Huron High School’s stadium erupted with cheers and cowbells as Huron soccer player Kinley Poole scored the winning goal in the 72nd minute for Ann Arbor Huron in the District Championships game. He scored after a breakaway down the left flank led to him outpacing Ann Arbor Pioneer High School’s defense to score on a tight angle. This marked the second goal of the night for Poole, who led Huron’s attack to defeat Pioneer 2-1.
“It was a hard-fought game,” said Luis Gomez Dominguez, the coach of Huron Men’s Soccer. “It’s very tough to play the cross-town rivals. We stayed united. It was a well-deserved result for us.”
These district championships marked the end of Pioneer and Skyline’s seasons, after Skyline lost 4-3 to Pioneer on Oct. 14 in the district semifinals — a high-energy game that ended with an overtime free-kick winner from Hans Lechner.
“We really came out flying and had an outstanding first half,” said Jon Sundermann, the Pioneer Men’s Soccer coach. “Skyline got a goal back right at the very end that flipped the momentum a little. The boys really rallied in the overtime period, and then we had a spectacular goal from our captain, Hans Lechner, early in overtime.”
Huron continued their journey to the state playoffs after their win over Pioneer. They defeated University of Detroit Jesuit High School 4-0 on Oct. 21 and beat Dearborn Edsel Ford 2-0 on Oct. 23, advancing to the state championships and extending their record to 16-1-3. This journey to the state semifinals marks a historic first time that Huron has advanced to that stage.
“We’ve had a great season,” said Andrew Rooks, who plays for Huron’s team. “We’ve been playing really great soccer for two months, and it’s gratifying to see that pay off. The game against Dearborn was not our best soccer. We were not playing up to our standards, but we can take that and clean up [our performance] for states.”
CHS junior Mark Ionides plays for Huron’s JV Green team, which is their more advanced JV team. Huron also has a JV White and Freshman team, which are their third and fourth teams. JV Green had a record of 4-8.
“Our strength was definitely individual skill,” Ionides said. “There were lots of kids who really should have been on varsity, but because there were 17 seniors on varsity, they weren’t.”
At Pioneer, the culture is one of supporting one another.
“[There was] a point of emphasis for us to lean on each other,” Sundermann said. “You know, we spend a lot of time together from the middle of August through the end of October, and the boys did a great job of really coming together as a cohesive group and fighting through adversity and the ups and downs of the season.”
At Pioneer, all three teams — varsity, JVA, JVB — play the same attacking and high-pressing style of soccer. This rewarded their varsity and JVA teams with records of 13-7-1 and 13-0-7, respectively.
Skyline’s program also had a solid season, with the varsity team having a 9-4-8 record and JVA 12-1-2. Their program also had a fluid structure, so players could play for a higher team for some games.
“It pushes you and helps you improve a lot,” said Zenio Vesia, who is a goalkeeper for Skyline’s JVA and varsity teams. “I could just see what other people do, like the older kids, and learn what works and what doesn’t.”
While the season ended in disappointment for Pioneer, they are looking to improve and build on this season’s positives, according to CHS junior and Pioneer soccer player Sam Grand.
“We worked really hard together and had lots of fun,” Grand said. “Next year, I hope we’ll be able to get the title.”
