MUSKEGON TOWNSHIP – It’s tough to stop a talented team that’s on a roll, and least for a complete game, and the Spring Lake soccer team definitely has a ton of momentum at the moment.

Reeths-Puffer, a good team with a lot of underclassmen in the starting lineup, managed to shut down the Lakers for one half on Tuesday in the semifinals of the local Division 2 district tournament on its home field.

But Spring Lake, now 14-2-3 on the season, wasn’t denied in the second half. The Lakers scored three times in the first 10 minutes and rode off with a 3-1 victory and a berth in Thursday’s district championship game.

The Lakers will play rival Fruitport, which defeated Whitehall in the other semifinal on Tuesday.

“Soccer is a weird game – they get a break and you  keep watching the clock and wondering, is this really how it’s going to go tonight?” said Spring Lake Coach Jeremy Thelen, whose team beat R-P in the district finals last year in double overtime. “But the guys responded well at halftime. We told them not to stress, not to panic, we can come out of this fine. We’ve scored a lot of goals in the second half this season.”

There’s no doubt that the comeback win had a lot to do with confidence. After starting out the season with a 2-2-2 record, the Lakers have won 12 of 13 games, with the other outcome being a tie.

Their high point of the season, at least to this point, was winning the recent O-K Blue conference tournament, which also included powerhouse teams like Hudsonville Unity Christian, Holland Christian and Fruitport.

“We’ve been coming in sky high with our mentality,” Thelen said. “We think we can play with anybody. But we told the guys over the weekend, you have to outwork Puffer, and now they will have to outwork either Fruitport or Whitehall.”

The Rockets gave the Lakers all they could handle in the first half.

R-P got on the board first after Ashton Carpenter was tripped inside the Spring Lake box while on a breakaway, and teammate Liam Smith took the penalty kick on his behalf. Smith hit the mark, giving the Rockets a 1-0 lead that lasted until halftime.

Spring Lake could have easily gotten on the scoreboard in the first half, if it wasn’t for R-P sophomore goalie Gage Hopkins. He made several outstanding saves on great Lake chances, and managed to offset Spring Lake’s 4-2 advantage in shots on goal.

But nobody could stop Spring Lake when play resumed after halftime.

Conrad Bush tied the game with a header goal about 5 ½ minutes into the half.

Porter Saunders broke in alone on the R-P goal and scored about two minutes later, giving Spring Lake the lead for good.

Jack Mulder put the cap on the win with a breakaway goal with 30:49 remaining.

Spring Lake ended up outshooting the Rockets 9-4 in the game.

Reeths-Puffer Coach Kody Harrell said the outcome was the result of a bunch of talented Spring Lake seniors playing to keep their season alive.

“There were 12 guys on that team whose careers could have come to an end tonight,” Harrell said about the Lakers. “Their upperclass speed and physicality finally got the best of us.”

Harrell, whose team finished with an 11-6-4 record, started numerous underclassmen this season, including Smith and Hopkins, and said the future is bright for his program.

“We’re gonna miss these seniors greatly, but we’re really excited about the next couple of years,” he said.