ROYAL OAK >> Berkley turned the tables from last year’s playoffs and edged past Troy Athens 1-0 to reach its fourth district final in the last five years.

The Red Hawks, who entered the night ranked No. 8, defeated the Bears 5-2 at the same stage last season on the way to their D1 state title. They also defeated 12th-ranked Berkley 3-1 when the teams met earlier this year in league play, but not so many goals were needed to decide the rematch.

Instead, Mac Sperl played a through ball to Kai Nielsen, who got behind the defense and slotted home a ball from the top of the box with 9:21 remaining in the first half for the game’s only goal.

Berkley settled in defensively, and while Athens had their share of possession, they struggled to penetrate the Bears’ defensive line and never seriously tested the Berkley goalkeeper despite generating eight total shots in the second half.

“No quality in the final third has been our biggest issue all year,” Athens head coach Kevin McConnell said. “But they fought hard. I’m pretty proud of the way we played in the second half. We came out and did what we were hoping to do. We just didn’t have the quality in the final third to get one past them.”

Overall, Spencer Bajcz made eight saves in a steady performance in net for the Bears.

The Red Hawks’ highest-quality chance came early when they got behind the defense about 12 minutes into the game, and Bajcz had to come up with a big stop just outside of his six-yard box to keep the game scoreless.

A team known for its defensive prowess, Berkley had struggled to contain Athens by conceding a collective eight goals in those aforementioned last pair of meetings, so Monday’s meeting represented a marked turnaround for the Bears. This time, they were laser-focused and didn’t allow the Red Hawks to get loose offensively, slowly squeezing the life out of the Troy Athens attack as the game went on.

“I think we learned to adapt to their style of play,” Nielsen said. “I also think we had a pretty big chip on our shoulder. We were all getting texts and phone calls from the graduated seniors from last year who wanted us to win this game so badly. So we did it for them.”

The Bears (17-4-2) advance to the district final on Wednesday where they will face another tough rematch from earlier in the year when they face Troy.

“We’re fortunate that we play in such a hard league, and when we come into games like this, we’ve seen it 10 times this year,” Bears head coach Steve Wloszek said. “It doesn’t shock us. It’s nothing new to us, and the boys are ready. The next team up is the next team up. Our district is brutal every year, and I think this is six years in a row it’s the highest ranked MPR district out of all 64 in the state.“It is what it is. We know what we have coming into it, and the boys have expectations every year, even with this district. I give these captains — I give our team a ton of credit today. They came out. They left it on the field, and they gave us an opportunity to be able to fight another day.”

Troy Athens finishes the year 12-4-2.

“Obviously, coming in where we were at the beginning of the season with what we started with, knowing that we were graduating a huge amount and trying to defend a state championship is hard,” McConnell said. “What I was proud of is, at the beginning of the year, we weren’t young, but we were inexperienced. And I think some of the games early on were too big because the kids hadn’t experienced a bit of OAA atmosphere under the lights at seven o’clock, and I thought we grew into that as the season went. We became more and more experienced, and I think that bodes well.”

Added McConnell, “I’m going to have to take a moment to reflect, but I’m proud of what they did. The guys stepped up. We’ve got some great leaders, and I think we’ve got a great foundation moving forward.”