Off Season Musings

Well it is 2020 already and we are 7 months away from the start of another season. I am thankful for actually being in Montana for this off season knowing that I can be organized with team events, off season workouts, and fundraising this time around. Last year was quite a whirl wind getting hired at the end of May and then not arriving in Montana until July. I was lucky to have a lot of help and support during that time to manage, but I know that what we really needed was absent as a result. This time is different since I am here and already have a season under my belt. I have been really impressed with our returning players who at least verbally have shown me their renewed attitude to bring the work this off season. I think everyone saw the opportunity that we had last season to make a real impact and how we came up short in so many situations. and losing 3-0 to the eventual state champions shows that we are getting closer to really competing in this state.

We shall see as we ramp up off season activities what participation is like, but I am optimistic with the interest I have seen. The work we put in now through August will be the biggest driver in how successful our campaign can be.

I am excited for the potential trip to Denver with the boys this July for the DU team camp. The team camp is scheduled for July 17-19th. This camp will feature a number of training sessions ran by high level college coaches and also include games against other Colorado high schools. I know that this will be huge for our boys to get something different going, but also help to build some early chemistry and camaraderie from the trip. Thanks to wonderful fundraising from this past season and continued fundraising this summer, I feel we can definitely cover the cost of camp for the boys meaning only transport, hotel, and food will be needed. I have also had a number of parents reach out to volunteer to drive some of the boys, which is also great seeing. I look forward to getting more info on this and out to all players int he coming months.

I am also working on getting workout plans into place as well as plenty of team workouts that I will be attending throughout the summer to check on attendance. While everything in the off season is voluntary, come tryouts when I see a player struggling who did not attend any of the workouts it will be easy to tell who put in work on their own and who did not. We will see some stricter requirements for next season which I will detail more come our parent meeting at the end of the school year. I look forward to the work ahead and seeing these boys sacrifice for the program and for each other!

A First Game with Many lessons

In varsity's first game of the season, the team was able to overcome some mistakes and pull out a victory. The first half had a lot of good and bad moments and unfortunately that brought a 2-1 deficit by the team as we reached the break. I felt as though the team did great offensively having a ton of chances throughout the half. But a couple defensive breakdowns brought 2 goals from long balls over the top. As I told the boys, this may be our weakness and that they needed to understand what it meant to recover back, and also hang back a little bit more and keep the game in front of them.

Our goal is the first half came from Will Naughton off a great free kick. The entire half saw a ton of chances off of set pieces. My favorite thing from the whole game was seeing the boys work to win every ball in the air both defensively and offensively. Every free kick or corner either brought chances for us, or were defensively cleared by us when they were against us. It was great to see this work from the boys and it paid off.

A Completely Different Half

I can't even count the number of comments I got from parents and players, but also referees and the opposing coach that the second half we played was perfect. Defensively we did not allow another ball over the top and were able to recover back each time. It made it much easier on them and talking to the defense after the game, they definitely realized that it worked. Offensively we spent a majority of the time in CMR's half. We got an early goal from Isaac Naughton off a corner and that was only the beginning. Beau Detra hit the cross bar and Taylor Moore barely missed an amazing free kick goal that hit the outside of the near post upper 90 as well. With the game tied 2-2, we got two quick goals from Aidan Morgan both assisted by Taylor Moore. Defensively we overcame a couple of mistakes to not allow anything on goal for the half. We kept pressing and even with the lead didn't let up and had a number of chances more during the half. An amazing play on the wing by Taylor nearly lead to our 5th as Rylan Looper was left wide open inside the 6 for a head on the ball but the glancing header sent the ball just wide of the far post.

Player of the Game

While there could have been a number of players deserving of this, I felt one player had a nearly perfect day. This could have easily been Aidan with his 2 goals, or Beau Detra for his controlling play in the mid-field. The player of the game against CMR is Taylor Moore. Taylor dominated play on the left side all game long. He constantly caused havoc on the outside, and his ability to cut in on the defense created a majority of our chances. Taylor assisted on both of Aidan's goals off of individual efforts and amazing touch on the ball.

Overall, it was a great team effort and a good test to start the season off. I believe that having been down twice in the game will help us immensely this season, as we should know no matter what the score we can make a comeback.

Inter-squad Scrimmage 8/26/19

I hope that all the parents and players enjoyed the scrimmage over the weekend and getting a sneak peak of things to come. It was good to try and get out formally and have the guys playing. I think it was a wake up call for a lot of the players. I heard from a number of players that they were shocked at their conditioning ability and realizing we still have more work to put in.

I would like to highlight a number of players who had great days on the field. For JV, Kolton Letasky had a great first half in the nets only giving up 2 goals including one PK. Jacob Roberts had a great game for the JV which lead to him playing on the varsity team during the second half.

For Varsity, Beau Detra had a great game where he was focused, passing the ball very well on the turf, and scoring some great goals. Issac Naughton was able to contribute quite a lot offensively on set pieces and will be greatly used in this role. Finally, Taylor Moore and Cooper Moore had good games on the outside and both played heavy minutes during the scrimmage.

This week is a busy week for the team, as JV has two games and varsity has their first game Saturday at 12 PM. We also have another fundraiser Tuesday at FiveonBlack and our new annual kickoff dinner in the parking lot of Skyview Wednesday night. Hope to see everyone there and at all the wonderful soccer events this coming week.

Go Falcons!

Coach Russ

Practice One in the Books 8-16-19

Practice one is complete and the 2019 season is underway. We started off the day with our 2 mile fitness test. This was something that every team I have been apart of has always done. From my college team, to back when I played high school. It is a good way to try and gauge where everyone is fitness wise and get things started. Normally the goal for a 2 mile run should be sub 14 minutes, however since this was my first year and not knowing what the kids were used to I decided to give them some lee way and look for a sub 15 minute mile. I also did not make this a hard requirement. I did tell the boys that going forward in following seasons, there would be a required sub 14 minute 2 mile run in order to be on the varsity roster, so they will need to be prepared in following seasons.

Overall, I was very pleased with their performance, we had a number of amazing times, 32 out of 40 runners finished sub 15 minutes. We had a number of amazing times as well. Below are the top 10 times that I will keep track of on the website going forward and for seasons to come.

1. Michael Hurt 11:50

2. Jay Nedrow 12:02

3. Aidan Morgan 12:12

4. Beau Detra 12:13

5. Taylor Moore 12:32

6. Klayton Jensen 12:53

7. Jasen Denowh 12:55

8. Kolton Letasky 13:29

9. Maxwell Getlinger 13:30

10. Hayden Wagner 13:35

For our night practice, while we will work on some fundamentals, for the most part it will consist on just playing. My goal is to get to see everyone and try and give them a fair chance at making the team they are shooting for. Hopefully we will have an idea on who our new assistant coach is as we now have a number of people interested.