By KEITH DUNLAP

Of The Oakland Press

LAKE ORION — Going into a Division 1 regional semifinal against Midland Dow on Tuesday, one couldn’t blame Rochester Adams boys soccer coach Josh Hickey if he feared that his team would be somewhat emotionally spent.

The Highlanders spent last week playing three mentally and physically draining district games, none more so than a shootout win over city rival Stoney Creek in a district final on Saturday afternoon.

Just three days later, Adams had to crank it up once again, versus an opponent many expected it to beat.

“It’s a funny thing,” Hickey said. “In my head maybe I was thinking that maybe these guys were a little drained, but they don’t feel that at all. We just came into practice the day before and they looked like they were ready to go then.”

The Highlanders showed they were ready, recording a 2-1 win over Dow to advance to a regional final against Utica Eisenhower at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Lake Orion.

If Adams wins that game, it’ll not only advance to the state semifinals, but it’ll get to play on its home field, since Adams has been selected to host that semifinal game by the Michigan High School Athletic Association.

With the game tied 1-1, Adams senior James Davis scored the game-winning goal with 21:46 remaining in the game.

Sophomore Dylan Knott won a loose ball in the left corner of the field and fed a perfect cross into the box to Davis, who headed home the ball just inside the near post.

“It was a great pass,” Davis said. “He always puts it in right where I needed it. I just headed it in. I just got my head on it and hit it down. It happened to go in.”

From there, Adams did a beautiful job killing the remaining time by keeping Dow away from its end of the field.

When the Chargers did manage to get near the Adams goal, the Highlanders’ defense was there to clear the ball out of any danger.

Hickey said the difference for his team in the game was simple.

“Finishing,” Hickey said. “Just getting opportunities to finish. They countered quite a bit and had their own chances. We just had to finish ours.”

The first opportunity Adams finished came with 1:46 left in the first half, just when it seemed like the teams were going to go into halftime scoreless.

A service was placed into the Dow box, where Joey Censoni of Adams and the Dow goalie collided as they were going for the ball.

The ball popped free, right to the feet of Adams junior Justin Kane, who took advantage of the chance by shooting the ball just inside the far post to give the Highlanders a 1-0 lead.

Dow then tied the game with 32:54 remaining on a goal by Connor Baak, who took a pass at the top of the Adams box from teammate Michael Finn and fired a perfect shot that went into the top-right corner of the net to make it a 1-1 game.

Fortunately for Adams, though, Knott and Davis were able to hook up for the game-winning goal to send the Highlanders into a regional final showdown with Eisenhower, which beat Flushing in the other semifinal, 2-0.

Adams (16-3-3) is now unbeaten in its last 16 games, but didn’t play Eisenhower during the regular season.

The winner between Adams and Eisenhower will advance to the semifinals next Wednesday, where it will meet the winner of Friday’s regional final between Novi and Birmingham Brother Rice.

“I think it’s going to be the same old story that we had all district,” Hickey said of playing Eisenhower. “We have to come out hard on them, we have to make sure we’re ready to play and we shut down their weapons. We have to play our system and make sure we don’t get caught up in their system.”



E-mail Keith Dunlap at keith.dunlap@oakpress.com