After 10 penalty kicks couldn’t decide Wednesday’s Division 1 boys soccer district championship, another wave of shooters from Detroit Catholic Central and No. 2 Northville took the pitch to try to win it for their teams.
But Kei Zarco Yokoyama had reservations about going out there for the Shamrocks.
“He really didn’t want to take the PK, but we knew he was good at it,” coach Gene Pulice said. “We said, ‘Hey, listen, we know you can get this done, Kei. You’re the guy for the job. Let’s do it.’ So he sucked it up and was like, ‘I’m in!'”
The junior certainly was.
Reluctantly, he attempted the ninth and final shot in sudden death for CC, beating Northville goalie Zach Pheiffer to ensure the Shamrocks (9-6-3) the 1-0 victory and their third district title since 2022.
They’ll face Okemos in Tuesday’s regional semifinal at Novi Meadows Stadium.
“I’ve never taken a PK before, so it was big nerves,” Zarco Yokoyama said. “But it was worth it, I think.”
Given the emotional roller coaster of a season CC just had, yeah, it was definitely worth sending him out there.
The Shamrocks lost three of their first five matches and had a losing record until late in the regular season.
The Michigan High School Soccer Coaches Association bounced them from their rankings by Week 3.
They finished fourth in the Catholic League-Central race.
And, worst of all, they lost arguably the most crucial member of their team. Fr. Dennis Kauffman died on Oct. 2. CC celebrated its win over Northville by taking a team photo with an empty chair front and center — but that was Kauffman’s sideline chair, one the team adorned with a picture of him on the backrest.
“We’re peaking at the right time, and this was a tough game. They played really well,” Pulice said. “The message before PKs? We’re playing this game for Fr. Kauffman. I think that’s what inspired us to win. These guys have battled all year. We’ve had a rough beginning of the year, but they came back and were able to cement and meld our team together. We were lucky enough to get through here tonight.”
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But CC is peaking at the right time.
The Shamrocks should’ve beaten Northville (16-1-3) during a rivalry matchup a month ago, but they fumbled their lead and ultimately settled for a 4-4 tie with the Mustangs.
Since? They’ve won five of the past seven matches and have only one loss (a 2-1 close call to No. 8 Troy Athens). They’re playing their best soccer at the right time, and it’s not a surprise to see them take down Northville, which spent several weeks as the top-ranked team in Michigan before suffering two ties.
“We talk about it all the time that you’ve got to peak at the right time,” said senior captain Joseph Goudeseune, a defender who held Northville’s top players, Alex McCallum, Haithem Al-Zoubi and Zane Khraizat, scoreless during the district championship. “I think we’re peaking right now. We’re playing our best soccer. Everyone is buying in, and we’re super determined to play. It’s such a brotherhood, and everyone loves each other. You saw that tonight. If someone misses a pen (penalty kick), you saw it. They’d come back and get a bear hug by everyone.
“We’re peaking at the right time and playing our best soccer right now.”
Mooradian, who scored six of CC’s eight goals in Monday’s 8-0 win over Novi in the district semifinal, Zachary Zahr, Daniel Bravo, Matteo Silvestri, Alex Zoltowski and Cole Hahn also netted goals during the PK shootout.
Nick Willson, McCallum, Kayden Bobel, Al-Zoubi, Jahan Roach and Joshwin George each made their attempts for the Mustangs.
CC goalie Jacob Sievert came up with just one more save than Pheiffer.
“When I was stepping up, I was just praying and asking God to help me,” Zarco Yokoyama said. “I’m glad I stepped up to take the pen. It feels great. It’s a great feeling, especially for this team, the seniors and for Fr. Kauffman.”
CC is hoping this is another turning point in its season.
“We knew how good they (Northville) are and we knew how hard we’ve worked,” Goudeseune said. “We were ranked, we fell out and we had a rough season. We’ve faced so much adversity. Our pillar, Fr. Kauffman, who is like a grandpa to all of us passed away, so we’ve constantly been fighting. It’s just been this constant grit to keep on coming back. We’ve been at practice for hours, working and grinding. Coming into this game, we knew how great we are and we knew the effort we had to put in. So what a game. We came out on top because we worked hard.”
Brandon Folsom covers high school sports in metro Detroit for Hometown Life. Follow him on Twitter at @folsombrandonj.
