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FRUITPORT - Trenton Hanks has been scoring a lot lately for the Reeths-Puffer soccer team, and his timing couldn’t be better.

He started finding the net more frequently in recent weeks, when the Rockets were very much in need of some wins.

Hanks came through again on Tuesday in dramatic fashion, as R-P was fighting to keep its season alive.

The Rockets were in a scoreless tie with Coopersville late in the game and were starting to get frustrated. They had controlled play and had a lot more offensive chances than the Broncos, but couldn’t get any movement on the scoreboard.
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R-P's Owen Ritsema stays a step ahead of a defender.

Then Hanks played hero, heading a centering pass from Owen Ritsema into the goal from close range with 3:39 left in regulation, and R-P hung on for a dramatic 1-0 victory in the Division 2 district semifinals at Fruitport High School.

“I saw Owen running down the sideline, I busted my butt to get down there, and I just ran through and got the goal,” said Hanks, who was only about five feet away from the goal line when he scored. “I just ran up, headed the ball and it went in.”

"He just kind of crashed it through the goal line!” added a very happy R-P head coach Kody Harrell.

The Rockets, now 11-8-1 on the season, advance to play host Fruitport on Thursday in the district championship game. It will be a big challenge, because the Trojans are undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the state.
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R-P's London Carpenter gets ready to rip a shot.

The Rockets lost to the Trojans 2-0 earlier in the season, but that was a Saturday morning game when several R-P players were missing from the lineup.

“I am very excited about what that rematch might look like,” Harrell said.

The Rockets may go into the title game as the underdog, but they will have the benefit of some recent momentum.

They have now won four straight games, after losing six of seven, and are starting to seem more like the team that opened the season with a 6-2-1 record.
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R-P's Zac Sampson tries to keep the ball inbounds.

It started with a victory over a struggling Muskegon team, a win over rival Mona Shores, another victory over Muskegon last Thursday in the first round of districts, and now Tuesday’s win over Coopersville.

Mona Shores and Muskegon are both having bad seasons, but all wins are important for a team that’s been battling to regain its confidence at the most important time of the year.

“It’s a really tough conference we play in, we have a tough schedule, the wins are going to come and the losses are going to come,” Coach Harrell said. “We feel like we’re at a spot right now where we could compete with anybody, as long as we stay disciplined on the little details.”

The Rockets actually dominated the game against Coopersville, although the narrow final score doesn’t suggest that.

R-P started finding its offense midway through the first half and had a 4-2 advantage in shots on goal at halftime.
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R-P's Nick Clemens reacts as the ball gets kicked away.

The Rockets controlled play throughout the second half and had a 5-2 edge in shots on goal.

The problem was that the shots weren’t going in.

Harrell noted that a lot of his players are in their first year of varsity, and the pressure of postseason soccer may have been freezing them a bit, especially when they had chances to score

“I think the biggest thing, if you look at our roster, 90 percent of our juniors played two full years of JV, so tonight was like the first ‘winner go home’ game they have experienced,” Harrell said. “I think their nerves may have been getting the best of them, particularly in the first half.
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Clemens puts a move on a Coopersville defender.

“We were just trying to settle in and not get so antsy in the box, but that’s easier said than done.”

The problem was finally solved by Hanks, a senior who had to sit out his junior year of soccer becasue he transferred to R-P from Orchard View.

He’s become a big presence in the R-P lineup, particularly over the past few weeks. He scored two goals in R-P’s victory over Grandville, which was the only win in the midst of the late season losing streak.

He scored two more against Muskegon in the regular season matchup, and two against the Big Reds last Thursday in the district tournament opener.

“He’s kind of a one year and done player, but he sure has been a special one for us,” Harrell said.
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