Courtesy of By Marc Vieau Cadillac News

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BENZONIA — Beating Leland twice in Northwest Conference play was nice.

Buckley got to put the cherry on top of that victory celebration Thursday.

The Bears beat the Comets 1-0 in an MHSAA Division 4 soccer district final at Benzie Central High School, marking the first time Buckley has beaten Leland three times in a season.

It’s Buckley’s first district title since the 2017 run to the state semifinals and, more importantly, sends the Bears (16-4-1 overall) into regional semifinal play Tuesday at the CASA fields in Cadillac.

They await Grandville Calvin Christian or Wyoming Potter’s House Christian.

Buckley senior Luke Frasier said this one’s pretty sweet.

“I believe through the four years of high school that I’ve played, we’d only beaten them three times and that was this year,” he said. “Beating them today was a huge stepping stone. We had never beaten them twice in a season and we did it a third time here.

“Leland is very physical and always has been. We knew that coming into this game, so we had to bring our best effort.”

Veteran Buckley coach John Vermilya knows the rivalry can be contentious at times but there have been steps taken to try and tone it down a little bit.

There were some bad feeling on the Comets’ side after Buckley’s 3-1 win in the Northwest finale for both teams on Oct. 9 and Vermilya didn’t want that affecting Thursday’s game.

“There’s a big rivalry and every year, we try to make it about mutual respect,” he said. “It’s true that trying to be a team for the third time is tough.

“To beat a team for the third time that’s Leland is tough and to beat a team for the third time in a district final that’s Leland is even tougher. We knew the mountain we had to climb and it wasn’t easy.”

The game itself lived up to all of that, too. Both sides went at it hard and it got emotional at times, leading to a number of yellow cards handed out but it ended there.

The contest remained scoreless through the first half and most of the second half on a chilly, windy day but it was Buckley that finally made something happen.

A throw-in by Frasier bounced off the head of Lorenzo Tognetti and onto the foot of Alfonso Jimenez. The senior exchange student from Spain volleyed it past the Leland keeper amid a physical scrum with 10:40 left in regulation.

The ironic thing is a Buckley player was run over on the edge of the box right before the goal and Vermilya was yelling for a penalty but the officials let play continue.

Vermilya is glad they did.

“We saw something right by the edge of the box that looked like a penalty to us so, of course, Ryan (Jones) and I are going to coach games the same way we watch game,” Vermilya laughed. “We’re going to yell ‘hey ref, that’s a handball or whatever.’ This was a great officiating crew, he let play go on and I am thankful he did because it skipped on and it’s a goal for us.”

Jimenez said he just wanted to make sure to get enough on the ball to get it past the keeper.

“It was a long ball and Lorenzo hit it with his head,” Jimenez said. “It bounced and when it was coming back up, I hit it with all my power and it goes in.

“I’m really happy and proud of all of the team.”

Buckley’s defense and senior keeper Josh Barley made that one goal stand up the rest of the way.