BY DAN STICKRADT
WEB AND CONTENT EDITOR
Twitter: @MiSoccerNetwork
WEST BRANCH, Mich. – Soccer players in the rural towns such as West Branch have a dilemma. Sometimes to play any level of club soccer you have to travel quite a distance just for training on a school night.
There’s still not a lot of choices for athletes in communities such as West Branch, Rose City, Tawas, Oscoda and a host of other northern Michigan communities along the I-75 corridor, lakeshore or around the northern half of the Lower Peninsula or Upper Peninsula in general. Many high school programs in these regions of Michigan face this fact each year while trying to get more players to train year-round outside of the prep season.
“We don’t have a ton of club kids to be honest. It’s a nice hike for some of them to travel down to Midland or other places to train,” said Tom Zaske, head coach at Division 3 West Branch Ogemaw Heights. “We’ve had some boys drive down to Midland and we’ve had some players here or there play club. But a lot of it is our players just train during the offseason to help them get ready for the high school season.”
Both Midland and Mt. Pleasant are an hour away, while Bay City, Saginaw, Flint and Lansing are even further. To drive up to Traverse City or Petoskey areas is just as bad. It’s a logistical nightmare for young aspiring athletes and soccer players to compete for high level clubs residing in remote and lightly-populated communities in the northern half of Michigan unless there is a larger city in the area or clubs and training facilities in which to compete.
“It’s a challenge,” added Zaske.
But there is no denying the Falcons varsity girls soccer team and their overall 2024 season despite not having a plethora of club players up and down the roster. The team has some highly-athletic two- and three-sport athletes who love soccer and have a passion for growing in the sport – even if distance is against them on a daily basis.
So far this season Ogemaw Heights is unranked in Division 3 but has put up some impressive numbers. The Falcons are 18-2-1 overall following their D-3 pre-district win at home over Midland Bullock Creek on May 22.
Did we say impressive numbers?
Ogemaw Heights has outscored the opposition 113-12 with 13 shutouts this season and is setting a multitude of school records along the way. The team goals-against-average is a paltry 0.58 with the offensive and defensive numbers should be new school marks when all is said and done.
The Falcons began the season 1-2-1 with a tie against Gladwin (2-2), a victory over Standish-Sterling (5-1) and two losses at the Ogemaw Heights Tournament to Saginaw Swan Valley (2-1) and Grayling (2-1) in the shortened games in the weekend tournaments seatting.
Thoe losses came in the second and third games on April 13 – and the Falcons have lost since that day.
Ogemaw Heights has now won a program record 17 straight games following the state tournament victory over Bullock Creek and at one point this season recorded six straight shutouts where the team outscored the opposition 43-0.
Not bad for a team without a roster full of well-seasoned club players.
Ogemaw Heights first began its soccer programs back in the mid-1990s and has built up its roster especially in recent years. Following a 4-13-1 campaign in 2019 and the Covid-cancelled season in 2020, the Falcons have steadily climbed the charts. The 2021 season saw the Falcons post an 8-7-0 record, while they were 11-6-3 in 2022 and 11-5-3 in 2023.
This season saw Ogemaw Heights finish 10-0-0 in the Northern Michigan Soccer League-East Division, then followed that up by defeating West Division champion McBain Northern Michigan Christian 4-0 in the conference crossover finals. Besides the division and overall conference championship, the team went 5-0-1 against schools from the NMSL-West Division this season and 15-0-1 overall against NMSL opponents.
A pair of fourth-year starters, Jada Gilbert (F/M) and Harper Munson (M/F), are returning All-NMSL and All-District players from last year and both should garner similar postseason honors if not more this season. Gilbert has 22 goals and 15 assists and Munson had 19 goals and 16 assists this season and lead a balanced attack.
Both will also play at NAIA Cornerstone College this fall.
“They might be the first two girls we’ve had that will go on to play in college,” noted Zaske.
Senior Lucy Luptowski, another veteran presence, anchors the midfield and has added 15 goals and 16 assists on the year. She is currently unsigned heading into the end of the year.
Freshman forward Sage Brewer has shined in her debut high school campaign, scoring 21 goals with eight assists. Sophomore forward Vanessa Hains has added nine goals and 10 assists.
“We have a lot of balance offensively with a lot of girls contributing. It’s not like we have that one girls scoring a (record number) of goals,” offered Zaske.
As impressive offensively, the Falcons have been equally impressive defensively. In the recent NMSL championship game, Ogemaw Heights again shut down McBain Northern Michigan Christian All-State forward Jada VanNoord in the shutout victory.
“I think the last 3-4 times we’ve played them I think Jada has only scored one goal on us and that’s over the last couple of years,” noted Zaske. “Our defense has played really strong this season giving up just the (12) goals. We don’t give up a ton of chances to other teams. And there are some good individual players in our league.”
Senior center back Ava Ziegler anchors the back line, along with freshmen Bella Sikorski (OB) and Meredith Moggenborg (CB) and sophomore Abigail Wisman (OB).
Senior Aiden Bellinger has been a steady presence in goal with the sterling GAA and clean sheets.
Now with the district semifinals and potentially district finals coming up, Zaske said his team believes it can compete and perhaps even win the school’s first-ever district title. Ogemaw Heights will play Gladwin in the district semifinals at home on May 29 with the district finals set for May 31.
“The girls have worked so hard and they play well together,” said Zaske. “I think they now believe they can win it. Sure, we have to go out there and win those district games, but we believe we can win. It wasn’t that many years ago that we were struggling just to win games – any games. Now we have a really solid team and a chance to win a district, which would be our first.”
(Have a story suggestion for the Premier Media Group and the Michigan Soccer Network regarding club soccer, high school varsity, amateur soccer, collegiate soccer or professional soccer of teams or players with Michigan ties, contact Communications Specialist/Web and Content Editor/Director of News Dan Stickradt via email at stickradt@michigansoccernetwork.com, or call 248-884-1051. Dan Stickradt is a 31-year veteran of the Michigan Media circles and recently joined the staff full time in March of 2024. Want to schedule a broadcast game or live show, contact PMG/MSN Director of Broadcasting Jonathan Turner for availability and pricing at jonathan@michigansoccernetwork.com.)
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