Tuesday, August 26, 2008 11:09 PM CDT
Unknown Salem is Wave's first soccer foe; Trojans face tough pool
By BRIAN NIELSEN, Sports Editor
bnielsen@jg-tc.com
Perennial power Dunlap is not returning but plenty of talent remains in Charleston’s Red & Gold Invitational boys’ soccer tournament.
While the defending champion of the Red Pool Dunlap went elsewhere this year, runner-up Jacksonville remains a major hurdle while last year’s Gold Pool winner Centralia moves over to the Red to add to the tough competition for tournament host Charleston.
Mattoon, which tied Centralia in a 1-1 game and in tournament points with 10 but lost a goal-differential tie-breaker for the Gold Pool title, begins its quest for this year’s title with a Friday game against a Salem team just starting its high school program.
“We don’t know anything about them, if there are kids who have played club,” Mattoon coach Ryan Ghere said. “Right now all we can worry about is ourselves.”
Before Mattoon plays one game Friday and two Saturday at Hi-Cone fields north of Charleston, the 12th annual Red & Gold is to start today with Charleston playing host to Olney in a 5 p.m. junior varsity game and then the varsity contest to follow at about 6:30 p.m. at Charleston High School’s newly lighted field.
The rest of the five-team Red Pool action – including one Friday varsity game and two on Saturday for the host Trojans – is to move to Sister City Park’s Nino Fields as in the past.
Night soccer at CHS and the Trojans’ season already got started with Monday’s 3-1 regular season win over Decatur St. Teresa.
“It really felt good to get one under our belts,” Charleston coach Paul Stranz said. “It didn’t come easy. I was real pleased with the effort and the correction we made at halftime.”
Junior Jason Coon, the top returning scorer from last year’s 13-7-3 team, scored two of the Trojans’ goals.
With nine lettermen but just two seniors, Charleston now moves on to these challenges in a tourney where it finished third among five teams in last year’s pool
“This bracket we’re in is a very tough bracket with Jacksonville, Centralia, Decatur MacArthur and Olney.”
Jacksonville has five starters back from a 15-6-1 team that finished third in last year’s Central State 8 Conference.
Junior goalkeeper Ryan Douglas posted seven shutouts last year while allowing 1.02 goals per game.
Senior forward Matt Foote scored eight goals and five assists last year and junior midfielder Garrett Metz had seven goals and three assists as a sophomore.
“We’re a young squad in 2008 but look for kids to improve with each outing and be a much better club come postseason time,” Jacksonville’s veteran coach Steve West said. “We will just play one game at a time and look to get better with each game of the tournament. We have a number of players who have very little varsity experience so we look to get a quick dose of that with the four games we play at the Red/Gold Tournament.
“As far as whom I think will win the pool, I have no idea. We’ll just have to wait and see what everyone else has.”
Decatur MacArthur has senior midfielder Kyle Fenton, senior defender Joseph Bunker and junior forward Michael Vercellino to lead its bid to challenge in the Red Pool.
“The top teams in this year’s Charleston Tournament are Jacksonville, Charleston and Mac,” MacArthur coach Dale Smith said. “We are returning nine starters from last year. Things look good at this point. We will see when the season starts.”
In the Gold Pool, Mattoon is looking to build from last year’s 12-9-3 season, its first winning record since 2003.
The Green Wave has Cooper Grady up front, Nick Maninfior and Jose Lira at midfield and Terry McCrate, Nathan Arthur and Tyler Beason leading the defense
“We’re ready to play a game,” Ghere said. “We just need a game. It’s a good way to get ready for the season with three games in two days.”
The last of those games in the Gold Pool reduced to four teams is on Saturday against Teutopolis, which reached last year’s small-school state quarterfinals finishing 16-9-2.
Brian Haskenherm was noted the team’s Most Valuable Player last year and was first-team Decatur Herald & Review All-Area.
“He is an extremely intelligent player and we will be looking for him to become a substantial scorer this season,” said Josh Cottrill, a Kansas High School graduate who is entering his fourth year as Teutopolis’ coach.
Haskenherm has plenty of help from the likes of Mitch Bothwell, Nick Weber, Russ Goeckner and John Runde.
“John Runde is one of the toughest goalkeepers around,” Cottrill said. “He is fearless in the goal and knows where and how to play attackers and does a great job at coordinating our defenders.”
Another Gold Pool entry Effingham whose coach Kurt Roberts expects big strides after a 3-14-3 season.
“EHS has had a few down years in the past but the players have a great outlook and have given their off-season the best effort I have ever seen at EHS,” Roberts said. “We have never won overall at the Red-Gold but have come close. This year we will change that.
“Salem is obviously an unknown to all of us. Mattoon, and Teutopolis are always tough opponents, but EHS has the team that will defeat them. My players expect nothing less than an undefeated season this year.”
Adam Buening, Joe Balda, Kelly Koester, Ed Swingler, Mike Gadberry and Austin Marshall are returning lettermen for the Hearts.
Tournament standings are determined by awarding three points for a win and one for a tie. The tie-breaking system includes goal differential, total goals allowed and goals scored counting a maximum of four goals per game.
Contact Brian Nielsen at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or 238-6856.
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