CHS Indians JV soccer defeated Durand Tuesday evening 2-0.  Scoring for the Indians were Truman Danek and Collin Lester with assists by Oliver Keck.  Bradley Agnew recorded the shutout for the Indians in goal.  

By DAWN PARKER Argus-Press Staff Writer Sep 12, 2023 ELSIE — Roughly halfway through the 2023 boys soccer season, Chesaning has yet to taste defeat. The Indians came close once, needing a shootout to topple Saginaw Valley Lutheran at the Durand Invitational on Aug. 26, but outside of that have dominated their foes. On Tuesday, Chesaning blasted Ovid-Elsie 7-0 to pick up its ninth win of the year and improve to 3-0 in Mid-Michigan Activities Conference play — in which the Indians have 21 goals for, zero against. Against the Marauders, Chesaning grabbed control of the game early and never looked back, taking a four-goal lead into intermission, before salting things away with three more markers in the second half. Chesaning’s offense came from everywhere. Junior striker Zach Harlan led the Indians with a pair of goals, while senior midfielders Zach Garno, Blake Laskowski and Nate Ferry, along with sophomore midfielder Justin Lange and junior midfielder Aiden Trzil each tallied one score. That kind of attacking balance has been a hallmark of Chesaning’s play so far this season, Indians coach Tom Dempsey said. Seventeen of the 22 players on Chesaning’s roster have scored at least once, Dempsey said. “That’s something we’ve been striving for,” he added. Wednesday’s match was the two teams’ first meeting since 2020, when O-E prevailed 2-1. The Marauders did not have enough players to field a soccer team each of the last two seasons. Although this year’s crop of young Marauders — a mix of underclassmen bolstered by three foreign exchange students — has yet to notch its first win, Chesaning’s Dempsey is glad to see them back in the fold. “It’s good to have Ovid-Elsie and Montrose (playing for the first time since 2019) back in the conference,” he said. “It’s nice to see teams being added instead of taking away.” Chesaning’s strong start in has it in the driver’s seat for a second consecutive MMAC title, though the Indians have yet to play last year’s runner-up and 2021 champ Byron (currently 4-4, 2-0). O-E coach Chris Parker said he saw some good things from his players on Tuesday, especially immediately after the break. “The first 22 minutes of the second half was the best we’ve looked,” Parker said. “It looked like we were finally starting to put it together.” Seeing steady success will mean having the skill to stop doing one thing, “Silly mistake after silly mistake puts us behind the 8-ball,” Parker said. Both teams will get right back in the fray. Chesaning faces a big challenge today at home against Alma, while the Marauders will return home to play Montrose on Wednesday.

By JEROME MURPHY Argus-Press Sports Writer Sep 20, 2023 Updated Sep 20, 2023 CHESANING — Tuesday’s clash between Mid-Michigan Activities Conference top-shelfers was predictably tight on the scoreboard, with Chesaning besting Byron 1-0 to break a two-way tie for first in the league. But Chesaning dominated in shots on goal, 15-1, and spent most of the night possessing the ball. The message was clear: The Indians are the team to beat this year. Byron and Chesaning shared the MMAC title last season, but it seemed clear even before Wednesday’s clash that the Indians had leaped ahead of the Eagles this year. Both teams had yet to drop an MMAC contest entering Wednesday, but the Eagles had lost four games out of conference to Byron’s one and had had several close calls besides. Chesaning struck quickly vs. Byron, scoring the game’s lone goal just 4 minutes and 50 seconds into the contest. Sophomore midfielder Justin Lange got to a rebound and snuck around the right flank and deposited a point-blank shot, just inside the near post on the right. That would prove to be all of the offense Chesaning needed. Chesaning improved to 11-1 overall and 5-0 in the MMAC while Byron now stands 7-5 overall and 4-1 in the MMAC. It wasn’t the best game that Chesaning has played this season, said coach Tom Dempsey, but it was good enough on this night. “I don’t think we played as good as we could have,” Dempsey said. “I thought that our opportunities were there, [but] we squandered a lot of opportunities. (It was)the pressure of the moment, maybe. We did do a couple of things that were uncharacteristic. We got our first goal when we charged the net off a rebound. But we had two right after that that we didn’t.” Dempsey said that it was unsurprising that Lange was the one to rise above Chesaning’s off night on the attack. “Justin is our best shooter on the team, the most accurate,” Dempsey said. “I would have liked to see him get off his defenseman a little more today. Outside of that, I think he only took one or two more shots. We’re going to work on getting him open in space a little bit more.” Chesaning also hit the crossbar on four or five occasions during the game but sometimes soccer is a game of inches and it applied to both teams. Byron appeared to have tied the game at 1-1 with 11:45 left when Mason Stark fed Elwood Lawler and Lawler got off a quick shot which found the net. However, the play was negated by an offsides call. Another chance for Byron came later, when Stark was penetrated deep inside the Chesaning zone before losing possession after a tangling of bodies. Byron coach Greg Williams said it could have resulted in a penalty kick but there was no call on the play. “No call. That’s a big deal,” Williams said. Williams said that freshman goalie Lincoln Moleski did a yeoman’s job in net to keep Byron in the game. “They had him down at 14 saves for the day but it wasn’t just the saves,” Williams said. “His posture back there (was great) and he was a stud goalie out there today.” Dempsey said, while his team had trouble finishing Tuesday, he had high praise for his team’s midfield play. “I thought our midfield was outstanding,” Dempsey said. “Just the finishing part, between the forwards and the mids, our shots were not good.”

By: Brandon Green Sep 19, 2023

Chesaning huddling at halftime against Byron

CHESANING, Mich. (WJRT) - It was not the cleanest game from Chesaning but it got the job done. 

They took down Mid-Michigan Activities Conference rival Byron, 1-0. 

Indians' sophomore Justin Lange scored the game-winning goal in the 1st half. 

Coming into tonight, Chesaning and Byron were tied for 1st-place in the MMAC and both had a record of 4-0 in conference play. 

With the win, the Indians now have sole possession of 1st-place. 

"It feels really good to be able to know where we stand going into the last five games," said Chesaning head coach Tom Dempsey.

The Indians will face the Eagles one more time this season on October 5th. That game could decide in Chesaning wins the league outright or splits with Byron. 

By JEROME MURPHY Argus-Press Sports Writer Sep 24, 2023 CHESANING — Four-year varsity soccer player Zac Garno has played an instrumental role in kick-starting Chesaning to a 12-1 record and a perfect 6-0 mark in the Mid-Michigan Activities Conference. The center midfielder’s vision of the field and decision-making process has been crucial for the Indians, according to head coach Tom Dempsey. “Zac does a really good job of surveying the field and distributing east and west,” Dempsey said. “He’s really good at seeing what the defense is giving us and being able to put the ball there.” Defensively, Garno helped Chesaning post a key 1-0 victory over visiting Byron Tuesday at home. Both teams entered the game with 4-0 league records. Garno helped neutralize Byron standout scorer Mason Stark. The win gave Chesaning sole possession of first place in the MMAC standings and the teams shared the MMAC title last season. “When they put Mason in the midfield, Zac was in charge of making sure he wasn’t touching the ball and still being a part of our offense,” Dempsey said. “And I thought he did a fantastic job.” Garno has also helped Chesaning’s balanced offensive attack this season with five goals. Not lacking in modesty, Garno says that Chesaning’s success is a true team effort. “I think our midfield is playing well, both are forwards and our defense are playing really well,” he said. “We lost our good senior last year (Codey Harlan, who graduated) and we thought our defense was not going to fulfill our expectations for the position. “But we have had a junior who has really stepped up — Eli Keck. So, it’s awesome. He played outside mid for us a little bit last year and now he plays center back to step in for Codey’s role.” Garno, an all-MMAC selection last season, said his best game so far came in an 8-0 victory over Durand, when he had two goals and an assist. While Chesaning is unranked in the boys state soccer poll, Garno said the team hopes to not only win the MMAC title this fall but also end a district hex that has haunted the school in its soccer history. “We’re hoping to go undefeated in conference and then win districts,” Garno said. “We’re hoping to get through districts and make a pass on regionals … We haven’t won a district game ever in our history.” Garno has also competed in track and field and basketball while at Chesaning. He helped Chesaning finish 11th in the state in Division 3 in track and field last spring. Garno teamed with Caleb Walker, Corbin Walker and anchor runner Levi Maier to place 11th in the state in the 4x400 meter relay. They clocked a time of 3:33.44. Garno also joined forces with Corbin Walker, Cole Maier and Levi Maier to finish 13th in the state in the 4x800 relay. The foursome finished in 8:26.11. Garno also competed in the 400 dash, the 800 run and the high jump for the Indians during the season. In basketball, Garno has played the small forward position. He’s undecided as to college at the moment, but the three leading schools are Central Michigan, Grand Valley State University and Northwood University. Wherever he goes, Garno said he plans to major in actuarial science. He maintains a 3.95 cumulative grade point average at Chesaning. He is a member of the National Honor Society.

By Hugh Bernreuter | hbernreu@mlive.com

As October approaches, so do the fall sports tournaments, with Saginaw-area athletes preparing for post-season competition.

Girls golf is the first to hit the post-season with regionals on Oct. 9, with boys soccer districts and boys tennis regionals starting Oct. 11.

Saginaw-area athletes are making some noise before the tournaments though, giving fans reasons to cheer and reasons to vote for the Saginaw-area Athlete of the Week for Sept. 17-23.

Fans can vote until 5 p.m. Monday. Coaches are asked to nominate athletes for the weekly honor by Monday.

John Talbot, Chesaning soccer

John Talbot led Chesaning to a pair of wins in different ways. In a 1-0 win over Byron, Talbot earned the shutout in goal, making four saves. In an 8-0 win over Montrose, Talbot scored a goal with an assist.

Olivia Boensch, Carrollton volleyball

Carrollton knocked of Nouvel (25-18, 25-22, 25-22) in a Tri-Valley Conference match with Olivia Boensch getting 19 kills and 16 digs in the match.

Audrey Geer, Frankenmuth volleyball

Frankenmuth claimed a pair of wins, with Audrey Geer leading the Eagles to a Tri-Valley Conference win over Alma. Geer had 11 kills and 10 digs in a 25-9, 25-9, 25-7 win over the Panthers. Frankenmuth also topped Lansing Catholic Central, 25-13, 25-21, 25-23 behind Geer’s 16 kills and 16 digs.

Nicole Giardina, Midland Dow

Midland High split a pair of Saginaw Valley League games, beating Heritage (11-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-20, 15-12) and losing to Mount Pleasant (25-19, 25-20, 25-22). Against Heritage, Giardina had 16 kills and 16 digs, adding 11 kills, 12 digs and three aces in the loss to Mount Pleasant.

Laken LeBaron, Freeland volleyball

Freeland topped Essexville Garber (25-21, 25-15, 25-21) in a Tri-Valley Conference matchup, with LaBaron pacing the Falcons with 34 assists.

Landon Pestrue St. Louis cross country

Landon Pestrue claimed first place in the Delta Invitational, edging teammate Ben March for honors. Pestrue finished the 2-mile course in 10:14.31.

Averie Pumford, Freeland golf

Averie Pumford claimed medalist honors at the Dow Invitational, carding a 75 at the Midland Country Club, leading the Falcons to a first-place team finish with a 358. Pumford also claimed medalist honors in the Tri-Valley Conference jamboree at Pine River Golf Course in Standish, with Freeland taking first with a 385.

Mary Richmond, Frankenmuth cross country

Mary Richmond took advantage of the home-course advantage, winning the Eagles Invitational. She finished in 19:31.96.

Kayla Riley, Millington volleyball

Kayla Riley had 13 assists, eight aces and eight digs in a 25-18, 25-12, 25-10 win over Caro. She followed with 17 assists and seven aces in a loss to Valley Lutheran (25-15, 25-15, 16-25, 28-26).

Emmy Sower, Midland Dow swimming

Emmy Sower set a Tri-City Swim Meet record in the preliminary heats, winning the 100-yard butterfly in 57.53 seconds. She followed with a win in the 100 butterfly finals in :58.09 with a leg on Dow’s winning 200 medley relay (1:51.88).

Josh Thurlow, Midland High

Midland High earned a couple Saginaw Valley League ties, with Josh Thurlow scoring the lone goal in a 1-1 tie with Flint Powers. Thurlow also scored a goal and assist in Midland’s 3-3 tie against Lapeer.

Chesaning JV soccer defeated Durand JV 4-0 Tuesday evening.  Scoring for the Indians were Kayden Mahoney (2) and Truman Danek with assists by Oliver Keck (2) and Kayden Mahoney (2).  Bradley Agnew recorded the shutout for the Indians.  The Indians defense was solid all night preventing the ball from leaving the offensive zone.  

By DAWN PARKER

Argus-Press Staff Writer  Oct 11, 2023

DURAND — After two years without any wins (or losses for that matter) due to not fielding a team, Ovid-Elsie boys soccer very nearly snagged a playoff win Wednesday, thanks in large part to a hat trick by senior captain Talan Parsons.

Ultimately, however, it was the Durand Railroaders (8-11-3) who advanced, winning a 4-3 thriller over the visiting Marauders (3-12-1) to advance to the Division 3 district semifinals.

In the semis, Durand will face, for the third time this year, Mid-Michigan Activities Conference champion Chesaning, a 3-0 winner over Corunna Wednesday. The Railroaders-Indians matchup will take place at Williamston High School at 7 p.m. Monday.

Junior Brayden Joslin opened the scoring for Durand Wednesday with 23:09 to go in the first half. It came off the first of three assists from senior captain Noah Fryer.

Will Plashek had a first- half goal and an assist for Durand, while Joslin finished the half with two goals.

Parsons scored two of his goals in the opening period, leaving Durand up 3-2 at intermission.

The Railroaders would get their insurance goal at just over 3 minutes into the second period from senior Mason Janes.

Parsons collected his hat trick with 26:45 left in regulation to pull the Marauders back within one, taking a perfect feed from senior teammate Jonas Obling at around 18 yards from the goal, shaking a pair of defenders in the box and depositing the ball into the right side of the net.

Despite intense flurries of activity down the stretch, the visitors couldn’t get the equalizer.

“I thought this was about as even of a game as you can get — a really hard-fought game,” Ovid-Elsie coach Chris Parker said. “It could have gone either way, but unfortunately the ball didn’t swing our way tonight.”

Durand’s Fryer said he felt his team’s play improved as the night went on, despite most of its scoring occurring in the first fram.

“Our possession in the second half was much better,” Fryer said.

Despite the Marauders exit, Parker thinks the program’s future appears promising. The team is losing just four seniors from a 19-man roster, including foreign exchange students Obling (Denmark) and Pau Gifre (Spain).

“Being such a young team, we made huge strides from the start of the year until now,” Parker said. “The way we played [Durand] two weeks ago (in a 7-1 Marauder loss), you’d have thought we’d never have a chance today.

“I’m proud of what we were able to accomplish. If this team that showed up tonight would have played that way all season, it would have been a greater season. We could have made that run at a title.”

Railroaders coach Aaron Demo said he felt O-E and Durand played a “good, tough game” that was both physical and fun Wednesday.

Durand has to take its fun where it can. Semifinal opponent Chesaning is unlikely to willingly cede any.

The Indians trounced the Railroaders by a combined score of 15-1 in the teams’ regular-season meetings.

“Chesaning’s going to be the beast that we need to tame,” Demo acknowledged

By JEROME MURPHY

Argus-Press Sports Writer  Oct 10, 2023

CHESANING — At this point, every win the Chesaning boys soccer team adds to its season total is history-making.

The Indians have long-since surpassed their school record for victories in a season, set at 10 last year.

Wednesday’s 3-0 triumph against Corunna improved Chesaning’s 2023 mark 17-1. More significantly, it also gave the team its first ever playoff victory.

Chesaning now advances to Monday’s Division 3 district semifinal vs. Durand, a 4-3 winner Wednesday over Ovid-Elsie. The Railroaders improved to 8-11-3 with their victory. The Chesaning-Durand district clash will be held at Williamston High School with a game time of 7 p.m.

Although Wednesday’s score doesn’t look like too bad of a blowout, it undersells Chesaning’s dominance — the Indians enjoyed a 20-0 advantage in shots on goal over the Cavaliers.

Corunna was only able to stay relatively competitive thanks to an excellent outing from junior goalkeeper Paul Galesk, who collected 17 saves and kept the Cavaliers within striking distance.

But Corunna, which ends the season at 4-14-1, never did find an offensive rhythm. The Cavaliers threatened deep inside enemy territory two or three times in the first half but could not get a shot off against the stingy Indian defense.

“Our midfield is really strong and our defense is coming along,” said Chesaning coach Tom Dempsey. “We’re starting to play the ball better in transition and advancing it down into the corners. It pulls the defense apart and it forces them to split. Really in the first half and into the second half, they (the Cavaliers) were just jamming the middle.”

Chesaning scored within the first 2 minutes of the contest.

Senior midfielder Blake Laskowski found the on a long shot that was out of Galesk’s reach. It came with 38 minutes, 9 seconds left before halftime.

“We always seem to tense up in these sort of games, so I knew the quicker we put a ball in the back of the net, the sooner we would relax and play our style of game,” Laskowski said. “I did not think that was going in. Everytime I shoot a volley, it goes about 40 feet over the net.”

Some 3 minutes later, Chesaning padded the lead to 2-0, as sophomore Justin Lange converted a penalty kick while finding an open spot to the right corner of the net.

Despite Chesaning peppering Galesk with a multitude of shots from all angles, that’s where the score remained through the first half.

The only other score came with 10:08 left in the second half. Darkness had long descended on the crowd at Morningstar Field by that time. Chesaning put the game out of reach off a set play. Senior midfielder Nate Ferry skied for a header to the right side of the goal off a corner kick by Zac Garno.

“That was a beautiful ball by Garno,” Ferry said. “It made the finish really easy for me. He teed it up.”

Added Ferry, “This is spectacular. It was a good team effort. We played tough and we knew they were going to pack it in so we practiced against it.”

Corunna coach Kyle Gregoricka said Galesk did keep his team in the thick of it for a long time.

“As always, Paul did a great job for us,” Gregoricka said. “Yeah, it was a tough one today. I’m very proud of all of our players, though. And our seniors — Johnathon (Palin), Caden (Earl) and Braden (Veale). It’s always a tough one to lose but I’m proud of how they fought up here.

“Paul has been around three years and he’s always done a great job and he gives us a lot of confidence. I know Chesaning has had a great season and they are a good team and I want to give them a lot of credit. And they have a real good chance of getting to the finals. We’ll see how they do.”

Gregoricka indicated that Chesaning’s fast start made it hard for Corunna to get back into things.

“I felt at halftime, we handled the pressure well and we stood up to them pretty well until that last goal, obviously,” Gregoricka said.

Dempsey said that Chesaning had some good shots but Galesk did a good job of turning away most of them.

“There were a couple (of saves) that I am surprised he made,” Dempsey said. “We have a couple right at him but the ones we had picked off on the corners, he made some great saves.”

Dempsey said that the Indians have set school records for wins in a season in each of the last three years.

“We have 17 this year and we had 10 last year and four the year before that,” Dempsey said.

Laskowski is hoping Chesaning can keep the magic going.

“Our goal is to make it as far as we can,” Laskowski said. “We’ve got a good run and I have a feeling this team can make it far.”

Galesk said Corunna knew coming in that it faced a formidable challenge.

“We came into this game knowing how hard it was going to be and how good they were this season,” Galesk said. “And I feel we have improved a lot over the season and just didn’t get it done tonight.”

The other district semifinal at Williamston Monday will pit 10-6-1 Williamston, currently ranked No. 13 in Division 3, against 10-7-3 Portland at 5 p.m. The district title match is set for Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. at Williamston.

The Argus-Press Oct 17, 2023 WILLIAMSTON — Chesaning downed Durand, 4-1, in Tuesday’s Division 3 district boys soccer semifinal and the Indians will advance to Thursday’s district championship game. Chesaning (18-1) will collide with Williamston (11-6-1) in a 7 p.m. district title game at Williamston. Williamston earned a ticket to the district finals with a 2-1 overtime victory over Portland in Monday’s early semifinal. Chesaning’s 18 wins this season mark a highwater mark as the most in a single season in Chesaning soccer history. Durand ended its season with a record of 8-12-3.