![\"Soccer](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/TOP-L-TroyHighBSOC-090926-02.jpg\")
Oxford’s Noah Ritter, right, tries to keep up with Troy’s Mateo Coronado in a 6-0 Colts’ victory on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (BRYAN EVERSON – MediaNews Group)<\/p>\nNo one in the OAA Red Division is off to a hotter start this season than the Troy Colts.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re the only team left out of eight in what\u2019s perennially one of the state\u2019s toughest divisions to still be unbeaten on the year overall, and the Colts only appear to be getting better.<\/p>\n
After beginning the fall by beating Sterling Heights Stevenson 3-1, Troy High blanked Rochester Adams, typically a Red Division side, 2-0.<\/p>\n
Then they began divisional play, and that\u2019s when the Colts seemed to find another gear. They put everyone on alert when they beat ninth-ranked Clarkston, who won the Red and went to the D1 state semifinals last season, 5-1 on Aug. 25.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t one of those games where we scored loads of goals at the end,\u201d Colts head coach Adam Spinks said. \u201cWe scored three in the first and jumped on them again and scored two early goals. Yeah, I think we\u2019re in a good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spinks said that following Troy\u2019s 6-0 domination of Oxford at home on Sept. 1, another where his team wasted no time in flaunting its quality.\n<\/p>\n
The variety in which the scoring is being done is part of what makes the display impressive. Already leading less than nine minutes into that game against the Wildcats on goals by Kevin Garay and Abdul Rehman, Connor Hotts curled a ball off the far post to make it 3-0 inside under 15 minutes. One of Troy\u2019s deeper players caught Oxford\u2019s left back a little too high up and played a cross to the right wing for Nic Thomas, who played a cross to Mateo Coronado that made it 4-0, still in the opening 40 minutes.<\/p>\n
Oxford’s Noah Ritter, right, tries to keep up with Troy’s Mateo Coronado in a 6-0 Colts’ victory on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026. (BRYAN EVERSON – MediaNews Group)<\/p>\n
For good measure, Nick Van Raemdonck arrived from the back and connected with a header to complete the scoring in the final eight minutes. If it wasn\u2019t him, it could have been 6-foot-5 center back Blake Kuiper, another unmissable target when he arrives in the box.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur team can score from anywhere,\u201d said Kuiper, the lone returning starter along that back line with Van Raemdonck. \u201cWe can score from up top, as you can see. We can score from the midfield, and also dangerous from set pieces, too, so we can score from anywhere, really.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though it looks it now, it wasn\u2019t necessarily a sure thing that the Colts (5-0-0, 3-0-0), ranked second in the latest D1 poll, would be the division frontrunner. But like the Wolves with Cole Cooper and Micah Amega, they graduated a pair of first-team all-state midfielders in Nick Kamugunga, who scored for Detroit Mercy in its Horizon League opener on Wednesday, and Austin Su, who logged his first assist at Michigan when the Wolverines played Notre Dame last Sunday.<\/p>\n
There was a massive amount of production to replace in those two. Off the top of his head, Spinks estimated Su\u2019s goal contributions were close to 40 and Kamugunga wasn\u2019t far behind at around 30. Said Spinks, \u201cWe knew at the beginning of the year, no one is going to be Austin Su, right? We knew that, but (we told them) be yourself and be the best possible version of yourself. We knew we had talent in the front line.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hotts is already looking like one of the best forwards to come out of the program in recent memory. He registered double-digit goals as a freshman (at least half of them in the playoffs), then added a brace against Oxford and was one of the talismen when the Colts beat Bloomfield Hills 5-0 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying with Austin and Nick, they were kind of role models for me, but I knew I could do it after watching them play,\u201d Hotts said. \u201cI learned a lot from them and I\u2019ve enjoyed almost taking the mantle so far and learning from them and performing like they used to do. It boosted my confidence (playing like I did as a freshman), for sure. It was hard, especially last year, coming in and playing against bigger guys. But great team, fans, great bench and coaches, they all give me motivation, make me believe I can do it and push me to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n
The high-flying offense has bred a friendly competition for who can wear Troy\u2019s \u201cGolden Boot,\u201d the phrase coined for a team\u2019s leading scorer in the sport. Hotts has six goals after Tuesday\u2019s shutout, while Coronado and Ryan Wind aren\u2019t far behind. And as proven by the fact that four other players not named Coronado or Wind joined Hotts in finding the back of the net against Bloomfield Hills, the scoring prowess goes beyond the starting XI.<\/p>\n
\u201cMateo\u2019s scoring goals, Kevin as well picking up goals in the midfield, and even off our bench when we bring guys on, there\u2019s not a big drop in level, which we\u2019ve not had in many years,\u201d Spinks said. \u201cThe group this year is actually really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maybe that\u2019s what\u2019s allowed the Colts to almost look better coming off a year where they might have just missed on the division but still went 13-4-1 and nearly captured a regional title.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think every year you have a different group of guys, and we\u2019d describe this group as super high energy,\u201d Spinks said. \u201cWhen you compare this group to last year\u2019s, ability-wise we\u2019re not as good, but we\u2019ve got better work ethic and I think that shows how fast we start in games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, we\u2019re a powerhouse school, right? I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve ever massively overlooked. But people can be like, \u2018They\u2019re not going to be as good as what they were.\u2019 But I think we\u2019ve proven with (the games against Clarkston and Oxford) we are the real deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Spinks and his staff know that it\u2019s still all to play for, particularly next Tuesday when Troy travels to take on city rival and 12th-ranked Athens. The Red Hawks were responsible for half of the Colts\u2019 losses in 2025, including the 3-1 defeat in the regional final.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve spoke about not getting carried away with beating Clarkston and being ranked No. 2,\u201d Spinks said. \u201cAll these rankings don\u2019t give you a 1-nil start when you step on the field \u2026 We\u2019ve just got to stay on the right track and keep that momentum flying.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No one in the OAA Red Division is off to a hotter start this season than the Troy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[2044,795,143,904,145,144,127,4863],"class_list":["post-459037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-high-school-sports","tag-michigan","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-county","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-sports","tag-troy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}