News Photo by James Andersen Alpena’s Jack Cook (17) runs out of room in a scoring attempt during a boys soccer game against Cadillac on Thursday at Park Family Field at Wildcat Stadium.

ALPENA — As districts approach, the Alpena High boys’ soccer team is looking to heat up.

The Wildcats completed another comeback victory on Senior Night, defeating Cadillac on Thursday with a final score of 5-2. 

“I thought at times we played well. We attacked very well in the first half and I though we finished very good as well. We had a solid lead going into half so we just tried to maintain it for the rest of the game,” Alpena coach Tim Storch said.

Although Alpena got the better of Cadillac in the end, the Vikings got off to a great start, taking an early lead just five minutes into the game. The goal was scored by Cadillac’s Alex King off a costly penalty kick.

With the Wildcats down one goal early, they were determined to come back. With 22:55 left in the first half, senior Jack Cook tied the game by scoring a goal just past Cadillac’s goalie.

The Vikings tried to answer back, but Michael Herrmann made an incredible dive for the save which helped to maintain the tie at 1-1.

Alpena continued to put on immense pressure on the goal forcing many shots on goal until one finally went through the net.

With 15:40 left in the first half, Cook scored again, giving the 2-1 lead to the Wildcats for the first time in the game.

Only three minutes later, Alpena scored another goal. Senior Jacob Beaubien extended Alpena’s lead to 3-1, with a goal that just snuck through into the goal. 

With only a minute left in the first half, the Wildcats put the Vikings into an even bigger deficit. Sam Cook made a perfect pass to Gabe Glawe who scored a spectacular goal. Glawe’s shot spun right into the goal giving Alpena a 4-1 lead going into halftime.

During halftime, Alpena honored their senior class which included Beaubien, Austin Townsend, Chase Schiller, Wesley Decker, Jack Cook, Sam Cook, and Cam Young.

“Most of these guys have been on varsity since their sophomore year and they’ve developed some real chemistry over the years. They definitely had some growing pains to start their careers, but they’ve really turned out to be a good unit,” Storch said.

After halftime Storch made several adjustments to the lineup, featuring many JV players, and also switched Alpena’s goalie.

“I played a lot of guys in the second half to try to get them some experience because sometimes the game is settled at halftime. It’s always hard to get the same kind of intensity in the second half,” Storch said.

With many new players playing in the second half, Alpena’s main goal was to maintain the lead. With 30:10 left in the second half, Cadillac ended up missing a penalty kick that was its last hope to get back into the game.

Alpena’s pressure on the goal slowed down in the second half but with 16:26 left, Julian Stevens put the ball in the perfect place for Townsend to score.

Townsend scored off a header finalizing the win for Alpena.

Although the game was out of reach, the Vikings managed to score one final goal. The goal came with 23 seconds left in the game, which brought the final score to 5-2.

The Wildcats have potentially their biggest game of the season coming up, and Storch hopes the team brings intensity and plays as hard as it can against Traverse City West.

Alpena plays West on Monday.