Courtesy Photo Alpena High School seniors Gabe Glawe, Julian Stevens, Myles Williams and Michael Herrmann were honored for their contributions to the team during Senior Night on Thursday.

ALPENA — The Alpena High boys varsity soccer team honored its seniors on Thursday and took home a win in the most peculiar way possible.

With 17 minutes remaining in the second half, Traverse City Central’s coach, Gavin Richmond, was given a yellow card followed by a red card, ejecting him from the game. Without a coach to fill in for Richmond, the Trojans were forced to forfeit despite having a 5-1 lead.

Trailing 5-0 late in the second half, Alpena eventually got on the board with 17:46 left, where senior Gabe Glawe scored in his final game at Park Family Field.

This goal was special for Glawe, but sparked outrage from Richmond, leading to the Wildcats’ win by forfeit.

Although the turn of events gave Alpena a huge win, Thursday marked the final home game for seniors Glawe, Julian Stevens, Myles Williams, and Michael Herrmann, who all played incredible roles for the Wildcats.

“These four kids have been a staple of the program for a number of years, and they’ve been great role models for everybody along the way. They have great attitudes, hard work in practice, and a great group of kids who deserve all the credit. It will be incredibly tough to lose these players, and I’m sad to see them go,” Alpena coach Gregg Supiran said.

Although the Trojans weren’t credited with the win, Central dominated from start to finish.

A goal from Spencer Gerber just 46 seconds into the game was scored on a perfect kick that was completely out of reach for Alpena’s keeper.

Now, with a 1-0 lead, the Trojans began to play its style of game and controlled possession for the majority of the half.

This ability to maintain possession gave Central a huge advantage, which led to another score around the 29-minute mark. This goal was deflected off the keeper and scored by Asher Paul to extend the lead to 2-0.

Both sides played excellent defense for the rest of the half, and Alpena trailed 2-0 going into the break.

Paul and Central extended the lead almost immediately out of the break.

Receiving his second goal of the night on a beautiful pass from his teammate, Paul was set up perfectly for the score and to take a 3-0 lead.

Another two minutes later, at 30:40, the Trojans struck again.

This goal set the lead at 4-0, leaving Alpena almost no chance of a comeback.

The fifth and final goal Central scored was 27:09, where Alec Roeters tacked on the 5-0 lead.

Despite the win, Supiran said there’s still plenty for his team to work on.

“I thought we played the ball really well through the midfield, and we definitely had some opportunities to switch the point, which I thought went really well,” Supiran said. “We really lacked the finishing tonight, and it’s impossible to come back from a game down 5-0. We got lucky with this one, but we need to come ready to play for our next game.”

GIRLS GOLF

Alpena sixth at BNC meet

CADILLAC — The Alpena High girls golf team placed sixth at Cadillac’s Big North Conference meet Wednesday with a team score of 403.

Alpena’s JV finished third in its division with a 476. Brook Schroeder and Faith Dragiewicz tied for eighth in the JV division with a pair of 118s.