And That's A Wrap!

The Boys in Pantone 292 and Black made the trek back up to Traverse City last Friday night to play their first round Regional Lacrosse game against the Greyhounds of the combined team of Traverse City West and Traverse City Central. The Eagles had a few of their previously injured players return for the game, but it proved to be not enough against the very deep Hounds of TC. The Eagles coaches recognized midway through the 3rd quarter that even with the score differential still in single digits they probably did not have a way to make up the deficit, so all seniors got into the game along with several of the younger players. While TC continued to pump unneeded goals into the Eagle net with many of their starters still on the field, the Eagles held their head high, and played with great sportsmanship and passion right up to the final horn.

The Eagles got all 4 goalies into the net during the game, Fredy Menendez-Gutierrez, Issac Zull, John Watson, and Jacob Benoit. Scoring on the night saw Hudson Ogle, Caleb Postema, and Adrian Selfe each with one point from a goal, with Adrian's from an assist, Blake Greive with 2 points from a goal and assist, and Captain Durable Luke Afman finished with 3 points from 2 goals and an assist. 

Adios to a great group of seniors, and a team that faced a ton of adversity through this season, kept a smile on their faces, and enjoyment for playing in their hearts. Every game win or lose they were out there inviting the opposing teams to pray with them after the game, it was heartwarming to watch.

Boys Laxers Struck By Lightning

In the continuation of the lightning delayed league game with Northview the Eagles dropped a hard fought contest by 1 goal, 7 to 6 last night. In the original April 23rd game the Eagles were at a point where the injury plagued season was at it's low point for available players, and they found themselves down 4 to 1 against the Wildcats at their Barn with 5:06 left in the 2nd quarter when a persistent lightning storm prevented finishing the game. A few players had returned from their injuries for last night's game, but the Eagles had to overcome a 3 goal deficit to bring home the “Dub”. It was a back and forth battle with Eagles drawing 1st blood, but Northview answered right away, and the 1st half ended with the same 3 goal deficit for the boys in Pantone 292 and Black.

The 3rd quarter the fellas got rolling, and put 3 biscuits in the basket to Northview's 2 cutting the deficit to 2, they picked up another in 4th holding the Cats scoreless, but they fell short as the final horn sounded. It was a positive outing though for the crew as they outscored the Northview 5 to 3 in this half of the contest. We like to look on the bright side with a season like we have had!

Fredy was solid in the cage again, making numerous key saves. Elijah “LB” VanderKodde again locked off Northview's big shooter on defense, preventing him from scoring in this game. Scoring for the game (both portions included) saw Luke Afman and Hudson Ogle each with 1 point from a goal, Stony Stonehouse with 1 point from an assist, Adrian Self with 2 points from 2 Ginos, and the points leader for the contest was Blake Grieve with 4 from 2 Apples and 2 Ginos.

Eagles Boys Lax Get Wings Clipped by Maroons

The Boys traveled to Holland Christian last night for a non-league tilt against the Maroons. While the score looks lopsided, the outcome was tight through the 1st half with the Eagles only down 7 to 5 at the break. They were playing with a depleted roster made up of JV and Varsity due to co-op school's graduations, GRC Band Concerts, and the ever nagging injury bug that bit the fellas this season. The 2nd half did not start well, and the coaching staff made a choice to focus on developing younger players with the opportunity to play at the Varsity level, and rest other players with the last league game coming this evening and Regionals this Friday.

Fredy Menendez-Gutierez had a great 1st half in the net with some excellent saves. Scoring on the evening saw 1 Point each for Caleb Postema, and the returning Adrian Selfe with a goal each. 3 points for BJ Apol with an assist and 2 goals, and 4 points for Captain Durable Luke Afman with 1 assist and another Hat Trick.

Boys Laxers get the Dub on Senior Night!

The Eagles Varsity finished their home games this season with a 9 to 2 victory in the “Birds of Prey Senior Night Fiesta” versus the Falcons of East Kentwood.

With the entire starting lineup made up of Seniors except GRC Sophomore FOGO Evan Bolt, the Eagles went into the lead early, and never relinquished it. The Eagles were tenacious on forcing EK turnovers and prevented the Falcons from clearing the balling resulting in tremendous offensive opportunities for the fellas. Unfortunately the EK tender would not give up many Ginos and while there were 49 shots, an overwhelming number of those were not on net. The Eagles struggled to separate until late in the 3rd quarter. The Eagles normal FOGOs were out of action Friday night and Evan Bolt and GRC Freshman Arie Teitsma filled in admirably winning a large number of their draws.

Scoring on the night saw Caleb Postema. South Christian Sophomore Seanyk Fleurette and GRC Junior Max Dekker each with 1 point from an assist, GRC Freshmen Evan Rusticus had two points from 2 doorstep goals in his first Varsity outing, Luke Afman and GRC Sophmore Evan Bolt had 3 points each from Hat Tricks, and a big night from GRC Senior BJ Apol as he had 10 points from 2 goals and 8Assists

Eagles Claw the Cats

In a week where the Boys Laxers met up with two different teams of Wildcats they emerged victorious from a hard fought battle last night at Eagle Stadium. Northview came to GRC and the staff knew from their earlier meeting they had two very strong lacrosse players on the Cats squad. That game was delayed due to lightning and the Eagles are down 4 to 1 with a fuzz over 2 quarters of lacrosse to play, and will be finished next Wednesday. 

The coaches assigned Freshman defensive stalwart Brycen Clark to be the new best friend of one of the players, and South Christian Junior Long Stick Midfielder Ethan Schaaf to become best pals with the other by locking them off, and limiting their time and space in our house to shoot. Those two did yeoman's work limiting the Wildcat studs to marginal shot opportunities. In goal Fredy Gutierrez-Menendez did his part makes numerous clutch saves, and making good passes out to start the Eagle clear up field. Also spectacular on defense were short stick middies, Elijah “LB” Vander Kodde and Issac Zull, taking a break from goalie. As always, Henry “Unflappable” Jackson was a rock in the house, assisted by GRC Freshman Lennox Veldheer our new defensive Mighty Mouse. Brycen Clark led the team in Ground Balls and blocked 2 shots.

The Eagles led most of the way, with a 4 goal lead at the half. The turnover bug has never really left the Eagles this season, as they failed to clear the ball the first 4 times of the 2nd half and Northview pumped a goal in the Eagle nest 3 of the 4 times. With the game tied at 7 Ginos each and under  2 minutes to play, the Eagles found the back of the Cats net to go up one. The defense tightened up around Fredy, and the score ended up with an 8 to 7 victory for the Boys in Blue and Black.

Scoring on the evening saw Caleb Postema with 2 points from a goal and an assist, Freshman Hudson Ogle with a Hat Trick for 3 points, Blake Grieve with 4 points from and assist and another Hat Trick, and leading the scoring parade was “Captain Durable” Luke Afman with 6 points from 1 goal and 5 assists.

Big shoutout to our own Henry "Romeo" Jackson as the GR Christian Scholar/Athlete of the Year! He deserves it!

Cats got the Birds

Boys Varsity lax limped into Jenison Wildcat stadium with the axle broke and a wheel draggin' on Wednesday night after a Tornado Watch delay of their scheduled Tuesday evening Tier 3 fiesta.

The boys did their best, and were only down 8 to 3 at the half, but could not keep pace with Wildcat's in the 2nd half, getting blanked 8 to 0 to finish the game down 16 to 3.

Points on the night went Blake Grieve with 1 from a goal, and Luke Afman and Caleb Postema each with 2 points from a goal and an assist.

Varsity Boys Lacrosse back in the Saddle vs the Broncos

Saturday night saw the Broncos of Coopersville ride into Eagle Stadium with a hankerin' to break the Eagles. The first half looked like that would the case as the much improved Broncos kept pace with the beat up Boys in Blue and Black. Coming out of halftime it was all knotted up at 7 Ginos apiece, as the Eagles struggled to rein in the turnovers.

As the 3rd quarter started it was all Eagles as the fellas finally figured it out and started pumping the ball into the back of the net. After a 7 to 1 run in the 2nd half the game ended with the Eagles haltering the Broncos 14 to 8.

The Eagles have had a freakish number of injuries this year, but it has allowed several younger players to step up and get Varsity playing minutes. Saturday night was no exception as freshman Defenseman Caleb Pugh was thrown into the man down defense and helped to kill off (2) 1 minute penalties. Ben Toly had a good night at the face-off X, helped by Sophomore Evan Bolt, and West Catholic Senior Issac Zull made some awesome saves in the cage.

Scoring on the evening saw South Christian Sophomore Sam VanderMeyden and GRC Freshman Hudson Ogle each pickup a goal. Caleb Postema, Luke Afman and Calvin Christian Sophomore Zach “Stoney” Stonehouse each picked up 4 points 3 assists and a goal for Caleb, 1 assist and 3 goals for Luke, and 2 goals and 2 assists for Stoney. It was good to have GRC Senior Blake Grieve on the field as he continued his points leading ways by picking up 8 points with 2 assists and 6 goals.

The team traveled to East Kentwood to take on the Falcons Monday night and came away with a win.  While several injuries still plague the varsity team, the Eagles were able to rely on a handful of JV players and deliver a solid team effort to fight through four quarters of lacrosse.

Fredy Mendez-Gutierrez started in net covering the first ½ of the game facing only six shots.  Jacob Benoit took over for the second ½ where he faced 10 shots and made 3 saves. Ben Toly and Evan Bolt shared the FOGO responsibilities, and won 15 of the 18 draws giving the Eagles solid offensive opportunities throughout the game. Scoring on the evening was shared by many. Luke Afman led the night with four goals and an assist for 5 points; South Christian sophomore, Sam Vander Meyden scored three goals, Zach Stonehouse had a goal and two assists, Elijah VanderKodde had 2 goals, and Caleb Postema and Hudson Ogle each had a goal. Ben Toly not only went 10 for 10 in the face-off circle, he also had an assist.

The varsity team had a tough night at Eagles Stadium on Thursday hosting the Wildcats of Jenison. The Eagles have seven key players currently suffering from broken talons or battered wings taking the normal 21-man roster down to less-than-ideal numbers for battle. The younger Eaglettes did their best to fight through four tough quarters of lacrosse but just did not have the depth necessary to successfully ward off the Wildcats.

Luke Afman showed a great deal of energy and resilience throughout the entire game, doing an amazing job of demonstrating why he is one of our captains. 

Varsity Boys Lax Falls to GR Catholic Central 16 to 6

It is a testament to the effort our boys put out each season that a Tier 1 team would want to play a Tier 3 team, but we as coaches have been blessed by this effort, as it allows us to schedule games against tough opponents. You get better by playing better quality teams, and we have played 2 Tier 1 teams already this season. CC just crushed perennial state championship contender East Grand Rapids last week, and were riding a wave of what the future held for their playoffs this season. The Eagles were very light on players with injury bug chomping at the roster, requiring several JV players to play up under the MHSAA 5/4 rule.

Ben Toly faced 3 different Faceoff specialists (FOGO's) during the game, taking 26 faceoffs, never getting any rest as his backup was out. He did a great job of slowing the draws down giving the wings a chance to gain the possession and still managing to win a decent number of draws himself. The defense stood up amazingly tough considering they were on the field under pressure from the CC offense more than twice the time the CC defense was. CC is a tough physical team that offers no quarter, keeping hot on hands throughout the contest. Even with this pressure the Eagles O managed to put up the same number of goals that EGR did against the Cougars.

Scoring on the day saw Caleb Postema with an assist for 1 point and GRC Freshman Hudson Ogle playing up from JV scored his first high school varsity goal for 1 point. Luke Afman netted 2 ginos for 2 points, Blake Grieve had a goal and 2 assists for 3 points, and BJ Apol led the team in scoring with 4 points coming from 2 goals and 2 assists.

Rockets Shot Down Eagles

The Muskegon Reeths-Puffer Rockets blasted into Eagle Stadium Friday night for the 2nd Tier 3 match-up of the season for the Varsity Boys Lacrosse Team. The Eagles got off to a hot start scoring 4 goals in the 1st quarter, and taking a 5 - 0 lead into the half. The boys continued their offensive onslaught into the 3rd quarter going up 7 to 0 before the Rockets scored their 1st goal. Then things went sideways for the fellas in Pantone 292 and Black as the Rockets finally got off the launch pad and quickly into orbit scoring the next 6 goals unanswered. The Rockets fast break offense proved the Eagle's undoing as they were outscored 14 to 6 in the 2nd half, letting The Rockets splash down with the 14 to 11 victory.

Ben Toly continued his winning ways at the Faceoff X winning the draw 70% of the time. Scoring on the evening saw South Christian Senior Caleb Postema and Luke Afman each score 2 goals for 2 points. GRC Sophomore Adrian Selfe had a goal and 2 assists for 3 points, GRC Senior BJ Apol had a Hat Trick and an assist for 4 points, Blake Grieve led all scorers with 6 points off of 3 assists and another Hattie.

Eagles Break the Broncos

The Boys Varsity Laxers returned from spring break, saddled up and headed West to Coopersville to see if they could tame the Broncs in the 1st league game of the season, and in the inaugural game in Coopersville's brand new lacrosse stadium to boot. The Boys came out of the chute spurring, putting 5 up in the 1st Quarter to Coop's 1. The scoring was more tame in the 2nd and 3rd with Eagles riding into the 4th with a 9 to 3 lead. The 4th saw the Eagles gallop off with 4 unanswered goals to take home a 13 to 3 victory.

The turnover bug did not take a vacation over spring break, as the fellas did not do a great job of protecting their possessions. However, Junior Captain Ben Toly won 94% of his faceoffs and the boys forced the Broncs to cough up the ball a fair amount of their own, managing to keep the ball in Eagle sticks more often than not. As Coopersville does not have a JV program in the stable, several of the Eagles JV players received playing time on the evening. GRC Freshman Lennox Veldheer and West Catholic Freshman Kolby Gabryszk filled in nicely at LSM. GRC Freshman Brycen Clark took home the Hoover Award leading the team in corralling ground balls. Fredy Menendez Gutierezz made some outstanding saves in the 2nd half to halter the Broncs scoring.

Scoring on the evening with 1 Goal each were Calvin Christian Junior Captain Elijah “LB” VanderKodde and South Christian Sophomore Sam VanderMeyden. Blake Grieve had 2 goals and GRC Sophomore Adrian Selfe had a goal and an assist to net 2 points each. GRC Senior BJ Apol put the biscuit in the basket twice and got an assist for 3 points, South Christian Senior Caleb Postema had 2 goals and 2 assists, while GRC Senior Captain Brock Grieve had 1 goal and 3 assists for 4 points total each. The leading scorer for this rodeo was GRC Senior Captain Luke Afman with 2 Apples and 3 Ginos  for 5 total points.

The Rockets of Reeths-Puffer fly into Eagle Stadium for another league tilt Friday night.

Huskies Bite Eagles in the Backside

On a sunny Saturday after another snowmeggdon event, the Huskies of FH Northern dogsledded their way into Eagles Stadium for the 2nd Boys Varsity Lacrosse Game of the young season. The Tier 1 opponent lived up to their billing with a potent offense that was not afraid to shoot from anywhere on the field. 

The Eagles kept the game within striking distance in the 1st quarter, but the Huskies started pulling away in the 2nd, and never looked back. The benefit of a somewhat lopsided game was the Eagles were able to get some young players time on the field in 4th quarter. Eliminating unforced turnovers will be the focus in practice this week as the Laxers prepare for their conference season after spring break. Ground Ball hog Logan Eaton led the team again this game, and ran a marathon while playing Long Stick Middie. The middies earned their way in this game, playing good defense and creating some excellent offensive opportunities. It is hard to believe with the lopsided score, but there was improvement from last game to this, and the fellas will build on that. GRC Senior Captain Brock Greive opened the scoring for the Eagles with a nice feed from GRC Senior Attackman BJ Apol. Brock went on to finish with 2 goals and BJ with 3 assists making him the points leader for the day. Other points on the day went to Luke Afman with 2 Goals, Blake Grieve with 2 goals, South Christian Senior Caleb Postema and GRC Sophomore middie each with an assist.

Special thanks go to Mr. VanderKamp for getting our field plowed and ready so we could play. The coach was still getting texts from him at 11:30 PM on Friday night! That's commitment to Eagles Athletics.

The Panthers Put on a Performance and the Premier Possibility of a Victory for the Boys Varsity Laxer's is Pummeled

The 1st contest of the 2024 campaign ended in defeat for the fellas as they lost to West Ottawa 17- 7. It was a chilly 1st tilt, but at least it was not windy. The Eagles went down early and were not able to ever get back within striking distance. The turnover bug bit the boys in Pantone 292 and Black, leaving lots of things to work on in the coaching staff's practice plans before Spring Break. The very young defense was a pleasant surprise, along with GRC Senior Goaltender Fredy Menendez-Gutierrez's inaugural performance as a netminder. He made some great saves against a hard-shooting team facing 44 shots on the night.

Kudos on the night go to GRC Junior Long Stick Midfielder Logan Eaton who scooped up 6 ground balls and forced 5 Panther turnovers. Ginos and Apples went to the following players: GRC Senior Attackman BJ Apol with an assist, GRC Sophomore Adrian Selfe with a goal, GRC Senior Captain Luke Afman with 2 Goals, and South Christian Senior Caleb Postema with a Gino and an Apple. The points leader on the night was Senior Captain Blake Grieve with 2 Assists and 3 Goals for 5 total points. The Eagles face the FHN Huskies in a very snowy Eagles Stadium tomorrow at 1:30 PM. Come out and drink some hot chocolate and cheer on the fellas!