By BUTCH HARMON
When it comes to excellence in Division 2 soccer in the state of Michigan, the greater Lansing area has the market cornered this fall. Not only does the area boast East Lansing, which sits at No. 1 in the state polls, but also Mason, which is ranked No. 2 in the state in Division 2 and DeWitt,which is ranked No. 3.
“Soccer is strong in mid Michigan,” East Lansing coach Nick Archer said. “DeWitt has a very good team this year again, and I don’t think that Mason has had a loss. They always seem to have a solid team. We are very fortunate in mid Michigan, and especially in Division 2, to have so many good teams. It’s not just Division 2. Holt has been on a run the last few years in Division 1, and Okemos is always up there, too.”
Mason coach Nick Binder also sees the area as being extremely strong in soccer this season. “Okemos and Holt are very strong in Division 1,” he said. “We saw Lansing Christian over the summer, and they are a very strong team in Division 4. There is just a large collection of good players in the area and a lot of good teams because of that.”
Stability in the coaching ranks is a big reason for the success of area teams, according to Archer, who himself is one of the deans of area soccer coaches.
“I’ve been dabbling in coaching since 1973,” Archer said. “I played at Michigan State and then started teaching at East Lansing. The kids enjoyed it, and we started playing after school, and the team grew from there. I’ve been here since then, and my assistant Henry Rojas has been with me for over 15 years and Jeff Lyon has been assisting me for 13 or 14 years.
I know Brian Guggemos has been at Okemos for 10 years or so, and Aaron Smith has been at Holt a long time, and Jamal [Mubarakeh] at DeWitt has been there for 15 years or so. The coaches at Williamston have also built a good program.”
This year, few teams in the state can match the strength of the East Lansing team that is ranked in the super six power poll by the Michigan High School Coaches Association.
“Things have been going good for us on paper,” Archer said. “We have a nice record and the kids are playing well. We have a nice group of young guys who are playing well.”
The Trojans have had their share of adversity, as starting goalkeeper Blair Moore was lost for the season with a broken hand. Backup goalkeeper Chris Warner has stepped up and is now manning the net.
The Trojans have a solid core of defenders in front of their keeper. “Our back line players have done a great job in holding down the goals this year, giving up only nine,” said Archer “Our back line is Michie Nimsombun,Torey Redmond, Noel Fuentes, and Grant Brogan. Losing our keeper Blair Moore was a big loss, but Chris Wallace has the ability to step in and carry on.”
On offense, East Lansing features a balanced attack. DeJuan Jones is a double-digit goal scorer who leads the team in scoring. Ben Swanson-Ralph is also a double-digit goal scorer, and the Trojans have been getting contributions from Jared Howenstein, Trevor Early, and Tommy Lammers.
“We’re improving every time out and moving forward,” Archer said. “We still have to tighten down a few things, but I’m pleased with our start and where we are at.”
Binder is also pleased with the progress the Bulldogs are making at Mason. “Things are going pretty well,” he said. “We had to replace a lot of starters, but we’ve had a lot of new kids step up. We only have two or three seniors start, so I thought we would struggle with leadership, but we have been getting there. We have some good young players, who will help us next year and the years to come.”
Mason served notice that it is for real this year when it defeated Linden, which was ranked No. 3 at the time, and No. 7-ranked Dexter at a tournament early this season.
Defense has been the calling card of the Bulldogs this season. “Josh LeMay is in his third year as our starting goalkeeper,” Binder said. “He was all-state second team as a sophomore and first-team all-state as a junior. We have three sophomores and a junior starting on our back line, and they have played well.”
Mason has been getting strong play from freshman John Kingman, sophomores Holden Dippel and Christian Jordan, and junior Kevin Stalzer.
“We have some very good defensive players, but that’s not to say we don’t have some good attacking players either,” Binder said. “We definitely have a lot of room for improvement, but we have some good players, and the potential is there for a good season.”