Gaylord soccer had a 2-0 lead heading into the final ten minutes of regulation, but Traverse City St. Francis made a late push.
TRAVERSE CITY ― For the first 40 minutes of Tuesday's district semifinal soccer matchup between Gaylord and Traverse City St. Francis, everything went the Blue Devils' way.
After 70 minutes, GHS had a two-goal lead and seemed destined for a date with Marquette in the district finals. All that stood in their way? Just 10 more minutes.
Ten of the longest minutes of their lives.
Gaylord (11-10-1) started as strongly as they had all season, taking a 2-0 lead into halftime against the hosting Gladiators (14-5-2). That lead held until late in the second half, but TC St. Francis finally broke through, netting two goals in the final 10 minutes to send the game into overtime. There, a goal from the Gladiators' Henry Jager put TCSF up 3-2, the eventual final score.
"The first half, we had great momentum, we were creating chances, we were attacking the box. I think St. Francis came out flat in the first half and we came out swinging," said coach Brandon Contreras. "Things kind of flip-flopped in the second half. St. Francis came out swinging for their lives and put two in the back of the net in the final 10 minutes. We came out flat."
Senior Kaden Sullivan started the scoring for the Blue Devils, collecting a loose ball in the box and beating the goalkeeper to put Gaylord up 1-0 early. That set the tone for the first half as Gaylord spent nearly the entire 40 minutes in attack mode, dominating the possession and scoring opportunities. That aggressive style paid off when freshman Colton Price found himself free in the box and scored again, giving the Blue Devils a 2-0 lead and all the momentum and confidence they could ask for.
St. Francis played much better out of halftime, getting more than a few chances to cut into the deficit, but senior goalkeeper Ryan Fitzgerald had more than a few saves to keep the Glads scoreless. With around 10 minutes left on the clock, the group of 11 seniors that had been building for this postseason run finally could feel the reality of one of the biggest wins in program history drawing closer and closer.
Then, a goal from St. Francis's Tyler Boynton-Fisher changed everything. Gaylord was on its back foot, doing everything it could to waste those final few minutes without giving up an equalizer. Eventually, however, a well-timed cross found St. Francis's best player, Louis Rhein, and he found the back of the net with under two minutes left in regulation, tying it at 2-2.
From there, Gaylord stood little chance; TC St. Francis scored quickly in the first overtime period, and a clearly exhausted Blue Devils' lineup struggled to get many good looks in the extra 20 minutes.
It was an unfortunate end for a Gaylord soccer group that had high expectations and came so close to achieving one of their biggest goals of playing for a district title. However, it's a moment coach Contreras hopes his boys learn from as they move on to the next chapters of their lives.
"That sports, you know what I mean?" said Contreras. "It's a great group of boys, I think they deserve more, but a lot of people deserve a lot of things they don't get. Sometimes you've got to take it. Sometimes things don't fall your way. Sometimes, the other team gets one better opportunity than you, but it doesn't take anything away."
GHS soccer says goodbye to that transformational Class of 2026, a group of 11 seniors who went from a three-win team in 2023 to an 11-win team just two years later. Coach Contreras says this group will be remembered fondly by him and the program in general.
"The last three to four years with this group of players have been some of the best of my coaching career. Every single one of them are fantastic human beings, and this hurts now. This hurts them a lot now, but they're going to do great things in life."
Note: An incident occurred between an official and a Gaylord player near the end of Tuesday's match that the Herald Times is looking further into at this time. Check back for more coverage.
Contact GHT Sports Editor Dylan Jespersen at [email protected]. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @dylanjespersen, and Instagram, @dylanjespersen
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Gaylord soccer falls late to Traverse City St. Francis in districts
Category: General Sports
