No. 1 stunner: Unranked Southfield Christian upsets top-ranked Oakland Christian

IN TOO CLOSE: Southfield Christian's Garrett Nimmo (No. 14) closes in on Auburn Hills Oakland Christian's Louis Tillessen during Wednesday's Division 4 regional semifinal Staff Photo | Dan Stickradt

AUBURN HILLS — Southfield Christian didn’t have much luck against top-ranked Auburn Hills Oakland Christian during two regular season matches with the Lancers. In fact, the Eagles gave up nine goals in those two games..

Southfield Christian figured out a way to change history Wednesday..

The unranked Eagles pulled off the upset of the tournament, by scoring a goal in each half and upending the heavily-favored hosts 2-0 in a Division 4 regional semifinal at Oakland Christian..

Oakland Christian, which was ranked No. 1 in the state the whole season, came up shy in the regional round for the second straight season after winning the state title in 2008 and finishing as the state runner-up in 2007..

“I told the guys before the game that God already has a plan and he already knows the outcome of this game, regardless of what happens today. So go out there and give 110 percent. It’s tough to beat a team three times,” said Southfield Christian coach Dennis Brose..

His team did just that.

Sophomore Garret Nimmo scored what proved to be the game-winner with 16:06 left in the first half and senior Colin Cline netted an insurance tally with 14:55 left in the second half for the Eagles (13-9-1), who also picked up a stellar defensive effort in shutting down one of the state’s top offenses..

“The first time we played then we had a play (shadow) Caleb Stanko and that’s a guy we have to pay a lot of respect to. We shut him down the first game, but we came up on the short end of the stick,” said Brose. “At home (for the second game), we weren’t disciplined. They beat us 5-0 and Caleb had four goals.”.

This time around, Stanko and the rest of the Lancers’ vaunted offensive attack was held in check..

“We switched it up a little bit today. We had a different guy on Caleb today and we thought he did a fabulous job. Caleb didn’t have much to show today,” continued Brose. “And (Louis Tillessen), we matched him very well, so we basically played the game 9v9.”.

Andrew Symczak drew the marking assignment for Stanko and Matt Bowery shadowed Tillessen, as the two helped goalkeeper Christian Bryant notch the team’s third shutout..

Offesnively, Nimmo scored his goal on a chip shot from 20 yards out after a flick from Kevin Nimmo. The goal came during a five-minute flurry of pressure by the Eagles..

In the second half, Colin Cline tallied on a breakaway following a pass from an unusual suspect. Bryant’s goal kick sailed nearly 70 yards before Nimmo chased it down for the breakaway, as the Lancers had several players pushed up, leaving the backfield vulnerable..

Still, Oakland Christian outshot the Eagles 17-12 and both teams traded off nine shots on frame. The Lancers could not take advantage of 11 cornerkicks in the contest..

With the wind, Oakland Christian only outshot the Eagles 8-6 in the first half and coach Caleb Combs didn’t feel his team played well in the opening 40 minutes..

“We weren’t ready to go and it’s my fault,” said Combs. “We didn’t come out ready to go. I thought we had a good practice (Tuesday). Southfield beat us to just about every ball in the first half. The 50-50 balls weren’t 50-50 balls, they were more like 75-25. We just got outworked and they had a good game plan and they executed it..

In the second half, Oakland Christian went to an additional attacker but to no avail. The Lancers came out and controlled play for much of the second half but could not dent the Eagles’ lead..

“They took Caleb (Stanko), (Brandon) Delekta and Felix Siekmann out of the game,” added combs. “They didn’t make their way the way they usually do. I mean you have a guy with 34 goals, a kid that scored 15 and another kid that scored 12 goals and they barley had a couple of (quality) shots..

“I lit them up (at the half) and we came out ready to go. We came out and I felt that we were going to control the second half,” continued Combs. “The first 15 minutes we hammered (shots on) their goal. Nothing went in and it took the wind out of our sails.”

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Category: Auburn Hills Oakland Christian, High School