Mark Meyer
Sports Scene
Peter Weber could not have scripted a better senior night than the one he had October 12 against Holt/East Lansing. The Okemos standout scored a career-best seven goals in a 22-5 rout in front of a compact but boisterous gathering at the Chieftains’ pool.
For good measure, Okemos head coach Matt Latham greeted Weber as he exited the game in the fourth period with this simple message: thank you.
“I simply said, ‘Thank you for everything you have done,’ ” Latham said, “ ‘It’s been a lot of fun to watch.’ And in a typical fashion, he responded by saying, ‘No, thank you coach.’”
Weber scored seven of his team’s first 11 goals, including four straight in a span of 2:23 to start the second period.
“Our counter-attack was making it happen,” Weber said. “As long as we’re making fast passes and keeping the ball dry and out of the water, we should be able to score.”
That they did. Senior Forrest Taylor and sophomore Mitch Fountain added three goals each while senior Duke Lee, junior Santos Hernandez, and sophomore Chris Anderson each scored twice. Senior Michael Yeomans and juniors Jay Burzych and Hunter Landay each scored one for the Chieftains (15-26), who won all three games against district opponents this season.
Ben Majeske scored all five goals for Holt/East Lansing, which had trimmed the Okemos lead to 3-2 with 4:18 left in the first period. Okemos then scored the next eight straight to break the game open. Okemos goalie Tyler Grinn made seven saves.
Latham is optimistic about his team’s chances in the postseason.
“Going undefeated against the teams we’ll face in the district is definitely going to help us,” Latham said. “The challenge then will be to win a game at regionals so that we can advance to the state meet.”
For now, Weber and his teammates can savor a senior night send-off that was a success from start to finish.
“It was actually quite exciting,” Weber said. “It was a thrill to play in front of that many people. We normally don’t get this type of turnout for our games … but it was great.”