MUSKEGON TWP. - Reeths-Puffer soccer coach Kody Harrell knows a lot more about the Byron Center squad now, and he’s definitely impressed with the tough new conference rival.
But Harrell also watched the way his Rockets put up a solid fight against the undefeated Bulldogs, and he’s eager for the rematch between the teams.
R-P gave up a pair of first half goals in the fast-paced contest on Tuesday, and played the Bulldogs even in the second half, but it wasn’t enough in a 3-1 loss in an early-season O-K Green conference showdown.
The victory left BC alone at the top of the conference standings with a 3-0 record. Reeths-Puffer fell to 2-1 in the Green and is tied with Caledonia for second place.
R-P goalkeeper Gavin Wright dives to make a save. Photo/John Willoughby
It was the second straight loss in a humbling week for the Rockets, who started the season with a 4-0-1 overall record before running into very strong opponents from Traverse City Central last Friday, followed by BC on Tuesday.
The Rockets will try to get back to winning on Thursday when they host Jenison in another conference matchup.
R-P and Byron Center are in their first year together in the newly-configured O-K Green, and the Bulldogs looked as good as advertised, with several big, speedy forwards who can create a lot of havoc and score quickly, solid defenders and a very good goalkeeper.
The Bulldogs are now a perfect 7-0 overall on the season, and it’s not hard to see why.
Yet Harrell was impressed with the way his team never stopped battling, generating offensive chances and making a game of it until the end.
R-P's Ian Wright, on the left, gets tangled up with an opponent. Photo/John Willoughby
The Rockets were even with the Bulldogs in shots on goal, with each team registering six.
“I thought we played great in the second half,” Harrell said. “We have to quit waiting 40 minutes to start playing. Three of the last four games we waited too long to really start playing. We have to start better so we are not constantly digging ourselves out of a hole.”
Byron Center scored the only two goals of the first half, and Harrell does not think either one would have happened if the Rockets had defended properly.
Connor Jenks scored first with 26:10 left in the first half after getting the ball away from R-P goalkeeper Gavin Wright, who had come out of the net to try to stop a play from developing. Jenks got behind Wright and put the ball easily into the goal.
An R-P player gets in a header battle for the ball. Photo/John Willoughby
Wright made a great diving save on a shot with 3:45 left in the half to preserve the 1-0 score, then a BC shot hit a goal post and bounced away with 1:25 remaining, allowing the Rockets to dodge another bullet.
But the Bulldogs cashed in again with one tick left on the clock when Kaleb Smith found the mark with a great shot from close range.
“On the first one we passed the ball back to our goalie too soft, and on the second one we won the ball three different times but just couldn’t clear it out,” Harrell said about the first half goals. “The kid fired off a great shot, but that shot never would have happened if we had cleared it like we were supposed to.”
Byron Center went up 3-0 about 18 minutes into the second half on a goal by Allan Allister.
R-P had a great chance to score with 16:27 remaining when Ian Wright was awarded a penalty kick, but BC goalkeeper Luke Philo guessed correctly and made a great diving save to keep the Rockets off the board.
R-P's Zac Sampson tries to generate some offense. Photo/John Willoughby
Reeths-Puffer finally cashed in about three minutes later, in a really unlikely way, when Cohen Beck boomed a corner kick that somehow curled into the corner of the Byron Center net.
That was as close as the Rockets could get on the scoreboard, however.
Some confused fans saw Beck ejected late in the game with a red card, ostensibly because he drew his second yellow card of the contest. But game officials later conceded that there had been a mistake, the red card was revoked, and Beck is still eligible to play against Jenison on Thursday.
The Rockets will travel to Byron Center for a rematch with the Bulldogs on Sept. 26.
“Byron Center is the team to beat in our conference, but it says a lot about our guys too, how we could be right there at the end after the way we played in the first half,” Harrell said.
“Now it will be good for us to have someone to chase (in the conference). It’s nice to be the hunter instead of the hunted.”