It’s difficult to imagine the Reeths-Puffer boys soccer team without Liam Smith leading the attack.
The four-year varsity standout may have been the best soccer player to ever wear the R-P green and white.
He wrapped up his career last fall as the Rockets’ career leading scorer and career assist leader and holds the team record for goals in a single season.
With Smith on the field, Reeths-Puffer was a threat to beat anyone on any given night and had a lot of success.
Co-captain Nick Clemens
That was certainly the case last season, when R-P finished with a 16-5-1 record and provided fans with a lot of exciting moments.
Perhaps the most exciting game was against Zeeland West in the O-K Green conference tournament, when the Rockets rallied from a 3-1 deficit to pull out a 4-3 win.
The really impressive part was that an R-P player was ejected from the game early and the Rockets had to play a man short for a full 75 minutes, but still managed to come back and win.
Smith scored two of R-P’s four goals in that amazing victory.
But now it’s time for a lot of new faces to lead the Reeths-Puffer attack, because Smith and 10 other seniors from last year’s team were lost to graduation in the spring.
Co-captain Cohen Beck
The Rockets will only return two players who were starters last season.
Some might assume that the team will suffer badly from such a major loss of talent – but head coach Kody Harrell is not among them.
“Through summer workouts we’ve been telling the guys that we’ve lost a lot, but nothing needs to change with what they’ve been doing for their entire careers, and now it’s their turn to represent the school and the community,” said Harrell, whose team will open the season on Friday with a road game against East Grand Rapids. “There are a lot of guys who are anxious to go out and play more minutes and prove themselves.”
A big plus for the Rockets will be the return of senior Nick Clemens, who was the team’s second leading scorer last year with 12 goals and 8 assists. He had several big games, including a two-goal performance against rival Mona Shores early in the season.
Co-captain Ian Wright
With Smith gone, Clemens will be the Rockets’ biggest offensive threat, and Coach Harrell says he’s ready.
“He obviously came into his own last year,” Harrell said. “He’s Batman now, no longer Robin, and he has some guys around him who are ready to be his Robin.”
Harrell is also expecting two juniors – Owen Ritsema and Zac Sampson – to provide a lot of offensive spark. Both became full-time varsity players late last year and were impressive.
“We should get a lot of points from them,” Harrell said. “They are both fast, physical players.’
Co-captain Owen Ritsema
Sophomore London Carpenter also has a lot of scoring potential while senior Ian Wright is expected to dish out a lot of assists, Harrell said.
Defensively, juniors Cohen Beck, Braydon Ross and Kaden Vanderlaan, along with freshman Andrew Eilers, will be among the key contributors.
Two goalies are expected to share the majority of the work this season – senior Gavin Wright (who is also a strong defender and could move around a bit) and junior Liam Copenhaver, who was the JV goalie for the past two seasons.
A lot of other new regulars will contribute as the season gets rolling and their roles on the team become more defined, Harrell said.
Co-captain Gavin Wright
While standouts like Smith, JT Fansler and four-year starting goalie Gage Hopkins may be gone, this year’s roster may be more balanced with more players who can make significant contributions, according to the coach.
“I really feel like this is the deepest team I’ve had,” Harrell said. “We could do different starting lineups every night. There’s just not a lot of difference between our starters and subs this year. We have a lot to work with.”
The new-look Rockets may benefit from competing in the revamped O-K Green conference this season. Gone are traditionally tough opponents like Holland, Zeeland West and Zeeland East, and taking their place are Jenison, Caledonia and Byron Center.
Last year Jenison and Caledonia had sub-.500 records while Byron Center came in at 11-7-2.
Harrell expects the Rockets to do well, but also thinks the opposition will be tough.
“It would be easy for us to overlook those teams because of records, but they are coming from strong conferences,” the coach said. “I love how the O-K changes and mixes up the divisions every few years. We see different styles of soccer and it makes it fun.”