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Courtesy Photo | Oxford Athletics
Led by 13 seniors, fourth-ranked Oxford captured its first regional championship in school history last week and will face fellow first-time state semifinalist Byron Center in the Division 1 state semifinals Wednesday at East Lansing High School.
BY DAN STICKRADT
WEB AND CONTENT EDITOR | DIRECTOR OF NEWS
Michigan Soccer Network | Premier Media Group and affiliates
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OXFORD, Mich. – Simply put, Oxford took some lumps back in 2021 and 2022.
Some teams more than had their way with the Wildcats, who were extremely young playing in the Oakland Activities Association Red Division, one of the state’s toughest and deepest conference in the state since its inception back in 1994.
“It was kind of rough those first couple of seasons,” admitted Adam Bican, who took over the Wildcats program in 2020. “But that’s okay. We learned a lot the first couple of years. But you know what? Even though we struggled, the boys didn’t quit. Sure, at times, they were frustrated a little bit, but I think they knew things would eventually change.”
Bican saw something in his current senior class back in the 2021 tryouts and opted to keep six of those players on varsity. Seniors Nolan Mauser. Luca Erskine, Coltrane Hudson, Drew Cady, Anthony Jaboro and Tristan Warthun all saw action on varsity back during the 2021 campaign as freshmen. The Wildcats currently have numerous third-year players as well.
Back during the shortened 2020 campaign, Bican’s first season with the Wildcats, Oxford only finished 5-7-3 overall and were outscored 31-17. The Wildcats did post four shutouts and finished 5-1-2 for 17 points to win the OAA White Division. That league championship helped Oxford get promoted to the OAA-Red Division, where the competition is brutally tough.
“It’s the best league in the state,” reminded Bican. “Every year the league has at least one school making a deep run and how many state champions or state (runner-up) teams has the league produced?”
Hold that thought.
For a program that competed in the Flint Metro League in boys soccer from its inaugural 1983 soccer season through the 2009-10 school year, the Wildcats competed in the OAA-White Division from 2010-2020 before making their jump up into the elite division where there are no nights off and there is a bevy of future college talent.
Oxford was regularly in the FML title hunt and rarely finished out of the top half of that league and once the Wildcats were in the OAA-White, Oxford continued to battle before earning a conference title in 2020. But those leagues are nothing quite like the OAA-Red Division.
Oxford more than took its lumps in the 2021 season, getting outscored 51-27 on the year. The Wildcats picked up five shutouts but were shut out 11 times that season. In the OAA-Red alone, Oxford finished dead last at 1-6-0 and were outscored 26-3 in its seven league matches.
The Wildcats finished 9-13-2 overall but suffered huge blows in the league with losses to Troy Athens (5-0), Troy (3-0), Berkley (6-1), Clarkston (5-0) and Rochester (3-0). Oxford also lost to Rochester Stoney Creek (2-1) and could only manage a 1-0 upset win over Rochester Adams midway through the season.
In the state tournament, the Wildcats upset Grand Blanc (2-1) in the pre-district and tripped up rival Lake Orion (2-1) in the district semifinals before quickly being silenced and sent back to their den with a 5-0 loss to Clarkston in the district finals.
In 2022, Oxford finished 7-9-3 overall and placed seventh in the OAA-Red with a 1-4-1 record. The Wildcats kept grinding away despite being outscored 35-24 and shut out six times while collecting four clean sheets along the way. Grand Blanc gained its revenge in the pre-district that year with a 2-1 postseason victory over the Wildcats. Earlier in the year, the Wildcats were pounded by Clarkston in a league game 7-2 and suffered a couple of other hard losses throughout the campaign.
Instead of sticking their tails between their legs, the Wildcats didn’t go away. Oxford collectively worked hard in the offseason and on various club teams and simply got better – better as a team and individually.
“It was a little rough back then,” admitted Mauser, a current fourth-year veteran at goalkeeper who has helped Oxford’s rise to powerhouse status. “We kept working hard, even though we didn’t always get the results we wanted. Last year is when it all started to come together for us.”
With a more seasoned group and a large junior class in 2023, Oxford had its best season since joining the OAA overall. The Wildcats turned their lemons of the previous years into lemonade and had a grand turnaround.
For starters, Oxford finished 5-2-0 overall for 15 points in the OAA-Red Division, which was good enough for the outright league championship. That’s the OAA-Red title, where the Wildcats finished ahead of state powerhouse programs such as Clarkston, Troy, Troy Athens, Rochester Adams, Berkley, Rochester and Birmingham Seaholm – all programs that have rich histories on the pitch. Even Athens went on to capture the state championship last season. Rochester Adams won the 2022 state crown – in fact the entire OAA is 9-11 in state title games since 1994.
Oxford finished a fine 16-5-3 overall last year, outscored a tough schedule 52-28, recorded eight shutouts and were kept off the scoreboard just four times in 24 games. In the postseason, the Wildcats ousted Davison (8-0), Lake Orion (2-1) and Clarkston (3-2) – the same Clarkston program that had outscored the Wildcats 18-4 in their four previous meetings. The win over Clarkston, the second time that season the Wildcats upended the Wolves, came in the district finals.
Oxford captured just its second district title since becoming a Division 1 school back in 2010, the other being in 2014 where the Wildcats lost in the regional semifinals to Clarkston (1-0).
Last season’s run ended prematurely, as Oxford dropped a 2-0 decision to fellow state power Novi Detroit Catholic Central in the 2023 regional semifinals. The Wildcats were missing their standout attacking center midfielder Diego Madel, a future All-State Dream Team pick, who was hospitalized with an illness, and Oxford was out of sync.
Still, the Wildcats were back in a territory they often visited back in the late 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, and that was contending for league and district championships. Oxford did reach the regional finals three times before in program history as a Class B/Division 2 school, falling in that round to nationally-ranked Detroit Country Day (5-0) in 1995, to Petoskey (2-0) in 2002 and again to powerhouse East Lansing (2-0) in the regional finals in 2005.
This season, Oxford has put together quite a memorable campaign and Division 1 postseason run. Oxford holds a 63-18 scoring edge this season, picked up 10 clean sheets, and have only been kept off the scoreboard once all season and that was a 2-0 loss to then-No. 3-ranked Troy. The Wildcats again played a tough league and non-league schedule and have still averaged 2.87 goals a game, while its team defense has a 0.82 goals-against-average and has kept many All-State and future collegiate players in check.
Oxford finished third in the OAA-Red this season at 3-1-3, just behind Troy and Rochester Adams and ahead of the likes of Troy Athens, Berkley, Birmingham Seaholm, Clarkston and Rochester. The Wildcats have also been ranked in the top 15 in the state in Division 1 for the entire 2023 and 2024 seasons, the first time in some two decades that has happened.
But this season is different.
Remember all of those freshmen and sophomores that suited up in 2021 and 2022? Those players are upperclassmen now and laying some hurt on programs that recently beat up on these ‘Cats. Oxford has more than turned the tables, as they have 13 seniors, one exchange student, seven juniors five sophomores and one freshman that have come together and make some history for a program that is in its 42nd season of existence.
Playing in their first regional finals match since 2005, Oxford ended more than four decades of near-misses with a 1-0 victory over Novi Detroit Catholic Central – the same Shamrocks that knocked Oxford out of last season’s tournament – and that game featured the two overtime periods and a game-deciding shootout. The Wildcats prevailed 5-4 on penalties to advance, just as they did in last week’s 2-1 triumph over Lake Orion in the district finals (3-0 edge on penalty kicks).
“It’s amazing to think of how far they have come,” beamed Bican, who coached Clarkston to the Division 1 state runner-up trophy back in 2007 and also helped Rochester Stoney Creek to a pair of district titles during previous decades. “When I was at Clarkston years ago, we had some great teams but we didn’t really have to rebuild like we did here three years ago.”
Oxford will face first-time regional champ Byron Center in Wednesday’s Division 1 state semifinals at East Lansing High School at 6 p.m. Neither of these teams have been on the Final Four stage, and for the Wildcats, getting to this stage was only a pipe dream back in 2021.
Rochester Adams and Saline square off in the other D-1 state semifinals match Wednesday at Troy Athens.
“I think about losing to Clarkston 5-0 twice that year (2021), including the district finals and watching them celebrate. I remember getting drilled by Clarkston (7-2) back in the regular season two years ago,” recalled Bican, an All-State Third Team player himself at Rochester Adams back in 1992. “To where we were to where we are now is incredible. It’s a testament to the kids. All of their hard work, not giving up when we lost a lot of games when these seniors were freshmen and sophomores. They worked hard, believed in their abilities, and they have come together and had a fantastic couple of years. They could have quit, given up, whatever. But they didn’t. And now they are in the (state) semifinals for the first time in our history.”
The old adage is when the going gets tough, the tough get going, or turning lemons into lemonade – both apply here for these Wildcats.
They are living the dream of playing in the Final Four. And it’s not just a dream, but a reality. Even though it didn’t seem palpable three years ago.
DIVISION 1
Rochester Adams
State Champions – 1999, 2022
State Runner-Up – 2001, 2014
Final Four Appearances – 1999, 2001, 2004, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2022, 2024
Final Four Losses – 2004, 2009, 2015
Regional Champions – 1999, 2001, 2004, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2022, 2024
Regional Finals Losses – 2013, 2016
Saline
State Champions – None
State Runner-Up – 2003
Final Four Appearances – 2003, 2008, 2014, 2024
Final Four Losses – 2008, 2014
Regional Champions – 2003, 2008, 2014, 2024
Regional Finals Losses – 2007, 2020, 2022
Byron Center
State Champions – None
State Runner-Up – None
Final Four Appearances – 2024
Final Four Losses – None
Regional Champions – 2024
Regional Finals Losses – None
Oxford
State Champions – None
State Runner-Up – None
Final Four Appearances – 2024
Final Four Losses – None
Regional Champions – 2024
Regional Finals Losses – 1995, 2002, 2005
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