The Varsity boy’s soccer team came into the game on Tuesday ranked 31st in the RPI ranking by CHSAA-just two spots removed from being out of playoff contention- against the 19th ranked Cherokee Trail.

The boy’s started off strong with a goal by Junior Sewell which put them up 1-0 at the end of the first half. Even in the beginning of the second half, the boy’s brought the fire with quick goals from Sammy Eskariyat and Yuriy Hrybovych. This gave the Raptors a 3-0 lead. Soon, midway through the game, the Cougars began to make a comeback and cut the Raptor’s lead to 3-2. The second half ended 3-3. Overtime called.

The Raptors ended up losing in a tough battle against the Cougars 3-4, one goal away from potentially gaining the team goal “Playoffs” as Sewell put it in a post-game interview. Natneal (Nate) Kassa also viewed the playoffs as a goal saying, “The first step is making [the] playoffs.”

Despite the fact that the team suffered a tough loss, the players were still able to speak on their high and favorite parts of the season. Sewell was “proud of the work every day of every week” that the team put in this season and he is proud of how much they have grown, which is something Kassa can contest also when asked about his favorite moment of the season.  He brought up their game against Arapahoe as an example.

“We were on a losing streak and we needed this win for our RPI, and we needed this goal, it was his first career goal and he was a freshman (speaking of freshman Tyler Harshfield’s goal against Arapahoe),” Kassa said.

The fact that the team can rally and depend on a freshman who has never scored before speaks for itself on how the team has grown over the course of a hard fought season. Last year, the boy’s went 5-9-1 under Coach Watts, this year they finished 8-7, an improvement. Close to the goal of  “consecutively making the playoffs,” said Kassa.

The boys do know that their pathway to success wouldn’t exist without Head Coach, Greg Watts.

“Watts is a great coach who has given a lot to the school and the soccer program. He deserved more from his team this year,” Kassa said.

That could only speak for the many things players said about the character and belief system that Watts has implemented into the program for years creating great young men on and off the field. Expect the soccer team to keep climbing the road to success with even bigger goals.

“But next year make no mistake, we are going into the season with big goals,” Kassa said.