MUSKEGON TOWNSHIP - The Reeths-Puffer boys soccer team learned a few things in Tuesday night’s disappointing 4-4 tie with Hudsonville in the first home game of the season.
The Rockets learned they have a very potent offense that can light up the scoreboard really fast.
The also learned that it's sometimes necessary to keep scoring and finish opponents off when they have them on the ropes.
The Rockets had a great first half, scoring their first goal just 10 seconds into the game and jumping out to a quick 3-1 lead.
R-P's Liam Smith, who scored two goals on Tuesday and has four goals in two games.
R-P squandered that lead and allowed Hudsonville to rally and tie the score 3-3 about midway through the second half, then took a 4-3 lead with 10 minutes remaining on a beautiful goal by Liam Smith.
Victory was snatched away again, however, when Hudsonville scored late in the contest, and the fast-paced, high-scoring contest ended in deadlock.
“We have no history with Hudsonville, it was a Tuesday night right before school starts, and you wonder where the teenage minds were at,” said R-P Coach Kody Harrell, whose team is now 1-0-1 on the season. “We just let off the gas instead of wanting more.
“We have a lot of guys with varsity experience, and they had a two-goal lead and a little bit of an assumption that they were going to win.”
Jackson Larson (8) gets ready to hammer a bouncing ball while teammate Luke Callender looks on.
The game started out looking like a Rocket rout when Smith scored with just 10 seconds gone on a ball that was stolen and forwarded to him by teammate Isaac Ritsema.
“That had to be one of the quickest goals in high school history, especially for not starting with the ball, because Hudsonville had the kickoff to start,” Harrell said. “To see Isaac jump that gap and one-touch it to Liam was fun to see.”
Hudsonville tied the score with a goal on a long, high shot by Aiden Burns midway through the first half.
Reeths-Puffer answered with two quick goals within two minutes.
The first came from Aiden McCollum on a rebound shot with 20:25 left in the half. The second came when a shot hit the Hudsonville goal post and bounced out to Carson Cooper, who buried the rebound with 18:38 remaining.
R-P goalie Gage Hopkins sends a ball out of the Rocket zone.
Burns scored his second goal for the Eagles about seven minutes before halftime and R-P led 3-2 at the break.
Hudsonville’s Bailey VandenHeuvel scored on a penalty kick about 16 minutes into the second half, tying the score 3-3.
Smith scored his second goal of the game with about 10 minutes left when he made a beautiful backhand shot in front of the net that trickled inro the far corner, and it seemed like Reeths-Puffer would pull out the win.
Then Hudsonville spoiled everything with a late goal by Sam Van Ess.
“The Hudsonville players worked their tails off and earned those goals, but I also think a lot of their goals had something to do with our errors,” Harrell said. “If we would have been more disciplined they may not have scored.”
The Rockets will return to action with a game at North Muskegon on Friday night.