Kids of a certain era will remember following the bouncing ball to sing along with Disney cartoons.

That was way before Laila Martin’s time. However, the junior forward from Stevenson did such a good job of following the bouncing soccer ball May 6 that it resulted in a pair of goals and a 2-1 victory against St. Clair.

The win padded the Titans’ lead in the Macomb Area Conference White Division. Stevenson is 8-1-1 in the division and 12-3-1 overall.

Martin opened the scoring during the eighth minute of the first half. Her second goal came with 15:20 remaining in the second half. It turned out to be the winner when the Saints’ Lila Cron headed in a corner kick from Ella Groeneveld with 12:29 to go.

“On the first (goal) the ball was bouncing around in the box and I put it in,” Martin said. “I tried to look where the keeper was, shot it and hoped for the best.

“The second was like the first. The ball was bouncing in the box and I just tried my best to put it in. It went off the keeper but it was good.”

Martin, who is playing her first year of high school soccer, and Presley Jones have given Stevenson a deadly 1-2 scoring punch.

“Presley has set numerous school scoring records the last couple years. She’s a threat every time she gets the ball,” said coach Tony Casali. “Laila Martin is playing at a pretty high level in her first year of high school soccer. Those two have found a connection. They work together and they’re both unselfish. It’s a difficult combo for teams to deal with.”

Martin enjoys working with Jones.

“We both get along really well,” she said. “We work off each other really well. It’s been fun.”

After St. Clair got within a goal, the Saints applied some pressure but couldn’t get the equalizer.

“We played better in the second half,” said Saints coach Cliff Freeland. “I think we lost some confidence after that early goal.”

Goalkeeper Zaira Sullivan made several fine saves to keep the Saints in the game until the final horn.

This is St. Clair’s first year in the MAC White after dominating the MAC Blue with two first places and a second the last three seasons.

It has been a long road to the top for Stevenson, which was 0-9-3 in the MAC White in 2022. The next two years the Titans were 2-6-2 and 5-7-0 in division play. Last year’s 10-9 overall record was the first winning season in three years.

Casali has a quick explanation for Stevenson’s resurgence.

“I think it’s the core group of seniors,” he said. “They’ve been part of that entire journey. They’ve progressively seen what it takes. As they’ve gotten older they’ve understood more of what I’m expecting of them. All my seniors are great on-the-field leaders, regardless of whether they’re captains or not.

“They see what it takes and keep pressing forward. It makes a huge difference to have good leaders. We’ve taken our bumps and bruises over the years. They’ve learned as they’ve gone along and this year it’s paid off.”

The seniors are goalkeeper Diana Marku, Ava McGowan, Jones and Maria Micakaj. Micakaj is the steadying hand on a young defense.

The seniors have brought a sense of calm to the team.

“We know there are ups and downs in a long season and we try to take it one day at a time,” Casali said. “We try not to get too high on our wins and try not to get too low on our losses. When we lose we challenge everyone to see what we can do to get better.

“I’m super proud of these kids. It’s been a fun year and I hope we can keep it going a while longer.”