Detroit Country Day Soccer Wins State Division 3 Title

TROY – The west side of Michigan shut out the east side in high school soccer last season by winning titles in all four divisions. 

On Saturday, Country Day made sure that wouldn’t be the case again this year with a 2-1 win in the Division 3 state finals over Hudsonville Unity Christian at Troy Athens High School.

It was the fifth soccer championship in eight years for the Country Day Yellow Jackets, but the first without Paul Bartoshuk on the sidelines. Bartoshuk, the team’s longtime head coach, has been in and out of the hospital since August with undisclosed medical issues.

“We played this game for our head coach Paul Bartoshuk,” assistant coach Bob Bukari said. “We won it for a very special man.”

Bartoshuk suffered a heart attack last November jogging near the Country Day campus. He started the season on the sidelines for the Yellow Jackets, but in August had to check back into the hospital.

Bukari, a longtime assistant coach on the boys team and the head coach of the girls team, has been leading the Yellow Jackets in the interim.

Country Day fans recognized Bartoshuk in the final minutes by chanting his name as the clock ran down. His wife and son were on the sidelines for the win and were asked by players to join them in the team photo with the trophy.

After the game, players said Bartoshuk has been in their thoughts every game the team has played this season. “Every day, every single day, we say a prayer and say this is for Coach Bartoshuk,” junior Oliver Harris said.

It was Harris who scored the game-winning goal in the second half. Sam Brown picked up his second assist of the game by passing it to the junior around the 10-yard line. Somehow Harris managed to slip in between defenders and had time to set up for a perfect strike at Hudsonville goalie Zach Lier with 22 minutes to go in the game.

“Just happened so fast,” Harris said. “There was no one on me. I was wide open. The goalie didn’t close me down and I just knew it would go in.”

Like it did for much of the game, Country Day (20-4-1) was able to limit the Crusaders' high-powered offense for the final 20 minutes and secure the title.

The Yellow Jackets' defense and goalie Zachary Walker held a Hudsonville team that came into the game with 43 goals in the playoffs to only one. The goal came early in the game when the Crusaders scored on a nicely designed corner kick play.

Jake Love tapped the corner kick forward and a teammate passed it right back. Love then centered the ball right to Jared Haverkamp, who was in the middle of the goal box.

Haverkamp hit the ball cleanly off his head into the back of the net. The quick strike put Hudsonville Unity Christian (24-1-1) up 1-0 with 34:32 left.

Country Day didn’t waste any time evening the game. At the 20-yard line, Brown centered a kick trying to hit teammate Brenton Desai in the middle. Desai missed the ball, but defenders didn’t see Dean Akeel cutting up the field.

Akeel was able to hit the ball in stride and score to tie the game 1-1 with 29:37 to go in first half.

Bukari, who has been a part of multiple state titles on the boys and girls team, said the win over Hudsonville was without question the biggest of his career.

“This is the best one,” Bukari said, fighting back tears. “This is better than all of the boys and girls (titles) wrapped into one.”

With four starting sophomores Saturday, Country Day will again be one of the favorites in Division 3 next year. Bukari is hopeful he’ll be back to his normal role as an assistant if they do. 

“He’s (Bartoshuk) fighting for recovery, just like our kids fought today, he’s fighting,” Bukari said. “We won and he’s going to win.”