DEARBORN — Three ranked teams, a fourth that was ranked for the majority of the season, and 10 returning all-state honorees. That helped make up a jam-packed pair of Division 2 boys’ soccer regional semifinal games on Tuesday at Divine Child Catholic High School.
It was an eerily similar foursome of schools on hand from last year’s regional as well. Three teams — New Boston Huron, Warren De La Salle, and the host Falcons — all rejoined the scene while newcomer Melvindale entered the fray for the first time since 2019.
On what was a long night of soccer, largely due to a weather delay, the action ended with a top-10 matchup being tabled to determine a regional champion later in the week.
GAME ONE | Melvindale 2, Divine Child 1
In what was the fifth playoff meeting between the two programs in the last nine seasons, it was the No. 9-ranked Cardinals from Melvindale earning their first victory in that head-to-head stretch, outlasting the regional host Falcons and moving through in the tournament.
“It’s been six years since we’ve been at this level,” Melvindale head coach Bashar Ahmed said after the win. “Every day of the season, every hour spent in the open gym, they have been waiting for this moment and they got it tonight.”
Ahmed saw his Melvindale team having to defend in their own zone for the majority of the first half, due to some early pressure and scoring opportunities via set pieces from Divine Child. The Cards, though, were able to turn away any and all chances by the Falcons and eventually cash in one of their own.
With just under five minutes before halftime, senior Santiago Huerta ripped a shot from far and on the outside on net. The shot was initially turned away by DC goalkeeper Braeden Davis, but Anees Dghais was there to collect the loose rebound and hammer it home for the game’s first goal.
Melvindale carried that 1-0 lead into halftime, just before Mother Nature came into play. The game got about seven minutes into the second half before being halted for a half hour due to lightning in the area.
On the restart for play, Divine Child in many ways picked up where they left off by controlling possession, but the chances were not as frequent in the first 40 minutes. That opened the door for Melvindale to pad their lead with Dghais getting his second of the night midway through the 70th minute.
The host Falcons did end the Cardinals’ bid for a shutout victory, seeing evan Scirri slip one in amongst a lot of traffic in front with just under seven minutes remaining. That was all DC could muster down the stretch as they saw both their five-game win streak and season end at the hands of Melvindale.
“I told the boys before the game, ‘I want you to find me two things: energy and effort,’” Ahmed said. “Those are things I cannot coach but they brought it right out of the gate.”
The win for Melvindale marked the 18th time in their now 21 games played this season that they allowed one goal or fewer to the opposition.
“Defense wins championships,” Ahmed added. “That’s what we tell them, and they’ve been doing a good job with that.”
GAME TWO | De La Salle 6, New Boston Huron 1
In what was both a battle of top-5 clubs, and a rematch of a regional semifinal round game from the year prior, the sequel saw the same result with No. 4-ranked De La Salle cruising to a 6-1 statement win over No. 3-ranked Huron.
On a more individual front, it was also a battle between two of those aforementioned returning all-staters in De La Salle’s Andrew Corder and Huron’s Ian Petrick. And led by the two-time all-state recipient Corder, the Pilots asserted themselves from start to finish.
“I think Andrew Corder proved he’s the best player in the state,” De La Salle head coach Thaier Mukhtar said. “He took over the game tonight. He scored three goals and hit another off the post going far post. His accuracy is just tremendous.
“I’m very proud with what the boys did tonight,” Mukhtar added. “And I thought our midfield played extremely well.”
De La Salle’s play in the midfield ultimately allowed them to maintain constant possession of the ball and pressure on Huron as both teams played deep into the night on Tuesday.
Corder got his performance started early in the 10th minute after slotting one following a deep throw-in towards the box. That was the first of three goals for the junior, two of which came in the second half.
The game saw two key sequences later in the first half, both of which ended up being positive results for the Pilots. After going up 2-0 in the 16th minute, Huron roughly a minute later went down and got a multiple shots off, all of which were turned away by another all-stater in goalkeeper Dominic Baldarotta.
The most frenetic stretch started in the 32nd minute, where the two teams combined for three goals in the span of about two minutes.
De La Salle upped their lead to three, only for Huron to counter right back some 90 seconds later. But the Pilots had an answer of their own with, fittingly, Corder potting his second with just over six minutes to go before the intermission.
“I thought that was the key play tonight,” Mukhtar said. “We’re pretty organized in the back and don’t give up many scoring chances. If teams do, they are on set pieces. But we don’t give up too many opportunities in the field of play.”
De La Salle took their 4-1 lead into the break before later adding two more after halftime. In addition to the hat trick from Corder, the Pilots got single scores each from Settimo Leone, Nikolai Zacharko, and Gavin Baldarotta.
Huron’s lone goal of the evening came courtesy of senior Mason Jaskinski heading one in off a corner kick. The Chiefs end the fall with an 18-2-2 mark overall, having lost their first and last games of the campaign.
UP NEXT
The D2 regional championship game between Melvindale (17-3-1) and De La Salle (18-4-2) is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct 23 back at Divine Child High School.
Mukhtar says he expects it to be a battle between “different styles of attacks.”
“Very fast and very creative players,” Mukhtar said of the Cardinals. “I saw a lot of good individual play. I think it’s going to be a great matchup. Can our defenders handle their skilled players up high? And can they handle our ball movement? We’ll see.”
PHOTOS: Boys Soccer – Warren De La Salle vs New Boston Huron
