FRUITPORT – There’s something noticeably different about this year’s Fruitport soccer team, even though it has a lot of the same players back from last season.

The Trojans have a certain calm and confidence that wasn’t there last year, when they broke through and won their first district championship since 2008.

Last year they displayed a lot of wild emotion, almost like they surprised themselves, after a victory over Northview in the district championship game.

On Thursday there was more joy, to be sure, following a decisive 4-1 victory over Reeths-Puffer that clinched a second straight Division 2 district title.

But none of the players seemed particularly surprised that they beat the Rockets and won the trophy again.

It was fun, they were happy, but it almost seemed like business as usual.

It’s that type of calm and confidence that has guided the Trojans to an undefeated record through 20 games so far, and could lead them to bigger and more impressive accomplishments over the next few weeks.

“We’ve been with a lot of these guys a long time, and they have an understanding of the expectations of what Fruitport soccer is all about,” said Trojans head coach Dan Hazekamp, whose team is now 19-0-1 and moves on to play either Petoskey or Marquette in the first round of regionals next Tuesday.

“It’s not cockiness, but a certain confidence, and they refuse to lose. They’ve been that way a long time, and it’s really nice getting to put that on display in big games. Hopefully we can keep doing that moving forward.”

One Trojan who was not around for last year’s district championship was junior forward Carter Gregor, who transferred to Fruitport from Orchard View this year.

He scored two of the four Trojan goals on Thursday, and unlike many of his teammates experienced the thrill of becoming a first-time district champion.

“I wanted to play soccer, I played with a lot of these boys on a travel team, and I love these guys,” Gregor said. “It’s been everything I dreamed of.”

There’s a reason that the Trojans are so calm and confident in big games. They have some special tools that other teams don’t have, and used them effectively against the Rockets.

One is a quick-strike scoring ability, which can come out of nowhere at any time and leave opponents shaking their heads.

The Trojans struck three times in the first half against Reeths-Puffer, in a game that was otherwise pretty even.

The first came from 6-foot-5 senior forward Isaac VanderMolen, who scored a beautiful header goal off a corner kick just 90 seconds into the game. The Rockets had yet to break a sweat and suddenly were trailing 1-0.

The second came quite a while later, with 6:18 left in the first half, after Reeths-Puffer had settled down and was giving Fruitport a fight. It came from junior forward Jorge Burgos-Yack, who found the net on a long, high shot from about 20 yards out.

The third goal came from Gregor about five minutes later, when he popped in a rebound from close range after the R-P goalie made a nice save.

The Trojans only outshot the Rockets 4-3 in the first half, but those three goals basically settled the issue before halftime.

“We have special players like Issac and Jorge, and Carter Gregor has really come on,” Hazekamp said. “We also have so many other guys who do so much of the gritty, blue-collar work. When we put it all together offensively, we can put up goals in a hurry.”

Another special weapon for the Trojans is standout senior goalkeeper Logan Werschem, who sometimes doesn’t have a chance to show off his skills because Fruitport plays great defense.

Reeths-Puffer had quite a few quality chances, however, and actually tied the Trojans 10-10 in shots on goal.

But Werschem was there to calmly turn away 9 of the 10 shots and kept R-P off the scoreboard for most of the game.

“Logan is experienced back there, and he just does not give up many rebounds, which is huge,” Hazekamp said about his goalie. “He is so confident coming out of the net. I think he displayed why he is one of the best goalkeepers in the state. He just has a lot of composure back there, sometimes in heavy traffic with a lot of pressure.”

Reeths-Puffer didn’t score until very late, when Owen Ritsema found the net with 6:42 left in the game.

That came after Gregor scored his second goal of the game, on another rebound, to give Fruitport a 4-0 lead.

The Trojans will try to take their state tournament run one step farther than last year, when they reached the regional finals before bowing out.

Gregor, the newcomer, thinks he knows the formula for success as the Trojans advance to play very tough teams.

“We just have to keep going out hard, we have to keep playing fast,” he said. “When we come out fast and strong we are unstoppable.”