By Greg Gielczyk
GRAYLING — Starting out slowly for the second straight game , and battling against the gusty wind, the Grayling boys soccer team found itself trailing the Cheboygan Chiefs, 2-1 midway through the second half of Thursday night’s match in Grayling.
Finding themselves looking at a one-goal deficit with time running down, the Vikings suddenly kicked their game into high gear and rallied for three unanswered goals to capture a 4-2 victory.
When the Chiefs scored the first goal of the game to take a 1-0 lead, it changed the momentum of the contest for the Vikings and had them struggling in comeback mode.
But the Vikings overcame that early deficit, as well as the wind, when Eliot Boik found the back of the net for the equalizer as the two teams entered the halftime break with a 1-1 draw.
The Chiefs came back to take the lead for a second time, 2-1 with about 26 minutes remaining in regulation and the momentum appeared to be slipping away from the Vikings.
Suddenly, though, the tide turned.
Cameron Ketchum netted the game-tying goal, 2-2 which triggered a quick burst for the Vikings, who scored three goals in the final 15 minutes of the game to take the win.
Boik registered his second goal of the game off a throw-in. Anthony Harrington threw the ball in to his brother, Mitch, who made a sweet little pass to Boik who was about 10 yards out and buried the shot.
“That really changed everything for us,” Grayling coach Andy Moore said. “We were pressing real hard that 15 minutes, and that was kind of a back breaker there.”
Jacob Schade tacked on the final goal for the Vikings, who by then had established solid command of the game.
“It was just a slow start,” Moore said. “I don’t know why we have done that two games in a row, but we came around. We were at home, but the momentum swung real early with that goal.
“That’s two games in a row we had to battle back. Our defense stepped up, especially at the end when we needed them. Tucker Mertes made a lot of great plays back there, and Alec Gardiner did also.
“Maddox Mead is a freshman, he’s playing left back right now and he’s starting to mature out there. A lot of senior leaders back there helping him out.”
In his second game back after an injury, starting goalie Logan Cobb had a solid game and made several outstanding saves that kept the Vikings in the game when they trailed, 2-1.
Grayling is idle now until next Thursday when the Vikings play at Kalkaska in a Lake Michigan Conference game.
