Canton’s deep ball ends Grand Haven’s season.

East Kentwood played host to the MHSAA Division 1 state final between Grand Haven and Canton. Grand Haven was one of four West Michigan teams in the state finals (one at each Division). Canton was faced with along drive over for a noon kickoff and briefly it showed. The Bucs grabbed control early and squandered a few chances in the first 20 minutes. The Chiefs of Canton would establish themselves however and the play would balance out heading into the half.

Canton would take this game over in the second half however grabbing a slew of corner kicks and putting a load of pressure on Buccaneer keeper Ethan Beswick. Moments after the Chiefs drew iron on the crossbar they received a call just inside the midfield line near the benches. Daniel Ovesea, a junior forward launched a 45 yard kick towards the upper left corner of the goal. It was a jump ball between Beswick and the Chief attackers in which no one won as the ball sailed into the back of the net. The much smaller Canton crowd erupted as just over two and a half minutes remained on the clock.

Senior Jacob Vanderlaan mishits a free kick (you can hear his frustration)

The Bucs had their chances but couldn’t seem to put anything together. Nate Rose had a nice chance early in the 2nd half but was turned away at the last minute by a Canton defender. The Bucs didn’t recieve a corner kick in the second half, mostly due to the long entry passes that failed to connect. Stringing passes together was tough for the Bucs in their effort to set up an offensive push and it cost them dearly. A late rally wasn’t enough as Canton kept the Bucs away and ran clock to preserve the State Title 1-0.