Boys Soccer Coaches Corner with Warren Graham

The ReSporter: These last couple of years the Soccer team has been improving, how do you feel as this season approaches?

Coach Graham: “I feel like we should be able to keep up the pattern of improving on the previous year. We only lost 2 seniors last year and we had another boy move. One of those spots will be filled by Jordan Sczech, who we lost to an ACL tear early last year, so we really only have 2 spots in the starting lineup that we have to replace.”

The ReSporter: How do you feel your pre-district schedule will prepare the team for the district games?

Coach Graham: “I tried again to schedule as many possible playoff opponents as I could in our non-district schedule. Like last year, we will be traveling a bit but I think that will be good for us. We have a scrimmage against Seguin at home and our first game will be against McAllum High School at House Field in Austin. We also have a tournament game and an away game against Floresville. All 3 schools are 5A schools and I’m hoping we will gain good experience from playing them.”

The ReSporter: What do you know about the teams from your district and what would you think would make this year a successful one?

            Go Hawks Soccer

Coach Graham: “Our district should be pretty solid again this year. That being said, I think we have the talent here to be able to challenge for a higher spot in the final district standings.”

The ReSporter: Give us some of the boys that you feel will rise the to the next level as this team continues to raise their game.

Coach Graham: “James Alexander, Mason Blackburn, Grayson Rohrbacher, and Jordan Sczech are all seniors and have been on Varsity since their freshman year. I think any success we have this year will start with them. Floris Georgi is a foreign exchange player from Germany who should help solidify our defense.”

The ReSporter: What can fans that come to this year’s games expect to see that might be different from previous years?

Coach Warren: “We were competitive last year but I think you’ll see even more of that this year. We have also worked on picking up the speed of play and moving the ball faster.”

The ReSporter: Give us your hopes for the defense.

                  Hawk Proud

Coach Graham: “Brayden Damico is a sophomore this year and started all of our games at goalie last year. I think he’ll be able to use what he learned last year to be an even better keeper this year. All of our defensive starters are back but having Floris has allowed me to move James Alexander to a defensive midfield position, which should help us on both sides of the field.”

The ReSporter: Give us your hopes for the offense.

Coach Graham: “We should continue to put pressure on opposing defenses this year. There are several boys on the team that can put shots on target from long range, which should spread out other defenses and give us more opportunities to put the ball in the back of the net.”

The ReSporter: What schools are will you have for the first ever CL Soccer Tourney?

Coach Graham: “We will have Beeville, Lampasas, Pleasanton, FEAST High School, Jarrell, La Vernia, and Bandera attending the Canyon Lake Classic. Here is the schedule for the tournament.”

 Thursday, January 19th
  1:00  Lampasas    v.  Pleasanton
  3:00  Jarrell     v.  La Vernia
  5:00  Bandera     v.  FEAST
  7:00  Beeville    v.  Canyon Lake

 Friday, January 20th
  9:00  Canyon Lake v.  Lampasas
 11:00  Pleasanton  v.  Beeville
  1:00  La Vernia   v.  Bandera
  3:00  FEAST       v.  Jarrell
  5:00  Lampasas    v.  Beeville
  7:00  Pleasanton  v.  Canyon Lake

 Saturday, January 21st
 10:00  Jarrell     v.  Bandera
 12:00  La Vernia   v.  FEAST
  3:00  Championship Game