Troy Athens goalie Mason Maziasz is carried by students Shawn Waynick, left, and George Kiryakoza following Athens’ regional final win Tuesday.
Mason Maziasz refused to give up his team’s Division I regional championship soccer trophy.
Not again.
Four days after beating Macomb Dakota in a Michigan High School Athletic Association regional final, Maziasz and his Troy Athens teammates were forced to replay the final penalty kicks on Tuesday afternoon after an officiating error in the original game Friday.
Athens, which won the shoot-out in Friday’s game, beat Dakota again, 5-4, in Tuesday’s “re-do” at Troy Athens.
“It’s something special to come back and win it twice,” said Maziasz, a senior goalie. “It really shows who the better team was.”
In Friday’s game, which went to penalty kicks tied at 2-2, Athens was declared the champion after winning the shoot-out. However, game officials decided that Dakota did not use its shooters in the same order as coach Stefano Moraccini had listed them and voided a successful goal by a legal player.
On Saturday, the MHSAA notified both teams that the officials admitted to making a mistake and the game had to be replayed from the point of the mistake, which was 3-3 in the shoot-out.
“It was definitely a setback, thinking we got through all this, got to celebrate,” said Maziasz, who made the game-winning save for Athens on Friday and Tuesday. “Having (the MHSAA) come back and say we had to re-do it, that was shocking.”
Moraccini, who was informed of the MHSAA’s decision on Saturday, was confused about the initial ruling that he did something wrong.
“I never even knew there was a rule that you had to give a lineup (going into a shoot-out),” he said. “I had been through three shoot-outs prior, and we never had to give an official lineup of who goes out there and in what order.”
In Tuesday’s game, Athens and Dakota each made their first penalty kick. In its second attempt, senior Shamik Patel made his goal to put Athens ahead, 5-4. Dakota senior Brendan Moore was blocked by Maziasz on his team’s attempt, giving Athens the win — again.
“I didn’t think we needed to celebrate twice to show that we’re the winners,” Maziasz said. “We celebrated our win the first time. The second time, we were humble about it and walked away.”
Moore was thankful for another chance to finish the game, but expressed disappointment in the officiating crew from Friday.
“If you’re going to referee at a high level, you should know the rule book inside and out,” he said. “That’s poor judgment. You can’t make up your own rules. If they didn’t know, they should have called the MHSAA or had someone look it up.”
Coaches, players and fans at Athens were unhappy when Friday’s result was overturned.
“We were upset, either way, because this was not good for any of the kids,” said Kim Filips, whose son, Andy, is a senior on the soccer team. “I’m mad, regardless. The game ended (Friday), we were declared champions, we celebrated.”
The whole experience was new for Athens coach Todd Heugh.
“In 20 years of high school soccer, I’ve never seen it,” he said. “We felt like, mistake or no mistake, the game was over (Friday) when the official calls it over.”
Athens (18-4-2), which won its first regional title in boys soccer since 1998, plays Rochester in the Division I semifinals at 7 p.m. today at Troy High.
“People can move on now. Troy Athens can move on and hopefully play very well (against Rochester),” Moraccini said. “There was a lot of stress on their players, just like there was a lot of stress on our players.”
Volleyball
Fenton 3, Holly 0: Jessica Warford led the Fenton (40-5-3) attack with 19 kills, and she also passed off 16 digs. Kiley Aldred dished out 31 assists, and Taylor Mowery added 12 digs.
Livonia Clarenceville 3, Detroit Old Redford 0: Kaitlyn Denny and Maddison Jaber led the Livonia attack with nine aces each.
Southfield Christian 3, Detroit Cornerstone 0: Emily Van Dyke and Jessica Hanson each served up 14 aces, Rebekah Wilson dished out 15 assists, and Kaelin Ray put down five kills.
Free Press staff reports contributed.
Wednesday’s boys soccer semifinals
Division 1
At Troy: Troy Athens vs. Rochester, 7
At Holt: Novi vs. East Kentwood, 6
Division 2
At Auburn Hills Avondale: Fenton vs. Dearborn Divine Child, 6
At Grand Rapids Christian: East Lansing vs. Mattawan, 7
Division 3
At Howell’s Parker Middle School: Flint Powers vs. Lansing Catholic, 6
At Cedar Springs: Charlevoix vs. Grand Rapids Catholic Central, 6
Division 4
At Troy Athens: Genesee Christian vs. Ann Arbor Greenhills, 7
At East Kentwood’s Crestwood Middle School: Muskegon Catholic Central vs. Kalamazoo Hackett, 6