NORTON SHORES – It’s hard to lose a district championship game and end a great season with a one-goal loss.

It’s even worse when you had to play a man short for most of the game and still came very close to winning.

The curtain came down on the Mona Shores boys soccer team’s amazing season on Thursday with a 2-1 loss to state-ranked Grand Haven in the Division 1 district championship game at Mona Shores High School.

The outcome may very well have hinged on an early call by a referee.

Less than 15 minutes into the game, a Mona Shores player was called for a handball infraction inside his own goal box when Grand Haven was threatening to score.

Grand Haven was not only awarded a penalty kick, but the Mona Shores player was given a red card, which meant he was ejected from the game and the Sailors had to play the rest of the contest with only 10 players.

Under those circumstances, it would have been understandable if the Sailors had lost by several goals, but they pulled themselves together, fought even harder and gave Grand Haven all it could handle.

In the end it wasn’t quite enough. Grand Haven scored the game-winner with 6:24 left in the game, and the Sailors were left wondering what might have been.

The Sailors finished the season with a 15-2-3 record and an O-K Green conference championship.

“He claimed there was a handball in the box and that it was on a clear scoring opportunity,” said an emotional Mona Shores Coach Bill Moulatsiotis. “Maybe. That’s his call. But to throw in a red card with a PK in the first few minutes of the district finals is something I’ve never seen before.”

The controversial call came with 25:41 left in the first half, and a Grand Haven player scored on the penalty kick, giving his team a 1-0 lead.

No announcement was made about the red card, so it took observers a few minutes to realize that the Sailors were playing with only their goalie and nine field players, while Grand Haven had all 11.

The amazing part was that Mona Shores kept attacking and controlled play for a good part of the game.

The Sailors’ Kaden Pulaski outraced an opponent and broke in alone on the Grand Haven goal with about 3:30 left in the first half. The goalkeeper came out and made a nice stop before Pulaski could get a shot off, and the Bucs led 1-0 at halftime.

Mona Shores came out flying in the second half and tied the score in the opening minutes when Easton Lopez found the back of the net on a high shot from about 15 yards out.

The Sailor kept the pressure on and had several other great scoring chances, including two quick shots on goal that were saved by the sprawling Grand Haven goalie with about 25 minutes left.

“I thought we actually took control most of the game, except for the last few minutes when we started to get tired out,” Moulatsiotis said. “They had quite a few corner kicks, but we did a good job of handling those.”

Grand Haven scored the game winner with 6:24 left in the game, and suddenly the Sailors’ season was over, but the team went down fighting in very difficult circumstances.

“I’m extremely proud of this team, from the captains to the seniors all the way down,” Moulatsiotis said. “This has been one of the best seasons of our lives. We were perfect in conference and we dominated in the district semifinal game – then we ran into some unlucky things.

“These guys played with a lot of grit and a lot of heart. They showed a lot of class today.”