By Wendi Reardon Price
Clarkston News Sports Writer
Independence Township — Senior Richie Ludwig sealed the Wolves’ fate in the MHSAA Boys Soccer Division 1 District 6 championship at Clarkston High School, Oct. 19.
His two goals in the last 12 minutes boosted Clarkston to a 2-1 win over Grand Blanc for the Wolves’ second consecutive district championship.
Grand Blanc scored their lone goal with 23:24 left in the first half.

“They get a goal and you have to chase everything down,” said Ian Jones, Wolves’ head coach. “It’s finals. The first goal in the playoffs is important, and we didn’t get it. It became concentration levels and calm heads. There is experience there – kids who have played in four district finals. Make sure we go out wide to the sides. Just play the second half as calm as you can. The first half, we panicked a little bit after they scored and rushed at things. The second half, it took time but it came.”
It came with 11:44 left in the game when Ludwig scored his first goal off an assist from senior Brad Ratliff. Clarkston fans cheered in the stands and gave each other high fives.
Seconds later Grand Blanc had a free kick to take the lead back, but Clarkston’s defensive wall blocked the shot from the net.
Ludwig struck again with 8:23 left in the game, this time with an assist from junior Brendan Gerard.
“Richie wasn’t getting the ball high up so we figured if we get him wider,” Jones said. “We dropped him to wingback, and then Brad would stay out wide. Richie would then arrive because he is so quick. We did it twice and scored twice. Big game, big play.”
He added it came down to patience.
“It was tough,” Jones said. “You have 14-, 16- year-olds out there, you talk about patience and play your game. You are going to panic. It was just keep your heads and play the game. Hopefully you will get rewards. We knew we would get chances. We had chances in the first half. The keeper was standing on his head. Keep going. Then, got two nice goals at the end.”
Jones added the close game prepares the team for the rest of playoffs.
“It’s good. Each game is going to be like that,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if we beat them at beginning of season or seeded higher. It won’t matter what the difference is – everyone is going to fight for their lives. It’s 25 percent quicker than a normal game. You just have to hope you have a little bit of luck and we got the luck at the end.”
The Wolves opened the playoffs with an 8-0 win over Davison in the district semifinals, Oct. 17.
They scored three goals in the first three minutes with two from sophomore Brayden Cooper and one from senior Theo Walker.
Junior Sebi Roy scored the fourth goal with 24:34 minutes remaining in the first half.
Nineteen minutes later, freshman Cole Cooper scored with an assist from Ratliff.
The Wolves were quick coming into the second half with a goal from Ludwig 17 seconds with an assist from Brayden Cooper.
Ludwig scored two more times in the next three minutes to end the game, 8-0.
Clarkston (15-4-2) played Birmingham Seaholm (16-1-3) in the MHSAA Boys Soccer Division 1 Regional 2 semifinal on Tuesday and won, 5-0. The Wolves play Detroit Catholic Central in  the regional final on Thursday at Waterford Kettering High School, 7:30 p.m.
The winner moves on to Semifinal 2 playoff at Grand Ledge High School on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 6 p.m. The final is Saturday, Nov. 5. Time and place to be announced.

  Boys Soccer, Clarkston Boys Varsity Soccer