BOYS SOCCER: Troy Athens overcomes demons, cruises past Plymouth Salem in state semifinals
Red Hawks put up five goals to reach state finals for eighth time
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
TROY — Plymouth Salem did something that few teams have been able to do during the past two seasons against Troy Athens: Take an early lead on the Red Hawks.
Unranked Salem scored on its first shot attempt of the evening in Wednesday’s Division 1 state semifinal at Troy High School.
All that did was awaken a sleeping giant.
Second-ranked Athens scored five straight goals and cruised to a convincing 5-2 triumph over the Rocks to keep the Red Hawks’ title quest alive.
The Red Hawks advances to their eighth state title game and are going for their first state crown since winning the D-1 title in 1997 this weekend.
Athens will face unranked Traverse City West, which rallied back from a two-goal deficit to upset third-ranked Novi, 3-2, in double overtime in the other D-1 semifinal. The finals will be at 12 noon at Comstock Park High School north of Grand Rapids.
“Ever since last season and our loss in districts, we wanted to come back and get to the finals,” said senior goalkeeper Jason Kemp, who was a freshman and watched from the stands when Athens last reached the finals in 2016, a 1-0 loss to East Kentwood.
“We knew this was our last shot and we wanted to make a run to the state finals. We worked so hard and now we have our chance,” added Kemp, who carried a stellar 0.47 goals-against-average into the semifinals with 15 shutouts. “We’re really looking forward to it.”
Second-ranked Athens, which lost in the district finals last season to Utica Ford (1-0) as an undefeated team and was ousted in the pre-district two years ago by Birmingham Brother Rice (2-1), exorcised those early-exit demons this season in a major way.
Athens (22-2-1) came out and fired the first three shots of the contest. Salem gained a counterattack opportunity and senior Luke Benford got behind his mark and deposited a close-range shot into the net following a cross from senior Ryan Doyle with 31:56 still to go in the first half.
The Rocks attempted just one more shot in the half.
“That would be the third or fourth time we’ve played down a goal. We’ve talked before the game that all season long we prepared for this,” said Athens coach Todd Heugh. “We’ve seen everything. We’ve lost, we’ve tied, we’ve played fro ahead and we’ve played from behind. So whatever happens, we know there is a lot of game left. I never thought we’d put up five (goals in a state semifinal), but I thought we had a lot of nice pressure on them before they scored their goal. We were not rattled going down 1-0.”
Athens, which outshot Salem 9-2 in the first half, tied the game with 20:49 to go before halftime. Junior Anthony Kapala redirected a flick by senior Andri Myftari for the 1-1 tie.
The aforementioned Myftari set up the Red Hawks’ second goal as he sent the ball over to a streaking senior Davis DiGiovanni, who beat two defenders and uncorked a left-footed 15-yard blast off the left goal post and into the goal with 8:56 left in the first half.
Athens was not done, as junior TJ Renaud slotted a ball over to senior Austen Looser, who laced a 22-yard shot into the corner of the goal with 6:34 to play for a 3-1 halftime lead.
The Red Hawks, who were making their 11th appearance in the state semifinals in their storied 39-year soccer history, continued the onslaught in the second half when senior Rashi Kalyan unleashed a 20-yard floater following another flick from Myftari with 38:39 to go.
DiGiovanni scored Athens’ fifth marker when he collected a pass from Kapala and finished from 16 yards in front of the net with 25:10 remaining.
“To not only go out and lead 3-1 at the half, but to come out early in the second half and score again. I think that deflated (Salem) a little bit,” said Heugh. “That was awesome scoring the way we did.”
The Red Hawks have outscored its six postseason opponents 19-4 and hold a 78-13 scoring edge for the season.
For the game, Athens held a 13-7 shots advantage, including 10-5 with shots directly on frame, and also held a 4-3 edge on cornerkicks.
“This was a great effort,” added Heugh. “I think that, at least for the returning guys, losing early in the district finals last season stung a little bit. We did have 12 new guys this year and I think around 13 returned. But I know they were quite motivated and being here in the (Final Four) that they wanted nothing more at a crack at (playing in the finals).”
Athens won Class A state titles in 1981 (old coaches association tournament), 1983, 1984, 1989 and the Division 1 crown in 1997, while the Red Hawks also lost in the title match in both 1986 and 2016.
Salem (15-7-4) finished third in the ever-tough KLAA West Division behind top 10 teams Novi and Brighton and were making its first Final Four appearance since 2014. The Rocks just ran into a buzzsaw in Athens.
“We were familiar with they way they played. They play direct, they use their height, they play with pace and they keep coming at you,” said Salem coach Kyle Karns. “Defensively, we had been sharp all year. Tonight, we just didn’t have it.
“The message here is that we were still in the Final Four,” added Karns. “At the end of the day, these are still high school boys but it’s not easy to make a run like that. There’s a lot to lay our hat on.”
Benford capped the scoring with 54 seconds left on a 30-yard free kick after Athens had placed mostly subs into the game. It was his 13th tally of the campaign — but the damage had already been done.
Salem became just the third team this season to score two goals on Athens and fourth in two seasons. The Rocks still could not slow down the high-powered and dangerous Red Hawks throughout much of the game.
Athens and Salem met in the state semifinals once before back in 1995, with Salem posting a 5-2 victory in that game some 24 years ago. The two powers also faced off in the state finals in both 1989 and 1997 with Athens claiming wins both times.
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