MUSKEGON — Reeths-Puffer has had a lot of trouble sustaining offense, which is part of the bargain with a smaller, less experienced team. It unfortunately puts a lot of game pressure on the defense, and that led to trouble for the Rockets Tuesday night in a 14-2 defeat to Holland Christian.
R-P's only goals were a second-quarter tally by Braeden Monette, coming off a Holland Christian turnover, and one in the second half by Hunter Adams. Both are underclassmen.
Holland Christian scored five times in the first quarter and the Rockets (1-5) were never able to threaten the lead.
"We are capable of a lot more than we're showing right now," R-P coach Josh Robidoux said. "We have a young team and we know we have a young team, but (we're struggling with) passing, catching, and taking care of the ball, fundamental stuff. It's back to basics for the next few weeks, so it feels like steps back, but at the end of the day, we've got a lot of guys that are still learning a ton every single time they come out here."
One big advantage the Maroons possessed was in size. They just had a lot of larger players, making it difficult for R-P to make much headway. It didn't help that the Rockets struggled to complete passes.
"They're a physical team, and we know they're a physical team," Robidoux said of the Maroons. "They're a big team. We don't quite have that size, but I think we've got some guys with some tenacity. They stay aggressive with it. It's definitely something you think about when you've got your head down for a second, and when I come up with this ball in a second, there's going to be two guys running at me full speed."
The second quarter was the Rockets' best, as they were only outscored 3-1, heading into halftime with an 8-1 deficit. The Maroons possessed the ball in R-P's zone much of that quarter, as they did the whole game.
Reeths-Puffer's Cohen Beck (2) fires a shot at Holland Christian goalkeeper Keaton Melcher during Tuesday's game at R-P. The Rockets lost, 14-2.
Robidoux said he was impressed with his defense in that span, but clearly the Rockets will need to get more offense going in future games.
"It does a great job a lot of the time, but you can't expect the defense to be bailing you out of everything," Robidoux said. "When they have the ball in our zone for what felt like close to three-quarters of that game, it's hard to not get scored on quite a few times. Part of that's taking care of the ball. Part of it's our transition game and getting people open a little bit better."
R-P will be able to take some time to regroup with no games scheduled over spring break. Being as young as the Rockets are - they only have 13 upperclassmen on the roster, and two of them are out with injuries - they can likely expect to improve faster than some of their opponents, though Tuesday's game showed that it'll be necessary to compete with some of the better teams on the schedule.
"I think they're a group that can improve very rapidly, but I think a lot of where the Improvement lies is some decision making, too," Robidoux said. "Decision making is a little bit tougher. Stick skills and seeing the field, those things can improve rapidly, but I think a lot of our guys need to watch some film on themselves and see, 'Where are we creating takeaways? Where are we forcing the ball?' We'll definitely watch some film as a team, but some of that onus lies on them analyzing where their game's at right now. That's going to improve their game sense."
