NOVI – The Novi Wildcats utilized their retention of the ball and found a late insurance goal to defeat the South Lyon East Cougars 2-0 on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

The Wildcats opened the scoring early when Jackson Shaw fired a cross into the box and Noah Kakish got on the end of it, turned and fired a ball into the net just 5:33 into the game to make it 1-0 Novi.

Novi proceeded to dominate the ball and territory for much of the game. Anchored by the play of Ryan Calanchi, the Wildcats were able to consistently win balls in midfield and recycle possession regularly.

“It’s not necessarily about the quantity of the time that we have the ball but the quality of what we’re doing with it. At the beginning of the season, it was like every other pass was a turnover. A lot of them were unforced turnovers,” Novi head coach Todd Pheiffer said. “That’s one thing we’ve been focused on this week is making the smart, simple pass, not trying to do too much. Let’s just keep the ball and build up the attack. I thought we did a really nice job of keeping possession, building up the attack, and creating some good scoring opportunities for ourselves.”

But after the early goal, the Cougar defense settled in and stubbornly refused to yield any more goals. Orchestrated by Nicolas Gonzalez Moller and William Gallagher, the South Lyon East back end allowed just two shots on goal the entire second half and just six shots on goal for the game as it was able to make the key interventions to keep the Wildcats off the scoreboard again until very late.

“We’ve got a strong back line, and I’ve got to give those guys a lot of credit along with our defensive midfielder back there,” Cougars assistant coach Zachary Hemker said. “We try our best to make sure they are a unit back there and they move as a unit together to help prevent some of those shots being taken, prevent a lot of opportunities on goal.”

Still, while the Cougars were good defensively, they struggled at times to get out of their own end. Eventually, they did start creating some good chances late.

“Defensively we were sound, but then we were kind of skipping lines occasionally. We needed to calm ourselves down a little bit and really possess the ball though the midfield and build our way out of the back,” Hemker said. “I thought once we got the ball moving forward a little bit there were opportunities where we started moving the ball laterally a little bit.”

Novi goalkeepers Christ Miller and Kevin Percy combined on the shutout, and the Wildcats added a late insurance goal when Calanchi played a through ball for Ivan Sazdanovski, who slotted home a shot with 5:26 remaining in the game.

With the win, Novi improves to 3-6-1 overall. The Wildcats face South Lyon on Monday in another non-league contest before hosting Howell on Tuesday in their next league match.

Photo gallery of Novi vs. South Lyon East boys soccer

“We were able to get everybody in the game today, and we had a couple of key kids today out with injury that are some of our starters, so it was good see our bench guys step in,” Pheiffer said. “Once you get into the state tournament, you’re going to be counting on your bench in moments, and I think that’s another positive we got out of today that we know we can count on our bench when we need to.”

South Lyon East (3-3-3 overall) finishes its Lakes Valley Conference regular season on Tuesday when they it hosts Walled Lake Northern.

Novi and South Lyon East were both drawn into the same district and could face each other in the state tournament as well.

FARMINGTON HILLS – The North Farmington Raiders cranked up the running game and methodically ran over the Farmington Falcons 20-7 Friday night in the latest installment of their rivalry.

“It feels amazing,” North Farmington junior quarterback Terrence James said. “This was just an amazing week for me and my team to get together and really play football. It was just a really good experience.”

“It was great to see the whole community out here. All our fans were great. Their fans were great. It’s nice to see the community get excited about it but respond in a good positive way.” Raiders head coach John Herstein said.

James led the way for the Raiders. He helped opened the scoring when he connected on a 34-yard bomb to Lorence Woodley with 3:17 remaining in the first half, launching a ball toward the endzone that Woodley simply outjumped the defender for, staking the Raiders to a 6-0 lead.

Farmington briefly took the lead in the third quarter when Herschel McCormack-Reamer got loose and cut back a fourth down play for a 46-yard touchdown. The Falcons converted the extra point for a 7-6 lead with 9:33 on the clock.

But McCormack-Reamer’s touchdown romp was the last of the offense for the Falcons. Farmington tried three different players at quarterback, however no one could get the offense moving consistently, and the Falcons managed just two first downs the rest of the game against a stingy North Farmington defensive front led by Trey Thomas and Dominic Washington.

“We had a couple different packages this week, and it was just seeing who was playing in the moment. We figured with this environment it was going to be tough,” Falcons head coach Jason Albrecht said. “We wanted to see who had the hot hand, and that’s how we played it out for a bit.”

McCormack-Reamer led the Falcons with 70 yards rushing, most of it coming on just two big runs, including the touchdown. Trenton Darden had 33 yards rushing.

Eventually, the Raiders’ offense started finishing drives. After turning the ball over three times on their first four drives (twice on interceptions, once on downs), the Raiders scored on two of their first three drives in the second half. They cranked up the running game, and the primary beneficiary was James, who finished with a game-high 140 yards and one touchdown rushing. Duke Blanch added 48 yards rushing and scored the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter, finishing off a nine-play drive with a one-yard dive to make it 12-7 and give North Farmington the lead for good.

The Raider offensive line, anchored in the middle by Brendon Rice, Leland Pettway, and Micah Redic, helped North Farmington put the game away late. The Raiders took over with 7:50 to play in the game and marched 72 yards in nine plays, all runs, ending with a 3-yard run from James.

“The offensive line did a fantastic job. They should really proud of themselves. They responded, and really they’ve improved since Week 1. We always talk about getting better each week,” Herstein said.

Defensively, the Falcons were stout much of the night. Two interceptions from Anthony Bailey helped the Falcons to bend but not break defensively. Farmington allowed just one scoring drive in the first half to stay close. But eventually, the Falcon defense just spent too much time on the field and the Raider offensive line started leaning on them and opening more holes for the runners as the game wore on.

Photo gallery of Farmington vs. North Farmington in OAA Blue football action

The win over their rivals also marks the first victory of the season for the Raiders (1-2 overall, 1-0 OAA Blue). They travel to Bloomfield Hills next week for another divisional game. North Farmington will likely have revenge on its mind as well since it was a triple-overtime loss to the Black Hawks in the final game that kept the Raiders out of the playoffs last year.

Farmington (2-1, 1-1 OAA Blue) returns home to host Troy Athens in another divisional game next week.

“It’s a tough loss for us, and I think it will be a measure of how we respond next week,” Albrecht said. “We have six more opportunities that are given, and then if we take advantage of those opportunities, hopefully we’ll get more opportunities in the playoffs. But next week will be a tell of who we really are.”

FENTON – Dillon Hamilton had two goals and one assist to lead the Fenton Tigers to a 3-1 win over the Holly Bronchos in the latest installment of their Flint Metro League rivalry.

Hamilton scored the game-winner with 13:01 to play in the first half when he settled a ball in the penalty area and ripped it home to break a 1-1 tie.

The teams had traded goals earlier in the half with Carlos Gomez Munoz opening the scoring just over 10 minutes into the game when he took a pass from Hamilton and slotted a ball in transition that found the lower-left corner to give the Tiers a 1-0 lead.

Holly tied the game only 2:33 later when Lincoln Rice slid a ball through for Ryan Nykiel, who was behind the defense and fired the ball in to even the score.

Both teams had plenty of other chances to find the back of the net. Fenton hit two posts in the match, including one just over three minutes into the game. The Bronchos had 12 shots on goal, including a handful of excellent chances.

“We had quite a few opportunities,” Holly coach Eric Ransom said.

But both goalies were very good. Sawyer Miller made 11 saves Fenton, including coming off his line to shut down a breakaway with the score still tied.

Holly keeper Bryce Wager also turned in a fine performance. He made six saves and had a lot to do coming off his line to intervene or to help out his defense against the Fenton pressure.

“Our goalkeeper had a ton of plays coming his way, and he’s played phenomenal this whole season,” Ransom said. “He’s our only guy right now. So it’s really important that he does a good job, and he’s done a brilliant job back there.”

Fenton added a third goal midway through the second half when Hamilton scored off a scramble in the penalty area to make it a two-goal advantage and provide some insurance for the Tigers.

“He (Hamilton) is a strong player. He works hard. He works hard outside of practice and games. He’s a very coachable kid,” Melero said. “He’s just a workhorse for us, and he does everything he can to help the team.”

The game eventually got rather chippy and saw a total of eight yellow cards, including two Holly players who were ejected for multiple cards, leaving the Bronchos to finish the game with just nine players.

“We talked about it before the game. We want the boys to keep their cool, and it’s tough,” Melero said. “We talked about it ahead of time. We want that to be part of our demeanor to stay within ourselves, and for the most part that worked.”

The win is an important one for Fenton, who improves to 3-5-1 overall and evens their league record at 2-2. The Tigers’ league season continues on Wednesday when they host Owosso.

Photo gallery of Holly vs. Fenton boys soccer

“We know we have some work to do,” Melero said. “Tonight was a good game because it gave us some of that confidence. We talked about it in our little huddle at the end. That’s the identity we’ve been searching for this season, and we finally showed it tonight.”

“We broke down. We’re going to work on not doing that in the next game,” Ransom said.

Holly suffers its second straight loss after opening the season on a five-game winning streak. The Bronchos (3-1 FML) will try to get back in the win column on Wednesday when they host Clio.

“The biggest thing we’re going to look for is just getting focused for the next game,” Ransom said. “My main focus is getting another FML win, and we’ll be able to get there,” he added.

WATERFORD – The Walled Lake Western Warriors rolled to a 52-14 win over the Waterford Mott Corsairs Thursday night behind star running back Donovan Triplett.

The Warriors cranked up the running game early and often. Western needed just 4 plays to go 77 yards on the game’s opening possession, capping the drive when Triplett burst 45 yards for the touchdown.

That drive set a tone for the night. The Warrior offensive line, anchored by four-year starter Liam Vaughan and three-year starter Shane Rachner, opened up big holes for the running backs time and again, and the Warriors took full advantage of those holes, hitting them at full speed — and often running by, or occasionally even through tacklers. Triplett and Lucas Price would be the main beneficiaries of that advantage in trench warfare.

“We are a football team filled with a lot of tough kids at every position that want to be physical and play together and care only about the end result,” Warriors head coach Kory Cioroch said. “We want to impose our will on other people, and we want to take their will to play away. And I feel like we did that by the end of the game,” he added.

Triplett would finish with 211 yards and two touchdowns rushing, and Price tacked on 108 yards and two touchdowns as the Warriors ran up and down the field. Walled Lake Western never punted and only turned the ball over once, on downs.

Defensively, the Warriors also dominated up front. Price had two sacks, and Troy Temple returned an interception 78 yards for a touchdown just before halftime to give Walled Lake Western a 24-0 lead at the break.

The Corsairs hit some big plays on offense, including a 60-yard touchdown run by Alex Allen in the third quarter and a 66-yard touchdown pass from Tory Robinson to Greg White early in the fourth quarter. But they could not sustain drives against the Warrior defense.

“We’re a veteran defense. We return seven kids on defense that can really play,” Cioroch said. “Our kids executive offensively, defensively, and special teams. I’m just proud of them in genera.”

Overall, the Corsairs fought to the end, but the young Mott squad just could not find a way back into the game once they got behind early.

Photo gallery of Walled Lake Western at Waterford Mott football

“We played hard,” Mott coach Chris Fahr said. “We kept getting penalties. We had a lot of kids play their first. Twelve kids played their first varsity game."

Walled Lake Western (1-0, 1-0 Lakes Valley Conference) travels to Waterford Kettering next week for another LVC matchup.

Waterford Mott (0-1, 0-1) travels to South Lyon for what's also a Week 2 league battle.

“I didn’t do a great job of getting my guys in position. We’ll get better and come back at it,” Fahr said. “We’ll be back. We’ll be fine."

WARREN – Warren De La Salle edged out visiting Novi Detroit Catholic Central 1-0 Monday night in a tight, physical contest.

“It was a typical Catholic League game,” Pilots head coach Thaier Mukhtar said. “I couldn’t be prouder of my boys. I’m not sure we’re a better-skilled team. I think (Catholic Central) were (more skilled). But we fought like hell. And we said at halftime, ‘Boys, all it’s going to take is one shot. All it’s going to take is one mistake on defense, one opening. That’s all you need. Take that shot and you’re going home winning.’”

And with just over 18 minutes remaining in the game, the Pilots did just that. De La Salle got the only goal when J.J. Jurczyk found Andrew Corder near the top of the box and Corder turned, then fired a blast into the upper-left corner.

The Shamrocks nearly tied the game about six minutes later on a cross from the right wing that went towards the center of the penalty area, where it was volleyed hard. But Pilots goalie Giovanni Vitale came off his line and was able to track the ball across the face of goal to make a fantastic leaping save from close range.

Overall, Catholic Central had the better of possession and territory, especially in the first half when the Shamrocks outshot the Pilots, 7-2.

“They (De La Salle) kept coming, so you’ve got to give it to them. I thought we dominated a good majority of the game. I thought for a vast majority of the game we were the better team. But they kept coming, so apparently we weren’t the better team,” Shamrocks head coach Gene Pulice said.

Only two of those shots were on frame though against a tough Pilot defensive line of Danny Makara, Harrison Pertot, Josh Wilson, and Jack Janush.

“My defense just worked their butts off. Those guys in the back four just worked, and worked, and worked,” Mukhtar said. “Those guys were a wall back there.”

De La Salle came on more in the second half. The Pilots evened out the stat sheet in the second half and started winning more balls up and own the field to also even out the possession a bit as well.

“I thought they controlled the first half,” Mukhtar said. “But I thought in the second half, I thought our conditioning showed up. I thought we were starting to beat them to balls that they were beating us to earlier.”

Still, the Shamrock defense of Joe Goudeseune, Charlie Salvatore, and Alex Zoltowski was nearly as good as De La Salle’s, and goalie Jake Sievert turned in a stellar performance as the Pilots only had a couple of good chances all game.

Photo gallery of Detroit Catholic Central vs. Warren De La Salle in Catholic League boys soccer action

“They were all but flawless today,” Pulice said. “They had a really, really good game. Again, it’s just one moment.”

With the win, Warren De La Salle improves to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the Catholic High School League Central Division. The Pilots head to Traverse City this weekend to face Mason and Traverse City West in a pair of non-league contests.

Detroit Catholic Central (1-2-1 overall, 0-1-1 CHSL Central) has roughly a week off before facing Birmingham Seaholm in a non-league game early next week.

“I can’t say that anybody really played bad today. We had a 30-second snafu that put us behind the 8-ball,” Pulice said. “I think that these are all things that we’ll be OK in the postseason. We’re still trying to figure out who we are. I played 95% of my bench. I’ve got 27 guys. Partnerships are important, and I’m still trying to figure out what the partnerships are at this point.”

AUBURN HILLS – The Waterford Kettering Captains defeated the Auburn Hills Avondale Yellow Jackets in a penalty shootout Saturday afternoon to claim the second annual Hive Invite, 2-1.

Captains goalie Kuba Mroczek made three saves in the shootout, including the final round – leaping in the air and punching the ball over the bar to end the game.

“I knew some of the boys from Avondale already, so I had a feeling about where they were going to shoot. But it was all last-minute. I was kind of taking a step one way and then went the other way just getting as much power off as possible. It was an exhilarating feeling. I enjoyed every minute of it,” Mroczek said.

“I think their keeper was fantastic. He was a game-changer all day today,” Avondale head coach Nick Stavropoulus said.

Avondale had taken the lead early on a goal from Ajdin Ziga just over two minutes into the contest.

The Yellow Jackets controlled play early, but a combination of knocks and dwindling stamina started to wear on them. Both teams were playing their fourth abbreviate game of the day, and for Avondale, who had played in the last round of the round-robin format, it was the second part of a back-to-back.

“Fatigue and injuries were tough on us today, I think. We had two kids go out with heat-related injuries that I didn’t think would happen, just not drinking enough water, and it hurt us,” Stavropoulus said.

Still, Kettering took full advantage and bossed the game for much of the time, but especially in the second half. The Captains tied the game midway through the first half off a header by Ryan Novack.

That was the only goal Kettering could muster against Avondale’s defense, though.

Both teams made it to the final by going undefeated in group play. Avondale defeated Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest, Waterford Mott, and Allen Park Cabrini to finish 3-0 in Group A.

Waterford Kettering defeated Warren Mott, Warren Woods Tower, and Madison Heights Lamphere to finish unblemished in Group B.

Photo gallery of the 2024 Avondale Hive Tournament

Avondale (4-1 overall) will open league play on Tuesday when they travel to Birmingham Groves for an Oakland Activities Association White Division contest.

“It should be a really good game,” Stavropoulus said. “Our goal is to stay up this year and finish mid-table. From our play today, and our play against Fraser Monday, you can tell that we’re always going to play tough and we should be able to stay up.” He added that, “Today hurts, and we’ll remember it and use it for the rest of the year."

Waterford Kettering (6-1) hosts Walled Lake Western on Tuesday in a Lakes Valley Conference matchup.

“These guys worked really hard over the summer. They worked really hard the last couple of week. I’ve got 14 seniors on this team. They’ve been playing a long time and paying their dues. This year, I think it’s going to pay off for us. I’m proud of them,” Kettering head coach Chris Fisher said. “It’s the players. I didn’t change anything about what I do. It’s them. It’s an incredible group of kids. They’re brilliant on and off the field, so we think good things are going to happen this year.”

Group A results

Avondale 3, Lutheran Northwest 0

Cabrini 1, Waterford Mott 0

Avondale 2, Waterford Mott 0

Lutheran Northwest 1, Cabrini 0

Waterford Mott 2, Lutheran Northwest 1 (SO)

Avondale 4, Cabrini 0

Group B results

Kettering 3, Lamphere 0

Warren Mott 1, Tower 0

Lamphere 2, Tower 1 (SO)

Kettering 3, Warren Mott 1

Kettering 3, Tower 0

Warren Mott 4, Lamphere 3

WHITE LAKE – Holly opened the season with a 3-1 win Monday night over host Lakeland thanks to a pair of second-half penalty kicks.

“It was brilliant,” Holly head coach Eric Ransom said. “We’ve been waiting all summer for this. We’ve been training really hard. I’ve been really excited for it.”

Ryan Nykiel converted a pair of penalty kicks in the second, scoring into the lower-left corner early in the half, and then adding another one late, blasting the ball into the top corner.

Holly at Lakeland boys soccer photo gallery

The Bronchos had needed a comeback after falling behind midway through the first half on a goal from Gabe Wright, who took a ball over the top, worked around the goalie and then scored into the open net for a 1-0 Lakeland lead.

“My boys came in wanting it hard right from the very beginning. I think we had the speed, the intensity, and a lot of the touches,” Eagles head coach Shannon Samson said. “We gelled well, and I think that first goal really lit our fire to get another one.”

The Eagles dominated possession for most of the first 30 minutes and had the better chances as well.

“We started very slow. The boys were a little bit nervous, and I think now since we picked it up and took a win (over a team) that I don’t think they’ve won (against) in the last four or five years, I think it’s going to be a really big win for them,” Ransom said.

“Something I’ve talked about with the boys constantly is that we need to create a new era of Holly soccer, and we are,” he added.

Holly was able to limit the early damage and keep fighting, eventually evening the score with 6:40 to play in the first half on a transition attack that finished when Liam Chalawich laid off a ball for Lincoln Rice at the top of the box. Rice stepped into the shot and rifled the ball into the far corner to tie the game.

From then on, Holly had the better chances and outshot the Eagles both in the second half and in the game overall after Lakeland had controlled the early part of the game.

Lakeland played well in spurts even in the second half, but breaking in a lot of new players, especially in back, made this a bit of a learning experience for both the players and coaches in their first time out this season.

“We lost pretty much our entire defensive line from last year; we have a whole new goalie; we changed some formations, and we’re still trying to figure it out with three practices and coming in with three games this week,” Samson said. “We learned that we have to change the formation, maybe, and who plays where."

Holly (1-0) will travel to Almont on Thursday before hosting Swartz Creek next week for their Flint Metro League opener.

Lakeland (0-1) travels to Farmington on Wednesday and hosts North Farmington on Friday before opening Lakes Valley Conference play.