St. Pius X hadn’t won a district championship since 2013 until the Lancers knocked off Cape Girardeau Notre Dame to capture the Class 2 District 1 title last fall.
The Lancers ended the season with a 14-9 overall record after a 1-0 loss to Lutheran South in the sectional round.
St. Pius (4-1) finished second to Perryville (5-0) in the Jefferson County Activities Association standings.
Seven seniors and one junior return to their starting positions and head coach Steve Smith said he is excited about a group of freshmen who were on a CYC team that won a city-county title last year.
“Half of our squad will be veterans with a lot of varsity experience, while the other half will be young players with little to no varsity experience,” said Smith, who enters his fourth season as coach. “Expectations and keys to success for the season are to build team chemistry, be humble, be able to deal with adversity, cherish every moment and work to become the best possible squad going into districts.”
The Lancers are thick with experience and talent up front and in the midfield. Seniors Dalton Coomes and Jax Byington and junior Gabe Verzola form the nucleus of the midfield. Seniors Carter Easter and Tyler Hedtkamp are the strikers. Seniors John Herrell and Adam Edwards are the top two defenders and senior Brendan Otec returns at goalkeeper.
Easter led St. Pius with 18 goals and netted the game-winning tally in the district final. He’s one of three returning Lancers who scored double-digit goals. Coomes (14) and Hedtkamp (14) are the other two.
“(Easter) brings a tenacity to produce goal-scoring opportunities,” Smith said. “(Coomes) brings soccer intelligence and dynamic play to the game.”
Smith said Edwards is confident enough to mark the opponent’s best attackers, Herrell is a composed defender who helps build the attack and Byington has a pure passion for the game.
Otec played 1,446 minutes in goal, posted five solo shutouts and had a very respectable goals-against average of 1.83.
“(Otec) has the confidence to make the game-changing save during a game,” Smith said.
The Lancers remain in the same class and district with Cape Girardeau Notre Dame, Perryville and Fredericktown. St. Pius played at DuBourg Wednesday, after the Leader deadline. The Lancers play their first home game Tuesday against Affton.
Owls look to improve on late-season surge
After losing its first six games in 2017, Windsor shook up its lineup and turned the season around, ending up as a district champion for just the second time in school history.
The Owls were adapting to their new head coach, Chris Krueger, and a new system of play. They reached the Class 3 District 2 final for the second straight year against Hillsboro and shut out the Hawks 3-0. Windsor met a powerful offensive force in North County in the sectionals, and played to a scoreless draw in the first half before finally succumbing 3-0 to finish the season 11-13-1.
Krueger enters his second season with a talented midfield and a 6-6 goalkeeper in junior Jared Tanner, who was named the starter after more than two weeks of practice.
“We want to continue to progress and build off of last season’s accomplishments,” Krueger said. “We want to win another district championship and to get further (in the playoffs) than we did, with the goal of getting to state (semifinals).”
Connor Portlock graduated this spring and took his team-leading 19 goals and 50 points to the Air Force Academy. Senior midfielder Cody Wilson is the most prolific scorer among the returners, with 10 goals and five assists last season. Senior midfielder Esteban Borja-Pena had seven goals and seven assists and has as much talent on the ball as any player in the county.
Windsor should be able to produce enough offense to be competitive with the Raiders this year, the coach said.
“(Borja-Pena’s) numbers don’t show his importance on the field,” Krueger said. “He is like the Energizer Bunny, who just keeps going and going. He’s always involved at both ends of the field. He’s quick and fast, along with being tough for his size. We can basically run through him offensively.”
Wilson is moving from forward to the wing in the midfield, and Krueger said that should open up more chances to use his skill and speed.
“Giving him more space to work should benefit him and the team,” Krueger said.
Senior midfielder Anton Sokolic is a calming influence at center midfield. Sokolic helps control possession, while offering defensive support in the transition.
Senior defender Jake Mahon is the centerpiece for the defense, but he was lost for most of last season with an injury. Mahon returned in October but was never 100 percent. Now is should be.
“Having him back there will give us some consistency as a second set of eyes to put people in the correct position,” Krueger said.
Junior forward Tanner Berry scored four goals last year and enters his third year on the varsity. Berry switched positions with Wilson this year.
“Where we hope having (Berry) closer to the goal more often will turn into more scoring chances and goals finished,” Krueger said. “Also, he will be playing against how own peers now, instead of older guys. We’re hoping that experience will help him take off this season.”
Windsor opened the season this week hosting a tournament that includes Perryville, St. Mary’s and North County. The Owls play St. Mary’s tonight (Thursday).
Krueger taught some of the seniors on his team when they were in third grade. He’s coached some of them for as many as 10 years.
“I know that I’ll never have a group of young men come through Windsor that I will know longer than these guys,” Krueger said. “It’s been special to watch them really grow up from little tykes to young men.”
Hawks in search of first winning season since 2011
It took Hillsboro almost three weeks to register its first win last season – a 10-2 shellacking of De Soto – and the Hawks never fully recovered from that slow start as they finished with a record of 6-18-2, the sixth straight season with a non-winning record.
But coming off of a Class 3 District 2 championship in 2016, the Hawks advanced to the district final for the second straight season, this time falling 3-0 to Windsor. In a district that includes the Owls, Festus and De Soto, Hillsboro is always a threat to reach the sectional round, regardless of its record.
“I expect to get back to the way we’ve played in the past, which is solid defense and a more intelligent attack to convert more of the chances when created,” said Chris Schacht, who has led the Hawks for 21 years. “We have nine seniors but plenty of youth mixed in so playing a little better each week is our main focus so we can peak at the proper time.”
Key returning seniors are goalkeeper Seth Oshia, midfielder Frank Tello and forwards Andy Maynard and Isaac Readnour. Juniors who return are midfielders Mark Moore and Mitchel Hickson and backs Gavin Wokurka and Andrew Bridges.
Moore led the Hawks with 14 goals and 35 points. Readnour accounted for seven goals, including two game-winners.
“I’m hoping for contributions from all over the field and a balanced attack, which makes the attack more difficult to defend,” Schacht said.
Hillsboro opened the season at home with a 1-0 win against Festus on Friday. The Hawks travel to Lutheran South for a game tonight (Thursday).
2017 was transition year for Tigers
Boo!
The last time Festus won a district game was Halloween night in 2011. Last year, the Tigers ended the campaign with a 5-18 record, which was a positive note, considering they had won just two games combined the previous two years.
“We had a big senior class, most of which made up our defensive line,” head coach Austin Burgert said. “We were young up top, which left us with some missed scoring opportunities in several close games. Overall, we are still building and moving in the right direction.”
Forward Alec Bell led the Tigers with nine goals and returns at striker. Nathan Hirth returns to anchor the defense. And Jack Uskiwich played goal for more than half of the minutes last season. The three players form the nucleus of this year’s team.
“I think Alec is going to be a big contributor offensively for us,” Burgert said. “I think he’s going to be a huge asset up top. I think Jack is going to do great things for us. We also have a really good group of young guys whom we hope will be able to contribute this season.”
Burgert said despite graduating a large class of players, he has high aspirations for the Tigers this fall. After starting the season on Friday against Hillsboro, Festus hosts the 12th annual Soccer Classic this week.
“Our guys have put in a ton of hard work in the offseason and I think that is only going to benefit us down the stretch,” Burgert said. “This fall season is long and sometimes grueling so we just have to keep our heads down and word hard.”
Dragons look to rebound from ‘difficult year’
Going into his seventh season as head coach at De Soto, Nate Reiser said he’s been looking forward to this fall for a long time.
“Most of the team is older, faster and stronger,” Reiser said. “They have experience. The boys have had to deal with three years of losing and now have a hunger to win. I expect we will have a competitive team in all games.”
The Dragons (2-20 last year) have posted a record of 5-37 the last two seasons, but just three years ago were on the plus side of .500. Chase Brookshier, Dieterich Guertzgen, Shaun Brooks, Nick Reiser, Clayton Patterson, Jacob Kolb, Andrew Dean and Brennan Howe form a solid senior class.
De Soto didn’t score a lot of goals (30) last year, and Reiser, a forward, accounted for 21 of them. Junior Tyler Dutton is another scoring threat after he put up four goals and eight assists (16 points) last year. Guertzgen and junior Bryan Emmons and freshman Chase Reichmuth control the midfield.
Patterson, Dean and Howe form a solid defense in front of Brooks, who played goal for all but 291 minutes last season.
“The back line is all returning and mature, so it will be fun to watch these boys play,” Nate Reiser said.
De Soto started the season Monday against Christian Academy of Greater St. Louis. The Dragons’ first home game is Sept. 5 against Brentwood.