The weather was ideal for the Red Hawk’s first district game of 2009, held on Tuesday, October 20, at the Fruitport field. The Cedar Springs boys varsity team completed a great season, resulting in an 11-7 overall record and a 7-7 record in the conference, placing the team 6th in the O-K Blue conference rankings. These stats are only numbers, but there are no numbers to evaluate the spirit and desire exemplified by this team during their final game against Fruitport.
The Red Hawks came fired up and ready to challenge the Fruitport Trojans. Cedar lit up the scoreboard first at the 31:07 minute mark, when freshman Kyle Szirovecz knocked in the first goal, when he lofted the ball from outside the 18-yard line, placing it in the far upper 90 of the goal. Freshman Robert Klein was credited with the assist. The Cedar Springs defensive unit,  consisting of Ron Fisk, Aaron Dault, Steven King and Jake Rickner, was kept busy, as the Fruitport offense maintained continuous pressure on the Red Hawk’s net, manned by freshman keeper Kyle Coutchie. Coutchie played an outstanding game, and was credited with an incredible 30 saves for the night. With lots of congestion in front of the Cedar net, Fruitport tied up the score with 19:32 remaining until the half.
Shortly after the half, Kyle Szirovecz blasted in his second goal (assist Bo Cook) from a throw in by Zach Hawkins, once again giving Cedar the lead 2-1. The teams battled back and forth, until Fruitport managed to tie up the game with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game. After 80 minutes of regulation play, the score was tied at 2-2. The teams continued to play two scoreless 15 minutes overtime periods. Finally it all came down to a five man per team shoot out. During the shoot out, the Red Hawk goals were scored by Austin Mora and Cody Cook, however, Fruitport managed to score three goals, giving them the win with a final score of 3-2.
“It was a really tough loss against Fruitport, but the guys played with a lot of heart and left everything they had on the field, that’s all I can ask,” commented Coach Kyle Avink. “They had an awesome season and I have high expectations for all of these guys next season!”
Coach Avink and the varsity soccer team want to thank all the parents for their continued support, the AYSO program and the Cedar Springs community for being behind them this season!