the equalizer in the closing seconds of the first half, but the ball crossed the goal line after the horn sounded and the clock went to zeroes.
- Unlike the first half, when Montague had Fremont on its heels for a good share of the 40 minutes, the Packers took over in the second half. They won several 50-50 balls and played their brand of soccer.
- Fremont senior John Vissia tied the game at 1 on a penalty kick with 25:58 remaining in the second half.
- About five minutes later, Fremont senior Chaz Miller scored what proved to be the game-winner, putting the Packers ahead 2-1 with 20:49 remaining. Senior Jude Fair notched the assist on the play.
- With 7:54 left, Fremont sophomore Deagan Klimek iced the victory with a goal to put the Packers ahead 3-1. John Vissia assisted on the goal.
- Fremont outshot Montague, 15-8.
- Fremont sophomore keeper Caleb Vissia made seven saves.
- Montague senior keeper Eli Bunton made 12 saves.
- Fremont beat Montague in the regular season, 2-0, on Sept. 27 at Montague.
- The story of Fremont’s season is “nearly worst to first.” The Packers were 4-15-1 overall and finished 10th in the 11-team WMC last fall.
- Down the stretch of the season, Montague picked up some impressive wins: 6-0 over Manistee on Sept. 18; 2-1 over North Muskegon on Oct. 4 to prevent the Norsemen from sharing the WMC title with Fremont, and 3-1 over a talented Shelby team last week in the district opener.
CHECK OUT THESE TIKTOKS
