Tonight’s soccer region semifinalsRegion 3-A/AAEast Ridge at Boyd-Buchanan, 7McMinn Central at Hixson, 7Region 4-A/AALivingston Academy at Chattanooga Christian, 7Notre Dame at Friendship Christian, 8Region 3-AAACoffee County at Cleveland, 7McMinn County at Cookeville, 8
There were a lot of familiar players for Cleveland coming into the 2010 boys’ soccer season, but for Blue Raiders coach John Brose, that familiarity was mainly because most had been bodies on the sideline in previous years.
Cleveland, a state semifinalist a year ago after a quarterfinal loss in 2008, graduated 22 seniors off those two teams, including eight to the college ranks, so although nine seniors graced the roster this season, most had not had meaningful playing time in high school.
The Raiders started out 0-4-1 against some stiff competition but has nine wins and two ties against a trio of losses since that dreadful start. They will host Coffee County (6-7-1) in a Region 3-AAA semifinal tonight at 7 at the Cleveland Soccer Complex, and a win will guarantee them their fourth consecutive sectional berth.
“I think we needed some time to find out what we could do,” Brose said. “There were a lot of questions as to who the leaders were going to be and who was going to step up. Early on, we played some good teams and lost a lot, but I always say you learn more from losses than wins.
“We made some personnel chances, and eventually we started to click.”
One of those changes was moving midfielder Garrett Koon up front to the forward position. Koon has turned into the team’s second leading goal-scorer and had the only goal in a 1-0 victory over McMinn County in the District 5-AAA championship game last Thursday.
“We moved him up front because we were struggling to score,” Brose said. “He brings a lot of energy and creates a lot of opportunities because he’s all over the place.”
The combination of Koon with Wes Llosa, the team’s leading scorer the past two seasons, really helped the team click. The attack also has benefited from the play of midfielder Adam Martin, a Brevard College signee, and Ben Kimball, one of the area leaders in assists with 13.
Brose mentioned the team’s first contest with McMinn as a possible turning point for the Raiders.
“We’ve had a lot of guys step up,” he said. “The McMinn game showed me the potential we had and what we could do if we continued to improve. They proved they could play if we did it together.
“We’re starting to roll and I think we’re clicking at the right time. Hopefully we can continue to build on what we’ve done.”