“He was firing them off like a rocket,” said a Kingsley school board member whose son was goalkeeper for part of the game. “We went over and hugged our boys. That’s what was needed. Their hearts were bleeding,” according to The Detroit Free Press.
After the game, the Kingsley head coach, per the local paper, said, "To go after a personal record like that at the cost of another team's dignity was a little uncalled for. Soccer is not the right place for that. Soccer is a gentleman's sport," he said. The Kingsley School Superintendent was quoted, "If high school sports degenerates into 'Let's try to hang the most points we can and taking advantage of people when they're down,' we're really missing the mark and need to reevaluate why we're doing this.”
The Benzie Central coach told local news media that he knew records were possible against the struggling (Kingsley) Stags. But “It was a player getting hot and I got lost in the opportunity the kid had in front of him,” the coach said. After members of the Kingsley School Board informally called for his firing, the Benzie Central coach sent a letter to Kingsley, apologizing for some remarks he made (according to reports he and his player talked openly about the record on the sidelines before the game), saying he didn't mean to "humiliate your players or your program," per The AP.