The Fruitport boys soccer team will try to pull it off Thursday when it meets conference rival Spring Lake in the semifinals of the Division 2 district tournament.
The Trojans beat the Lakers in two close games in regular season play this fall. Spring Lake finished second to Fruitport in the O-K Black Conference standings.
Thursday’s winner will advance to Saturday’s district championship game against the winner of the Muskegon-Kenowa Hills matchup.
Fruitport advanced to the semifinals with a 6-1 victory over Sparta Tuesday night. Spring Lake advanced with a 3-0 win over Reeths-Puffer.
Fruitport raced to victory with three goals apiece from Zach Gilson and Noah Hendricks and three assists from Andrew Frost.
Gilson’s second goal gave him 36 for the season, which set a new single-season scoring record for Fruitport. The previous mark was set by Jake Laufersky in 2008.
Dalton Mullennix and Seth Carrier each added assists for Fruitport while goalkeeper Conner Deneen had nine saves.
“We’re having a ton of fun this season and we don’t want it to end,” said Fruitport Coach Greg Kobylak, whose team improved to 15-3-3. “We will have to play at our very best Thursday to win a tough match against Spring Lake. Both teams know each other very well and there will be no surprises. It will be another classic high school match between rivals.”
Spring Lake also opened the state tournament in style with a 3-0 shutout over a tough Reeths-Puffer squad. Nic Ellingboe had a pair of goals for the Lakers while Kyle Zietlow added one.
Goalkeeper Joe Czajk had five saves for the Lakers. Thomas Swiatek stopped nine shots for Reeths-Puffer.
