MONTAGUE — Monday night's rivalry battle between Montague and Whitehall was the consummate rivalry game - a packed house, a boisterous crowd supporting each side, and an intense, physical game on the field.
The Wildcats scored an early goal and made it stand up for over 66 minutes, fending off several Viking attacks down the stretch, to win a dramatic 1-0 game that left both teams feeling optimistic about their futures.
While the game was everything a fan could want, Wildcats' coach Brandon Mahoney jokingly said the same might not apply to coaches on the sidelines.
"It's a nail-biter throughout," Mahoney said. "It was a great match, and there's great boys on both of these squads. I've reffed with some of them. I've gotten to coach a lot of them, and it's a great group of young men on both of these squads.
"It's crazy to think where this could lead in the district. You start dreaming big and you start thinking, 'Wow, what if it was a district final?' Because they are in our district this year. The way we're playing right now, it could come down to us, so I'm excited."
Mason Anderson scored the only goal of the game with 26:21 left in the first half, taking advantage of a pass by Isaiah King as Montague (4-3, 2-2 West Michigan Conference) cashed in a transition opportunity, coming right after the Vikings had nearly scored themselves.
Whitehall (3-4, 2-2 WMC) nearly scoring proved to be a running story in the game. Samuel Chona, who was the centerpiece of the Viking attack all night, narrowly missed a goal later in the half, and Montague keeper Ethan Balon made a great save on another shot. In the second half, Balon made a couple more great saves; backup Chayse Maddox came in to turn back a free kick after Balon was yellow-carded on a collision while going for the ball and had to briefly leave the game; and Chona missed another post by less than a foot.
"I do feel like we generated a lot of offensive looks and didn't capitalize," Whitehall coach Dillon McCarthy said. "We just couldn't capitalize on our offensive looks, and that's so frustrating. Those guys felt it....It takes time to get that confidence. My hopes are that those boys that had a chance to shoot and potentially win or tie the game, get those next opportunities, and get that confidence and can translate it in the final third."
Chona didn't start the year as an offensive cornerstone, but he has emerged in that position. McCarthy said the Vikings are still working on getting everyone comfortable with each other on that end, but it's clear Chona is a force to be reckoned with - even though he was banged up and playing, McCarthy said, a step slower than he normally would be able to.
"We're excited. He brings good energy," McCarthy said. "He will probably be really upset about that last (scoring chance) that he didn't capitalize on, because he scores a lot of other goals from a lot harder angles, so when he had that, he was beating himself up a bit, but you've got to be happy with how they left it all out there."
On Montague's side, the Wildcat defense was the star attraction, especially Balon, who flew all over the place making saves, even briefly being shaken up after one collision with a Viking. But he said he enjoys the more physical kind of game that was seen Monday.
"I like that kind of playing," Balon said. "I like physical playing. I like bodies getting thrown everywhere."
Mahoney praised his defense for enacting the strategy Montague always puts in place when they have a small lead late in the game - namely, keep the clock moving however you can.
"That's when you start trying to chew that clock up legally - going to the corners, getting the ball in their half, possessing it on their half of the field," Mahoney said. "Don't worry about taking shots anymore. Drop the extra striker. Make him a midfielder. Eat that clock up and suck up that space where they want to be to shoot."
Getting close-game reps in intense environments should help both teams moving forward, and Whitehall has quickly shown improvement over the course of the season. Already the Vikings have taken WMC powerhouse Ludington to the wire. McCarthy is optimistic the exposure to clutch situations will sharpen his team down the line, noting that it played a bit too fast-paced late in the game.
"We try to play our best style of soccer, which tonight we lost sight of a bit and went a little too direct," McCarthy said. "We're not going to be beating people in footraces. We're not the fastest team and we don't try to be. We're trying to use our space, and technical abilities. I think when we started playing a frantic, 'Oh no, let's try to score' (style), yeah, we had some chances, but also those chances resulted in really tired legs that didn't finish well."
