FRUITPORT – Of all the guys that Coach Dan Hazekamp could have chosen to take a huge overtime penalty kick with the district championship on the line, few would have guessed it might be Riley Kanaar.

The Fruitport senior is more of a defensive midfielder, and had not scored a goal all season.

But Hazekamp believed that Kanaar could get the job done, so he sent him out to go one-on-one with the Allendale goalie with one shot separating the Fruitport soccer team  from a season-saving victory.

Kanaar lived to his coach’s faith by calmly blasting the ball into the net and setting loose a crazy scene, with his teammates and fellow students rushing the field and mobbing him (see photo above) and hundreds of happy Fruitport fans screaming with joy.

He had just given Fruitport an incredibly dramatic 3-2 come-from-behind victory over Allendale, it’s second straight district championship, and continued hope for the state title that eluded the Trojans last year.

Fruitport, now 17-3-3 on the season, advances to a Division 2 first round regional game on Tuesday against Cedar Springs on the Red Hawks’ home field.

“I knew I was making it,” said Kanaar, who had never attempted a penalty kick in a varsity game before. “My coaches believed in me, my teammates believed in me, and that was all I needed.

“I just stepped up there, I knew what my shot was, and I knew where I was going with it.”

The situation was simple, yet incredibly tense, as Kanaar set up for his shot in front of the Allendale net, with the Falcon goalie waiting for his shot.

The two teams had played to a 2-2 tie in regulation, and there was no scoring in the two 10-minute overtime periods. That led to the OT shootout, with players from each team taking turns going one-on-one with the opposing goalie.

Each team scored on its first six attempts, but the Allendale player who led off the seventh round shot hard and high and the ball soared over the Fruitport net.

That meant that a goal by Kanaar would end it and send the Trojans to Tuesday’s regional semifinals, and he matched the moment to perfection.

There are a lot of skilled offensive players on the Trojans’ roster. Several of them had already taken their turns in the shootout, but there were others left – yet Coach Hazekamp turned to Kanaar, who had not played in the game at all before taking the field for the biggest shot of his life.

That was a big decision, considering the Trojans lost in the Division 2 state quarterfinals last year in a very similar overtime shootout.

“Riley has been very consistent (with penalty kicks) in practice, and I was so proud of him for stepping up in a big moment,” Hazekamp said. “He’s a tremendous kid. He did not play one minute tonight, but during the two overtime periods he was jumping up and down along the sideline and staying loose, and when I looked him in the eye I knew he was ready to roll.

“Sometimes you just have to trust what you see in practice.”

The entire game was a huge emotional roller coaster for Fruitport, which recently wrapped up its second straight O-K Silver conference championship.

The Trojans had a 1-0 lead at halftime, thanks to a goal by Satchel Norwood about seven minutes into the game.

Norwood, known more as the type to pass the ball and get assists, dribbled between several Allendale defenders and buried a close range shot to give Fruitport the early edge.

The situation got very scary for the Trojans in the second half, however.

Allendale’s Owen Gasper scored from the middle of a mob that was fighting for the ball in front of the Fruitport net, tying the game at 1-1 with 11:16 left in regulation.

Then his teammate, Antonio Gutierrez, scored on a rebound with 4:58 remaining to give the Falcons a very promising lead.

Luck came Fruitport’s way about two minutes later, however, when one player from each team was given a yellow card during an encounter in front of the Allendale goal.

For reasons that were unclear to Coach Hazekamp, Fruitport was also awarded a penalty kick and a golden opportunity to tie the game and avoid the painful fate that was only a few minutes away.

Ryder Doherty buried the shot for the Trojans, tying the score at 2-2 and sending the game to OT.

“I’m really not sure what happened, but I am thankful that it happened,” Coach Hazekamp said. “That’s why you just keep on going, you never quit. We had not been been behind in a game since Aug. 16, and when you’re in a district final and down by a goal with a few minutes left, you don’t give in.

“You fight and fight, and that’s what our guys did.”

After the two scoreless OT periods, the outcome was decided by the OT shootout, and nobody was missing their shots.

Six Allendale shooters were all successful, putting pressure on the Trojans to answer in kind, and they did just that.

Fruitport’s Adriano Pineda, Connor Latsch, Hudson Hazekamp, Jorge Burgos-Yack, Doherty and Norwood all buried their shots, taking the shootout to the seventh round.

Allendale’s Pedro Muanga had a head of steam as he took his turn and kicked the ball hard, but his shot might have been too hard and sailed over the Fruitport goal.

That left it all up to Kanaar, he scored his goal, and the Trojans were soon accepting their medals and the district championship trophy.

Coach Hazekamp was fighting back tears as he expressed his feelings after the game.

“I have been around this group since they were seven or eight years old, and I felt like this was kind of fate tonight,” he said. “We haven’t lost in 35 games on this field, and these guys just refused to lose. That’s why I’m so grateful.”