The U11 Clarkston Impact ?97 boys soccer team enjoyed a successful weekend Sept. 22-23. They brought home the championship in the Under 12 age division of the Gaylord Alpine Soccer Stampede tournament.
The boys began the tournament in fine fashion by taking care of the team from Tawas 4-0. Later that day, they also made quick work of Kalamazoo, 5-1. Sunday morning, the boys required one more win to go 3-0 in the qualifying round and clinch a spot in the finals.
The U11 Impact did not disappoint, and took care of business with a convincing 7-0 victory over Marquette.
The Sunday afternoon finals proved to be more of a challenge for Coach Payment’s MYSL Premier Division squad as they were pitted against the U12 Ann Arbor United team, which had also completed qualifying undefeated.
The finals were a classic battle of size and strength vs. speed and skill. Ann Arbor powered their way to an early lead and held a 2-0 halftime advantage. The young footballers from Clarkston showed their mettle with a furious second half attack, yielding three unanswered goals by David Posawatz, Brandon Renkiewicz and the game winner by Isaac Mansour with only a few ticks left on the clock.
The team finished the tournament with 19 goals for and three against, due to some stellar goalkeeping by Hank Grogan and Grant Gotaas.
The attack was led by Jimmy Todd, Alec Jones and Joe DeFinis. Ben Snider led the team in goals, and 11 of the 12 Impact players found the back of the net during the tournament. The defense was anchored by Alex Kessman, Joey Alli and Ryan Larkin. All of the boys attend Clarkston schools.
The team has been coached, since its inception in June of 2005, by Curtis Payment, and plays in the top U11 division of the Michigan Youth Soccer League. Karyn Gotaas serves as manager.
For more information on the team and the Clarkston Select Soccer Club, check out www.clarkstonsoccer.org/u11b_white.htm.
? Tony Posawatz, assistant coach,