Montague soccer downs Newaygo, earns district final rematch with Fremont

MONTAGUE — When Montague's season began, the Wildcats hoped to earn another shot at Fremont in a district final, but the Wildcats knew they could only do it if they focused on the obstacles between them and that shot.

Now, Montague has earned that second chance after dispatching Newaygo 9-1 in Wednesday's district semifinal game, which was moved from Whitehall's field to Montague due to a power outage. The Packers beat Oakridge 5-0 in the other semifinal, setting up a rematch of last year's finals, which Fremont won in overtime.

"We (didn't) want these guys focusing on Fremont, but that doesn't mean that our coaching staff hasn't been watching everything that we can find on them," Montague coach Chris Aebig said. "We have a game plan we're ready to execute. We're going to be working hard to get ready for that game on Friday. It doesn't matter where we play. I'm ready to make them pay wherever we're at, and I know these guys are hungry for that as well."

The Wildcats did not waste time jumping ahead of Newaygo. After the Lions got a shot on goal just under two minutes into the game that keeper Addison Pranger turned away, Montague swiftly turned around and manufactured its own scoring chance, and Adilynn Peterson cashed it in with a goal to open the scoring.

From there, Montague was not shy about exerting its physical advantage over the Lions. The Wildcats are big, strong and experienced on the offensive end, and they played like it, outmuscling Newaygo to many loose balls.

"Using my aggressiveness from other sports, like wrestling, has definitely made me a way better soccer player, making me more aggressive on the ball," Montague senior Ava Pelton said. "Girls just bounce off me, basically, at this point."

Pelton chuckled after that line, but it's hardly a joke; she overpowers foes with her physicality and skill with the ball, and because of it she's the centerpiece of the Wildcat offense. She made a great assist to Lilly Rice for her team's second goal of the game with 22:33 left in the first half, and Rice scored again just 15 seconds later. Rice totaled four goals on the night, with Pelton assisting two of them.

"Because we all want to do well, and we want to succeed and play well, I think that's the drive for us being aggressive and using our bodies to create opportunities," Rice said.

The 'Cats led 4-0 at halftime after Pelton scored her first of two goals, both of which hit one of the goal bars on the way in. With the contest seemingly in hand, Montague gave freshman Emily Earnest the second half in goal and allowed Pranger to get some rest.

That didn't change much for Montague, though, which continued to play good defense behind senior Grace Reavey. Her emergence in that part of the lineup has been a big boost to the team.

"Grace probably played one of the best games she's played all year long on the defensive side of the ball for us today," Aebig said. "Finding that identity, finding what works, finding what clicks, and seeing these guys all put it together and trust each other is the best thing ever."

Pelton's second goal was Montague's first of the second half, followed by Rice's third of the game. Braylyn Bultema scored off a great pass up the middle of the field from Peterson to make it 7-0 with 19:22 to play, and at that point the only question was how long it would take to get the mercy rule win.

Not long, as it turned out, even though the Lions snuck a goal in just a minute and change later. The Wildcats finished things up within the following three minutes, with Pelton feeding Allyson Balder for the clincher - Pelton's third assist - with 15:37 on the clock.

"I think we did a good job of not worrying about what's in front of us, but what's right now," Reavey said. "I think a lot of our players did a good job on just being patient with the ball, not necessarily rushing with it."

Now that the focus is squarely on Fremont, it's also on keeping Montague's season going. An accomplished group of seniors knows the next loss will end their high school soccer careers, and no one wants that to happen any sooner than it must.

"That's what we've been talking about," Aebig said. "These seniors have worked hard for 100 years playing soccer, and any one of these games could be the last game they play. We're playing for each other. We're playing for them. We're ready to go make some noise."