By Journal Sports Staff

MARQUETTE — Just like they used to do in the annual Upper Peninsula Tournament, the Marquette Senior High School boys soccer team has remained perfect in MHSAA district tournaments.

After receiving a court ruling in the summer of 2023 that allowed Upper Peninsula teams to participate in the MIchigan High School Athletic Association-sponsored event, the Sentinels have now won their second opening-level championship in as many tries.

MSHS was dominating throughout a 6-0 victory over Petoskey on Saturday afternoon to capture this MHSAA Division 2 title at the Kaufman Sports Complex in Marquette.

Marquette advanced to the Division 2 regional tournament semifinals, which according to mhsaa.com, was scheduled for downstate Gaylord on Tuesday evening.

The opponent was Fruitport, which not only defeated Muskegon Reeths-Puffer 4-1 to claim its own district title on Thursday, but was the school that knocked the Sentinels out of the tournament last year in this same spot — the regional semifinals.

Last year’s game was memorable in that lightning interrupted the contest early in the second half of a scoreless contest before Fruitport went on for a 2-0 victory.

Maybe it will be that the second time is the charm for this Marquette squad, which threatened to invoke the eight-goal mercy rule on Saturday after building a 5-0 halftime lead.

“Our team came out on fire today,” MSHS head coach Dan Salmon said in an email detailing the result. “They were ready to go and took control right off our first set piece. In fact, our first four set pieces all lead to goals.

“We had great leadership from two of our captains, Kaleb Chipelewski and Indigo Catalano. The team is really hitting their stride right now and hopefully it carries over to our regional game next week.”

Marquette improved to 17-3-2 while Petoskey ended its campaign at a modest 5-13-2.

Chipelewski scored the Sentinels’ final two goals, while assisting on their third-to-last one, too. Catalano had assists on each of Marquette’s first two goals.

Charlie Hrodey netted the Sentinels’ opening goal, while Oscar Hill had the second one, both with help from Catalano.

Then Henry wood made it 3-0 with an assist going to Jack Sysko before Seth Sandstrom knocked one home off an assist from Chipelewski.

That’s when Chipelewski got involved, scoring the final goal of the first half with assists going to Sandstrom and Catalano.

Chipelewski then came out in the second half and scored the only goal in that span, which was unassisted.

Marquette goalkeeper Edan Hautamaki had to earn his shutout, stopping six shots on goal, two in the first half and four after intermission.

The court case that allowed the Sentinels and other U.P. teams like Kingsford, Iron Mountain, Houghton and Sault Ste. Marie to enter the Michigan High School Athletic Association tourney was settled nearly two decades ago and involved shifting a number of high school sports seasons to be in line with the schedule of other states and AAU programs.

At that time, boys soccer specifically in the U.P. had been designated as a spring sport and girls soccer in the fall, the opposite of what the Lower Peninsula, Wisconsin and just about every other state did. Playing at the designated time would’ve meant no competition outside the U.P., while playing as they do now made those school soccer teams the equivalent of “club” — or unofficial — playing units.

Marquette hosted the U.P. tournament in both boys and girls soccer for a number of years as an unofficial wrapup to the season.

Last year, plaintiffs from the case working with U.P. school athletic directors and other officials negotiated changes to the court settlement, and opened up the reinstatement of both U.P. boys and girls soccer programs back into MHSAA tourneys.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.