When the O-K Green conference was reorganized last year, the Reeths-Puffer boys soccer team wondered if its schedule might be a bit easier this fall.
Traditionally strong teams like Holland, Zeeland East and Zeeland West were out of the conference and some less familiar opponents came on board.
It turns out that some of the new opponents are pretty good, too, as the Rockets have been discovering in recent weeks.
R-P’s recent slump continued on Tuesday with a 5-2 road loss to Jenison in O-K Green action.
Reeths-Puffer dropped to 7-8-1 overall and 4-4 in conference play.
Owen Ritsema
The Rockets, who started the season 6-2-1 overall, have now lost six of their last seven games, including their last three conference matchups.
R-P Coach Kody Harrell said that the new conference opponents tend to have more roster depth and more organization, particularly on defense, that some of the old foes.
But he also blamed his own team for allowing some goals that he thought were preventable against Jenison.
One Jenison goal came after the R-P defensive line was poorly positioned on a free kick, according to Harrell. Another came on a Jenison corner kick, when the ball hit the back of an R-P’s player’s head and went in the net.
“All five goals were just so silly – silly mistake after silly mistake,” Harrell said. “I hate to take anything away from Jenison. They are a good team. But we shot ourselves in the foot five times.”
Nick Clemens
The Rockets took a 1-0 lead when Owen Ritsema scored about 10 minutes into the game.
Jenison tied the game about five minutes later with a goal on a free kick, then scored twice more in the first half to take a 3-1 lead at the break.
The Wildcats’ last goal of the first half came on a penalty kick after an R-P player was given a red card and was ejected from the game. That meant the Rockets had to play the last 15 minutes of the first half, and the entire second half, with 10 players on the field instead of 11.
Jenison collected the first two goals of the second half, then R-P’s Nick Clemens found the net to round out the scoring.
The Rockets will host Muskegon on Thursday, then will finish the regular season on Monday at home with the Causeway Cup game against Mona Shores.