DEWITT, Mich. (WLSN) – DeWitt’s boys soccer team captured its fifth consecutive District Title on Thursday after taking down Haslett. A feat that wouldn’t have been possible without the play of Brayden Powers.
The senior is a four-year varsity player and was looking like Mid-Michigan’s version of Lionel Messi on Thursday when he netted all three Panther goals, collecting a hat trick and punching his team’s ticket to the regional semifinal game. Powers has scored 19 goals this season and finding the back of the net on a big stage is nothing new to him.
“It’s always been that like playoff air-like ambiance around it,” Powers said. “Whenever the lights are brighter I seem to perform a little better. You just get so much more locked in.”
“He’s been scoring big goals for us since he’s been on varsity freshman year,” Joe Ishraidi, DeWitt boys soccer coach said. “He scored in a regional final and he’s been either scoring or assisting and just making plays for us in big games.”
Powers’ senior season though didn’t come without some hiccups. Earlier in the year, he was sidelined for a handful of games with an injury and missing out only added fuel to the fire.
“It changed my mindset for the season.” Powers said. “I had lofty goals for myself this year and I just knew I couldn’t take any days off. Every day had to be my best, so just to be able to produce, even though I missed a couple of games. I’m just really glad I can do that.”
“The time that he was out, he was always really encouraging on the sidelines standing up, giving coaching points, helping with equipment and things like that,” Ishraidi said. “He really embraced that aspect of it. But he’s a gamer, he’s a competitor, so it was good that we only had him out for a little bit.”
