- All
Forest Hills Central scores three unanswered goals to advance past Detroit Catholic Central and into Division 1 Final
Holt — Forest Hills Central only trailed its opponent once all season before they fell behind Detroit Catholic Central in the Division 1 state semi-final Wednesday night.
“These boys are so resilient. I knew we could come back. We had two goals called back; the opportunities were there we just needed to finish them,” head coach Blair Lincoln said. “All of our big players stepped up. I just knew we could do it.”
Forest Hills Central (20-0-3) has gone all season without losing a game and it’s winning streak continued after defeating Detroit Catholic Central 3-1.
Cade Kozlowski scored for Detroit Catholic Central (21-3-1) to give them a 1-0 lead with 32:36 remaining in the first half.
Forest Hills Centraldominated possession the majority of the game and had several opportunities to tie the game throughout the first half.
Forest Hills Central forward Anthony Bowie put the ball in the back of the net off a corner kick with 20:27 remaining. However, Forest Hills was called for goalie interference and Bowie’s goal was called off.
“Well I just knew if we’re trailing in a game we always have the opportunity to come back and they scored really early on and then we had all of the possession,” Bowie said. “So we knew it was coming, we just had to stay confident and keep playing our game and not get rattled.”
Three minutes later Forest Hills Central had another goal wiped off the scoreboard on an offside call, leaving the score at 1-0.
Ultimately Forest Hills Central’s attack was too powerful, and CJ Strawser tied the game on a header off a cross from teammate Max Postlewait with 1:28 left in the first half.
“Felt good being in the locker room 1-1 and that equalizing goal was big because I think that was the toughest goal to get for us,” Lincoln said.
Bowie scored on an assist from Kevin Conn in the second half to give Forest Hills a 2-1 lead with 30:49 remaining.
“You know I think he could have had two or three,” Lincoln said. “He is just a man. He is so hard to mark and to defend and when you focus on him, somebody else is going to get it.”
Detroit Catholic Central started to pick up the pace and had several great opportunities to tie up the game, including a shot from Charles Trevisan inside the 18-yard box that went wide right.
Forest Hills Central forward Mohamed Haji punched his teams’ ticket to the championship game on a cross from Bowie to give his team a 3-1 lead with 7:31 remaining.
“To get there was never the dream,” Lincoln said. “Our plan is not to get to the final. We keep saying that. Our plan is to win in the final and we’ll be ready and it’s going to be a great day.
