The Clarke Central High School varsity boys soccer team practices at Billy Henderson stadium on Feb. 1. The team’s first game will be on Feb. 2 against Shiloh High School. “I see a lot of success in this season, our practices are going good so far. We’ve only had three but they’re really intense and everybody’s ready to win so hopefully we will,” CCHS senior and varsity forward Muhammad DeLane said. “We just got to focus on winning our region games and then we can move on from there.” Photo by Owen Donnelly.
The Clarke Central High School varsity boys soccer coach and players expect an intense and successful season, kicking off their season on Feb. 2 with their first game against Shiloh High School.
The Clarke Central High School varsity boys soccer team had 8 wins, 6 losses, and 3 ties last year but fell short of making it to the playoffs. Varsity boys head soccer coach Chris Aiken, who has been coaching for six years, believes that this in part was due to the success of the 2016 season.
“I think in 2016 when we made the Elite Eight, we had a really successful season, a lot of really good senior leaders at practice and the intensity and effort was there every day. So, in 2017, when we graduated all those seniors we didn’t respond very well. We weren’t putting in the same effort — the same intensity — and I think we thought because we were so good in 2016, that in 2017 we thought it would be easy,” Aiken said.
This year, Aiken is looking forward to working with the players to go further this season.
“I want them to want to come to work hard every day and I think you know they’ve been bringing that effort. You can see how excited they are to get on the field and rebound from not making the playoffs in 2017,” Aiken said.
Aiken has noticed a difference in the players’ drive and effort so far this season.
“The first four practices we had this year are in my opinion better than almost any training session we had last year,” Aiken said. “I just designed the practice plans myself to give them things to work on and it’s up to the players, the 18 players freshmen to seniors, to bring that energy and effort themselves. I think you know they’ve been bringing that you can see how excited they are to get on the field and rebound from not making the playoffs in 2017.”
Senior and varsity forward Muhammad DeLane started on the JV team as a freshman and began practicing with the varsity team his sophomore year. De Lane is optimistic about the current season and thinks their chance of winning the playoffs is high.
“I see a lot of success in this season, our practices are going good so far. We’ve only had three but they’re really intense and everybody’s ready to win so hopefully we will,” DeLane said. “We just got to focus on winning our region games and then we can move on from there.”
Looking forward, Aiken is hoping the energy of the team will stay the same throughout the season.
“I hope we have a ton of success but a lot of that will come from hard work and practice, making the right decisions in the classroom and just staying focused all season,” Aiken said.
