New Windsor soccer head coach Chris Krueger had a tough issue to tackle in his first season, when he dismissed senior Cesar Bello from the team on Aug. 30 due to disciplinary issues.
Krueger said he had the support of athletic director Tom Ludwig and school administrators.
Krueger replaced George Van Dyke as the Owls’ head coach in April. Van Dyke coached the Owls for 10 seasons and amassed more than 100 victories.
Not only is Krueger new to his job, but so are his assistant, Chris Malec, and junior varsity coach Mike Alvarado.
“We were kind of battling with Cesar the last couple weeks,” Krueger said. “I don’t know if losing him will hurt us because I’ve got three juniors playing center-midfield. Losing a senior is hard. He didn’t want to buy into the new philosophy.”
Bello, who scored nine goals and had seven assists in his career with the Owls, was a first-team member of the Jefferson County Activities Association soccer squad last fall, along with senior teammate Connor Portlock.
Portlock is back at wing-midfield this season. Krueger said Portlock took the news of Bello’s departure hard and hopes he can turn his emotions into a positive for the team.
“Connor’s got the potential to be really good,” Krueger said. “He’s kind of hurting right now because of that decision to let Cesar go. I hope he can bounce back and be a good leader for us. Sometimes having them together was a detriment because they didn’t include anybody else.”
If the Owls’ current record of 0-5-1 and the loss of Bello alarms Windsor fans, they should recall that the team started last season 1-6 before finishing 12-7 and 4-2 in league play. The Owls have played larger schools in the Parkway-Northwest Tournament the last two years and have taken their lumps both times. But Krueger said he’s seen evidence that his team is better than its record would indicate.
“That’s a good-sized tournament and we play in it to get a feel for what our weaknesses are so we can work on them,” Krueger said.
The Owls had just three subs in their opener, a 2-2 draw against Parkway West. Windsor led the Longhorns 2-0, but allowed the game-tying goal with 48 seconds to play because the lack of depth had the Owls fatigued.
The Owls were back on the field at 10 a.m. the next morning (Aug. 19) against Northwest and took a 1-0 lead in that game before falling 5-2.
Senior Austin Bagley is the starting goalkeeper, but he had no varsity experience going into the season. He’s backed up by junior varsity keeper Jared Tanner, who started against the Lions.
“Jared played a really solid first 25 minutes but (Northwest) scored on some miscommunication and then scored three goals in nine minutes,” Krueger said.
Senior center-back Nick Renaud was injured a lot last year. An injury to junior Jake Mahon opened the door for Renaud to start. Mahon could return by mid-October. The wing-backs are Carter Schmutzler and Brandon Ruegge. Krueger said Schmutzler plays tough, has good speed and can attack when needed. Ruegge has been the steadiest defender so far.
“(Ruegge) on a one-on-one matchup every game and he loves it,” Krueger said.
Also in the backfield is junior Nate Harrington, who broke his collarbone playing ice hockey in January, and junior Brandon Bowen, who can play center-midfield, wing-back and is the team’s emergency keeper.
Sophomore Hayden Holmes replaces Bello at center-mid, and the Owls have depth there with juniors Anton Sokolic, Cameron Gay and Esteban Borja Pena. On the wings are foreign exchange student Juan Pablo Ambriz Rosas, sophomore Tanner Berry and junior Cole Stelling. Krueger said in a 3-1 loss to Union, the Wildcats’ keeper robbed Stelling of goals three times.
Junior Cody Wilson returns to the varsity at forward. Seniors Gary Ziegler and Dylan Sullivan are also up top.
Lancers off to 4-1 start
Second-year head coach Steve Smith has three goals for St. Pius X this fall: beat three opponents the Lancers aren’t supposed to beat; finish the season with a winning record; and advance to the district championship.
The last time the Lancers were in a district final was 2014, when they lost the Class 2 District 1 championship 1-0 to eventual state champion Perryville.
St. Pius finished 10-10 last season after a 2-0 loss to the Pirates in district play.
“The thing that sets apart this team is their ability to overcome adversity,” said Smith, a DuBourg graduate who enters his sophomore season as coach. “Against DuBourg (Aug. 23) we had a bad play and gave up a goal on a penalty kick and were able to win that game 2-1.”
Smith said the 2016 season was filled with adversity because he was new to the job, but the Lancers annually play a tough schedule and the bulk of their starters were sophomores who were varsity newcomers.
The Lancers are 4-1 this season. Their only loss was 3-2 in double overtime to Cape Girardeau Notre Dame.
“At Cape, we went up by a goal but started the game real flat,” Smith said. “In the second half, it was the same story and they hurt us with two unanswered goals. Even in the 90th minute, we were tied 2-2 and Tyler Hedtkamp’s head shot glanced off the goalpost.”
Hedtkamp, a junior forward, leads the Lancers this season with seven goals. Smith said he’s a natural goal scorer. Juniors Carter Easter and Robert Vance are also up top. Easter scored four goals last season.
“The key is to get Tyler to work just as hard off the ball as on the ball to create goal-scoring opportunities,” Smith said. “If he does that, he’s a dangerous player.”
Junior wing back Dalton Coomes is second on the team with six goals so far. Smith said Coomes, who scored against Notre Dame, could be the Lancers’ quickest player on the ball. Senior Jacob Michael starts at wing-back.
Senior forward Jason Rothweiler and junior midfielder Jake Madden were both first-team all-conference players last season. Madden led St. Pius with 11 goals and 28 points. Rothweiler is a four-year varsity player and one of the few Lancers to have played in a district final.
“Jason is the most technically gifted on the team and is expected to be a true team leader, especially in games where the stakes are high,” Smith said.
Smith said Madden has the potential to crack the all-state team.
“He can impose his will on the game,” Smith said. “He’ll be an impact player on the college level if he chooses to play beyond high school.”
Senior defender Nick Sippel transferred from the former Kennedy High and has fit right in, Smith said. Juniors John Herrell and Adam Edwards return to the backfield.
“(Sippel) earned the respect of his teammates right off the bat with his talent and composure,” Smith said. “He’s a key piece on our back line protecting leads.”
Junior midfielder Jax Byington gives the Lancers a spark; Smith calls him “the ultimate team player.”
Junior Brendan Otec approached Smith in the offseason and told him he wanted to be the team’s goalkeeper. Otec and junior Luke Klahs split time in the nets during the first few games this season and Otec has emerged as the starter. Otec’s older sister, Jena Otec, graduated last spring after an all-state career with the St. Pius volleyball team. His younger sister, Caly, plays volleyball for the defending Class 2 champions.
“Brendan is a defender by nature and he’s athletic like the rest of the Otecs,” Smith said. “He said, ‘Coach, can I try out for keeper?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely.’ It’s like we have 11 defenders and he has the confidence of the team.”
Reiser was all-state last year
De Soto junior forward Nick Reiser scored six goals and had 21 assists as a freshman and seven goals and eight assists last season.
In his first two seasons, Reiser, head coach Nate Reiser’s son, has elevated his play to all conference and all district to all state in 2016.
But not even the talented forward has been able to pull the Dragons (0-3) out of the funk of an 11-game losing streak that stretches back to last Sept. 27. Nate Reiser said this year’s team isn’t much different than the previous version in terms of experience. De Soto has one senior.
“But we have a strong sophomore and junior class that will carry the load this year,” said Nate Reiser, who enters his sixth season. “This team is still developing its individual game. This is one of my most unified groups of players. Though we have players still developing, I’m pleased with the team chemistry.”
Supporting Nick Reiser from the midfield are sophomores Tyler Dutton and Bryan Emmons and junior Jacob Kolb.
Patrolling the defense are backs Clayton Patterson, Andrew Dean and Brennan Howe.
Junior Shawn Brooks played every minute in goal for the Dragons last year and Nick Reiser said he’s getting stronger in the net. Brooks allowed 76 goals in 1,594 minutes last season.
Freshmen Wyatt Pinson and Hunter Dill are “unknown elements” right now, but as the season progresses, the coach said he expects Pinson to add depth to the offense and Dill is still trying to find his optimum spot.
“We competed with most teams last season and made a quality showing,” Nick Reiser said. “We were very young and inexperienced in too many positions.”
Tigers open season with win
When you’ve won just three games in the past three seasons, it doesn’t take much success to inspire enthusiasm.
Alec Bell, Michael Smith and Jack Uskiwich scored and Tim Uskiwich was in goal as Festus beat Hancock 3-2 in its season opener last month, marking the first time the Tigers have been above .500 since they beat the same team to start the 2011 season.
“Last year was a down year for us,” said new head coach Austin Burgert, who replaced Scott Evans, the coach for eight years.
Tim Uskiwich, a senior, is the player Burgert is counting on to keep the Tigers competitive this year.
“He has done an outstanding job for us in previous seasons and now is in a senior leader position. I think he is capable of doing some great things.”
Burgert said that Bell will be a main cog in the midfield.
“He brings a great presence to the field and is definitely a playmaker,” Burgert said. “He has already shown he can compete at this level and I am looking forward to him doing great things in the future.”
Seniors Willie Wiesollek (midfield) and Chance Gotsch (back) are part of a group of players Burgert is relying on in his first season as head coach.
“I have high hopes and aspirations for this team,” Burgert said. “We have a good group of young players to help build the program back to what it once was and I look forward to a good season.”
Hawks defending district title
Talk about a gauntlet to start the season.
When looking at Hillsboro’s current situation, its 0-4-1 record and one goal scored looks like a harbinger of a bad season.
But look at who the Hawks have played and it becomes clear that they’ve taken on the state’s best with games against Francis Howell North, which was third in Class 4 last season, Rockwood Summit, the Class 3 state champions, and Lutheran South, third in Class 2.
Chris Schacht has been the Hawks’ head coach for 20 years, so he’s seen his share of tough competition. Schacht led Hillsboro to a record of 11-14-1 and its first district title since 2011 last year. The Hawks were bounced in the Class 3 sectional playoffs by North County.
“It was an up-and-down season,” Schacht said. “We had a solid defensive team but struggled to score at times.”
Stopping shots on goal is back in the very capable hands of senior goalkeeper Joe Bogowith, the first-team keeper in the JCAA a year ago. Despite the Hawks’ record, “Bogo” has a respectable 2.86 goals-against average. Last season he played 2,120 minutes and had allowed 1.47 goals per game.
Bogowith will have to be stellar again because the returning Hawks have a collective four goals among them from 2016.
“I believe our offensive output will be a committee-type approach,” Schacht said. “We have several players who can score, but I’m not sure if we have a true bona fide goal scorer. That is something many teams in the area struggle with.”
Although lacking goal scorers, the Hawks have plenty of veterans returning. Key players are seniors Justin Fitzpatrick (midfielder) and Ben Kelam (back), juniors Frank Tello (midfielder) and Isaac Readnour (midfielder) and sophomores Mark Moore (forward), Mitchel Hickson (midfielder) and Andrew Bridges (back).
“Although I’d love to win every game, the overall record doesn’t mean much when late October comes around,” Schacht said. “There are no non-conference patsies on our schedule, so we get tested in each game we play. That is what I hope to be a recipe for success when we start the postseason.”