Macomb Lutheran North senior Matteo Vitale leads the Mustangs with 33 goals this season and was a key factor in the team’s Blue Water Area Conference championship. (DAN STICKRADT — MediaNews Group)

What a difference a year makes.

In its first season competing in the Blue Water Area Conference, Macomb Lutheran North’s boys soccer team captured the league championship with a 2-2 draw at Imlay City on the final night of the league season.

The Mustangs came back from a 2-0 deficit to scored twice in the early stages of the second half to earn the tie and dethrone the Spartans, who had won 10 straight BWAC crowns and 13 of the previous 14 conference championships.

Lutheran North did not play in any marquee early-season tournaments or non-league games after they were coming off a major rebuilding year in 2025. Last season, the team finished just 3-12-0 overall and were outscored 64-17 and were shut out 10 times. The Mustangs finished sixth in the Catholic High School League AA Division at 1-7-0 and were knocked out in the Division 3 district semifinals by Detroit Country Day (6-0).

“Last year we only had two seniors and it was a major rebuilding year,” noted Lutheran North coach Brian Horvath, who returned to the sidelines last year to coach the Mustangs after a five-year hiatus. “Last year of all of the players in the school that could have returned (from the 2024 team) 18 of them did not. We had several kids elect not to play and several who were playing some (MLS Next Academy) soccer and not eligible to play for us. That was rough. We were essentially starting over with almost a whole new team. We had three freshmen that started for us and a whjole bunch of sophomores. The whole team was essentially new.

“This year we are fortunate enough that we brought back a ton of players and even got some kids back from (various MLS Next Academy) teams,” continued Horvath. “Not all of those kids came back, but we got a handful and that made a difference.”

Lutheran North has outscored the opposition 77-11 this season with six shutouts and the only time the Mustangs were shut out this year was a 0-0 tie against Imlay City back on Sept. 16.

The rematch was also a tie, but Lutheran North (11-0-3, 11-0-3) need a tie or win to clinch the title. Imlay City, which was upset by Yale (1-0) last week, needed the victory to earn another BWAC title.

Macomb Lutheran North senior Benjamin Davis (3) is second on the team in scoring and part of an offense that has rang up 77 goals this season. (DAN STICKRADT -- MediaNews Group

Lutheran North needed a little help from their friends at Yale and got the solid from the Bulldogs.

The Spartans finished the regular season with an 11-4-3 overall record and in second place in the BWAC at 11-1-2. Lutheran North finished with 36 points and Imlay City registered 35 points in the final conference standings.

Benino Barragan and Giovani Barragan both scored goals as Imlay City staked itself to a 2-0 lead by the half, putting the pressure on the Mustangs to stage a comeback.

After halftime, Lutheran North picked up the pace with Matteo Vitale scoring his team-leading 33rd goal of the year off a 30-yard banger to make it a 2-1 game and Benjamin Davis netted the equalizer off a pass from Vitale to tie the game at 2-2 five minutes later.

Lutheran North goalkeeper Andrew Lifshay smothered up a loose ball in the box with 10 minutes remaining after Benino Barragan rang a shot off the crossbar and ball dropped down into the middle of the box.

“That was a huge ball because if that (rebound) goes in and wasn’t stopped by (Andrew) then that would have been the game winner for them and Imlay city would have won the league,” noted Horvath. “It was all of the little things. This was a complete team effort all season long. Sure, we had some guys have really big seasons but we also had a lot of players contributing every single night and that is why we won the league.

Senior center back Aidan Vermiglio helped hold down the back line for Lutheran North, which lowered its team goals-against-average down to 0.79 for the entire season.

“Our defense has been solid all season long,” added Horvath. “Those guys deserve a lot of credit because we haven’t given up that many goals.

“This has been a great (turnaround) season for the entire program,” continued Horvath. We have eight seniors but we also have (five) freshmen and (four) sophomores on the varsity roster and our (junior varsity) is really young too. They finished undefeated as well. A lot of the schools in the BWAC don’t have JV programs, so we had to go out and schedule some tough teams like Notre Dame Porep and some others. We should bring back most of our program next year and we hope to continue to build on this.”

Lutheran North will play in a Division 2 district later this week and next week if the Mustangs are to continue to advance.