BOYS SOCCER: Troy Athens rolls by Sterling Heights Stevenson to reach district finals for third straight year
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
Twitter: @LocalSportsFans
WATERFORD — Simply put, Troy Athens played like a defending state champion Tuesday.
The Red Hawks dominated Sterling Heights Stevenson in all facets of the game and rolled to a convincing 6-2 triumph in the Division 1 district semifinals at Waterford Mott.
After slipping past Utica Ford 2-1 in double-overtime in the pre-district round last Thursday, Athens left no doubt on the field this time around.
The Red Hawks led 3-0 at the half, built a 5-0 advantage in the second half and coasted to the four-goal victory.
Athens outshot Stevenson 19-10 overall, 16-7 with shots on frame, and also posted a 6-5 edge on cornerkicks. The Red Hawks outshot both of its postseason opponents by wide margins and now have outscored the opposition 8-3 in two tournament games.
“I don’t think we play bad against Ford at all to be honest. They just hung in there with good defense and we were able to finally score in overtime,” noted Athens coach Todd Heugh. “Every team is a different team and in the 2018 game when we played against Ford and we were outshooting them by a large margin. I felt that game sort of turning. They started to press us, created some chances and were able to score and beat us. But last week we beat (Ford) and I thought we had far better chances. Ford scored on their chance and kudos to them. I thought we were in control of that game and we won in overtime.
“I thought tonight against Stevenson we were all over them from the beginning and we finished well,” continued Heugh. “I think the early goals help like crazy. I think we had a couple of really good chances before we scored. I think the second goal kind of deflated them a little bit and we just continued to attack them, press them, create chances and do the best we could. We did not stop working and we did not let up.”
The Red Hawks, who captured their sixth state crown last November and became just the third program in the 26-year history of the Oakland Activities Association to win three straight OAA Red Division league crowns, rarely allowed Stevenson to even touch the ball for the first 60 minutes and were in complete control throughout. There would be no overtime on this day.
The consistent pressure by Athens resulted in a 3-0 lead by the half.
Senior midfielder Adrian Lekocaj, who did not play on Athens’ state championship team last year and suited up for the Vardar Academy side, scored twice in the first half.
Lekocaj netted his first goal with 35:47 to go in the first half. Junior Ryan Gruca sent a short pass to Lekocaj, who laced a 16-yarder into the corner of the goal.
Senior Quinn LeBay pushed the lead to 2-0 off passes from TJ Renaud and Anthony Kapala with 17:49 remaining in the first half for the 2-0 advantage.
Lekocaj scored what proved to be the game-winner 7:29 before the break off a Renaud pass for the three-goal cushion.
“Adrian did not play for us last year but he did get some quality minutes for us as a sophomore on that 2018 team,” said Heugh. “He’s stepped into our midfield, where we graduated some players from last year, and he’s consistently been effective for us. He’s bigger, he’s stronger and he’s more of a leader. He gives us another player who can both create chances and score goals. We already returned TJ Renaud and Ryan Gruca and now Adrian has been a key player for us all season. He has great first touch and he’s got escapability where he can get out of pressure situations. We have couple of forwards in Renaud and Gruca who can put you under a lot of pressure, and we have guys in the midfield who can choral the ball really well. That at times makes us hard to defend.”
Athens (11-2-3) did not let up to open the second half.
Sophomore Ben Maher made it 4-0 off a Gruca helper with 34:06 remaining, while Renaud made it 5-0 with 29:42 left off another Gruca assist. Junior Abel Noble scored the Red Hawks’ sixth goal, which gave them a 6-1 advantage.
“We got some goals and assists from some of the guys that do the heavy lifting for us and some of the other guys got some points and minutes, too,” said Heugh. “We do have a lot of guys who can finish, a lot like last year even though a good number of guys graduated from that team. We got a chance to get a lot of players some minutes and I felt we wore them down quite a bit.”
Stevenson (5-6-4) was able to spoil the shutout with a flurry of late chances. Senior forward Timothy Allos scored on rebound following a cornerkick with 13:49 to play, which trimmed the deficit down to 5-1. Allos also set up senior Ramadan Hysa with a goal with 1:32 remaining just seconds following another cornerkick into the box.
The damage had long since been done have to any upset hopes by the Titans.
“With a young team sometimes we are on and sometimes we are cold,” said first-year Stevenson coach Dan Chunn. “I thought we played really well against West Bloomfield last week. But tonight Athens really took it to us. They are a very talented team and have several players who can score goals. We were never really in this game. It’s really difficult to come back down 3-0 at the half against a team like that.”
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