by Head Coach Stephen Latham
The middle school soccer team started the season with a stunning 5-3 victory over powerhouse Fresta Valley with Kota Ikemoto scoring a hat-trick and Logan Haithcox adding a brace and only narrowly missing a hat-trick herself. With only two returning eighth grade players this is a great season opener for such a young team whose back four looked like miniature ninja warriors out there against a Fresta Valley team with nine eighth graders on their roster. The defense of Kaelen Starrs, Jonathan Bunker, Tyler Stanford and John Mark Secrist stood tall to repel numerous Fresta attacks, with an outstanding goalkeeping display from Sidique Thomas.
Key to our game plan was the role of our three captains and midfield generals, Griffin Loper, Ishmael Bobbitt and Kota Ikemoto who battled away as a shield in front f the defense before launching blistering counter attacks. The display was rounded out by solid wing play by Joel Hoxie and Kyle Laemmle with a strong substitute performance from Manny Uzoma. Michael Ferguson and Will Graham came on late to add some fresh legs as the Jackets took the lead to go 4-3 with ten minutes remaining and made it 5-3 shortly before full time to cap off a fine display.