Notre Dame Prep advances to CHSL finals

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

PONTIAC — With Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook ineligible for the Catholic High School League boys soccer tournament, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep was bumped up to the No. 1 seed of the AA Bracket.

The Fighting Irish did not disappoint in the semifinals at home Monday.

Notre Dame Prep scored early and often in routing Madison Heights Bishop Foley, 7-1, to advance to Wednesday’s championship match, also at NDP.

The Fighting Irish will face Dearborn Divine child at 5 p.m. for the CHSL AA tournament title. Divine child upended No. 2 seed Royal Oak Shrine Catholic, 1-0 in a shootout.

WITH THE FEET: Pontiac Notre Dame Prep's Bradley Wong and the Fighting Irish had little resistance from Madison Heights Bishop Foley in Monday's CHSL semifinals. Photo By Larry McKee, www.lmckeephotography.com

“I don’t think we played all that well, but Bishop Foley is really young and inexperienced,” said first-year NDP coach Ryan Elchuk. “I didn’t think we’d have much problem.”

NDP finished in second place with a 6-4-0 record. Cranbrook won the regular season title at 8-1-1 but is still an associate member and not eligible for the CHSL tournament.

“It’s kind of strange. They won our league and they can (earn) postseason honors, but they can’t play in the tournament yet,” said Elchuk of Cranbrook, which came over two years ago from the now-defunct Metro Conference. “I don’t know what will happen next year. But we can’t control that. We can only control how we play and what our seed is.”

The Fighting Irish didn’t waste any time against the Ventures, a longtime state powerhouse which is going through a major rebuilding year among an enrollment drop. Sophomore Brad Wong scored 10 minutes into the game to open the floodgates. Wong finished with two goals and an assist to lead the Irish.

Nick Watson made it 2-0, which proved to be the game winner in the 21^st minute, but was far from the end NDP’s scoring outburst. Ryan Peirce also added two goals on the night, while Sam McLean and Robbie Huth also scored for the Irish.

Notre Dame Prep (9-11-0) led 2-0 at the half and tacked on five goals after halftime.

Mike Oravetz scored late for Bishop Foley (4-11-2).

“I was pleased that we were able to finish our chances in the second half,” said Elchuk. “I think our problem this year has been consistency. We need to learn to play for the whole 80 minutes. We drew (Detroit) Country Day next week in the district (opener). They are very good. We know we have to play a complete game to beat a team like that. That’s what were trying to build for.

“ I am hoping we (play) a complete game against Divine Child,” continued Elchuk. “We beat them both times we played them. I don’t want us to (get complacent). I know we are kind of young, but this late in the season we should be playing our best soccer. We should beat a team like Divine Child.”

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Tags: boys soccer, Catholic High School League Boys Soccer, featured, Madison Heights Bishop Foley Boys Soccer, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep boys Soccer, Prep Boys Soccer, soccer

Category: High School, High School (M-Z), Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, Prep Wraps