FRUITPORT – Great high school soccer teams always have lots of skilled players filling different roles.

When it comes to goal scoring, however, it’s not unusual to see two or three super-talented offensive players dominate the stat chart.

That was the case with last year’s Fruitport boys soccer team, which posted an amazing 20-1-1 record and advanced all the way to the Division 2 state quarterfinals.

The Trojans had all sorts of talent, but two players – Jorge Burgos Yack (18 goals) and Isaac VanderMolen (17 goals) – provided a big portion of the scoring. The next highest scorer had nine goals.

This year Fruitport is great again, with a 12-3-3 record and 12 wins and one scoreless tie in its last 13 games. The Trojans are again undefeated in the O-K Silver conference with a 7-0 record, heading into the conference tournament, which begins on Tuesday.

But one thing is very different about the 2025 Trojans – they have extremely balanced scoring.

That’s pretty surprising in a way, because one of the two big scorers from last year – Burgos-Yack – is back on the team, and every bit as good as he was last fall.

This year, however, he is not leading the pack.

Senior Carter Latsch (until recently known as Carter Gregor) leads the team with 10 goals, after scoring four in the past two games. Burgos-Yack has nine, Ryder Merkins has eight, Davis Johnson has five, and Adriano Pineda Saadi and Ryder Doherty each have four, with at least four games yet to play this season, and probably more.

Two other players have three goals, five have two, and two have one.

Interestingly, Burgos-Yack is also second in assists, behind Satchel Norwood, suggesting that he cares a lot more about sharing the ball and winning than he does about piling up stats.

“There is a lot of game-planning around Jorge,” said Fruitport Coach Dan Hazekamp. “A lot of teams pay attention to him and run a lot of people at him, trying to get the ball off his feet. He’s earned that. He’s had a tremendous high school career.

“But that has forced us to have other people step up. And Jorge would be the first to acknowledge that we have lots of other guys who are capable of finishing.”

That’s been evident in game after game.

In a 3-0 win over Ludington, the Trojans collected goals from Latsch, Merkins and Burgos-Yack. In a 4-2 win over Godwin Heights, the goals came from Johnson, Hudson Hazekamp, Latsch and Merkins.

In an 8-0 win over Comstock Park, Pineda Saadi, Jyles Smith, Burgos-Yack, Merkins and Gavin Wilson found the net. In a victory over Belding, Latsch, Doherty, Burgos-Yack, Quincy McDaniels, Braylon Richards and Norwood scored.

For Fruitport’s overwhelmed opponents, it’s a matter of picking their poison.

“All the guys have done a good job of being unselfish,” Coach Hazekamp said. “They are looking to find the next pass, and trusting that their teammates will do something positive with it.

“We have a lot of guys who are uniquely talented in that they can find the goal in different ways. Davis Johnson is a grinder who is going to hustle and work. The same is true with Ryder Merkins. They are going to lay their bodies on the line.

“Jorge has great feet and is super technical. Carter has a great shot. We just have a lot of guys with their own unique skill sets.”

Merkins, one of four senior co-captains on the team, said countless hours of practicing and playing together have helped the Trojans develop a rhythm on offense. They know each other’s tendencies and how to find each other with passes.

“We have 14 seniors, and most of us have grown up playing together,” Merkins said. “Probably nine or 10 of us played on the same travel team as we were growing up. The chemistry is there and it’s helped a lot.

“We also put a lot of work in over the summer on finishing plays. The guys up top got used to meshing together. It’s easy for us to find ways to score with each other.

“It’s good for the mentality of the team. Everybody gets lifted up, and it helps your own confidence when you score.”

The Trojans’ confidence as a team has increased dramatically over the past month. After starting the season with an 0-3-2 record at a brutally tough weekend tournament, they have not lost again, and are currently ranked No. 12 in the state in Division 2.

Last year they were ranked No. 1 at the end of the regular season, and advanced to the state quarterfinals, before losing a 2-1 heartbreaker to Forest Hills Northern in an overtime shootout.

Merkins thinks this year’s team is just as good as last year’s – if not a bit better – and said the Trojans are not shy about talking about their unfinished business.

“We definitely have the potential to finish that business,” he said. “We are definitely looking for a run to the state finals. We’ve talked about it, and we keep talking about it. We’re just keeping our heads high and working to improve every day.”