A goal from senior Reese Walli with just under 25 minutes to go in the game shut the door on the Portage Northern Huskies and crushed their momentum of trying to mount a comeback against FHC. The Rangers would take the win 4-1 in a big non-conference win, extending their winning streak to five games. The goal from Reese came just after a Husky red card, and it was an incredible way to respond after tempers flared.

“[I told our team], ‘Just play our game,’” Reese said. “Sometimes we play down to the other team’s level when we’re winning, and we just came out and played our game and finished it off pretty well.”

Senior Kai Hagadorn continued his offensive success this season, scoring a goal to get FHC on the board first halfway through the first half. However, Portage Northern struck back only a minute later off of a penalty kick to even things at 1.

“[This game] was just a matter of the opportunities that we created in front of the goal,” Head coach Caleb Postlewait said. “The ball fell our way a couple times and Portage Northern is a very good team, but our boys just came out hungry to get another win.”

A solid first half set the scene for an outstanding offensive second half by the Rangers, totaling 3 goals in the final 40 minutes. It started off from a penalty kick from junior Sammy Postlewait and followed by the huge goal from Reese. To add even more onto the lead late in the game, senior Geoffrey Batterbee had an incredible header off a corner kick to polish off the Huskies 4-1.

As well as the FHC offense performed, the defense also played an enormous role in the game. Junior goalie Kyler Williams had 2 big saves to diminish the Huskies’ momentum, as Portage Northern became very aggressive as the game progressed.

This win puts the Rangers at 9-4-1, as they look ahead to jump back into conference play with a matchup against Ottawa Hills at home. The last time the Rangers played the Bengals, FHC blew them out 8-0. They hope to do the same thing come Tuesday night.

“I think we could still use some help just possessing the ball well,” Reese said. “But we are getting a lot better at it every single game. Hopefully, at the end of the season, we’ll be at our best.”