Gaylord soccer enters districts believing its best play is ahead

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Gaylord High School soccer hosted its senior night festivities during halftime of a 4-0 win over Cadillac on Monday, October 12.

(Dylan Jespersen/Herald Times)

GAYLORD — The postseason has arrived.

High school soccer teams across Michigan begin the playoff brackets for their respective divisions. For Gaylord, that means a chance to reset its record and pursue some hardware.

The Blue Devils (7-8-3) face a district bracket with familiar opponents waiting in every round. Can GHS make a run to the district finals on Thursday, Oct. 22?

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AOTW Vote for the Gaylord Herald Times Athlete of the Week, Oct. 12

Division 2, District 17

Gaylord High School soccer hosted its senior night festivities during halftime of a 4-0 win over Cadillac on Monday, October 12.

Wednesday, October 14: Gaylord vs. Sault Ste. Marie, 6 p.m. at Gaylord Community Field

Tuesday, October 20:

Gaylord/Sault vs. Marquette, 4:30 p.m. at Marquette High School

Petoskey vs. Alpena, 6 p.m. at Northmen Stadium

Finals, Thursday, Oct. 22

Gaylord has gone through its share of growing pains this season. Coach Brandon Contreras has watched a relatively young roster continue to learn how to play high-level soccer, and that is seemingly coming together at just the right time for a Blue Devils team hoping for some postseason magic.

“We kind of knew that we were going to do a lot of learning this season and we were going to take our lumps. We were going to suffer at times as a group, and we were going to experience some great moments as a group,” coach Brandon Contreras said. “I think we have kind of gotten through the suffering phase of the season, we’ve learned to play together and things are really coming together at the right time.”

A shocking draw with state-ranked Traverse City West and a 4-0 victory over Cadillac to wrap the regular season has the Blue Devils feeling really good about where they stand heading into their first-round matchup with Sault Ste. Marie.

They can’t get caught looking ahead to Marquette, however. The Soo battled Gaylord to a 1-1 draw less than two weeks ago, meaning anything could happen if Gaylord isn’t focused on the team in front of it.

The Blue Devils are 0-2 vs. Petoskey and 1-0-1 against Alpena this season. Marquette (10-6-3) is the only team in the bracket that Gaylord hasn’t faced. While the Sentinels and Northmen are the favorites to make the district title game, a bracket with no clear favorite leaves an opening for a team like GHS that is playing its best soccer of the season currently.

“If we can play the kind of game we played against Traverse City West, there’s no reason why we can’t beat Marquette,” coach Contreras said.

Contact GHT Sports Editor Dylan Jespersen at [email protected]. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @dylanjespersen, and Instagram, @dylanjespersen

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Gaylord soccer enters districts believing its best play is ahead

Gaylord soccer enters districts believing its best play is ahead

Check out photos from Gaylord soccer’s senior night, October 12

Check out photos from Gaylord soccer’s senior night, October 12