Williamston boys soccer makes its mark with state runner-up finish

GRAND LEDGE — Lincoln Rockafellow and the other seniors on the Williamston boys soccer team made it a goal this season to win districts. The Hornets more than surpassed that goal. Williamston went from opening the state tournament with a losing record to finding itself playing for a Division 3 state championship on Saturday, Nov. 7 not far from home at Grand Ledge High School. And while the Hornets fell just shy of making school history by winning a state title with their 1-0 overtime loss to top-ranked Elk Rapids, Rockafellow was proud of what he and teammates collectively accomplished. The Division 3 state runner-up finish matched the best showing in program history for Williamston, which also ended as the state runner-up in 2012, 2014 and 2015. "I'm so ecstatic for this group and all we've done this season — especially this postseason," Rockafellow said. "We've really shown the state that your record does not matter going into the playoffs. Our strength of schedule was just insane this year. We've played a lot of hard teams and we came out on top because of our brotherhood is just insane." Williamston (12-9-4) navigated a tough road in the playoffs to getting their best state tournament finish in 11 years. The Hornets knocked off No. 11-ranked Eaton Rapids in a district final, No. 3-ranked Flint Powers in a regional final and No. 14 Grosse Ile in a shootout in the state semifinal earlier this week. They followed that battling the top-ranked Elks to a scoreless game for 96 minutes. Elk Rapids eventually broke through on a goal by Noah Liggett with 2:07 remaining in the final overtime period. That goal helped Elk Rapids (24-1-3) finish off a 15th straight shutout and capture its first state title since 1998. "Coming into the postseason 6-8-4, we had to fight our way with every single match," Williamston coacn Ian Kurth said.. "The performance and the effort that the boys turned in is what got us here and we should be proud of that. One mistake late in the game against a really quality Elk Rapids program — they deserved that championship and we'll look to reload and (see if we) can get back here next year." Kurth believes what the Hornets accomplished this season in making a deep tournament run was validation of what he and the rest of his coaching staff thought could be possible with this year's roster. "We thought this group had the ability to do something special," Kurth said. "What that was we didn't know. We didn't define it. I think the boys really created their own story for themselves and will be remembered for the performance that they've turned in this postseason." Rockafellow hopes the returning players can draw from this year's experience and especially their postseason run over the last few weeks. "We just hope this sets the tone for them and that they want to surpass this next year," Rockafellow said. "We've kind of set the bar high and they know what brotherhood looks like now so they can go do exactly what that is next year." Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on X @brian_calloway.