The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/558338
D-4 Fall Sports Preview Wednesday, August 19, 2015 The Press-Dispatch Chargers continue improving under new management The Pike Central High School boys' soccer team, which began its season against visiting Tell City on Tuesday, Aug. 18, will visit Princeton on Thursday, Aug. 20, and Washington Catholic on Tuesday, Aug. 25. The members of the team are, front row (l to r): Tyler Meadors, Kyson Western, Kaleb Claridge, Colton White, Jared McCord, Sam Brandle and Briar Meadors. Second row: Chaney McKinney, Christian Benson, Cameron Henson, Jacob Vest, Breyton Booker, Quade Claridge, Austin Holder and Josh Brandle. Third row: Kylan Arndt, Cole Leighty, Connor Gaines, Benny Hess, Kyle Williams, Austin Dixon and Sam Yager. Fourth row: Head Coach Chad Western, Assistant Coach Ian Perrotte, Caleb Mullins, Tyler Tormohlen, Gabe Elliott, Gavin Boyd and Assistant Coach Jacob Western. Not pictured: Hayden Kabrick. Ed Cahill photo See SOCCER on D-7 My main thing is we've got to com- pete every day at practice, eve- ry game, and we've got to enjoy it along the way. I want to finish with 27 kids. I want them all to come back the next year. I want them to have a good experience. I want the parents to have fun at every game. We call it a program. It's not just a soccer team." -Head Coach Chad Western BOYS' SOCCER By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@press- dispatch.net The Pike Central High School boys' soccer team returns 14 players – six juniors and eight sopho- mores – from a squad that went 7-9 -3 and advanced to the finals of the section- al tournament last season. Joining the Chargers this year will be 13 first- year players – two ju- niors, one sophomore and 10 freshmen – as well as an entirely new coach- ing staff headed by Chad Western, who previously served as head coach of the Pike Central Middle School boys' soccer pro- gram since its inception three years ago. "I didn't want it at first, because I didn't know if I was the best guy for it," said Chad Western, a 1989 graduate of Pike Central High School. "I tried to get a couple of people that I thought were freed up and could do it, and that didn't work out. And then, I thought, 'Maybe it is the best fit.' And I've got some good guys around me." One of Chad Western's assistant coaches this year will be Ian Perrotte, a for- mer member of the Grena- da national team who cur- rently works in Jasper and lives near Shoals. "He's definitely an of- fensive guy because that's what he played, so he's go- ing to lean a little more to- ward that," Chad Western said. "He's been around and played a lot of high- level soccer. I mean, he can jump out there now and show them things where the boys are like, 'Yeah, he's still got it.'" Chad Western will also be assisted by his son, Ja- cob Western, a two-time Pocket Athletic Confer- ence First Team selection who will also be coaching the Pike Central Middle School girls' soccer team for the third straight sea- son. "Jacob's been a big as- set because he's coached a lot," said Chad West- ern. "He's dealt with a lot of kids the last couple of years to give him a lot of insight on how to handle kids. And then he has a lot of soccer knowledge to give." In addition, Sam Beach, who assisted Chad West- ern the first two years of the middle school pro- gram, will return to the sideline. "He's back helping us when he can," Chad West- ern said. "I think he'll be more involved. I think he likes the high school kids. He enjoys that challenge a little more even." Chad Western said that there was a logical meth- od to how he selected his assistant coaches. "I always look for coach- es that are totally different from me," Chad Western said. "I don't want coach- es that coach like I do, be- cause we're only going to get to so much. If we're all looking at different things all the time, while we may not agree on everything, it's healthy if you can work through it." Chad Western and his coaching staff will have a lot of talent to work with, however, beginning with junior Colton White, who led the Chargers in scor- ing last season with 10 goals and four assists. In addition, White re- corded 33 saves while giv- ing up just two goals in 260 minutes at goalkeeper. "I won't never say that he won't play goal for us, because, in certain games, certain situations, he may be the guy for the job," Chad Western said. "Colton is just a competi- tor. He wants to win. I just love that. He's going to lead by example and try to be a winner." Another leading return- er is junior Jared McCord, who scored seven goals and dished out a team- high five assists last sea- son while allowing one goal in 40 minutes at goal- keeper. "Jared's a kid that can play anywhere on the field for us, and, at times, he may play anywhere on the field to help us out," Chad Western said. "He's got a great attitude about it, and he'll lead by example." Also returning is junior Kylan Arndt, who record- ed 63 saves – including one of three tries on pen- alty kicks – while allowing 25 goals in 620 minutes at goalkeeper. "He's a tough-nosed, give-it-you-everything- he's-got type of kid that is going to help us a lot, prob- ably mostly on the defen- sive side," Chad Western said of Arndt, who also scored two goals last sea- son. Juniors Sam Brandle and Cole Leighty will al- so see action on the defen- sive end, while junior Ca- leb Mullins will play some on the offensive end, as well as on defense. Meanwhile, junior Chaney McKinney, after skipping each of the past two seasons, has rejoined the soccer team. "He's got a lot of speed and athletic ability," Chad Western said. "He hasn't played for several years, so he's working on his skills. He'll probably be spotting in several spots." Junior Gabe Elliott was expected to join the Char- gers and compete for the starting goalkeeper posi- tion. However, he will be out for the season after he suffered a knee injury that required reconstruc- tive surgery in May. The returning sopho- mores are led by Chad Western's son, Kyson, who scored five goals and dished out four assists last season. "He's another kid that's very aware of what's going on," Chad Western said. "I would say his feel for the game and his awareness of the field and his team- mates makes him a real- ly good combination of a scoring threat and an as- sist man. He creates a lot of chances for other peo- ple or himself." Sophomore Breyton Booker will see action on the defensive end, serv- ing, at times, at one of the sweeper positions, Chad Western said. "He looks really good," Chad Western said. "He's positioning and he's very aware of his teammates and the situation. I mean, he's a very solid player wherever you put him. I really like him, because he's stepping up to help us out." Sophomore Gavin Boyd, who suffered a knee injury that required surgery over the summer, is expected to rejoin the Chargers in mid-season and, again, man one of the team's sweeper positions. "That's a kid we do need back," Chad Western said. "We need Gavin. If he gets back the first week of Sep- tember, he'd only miss, like, three to five games, so that wouldn't be bad. But we'd love to have Gavin back." Sophomore Quade Clar- idge, who saw a lot of ac- tion at one of the sweeper positions last season, also returns. "He will play out in the middle for us quite a bit," Chad Western said. "He's probably going to get some sweeper time with Gavin out. He's a great teammate and he's an- other one you never have a problem with. He's just one that's great to coach." Sophomore Briar Meadors, who scored three goals as a freshman, will see action mostly on the offensive end. "He'll probably play on the left wing a lot, because he has worked a lot on his left," Chad Western said. "That left wing is a spot that a lot of teams will let you kind of go, because they don't think you have a good one. So if you have a quality kid there, it def- initely strengthens your team." Meador's twin broth- er, Tyler, who also scored three goals last season, is also expected to see a lot of playing time on the of- fensive end. "He is a kid that can play anywhere on the field," Chad Western said. "He's probably going to play a lot of offense. He can play out of the middle and at- tack, he can play defense, he may even play sweep- er some. There's only a few kids on the team who can play both offense and defense and switch gears like that during a game." Returning sophomore Tyler Tormohlen will get the starting nod at goalkeeper, a position he played on the middle school level. "He is very aware of what he needs to do," Chad Western said. "He's played a lot of goalie. He's definitely got the most ex- perience on the team at playing goalie. He's just got to tweak his game and clean it up a little bit, but he definitely has got the right tools for the job." Meanwhile, sophomore Kaleb Claridge has re- turned to the sport after a one-year hiatus and will see a lot of action on the defensive end, Chad West- ern said. "He's physical," Chad Western said. "He's al- ways red-faced, working hard. You just throw him out there and he asks, 'What do you want me to do? ' and he does it. He's definitely going to help us on the defensive side." Sophomore Cameron Henson, who had a pair of assists as a freshman, is expected to miss most if not all of the season af- ter suffering a back inju- ry while playing in a fresh- man basketball game at Barr-Reeve. "I still don't have a time- line on him," Chad West- ern said. "It could be bas- ketball season. It could be the last two or three weeks of our season." Freshmen Christian Benson, Austin Dixon and Austin Holder could also see action on the varsity level this season, while freshman Hayden Kabrick, who was expect- ed to play on the varsity this season, is out for the season after fracturing his leg this past summer play- ing travel soccer. Filling out the Char- gers' roster are fresh- men Josh Brandle, Con- nor Gaines, Benny Hess, Jacob Vest, Kyle Williams and Sam Yager, most of whom will see action on the junior varsity level. "We need some JV games, because I can't play 24 kids very often," Chad Western said. "I want to be able to play 18 or 19 kids if I can, and I can probably do that in some games. When you start saying 23 or 24, that's tough. There's some games where there'll be only 15 kids or less play. That's just the way it is." However, Chad Western said, all the freshmen will dress for all the varsity's games, both home and away, and that the team's four injured players – Boyd, Elliott, Henson and Kabrick – will continue to be involved in some way. "They all come to prac- tice and they all help out," Chad Western said. "They're all going to trav- el with us. I'm an inclusive guy. I want them to be at practice as much as they want to be or can be, and they come all the time." "I don't want them to think that, well, they're injured, so I don't really care about them," he add- ed. "That's not the case. I think they get it that they're still important to all of us on our team, even though they have an injury they're working through. We hate it for them. I'm sure they hate it more than anybody." Chad Western said that he planned to combine el- ements of the "tiki-taka" style of play – which em- phasizes short passing and movement, working the ball through various channels, and maintaining possession – introduced by his predecessor, Na- than McCord, with what he termed the "smash- mouth" mode of play char- acteristic of Pike Central teams. "Predominately, Pike Central's been what I would call more smash mouth, and we've been 9th and Sycamore, Petersburg 812-354-9046 Main Street, Winslow 812-789-8800 Main Street, Oakland City 812-749-3114 The Fish Hut WWW.FISHHUTPIZZA.COM LIKE US ON FACEBOOK DO THE COOKING! Before or after the game Before or after practice Three locations to serve you! CALL AHEAD FOR FASTER CARRYOUT! Let us