Soccer: Chargers defeat Chemics, win district semifinal

by Jason Wolverton

This time there was a winner.

It just wasn’t who many people expected it to be.

After playing to two ties during regular season play, the Midland Dow and Midland High varsity soccer teams squared up one final time Wednesday as the Chargers finally got a leg up on the Chemics with a 1-0 victory in the Division 1 district semifinal at Midland Community Stadium.

The Chargers’ win was the first coach Jeff Richards and his squad have had against rival Midland High in their four years and sets the stage for a matchup against reigning state champion Traverse City West Saturday at 2 p.m. at Midland Community Stadium.

“This is real big for this group of seniors,” Richards said. “This team is truly a team. We have great senior leadership, guys that play their roles, everybody contributes…it’s a great group to be around. “

The Chargers (12-4-7) scored midway through the first half and seemingly rode the momentum the rest of way. Meanwhile, the loss brings to an end a season that had so much promise for the Chemics, who finish with a record of 13-3-3.

“These seniors, I just love them to death and this hurts me as much as it does them,” said Chemics’ coach Bill Ripke. “We thought we had a team that could go a pretty good distance this year and to have it come down to one goal on a dead ball restart is killer.”

That dead ball restart happened with 22:21 to go in the first half as Dow sent the ball towards net and Midland couldn’t clear it. It eventually popped out to Kyle Justus, who drove it home for the only score of the game.

From there, the Chargers were able to play inspired defense the rest of the way as Midland got a few good chances but were unable to capitalize.

“Our defense has been our key all year,” Richards said. “They do not get enough credit. We’ve played five ranked teams this year and kept them to two goals or less. They’re fast and physical, and I like the way we play.”

As for Ripke, he says the Chemics best chances came early.

“I thought we had some good opportunities the first twenty minutes of the game, and then we started getting rattled and we weren’t possessing the ball as well,” he said. “The first twenty minutes was some of the best soccer I’ve ever seen them play.”

The Chargers, meanwhile, hope their best soccer is ahead of them as they’ll get back to work to prepare for Saturday’s district final showdown.

“Tomorrow’s one of those Midland High hangover days,” Richards said. “Thursday and Friday we’ve got to have a good day, a lot of chalk talking, and keep their conditioning up. This group will show up, they’ve got great leadership.

For more photos from Wednesday’s game click on “Photo Slideshow” in the top right corner of this article.

Photos by Jason Wolverton & Cory Butzin