Jefferson City ends Hickman's season

By Nick Snow Columbia Daily Tribune

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

SEDALIA ­­— The Hickman soccer team was bigger, stronger and faster than Jefferson City, and despite having similar records, the Kewpies came out showing more confidence than the Jays. After all, they were the defending district champions — reaching the state semifinals last season.

But the right foot of 5-foot-8 midfielder Adam Luetkemeyer proved to be the difference-maker in the Jays’ 1-0 upset of second-seeded Hickman in the Class 3 District 9 Tournament.

“Those late goals are the ones that kill you,” Hickman senior captain Andy Atkins said. “It just happens. It was a nice throw, and he just put it in a place where we couldn’t get to it in time. ...

“This was rough, but there’s more to life than soccer. It’s been a great four years.”

Jefferson City controlled the tempo for the majority of the first half. Taylor Ray got a decent look at the goal halfway through the first half, but that was stopped by Christian Loehner. Hickman had one more opportunity with 30 seconds left, but Atkins’ free kick sailed wide, ending the half in a scoreless tie.

“We really struggled in the first half,” Hickman Coach Adam Taylor said. “With it being a close game in the second half, I thought that having been in that spot before, it might work to our advantage. All year, we have had problems scoring. We just never really found ourselves.”

After fending off a couple of shots from Jefferson City, Hickman (17-7-1) started to show more fight over the middle of the second half. Once again, Atkins just missed as his shot sailed over the crossbar. Colin Janicek also fought off several defenders on his way to the net, but his shot sailed wide left.

With 7:37 left in the game, a quick throw-in was hauled in by Luetkemeyer. A scramble ensued in front of the net, but as Luetkemeyer was falling he managed to get just enough of his foot on the ball to roll it into the lower right corner. Hickman tried to answer, even getting a couple of shots in the final minute, but Loehner and the Jefferson City defense cleared the ball to preserve the win.

“These guys worked really hard, and I’m going to miss our seniors,” Taylor said. “I didn’t have a speech prepared for if we lost, but I told them that not everything goes as planned. Jefferson City is a very well-coached team, and we just didn’t have enough to overcome their goal. We’re just going to have to regroup and get ready for next year. When August comes around, we’ll be ready.”

Hickman boys soccer squad puts up shutout in its finale

BY THE TRIBUNE’S STAFFColumbia Daily Tribune
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
The Hickman soccer team won at Camdenton 2-0 last night in its regular-season finale.
Taylor Ray scored on a rebound from shot by Colin Janicek in the 72nd minute. Two minutes later, Janicek took a throw-in from Andy Atkins and beat two defenders along the end line to score. Spencer Mills got the shutout in goal for the Kewpies (17-6-1).

Hickman grinds out a PK victory over Helias

By Nick SnowColumbia Daily Tribune
Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Photo by Joshua A. Bickel
Hickman goalkeeper Chuck Wilson blocks a penalty kick during the Kewpies’ overtime victory against the Helias Crusaders Tuesday night on LeMone Field. Hickman won 1-1 (4-2 in PKs).
It wasn’t pretty, but the Hickman boys soccer team survived a scare from Helias last night on LeMone Field.
Slide Show

● Soccer: Hickman 5, Helias 3
After Hickman tied the game at 1 with 24:04 left in regulation, the Kewpies beat the Crusaders in penalty kicks thanks to a pair of saves from goalkeeper Chuck Wilson and a final goal from fellow senior Erik Pekkala to win the penalty kick shootout 4-2.
“We were just happy to come out with a win on senior night,” Wilson said. “The best part was the way we earned it. Heading into the first overtime, Coach” Adam “Taylor said we needed to step up and come away with a W. We knew that Helias was a good team, and I think a win like this will help us build some confidence and take a step in the right direction heading into next week.”
The Kewpies (14-5-1) struggled throughout most of the first half as Helias forced Hickman to settle into a defensive mind-set. Late in the first half, Helias’ Blake Wenzel gave the Crusaders their first major scoring opportunity, turning a turnover into a breakaway. The ball deflected off Wilson’s hands, but Pekkala zipped in and saved a goal, keeping the game scoreless at the half.
“Chuck did his job by coming out, and Eric made a great play,” Taylor said. “That’s just the way this team is — we fight for each other. That would have been a really tough goal because we did everything right.”
After being denied by Pekkala once, Wenzel refused to be denied again, getting behind the defense to give Helias a 1-0 lead with 34:23 left in the second half.
Hickman responded almost instantly, as a low corner kick from senior Andy Atkins created a scramble in front of the Helias net. But after five shots from point-blank range, the Crusaders finally cleared the ball to avoid disaster.
Connor Hollrah scored 10 minutes later. Hollrah sent a blast that bounced off a defender’s foot and into the net to send the game into overtime.
“We started playing a lot better with about 10 minutes left in the second half,” Taylor said. “I told them going into overtime that we couldn’t stop. We had to keep going. We’re a blue-collar team who can grind it out. We definitely saw that in overtime.”
Hickman had a couple of chances on a pair of free kicks from Grahm Meyer but couldn’t come up with anything in either overtime period. Marcus Woodruff almost ended the game for the Crusaders late in the second overtime, but the post was unkind, forcing penalty kicks.
Atkins, Hollrah, Adam Brenner and Pekkala all scored penalty kicks for the Kewpies, while Wenzel and Woodruff scored for Helias.
“We did a good job of fighting back and shipping our seniors off with a win,” Taylor said. “This was the first group I’ve coached all four years. I’ve learned a lot from them, and I’m going to miss their leadership and their humor. Being senior night, there’s so much emotion involved. Sometimes it’s hard to get in the flow.
“We’ve still got three big games left. We’ve got to play better for the full 80 minutes. This is the time for our team to establish their identity.”

Rock Bridge soccer earns shutout in win over Kewps

Rock Bridge midfielder Danny Baird, right, dribbles through midfield as Hickman midfielder Connor Hollrah, left, attempts to sweep the ball away during the first half of the Bruins’ 4-0 victory against the Kewpies Tuesday night on Sells Field.
By Nick Snow
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Coach Kyle Austin said his Rock Bridge boys soccer team didn’t play its best.
Soccer
Rock Bridge 4, Hickman 0
That’s a little hard to believe, considering the Bruins (17-4) had just beaten Hickman 4-0 on Sells Field to sweep the regular-season series.
“It feels good to beat them,” Rock Bridge midfielder Ty Griggs said. “I play with a lot of those guys on a club team, so this gives me a chance to represent my school. There’s always a little bit of a rivalry, but that’s what makes it fun. We enjoy beating Hickman.”
Hickman (15-5-1) flexed its muscle early, attacking with a fury over the first 10 minutes. But the Bruins weathered the storm with a couple of great saves by Brady Wulff.
“Brady is our senior captain for a reason,” Austin said. “Not only is he very vocal, he leads by his play. Any time we have him back there, we know its going to take the other team’s best effort to win. He’s playing at another level, and I know assistant coach Alex Nichols — who works with him in practice — has been very impressed with the way he has played.”
After getting stuffed by Hickman goalkeeper Chuck Wilson earlier in the half, Matt Kelly got Rock Bridge started by blasting a free kick into the upper right corner.
The Kewpies had a couple of chances late — including a shot through the box by Andy Atkins — but with 8 seconds left, Eli Sherman found Kelly for a breakaway to give Rock Bridge a 2-0 halftime lead.
“That was a huge goal at the time,” Austin said. “It was a great job by Eli, and it allowed Matt to slide into position. That goal really changed the game. We were able to take that and build on that momentum at halftime.”
Wilson couldn’t haul in a bouncer in traffic with 33:38 left in the game. From there, Rock Bridge’s Ryan Taylor was in the right place at the right time, knocking the ball into the net on the rebound.
“We’ve been flopping back and forth between Spencer Mills and Chuck all year,” Hickman Coach Adam Taylor said. “Tonight, it was Chuck’s turn. He’s a senior, so I wanted to give him one more chance to beat Rock Bridge.”
The Bruins tacked on one more with 15 minutes left. With several defenders on him, Griggs took a shot while falling down. Somehow, the ball squirted through the defense and into the net.
“Eli Sherman worked hard to get the ball to Trevor Davis,” Griggs said. “Trevor gave me a great pass, and I just took a shot and hoped for the best. We know that Hickman is going to come back hard if we see them in districts. We just have to keep looking forward.”
Rock Bridge will host Waynesville tomorrow, while Hickman will travel to Lincoln Prep tomorrow.
“We’ve got to go back to work,” Taylor said. “We’ve got about a week and a half before districts start. We really didn’t play that bad. Hopefully, this will make us more intense for the rest of the season. We know that now is the time to push ourselves.”

Hickman soccer edges Troy Buchanan in shootout win

By Nick Snow
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
It took 100 minutes and a couple of heart-stopping penalty kicks, but the Hickman boys soccer team finally snatched victory away from Troy Buchanan last night on LeMone Field.
Boys soccer
Hickman 0, Troy 0 (5-4 PK
Goalkeeper Spencer Mills recorded back-to-back saves, including the stop on Troy’s Alex Williams that gave Hickman the edge in penalty kicks needed to win the game 0-0 (5-4 PK).
“I just made sure I went the right way,” Mills said. “That last shot went right down the middle, and I stuck with it. We knew coming in that they were going to be a tough team, but we’re really happy with the win. A lot of that credit goes to the defense.”
After Eric Pekkala, Hickman’s fifth kicker, tied the score at 4 with a shot that ricocheted off both posts before crossing the line, Mills slid left just in time to catch Alex Martin’s blast — sending the match into a second round of penalty kicks. From there, Adam Brenner sent a laser into the back of the net before Mills came up with the stop to win the game.
“It’s always good to get into a situation like this,” Hickman Coach Adam Taylor said. “We handled adversity really well. We got down early in penalty kicks, but Spencer came up with a couple of huge saves.”
Hickman (10-4-1) had several chances to keep the game from going into overtime, especially late in the first half. But every chance Alex Holliday and Andy Atkins had, Troy goalkeeper Chris Wood was there to keep the Kewpies off the board.
With just more than two minutes left in the half, Troy had a 5-on-3 breakaway after Hickman got caught trying to generate some offense. However, Adam Kopriva and Thomas Pekkala combined to dilute the threat and keep the game scoreless at the half.
Play got more physical in the second half, as both teams started to push a little more. After spending a majority of the half around midfield, Conner Hollrah’s shot hit the crossbar with 7:54 left in regulation, sending the match to overtime in a scoreless tie.
Troy used its speedy forwards to get an open look halfway through the first overtime, but Ben Lehmkuhl’s shot rolled just outside the right post.
Holliday brought the Hickman fans to their feet, hauling in a long pass from Brian Willcox and blistering it into the back of the net for what looked like the game-winner. Instead, Holliday was ruled offside and the goal was waved off.
“This was a very physical team,” Taylor said. “A game like this should help prepare us for districts, because those opponents like to muscle up.”

Bruins' hard work results in fortunate goal

By Steve Walentik
Thursday, September 30, 2010
It would have been easy think the Hickman boys soccer team unlucky after a seemingly innocent shot squirted through the hands of goalkeeper Chuck Wilson and trickled across the goal line.
Slide Show

● Soccer: Rock Bridge 1, Hickman 0
Fluky or not, the goal off the foot of Rock Bridge junior Kory McDonald proved to be the difference in the Bruins’ 1-0 victory last night on LeMone Field.
But the match itself was actually more heavily skewed in Rock Bridge’s favor.
“They did everything that they wanted to do tonight,” Kewpies Coach Adam Taylor said. “I thought they played extremely well. … We got beat in every aspect of the game, bottom line. Anyone who watched this game — even if you don’t know much about soccer — could see they just basically beat us, and it started in the middle of the field. They hammered us there early, often and all night.”
Taylor’s coaching counterpart, Kyle Austin, actually thought his Bruins began the night a little shaky, perhaps evidence of some nerves that came with facing their crosstown rivals for the first time since they ended Rock Bridge’s season in last year’s district semifinal. The match wasn’t 12 minutes old when Hickman senior Andy Atkins got loose on the right wing after McDonald misplayed a cross. Senior goalkeeper Brady Wulff charged hard off his line to challenge the upcoming shot, and Atkins fired high over the goal.
That would be the best opportunity the Kewpies (8-3-1) had, as the Bruins (10-4) settled down soon after. They began to possess the ball and mounted one attack after another into Hickman’s end of the field. Only a few produced quality scoring opportunities in the first half, but they kept Taylor’s team on the defensive, and Wilson had to come up with six saves just to keep the match scoreless at intermission.
Rock Bridge kept pressing in the second half. Junior Matt Kelly pounced on the ball after Eric Pekkala gave it away deep in Hickman territory and nearly notched his 15th goal of the season in the 47th minute.
It was about two minutes after Kelly’s chance that McDonald left the field with a bloody nose after catching an inadvertent elbow. With cotton plugging his right nostril, he returned just in time to deliver the biggest strike of the night with 27:59 left on the clock.
Atkins and Ryan Schmidt were battling for a loose ball when the ball rolled back toward McDonald, pinching in from the backline.
“It just found me,” said the junior, who quickly settled it some 30 yards from the goal. “I just decided to take a shot from out — just pepper the goalie. I hit it well. I didn’t hit it in a great spot, but it just found the net.”
First, the ball passed over traffic in front and through the hands Wilson, who seemed to be handcuffed by the spinning orb.
“My assistant coach,” Alex Nichols, “and I have preached to them all season, there’s no such thing as a bad shot,” Austin said. “Things can happen — it takes a deflection, something happens like with Kory’s shot tonight. … It wasn’t the prettiest of goals, but I tell them it doesn’t have to be pretty. It still counts on the score sheet the same.”
Rather than awaken Hickman’s attack, McDonald’s goal actually seemed to open up the field so that Rock Bridge could generate even more opportunities.
The Kewpies did manage a few scoring chances of their own while countering the Bruins’ advances over the final 28 minutes, but none really tested Wulff, who never had to leave his feet while making five saves.
Wulff might have preferred some more work, but Austin wasn’t complaining.
“If Brady never gets dirty, it’s a good game for us,” the coach said. “We have a solid keeper. I honestly believe he’s the best keeper here in Mid-Missouri. I tell our defense, ‘Let’s let him just sit back there and read a book.’ On nights like tonight, he was there. He’s a presence back there, but he didn’t have to come up with any huge saves. But there’ll be a point in the season, and we have faith in him that he’s going to make that save.”
Austin would like his Bruins to capitalize on a few more opportunities at the other end so that every save isn’t so important, but Hickman’s backline did a good job withstanding their pressure last night.
“Give credit to our guys. For as well as they played, we kept in it, we fought all night, and we only lost by a goal and goal that really we maybe could have got back somehow,” said Taylor, whose team hadn’t been challenged nearly as much while outscoring its opponents 20-0 during a three-game winning streak. “It’s early in the season still. We’ve still got plenty of time to work, and hopefully, this will put our guys back to work.”

Hickman shuts out Smith-Cotton

Taylor Ray and Andy Atkins scored to lead the Hickman boys soccer team to a 2-0 victory over Smith-Cotton yesterday in Sedalia.
Ray scored from 10 yards out off a pass from Chris McCoy in the 13th minute. Atkins added the insurance goal in the 69th minute for the Kewpies (8-2-1). Chuck Wilson earned the shutout in net.

Hickman soccer team scores eight in rout

By Nick Snow

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Four touches.

That’s all the action Hickman boys soccer goalkeeper Spencer Mills saw in the Kewpies’ 8-0 rout of Kansas City East at LeMone Field yesterday.

“We possessed the ball really well,” Hickman Coach Adam Taylor said. “Scoring that many goals shows that we had a lot of opportunities offensively. In this game, our best defense was our offense. We had to clean up a few touches at halftime, but I thought we played very well.”

Hickman (7-2-1) jumped to a 3-0 lead by halftime on goals from Brian Willcox, Connor Hollrah and Chris McCoy. Meanwhile, the defense of Thomas Pekkala kept East from registering a shot on goal.

In the second half, a cross from Alex Holliday landed at Spencer Miller’s feet, allowing Miller to blister the ball into the top left corner of the net with 34:09 remaining in the game. Miller had a chance at a second goal two minutes later, but the ball clanked off the post.

Perhaps the biggest cheer from the sparse Hickman crowd came at the 20:51 mark in the second half. All night, Taylor Ray had plenty of chances to score, but East goalkeeper Jesus Torres was there to deny Ray time after time. Thanks to a nearly perfect cross from Connor Hollrah, Ray blasted the ball into the bottom corner of the net for his first goal of the season.

“He had been unlucky for most of the game,” Taylor said. “The ball just bounced right to him and he was able to score his first goal of the season.”

Holliday and Nathan Wikle also got involved in the offense, scoring goals less than a minute apart. Seven players scored, with Hollrah scoring twice.

“We love to get everybody involved in the offense,” Taylor said. “You know you’re working the ball well when you have that many players score a goal.”

This article was published on page B3 of the Wednesday, September 22, 2010 edition of The Columbia Daily Tribune with the headline "Best defense is strong offense Kewpies score eight in rout.."

Photo by Don Shrubshell
Published September 22, 2010

Hickman’s Alex Holliday, right, scores past Kansas City East goalie Jesus Torres in the second half. Seven players scored as the Kewpies won 8-0 Tuesday night on LeMone Field.

Kewpies beat Jays with late goal

Kewpies beat Jays with late goal
Overtime goal lifts Hickman over Jeff City.
By Steve Walentik

Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Hickman Soccer 1, Jefferson City 0

It happened quickly, even if it was 83 minutes in the making.

After a Hickman throw-in deep in Jefferson City territory last night in overtime of a match pitting district boys soccer rivals on LeMone Field, Kewpies midfielder Andy Atkins sent a cross into the middle of the penalty area. A Jays defender knocked the ball down, but it slipped away from his feet before he had a chance to clear. Hickman’s Alex Holliday bullied his way onto the loose ball, cut immediately toward the middle and let go a sliding shot that screamed past the hands of Jefferson City goalkeeper C.J. Loehner.

“I just slid and hoped it was going in,” said Holliday, whose second goal of the season gave the Kewpies a 1-0 overtime victory. “It’s good to get a W. We worked really hard. We’ve got some stuff to work on, but I think as a team, we needed that.”

A loss would have been tough to take for Hickman (2-1-1), even early in the season. The Kewpies had possession of the ball for approximately two-thirds of the first 80 minutes but had few good scoring chances to show for all their time spent in the opposing end.

“I just didn’t feel like we really executed all night,” Hickman Coach Adam Taylor said. “I wasn’t disappointed in our play, but I just didn’t think we were sharp.”

It was a continuation of the sluggish offensive performance that befell Hickman in last weekend’s season-opening Quincy Notre Dame Tournament in Quincy, Ill. Taylor’s team totaled three goals in three games against Illinois schools Maine South, Francis Parker and Danville.

The young Jays (2-1) had a foot in keeping the Kewpies from generating more opportunities or converting the ones they had.

“For our inexperience and our youth, I thought we did a decent job of limiting the real dangerous chances they had,” said Jefferson City Coach Eddie Horn, who started as many freshman — two — as he did seniors on a team that lost 10 starters from last season. “There’s no doubt they had the ball in our half more, but as far as real, real quality shots at goal that our keeper had to make plays to keep us in it, how many do you think they had?”

With just over nine minutes left in the opening half, Jefferson City’s Nick Anglen caught up to a through-ball up the middle with a full head of steam and worked into the penalty area. He tried to flick the ball over goalkeeper Spencer Mills, who was charging off his line. The ball bounced off the post and was eventually cleared.

Freshman Aaron Crane had a breakaway in the first minute of the second half, but Mills, again charging forward to meet him, smothered the ball before a shot was fired.

Hickman did have to withstand a more steady assault from Jefferson City in the final 10 minutes of regulation.

“If we give up the ball in the attacking third, it comes back to the defense, and they’re already being pushed,” Holliday said. “That’s what happened toward the end. We couldn’t get anything together in our attacking third, and our defense was getting pounded, so we need to get our heads up. We need to know what we’re doing when we’re going toward the goal instead of just giving the ball up.”

Taylor was happy his team could get that lesson in a victory, in a match both coaches agreed provided a good indicator of their progress early in the season. He was not happy to see his Kewpies collect three yellow cards in the second half in the process.

“We let the emotions get the best of us,” Taylor said. ... “I was a little bit embarrassed and upset by that. You never hope that that happens, because we want to be a respectful team, but unfortunately, it did tonight, and we’ll readdress that.”

Reach Steve Walentik at 573-815-1788 or e-mail swalentik@columbiatribune.com.


Slide Show: Hickman Soccer v Jefferson City photos by Joshua A. Bickel

Taylor puts Kewpies at ease

Coaching change allowed Hickman to relax en route to state semifinals.



The Hickman boys soccer team is 10-4 and has advanced to the MSHSAA Class 3 semifinals since Adam Taylor, above, took over as coach of the Kewpies for Larry Thornburg in early October

By Andrew Wagaman

Thursday, November 19, 2009


The boys walk off the field. They smile, they give each other high-fives, they say things like, “good stuff.” If you are lucky, you’ll catch a hug or an exclamation of disbelief.

That’s only if you are lucky. For the most part, the boys of Hickman soccer have treated each of their postseason victories with the casual exuberance you would expect out of a competitive intramural team.

“Sweet, man.” “What a game.” “See you tomorrow.” “SSDD.”

Hold up, guys. Coach — yes, they have a coach — has another story.

It would be easy but unfair to decide that because the Kewpies’ evolution from a mediocre 4-4-2 team to a 14-8-2 Class 3 state semifinalist team corresponds with when Coach Adam Taylor took over, He is the key to it all, “The Answer.” Say what you want about Larry Thornburg, the former coach who resigned amid criticism in early October, but these players were just as good then as they are now, and the team’s strategies, while altered, are not wildly different or more successful under Taylor.

“It’s so free flow right now,” junior forward Colin Janicek said. “It’s really just us playing on the field; there’s no one interfering. We are a really loose team, and when we just do what we know how to do, we play so much better than when we are tense.”

What sounds like a rebuttal to Taylor’s influence is actually a testament to it. The Hickman soccer team has won four straight games against favored teams because, quite simply, Taylor has let them play like the boys want to play. He isn’t the answer, but it would be just as unfair to ignore the significance of his presence on the sideline.

When Thornburg took over as head coach in 2007, he offered Taylor, a Hickman alumnus and recent Missouri graduate, a job over lunch as the freshman coach. The next year, he was promoted to the JV team, which he coached until this October. When Thornburg resigned, Athletic Director Doug Mirts asked Taylor to take over at the Collinsville Tournament. He hopped into his car, met the team at the tournament and said the most honest thing he could think of.

“I told the kids that they had to be coached by someone, and I was that person, so they needed to listen to what I said and move forward,” he said.

That weekend Taylor made the most notable of his few strategic adjustments. Unhappy with the lack of opportunities the Kewpies were getting by running only one forward, he added another between the day’s two games. After escaping with a 1-0 win over Morton, Ill., in the morning, Hickman routed Hudson, Wis., 5-2, the most goals the team had scored all year.

“He gave it to us 10 minutes before we kicked off,” senior forward Taylor Cox said. “We didn’t really practice it or anything. It just worked out.”

Over the next month, it was more Taylor’s instructive approach than any technical changes that just worked out. Yes, he stressed possession soccer and keeping the ball on the ground, which has enabled the attack to control the game and facilitated the defense’s job. He has also demanded his backs to mark up on dangerous players such as Jeff City’s Alec Nagel or Kickapoo’s Skyler Russell, part of a broader emphasis on opponent-based preparation.

But it is his method of communication that the Hickman players always bring up first. They are reluctant to criticize Thornburg, but most agree that Taylor’s tendency to provide positive feedback has established a better connection than they had with their former coach.

“Whenever we’re not doing something right, he doesn’t pull us out for the rest of the game or anything,” Cox said. “He tells us what we have to do, and we try to do it to the best of our ability.”

“I think we had it all along but weren’t able to put it together,” Janicek said. “He ultimately helped us pick up our heads and play together more.”

Janicek, who played for Taylor as a freshman but didn’t get to know him very well until this year, says the coach quickly gained the trust and acceptance of his players by being straightforward with them and more of a peer than an authoritative figure.

“With any new coach, it takes awhile to bond,” he said. “We didn’t just jump in and commit to his thing — we had to learn a little bit about him. He opened up a lot to us and pretty much said, ‘What’s done is done, and we have to move on, because the season still has to go on.’ ”

An attacking player in high school, Taylor doesn’t pretend to take credit for the defense’s remarkable postseason, in which they have allowed just one goal. Rather, he turns to his most useful resource, assistant coach Conrad Hake, for pointers at practices and adjustments in games. Taylor preaches just one thing to his defense: the importance of focus. While it is nothing profound or particularly new, his players have truly taken the message to heart.

“He says the more mentally focused we are, the further we’ll go,” Cox said. “Our defense, especially Logan Forsythe, controls the game with mental play, and the physical play follows.”

Taylor, who is currently substitute-teaching and hopes to become a full-time teacher in the future, says he and the athletic department have decided not to deal with his coaching future until the season is over. If offered the job, though, he would readily accept.

“The kids have been great,” he said. “They’ve worked unbelievably hard for me, and I’d love to work with the younger kids again.”

Coach has a story — another one from his own trip to the state semifinals. You see, he was a freshman on the last Hickman team, in 1999, to advance to St. Louis. A few years later, his playing days were cut short when he injured his knee as a senior. He understands how fleeting one’s glory days can be and thus wants this footloose group of kids to realize that this is more than just “good stuff.”

“I’m always giving them a story, whether it’s motivational or humorous, just to understand how special this is,” Taylor said. “I want them to realize that these are memories that will last the rest of their lives.”

This article was published on page B1 of the Thursday, November 19, 2009 edition of The Columbia Daily Tribune. Click here to Subscribe.

Kewps prolong the magic

Late score puts Hickman in the state final four.
By Andrew Wagaman

Sunday, November 15, 2009

WAYNESVILLE — Hickman’s Class 3 state quarterfinal game yesterday was a microcosm of the team’s season.

SOCCER
Hickman 1, Kickapoo 0

The Kewpies sleep-walked through the first half while managing to hold Kickapoo scoreless. They looked like a new team after intermission but still struggled to capitalize on opportunities.

Then, when it mattered most, they made it happen.

Junior midfielder Brian Wilcox scored on senior forward Taylor Cox’s corner kick with less than two minutes remaining in the game, giving Hickman a 1-0 victory and sending the team to St. Louis for the semifinals. The late goal embodied the Kewpies’ remarkable postseason surge.

Frustrated after the team’s seven previous second-half shots on goal, Cox directed his kick just a few yards outside the net. The ball barely flew over Kewpie George Plakorus’ head, but Wilcox was able to get his right foot on it.

“I just went up and tried to get to the ball as well as I could,” Wilcox said. “It’s a great feeling to score in the last few minutes of the game.”

“When we play possession soccer and look to find feet we are a great team,” Coach Adam Taylor said. “When we start kicking and dribbling too much we don’t perform very well. In the second half they” played possession soccer “and they came out and got a ‘W.’ I knew it was going to be a tough game, told my assistant coach on the way down, ‘It’s probably going to be a one-goal game.’”

The Kewpies (14-8-2) sure didn’t look excited to be at Waynesville High in the first half.

They reacted slowly, passed indiscriminately and just looked flat-out clumsy. In the first 10 minutes Kickapoo had two close-in headers, one wide and one hit straight to Hickman goalkeeper Chuck Wilson. Defender Cody Gordon seemed to get away with a handball in the box, and only a leaping save by Wilson stopped Ian Kennedy from netting a free kick from 5 yards out.

Then, late in the half, Aaron Strunk hit the crossbar on a close-range shot.

Hickman was forutnate to still be tied after 40 minutes of play.

“We got a few fortunate breaks in the half, and I was glad to go into half 0-0,” Taylor said. “It’s always about making halftime adjustments.”

One adjustment was how the Kewpies approached forward Skyler Russell, who consistently used a basketball post-up move to shield the ball and spin past his defender. Taylor had his players back off, forcing Russell to beat them straight-up.

“He likes to use a lot of body, so we gave him a little space,” Taylor said. “We didn’t let him get comfortable in the second half.”

Hickman took over the game in the final 20 minutes but had as much trouble finishing as the Chiefs had in the first half. Connor Hollrah missed right with just the goalie in front of him, and Cox was robbed on a shot that got past the goalie but was blocked by defender Dane Ruggeri on the goal line. Cox’s perfect corner kick in the 79th minute compensated for it.

Kickapoo was the fourth straight team to have its season ended by Hickman after beating the Kewpies during the regular season. The Chiefs won 2-1 on Oct. 16. Taylor believes Hickman’s postseason success grows from the seed of confidence planted after a 7-0 victory over Smith-Cotton in the District 9 quarterfinals.

“You do that against any opponent and, especially in the district tournament, you know you have a team that’s ready to go,” he said.

Friday at 5 p.m. at the Anheuser-Busch soccer complex, Hickman takes on Christian Brothers College (23-4-3), which beat Vianney 2-1 in double overtime. Unfortunately, the Kewpies did not play and lose to CBC during the regular season. The game will be their most formidable test yet.

But while the players are tickled by the fact that they’ve gone from the fourth seed in District 9 to one of the final four teams in the state, don’t expect them to play like they don’t belong there.

“We’re just going to go out there and leave it all on the field,” Wilcox said. “I don’t think any of us expected to be going to the state final four at the beginning of the season, but it has really come together in the postseason. Everyone has played really hard and well together.”

“Just because it’s CBC doesn’t mean they walk on the field and beat you,” Taylor said. “They’re going to have to go through 80 minutes of us.

“No matter what happens, we’re going to have fun, a lot of fun. This is about the players, and they need to cherish this forever, because this doesn’t come along very often.”

This article was published on page B9 of the Sunday, November 15, 2009 edition of The Columbia Daily Tribune. Click here to Subscribe.

Coaching changes equal success in soccer

By Rus Baer

Sunday, November 8, 2009

It appears the easiest path to a district soccer title in Columbia is to change coaches midseason.

Rock Bridge did it this past spring after Kelly Gates resigned five games into the girls season, and the Hickman boys followed suit on Thursday with a 2-0 win over second-seeded and state-ranked Jefferson City for the Class 3 District 9 crown on LeMone Field.

Perhaps the players and parents know what they’re doing after all.

I’m joking, but the postseason berth is Hickman’s first since 2001 and continues an impressive turnaround for the Kewpies since Larry Thornburg’s abrupt resignation as coach on Oct. 2.

With former assistant Adam Taylor taking over for Thornburg, the Kewpies (12-8-2) have gone 8-4 — including a surprising run to the district title as the tournament’s fourth seed.

Hickman will now face Camdenton (16-2-1) at 6 p.m. Tuesday in a Class 3 sectional at 179 Soccer Park in Jefferson City. The Lakers beat the Kewpies 2-1 (3-1 on penalty kicks) on Oct. 27 in Hickman’s regular-season finale.

A win this time around would advance the Kewpies to a quarterfinal at 1 p.m. Saturday in Waynesville against Kickapoo or Carthage.

I don’t confess to know much about soccer, but a state semifinal berth definitely seems possible for the Kewpies. In the two district games I watched, Hickman clearly had the better of play against top-seeded Rock Bridge — a 1-0 semifinal win — and sixth-ranked Jefferson City.

If you don’t believe me -check out the video posted on the Prep Repartee blog. The blog seems to have developed a sudden soccer following. The video clip of Hickman’s two goals against the Jays — and Colin Janicek’s rather exuberant celebration after his score — hasn’t quite gone viral, but it has already received more hits than any football game footage posted on the blog.

Hickman Wins District Crown

Kewpies pull off another surprise.
By Andrew Wagaman
Friday, November 6, 2009

With the Hickman soccer program in tumult at the beginning of October, few could have foreseen the turnaround that followed in the next month.

“We had a really good team, but we had trouble fitting the pieces together,” junior Colin Janicek said. “I think we finally started to mesh after all the trouble. It was difficult, but we got it done.”

After the Kewpies’ 2-0 victory over sixth-ranked Jefferson City last night, Coach Adam Taylor reminisced on the rough transition midseason after former head Coach Larry Thornburg resigned.

I think it took a week or two for them to understand exactly what I wanted and to actually trust me,” Taylor said. “After we got a couple of wins, they thought, ‘Oh, maybe he knows what he’s talking about.’ ”

And after a 2-1 regular-season-finale loss to Camdenton, Hickman gritted its teeth and jammed its way through the postseason. A once middling defense suddenly became invincible and hasn’t given up a single goal in the last three games.

“The back line has gone from mediocre to just outstanding in two weeks,” Taylor said. “It’s been incredible.”

Janicek, who scored the game-winning goal 67 minutes into the championship game, felt the Kewpies were able to knock off two teams that beat them in the regular season by peaking after gradual improvement since Taylor took over.

“We bonded with Coach Taylor a little bit more,” he said. “We finally started connecting, settled down and came into our own together. Once we started connecting on passes, we started finishing, which is probably the biggest thing.”

It was a crisp pass and a strong finish that untied a scoreless game that seemed destined to go to overtime. George Plakorus deftly stopped a pass by Matthew Baker from rolling out of bounds and then sent a cross to the middle of the box. Janicek one-timed the ball into the left side of the net.

“George was just being George and did something creative,” Janicek said. “Kirt” Harris, a midfielder “went in first, and I thought he was going to get a touch on it. When he let it through, I thought, ‘that’s mine.’ ”

The goal came two minutes after a score by Alex Holliday was called back as offside. Taylor was disappointed by the call but had a feeling that the tide had turned.

“I knew that the call would give us some momentum,” he said. “We still put it in the back of the net, and the guys got a lift from that.”

Plakorus capped off a remarkable personal resurgence with a breakaway insurance goal in the 77th minute. Since the game against Camdenton — in which he scored his first goal — he has netted one a game.

“He’s just come through perfectly for us in a crucial time of the year,” Taylor said. “Some kids step up” in the postseason, “and George has definitely picked it up.”

While the Kewpies’ run after the loss to Camdenton might seem strange, Taylor says it has not been due to newfound confidence as much as a revelation that they needed to finish better.

Hickman may have another shot at Camdenton in the Class 3 Sectional if the Lakers beat Rolla in their district final. The Kewpies will be ready for either at 6 on Tuesday night.

“We need to keep playing the way we have been — with shut-out defense,” Janicek said. “We need to take care of chances when we get them.”

Photo by Parker Eshelman
Published November 6, 2009
Colin Janicek celebrates after scoring a goal during Hickman’s 2-0 victory over Jefferson City in Thursday night’s district title game.

This article was published on page B1 of the Friday, November 6, 2009 edition of The Columbia Daily Tribune. Click here to Subscribe.

Kewpies strike first, hold on against Bruins

Hickman to play Jeff City for district title

By Andrew Wagaman
Wednesday, November 4, 2009


Class 3 District 9
TUESDAY NIGHT
Semifinals
Hickman 1, Rock Bridge 0
Jefferson City 1, Troy Buchanan 0
THURSDAY
Final
Jefferson City at Hickman, 6 p.m.

Photo by Parker Eshelman
Hickman’s George Plakorus is congratulated by teammate Koby Meyer after scoring the winning goal in Tuesday night’s 1-0 victory over Rock Bridge.

Many of the Hickman soccer players walked off the field stonefaced after 80 minutes of a Class 3 District 9 semifinal game against top-seeded Rock Bridge on LeMone Field.

Even after securing a 1-0 upset of their crosstown rivals, the Kewpies seemed to maintain the tunnel-vision focus that they used to stifle the Bruins.

“They came to play,” Hickman Coach Adam Taylor said. “I preached to them that if they played the way I asked them to, they’d come out with a victory tonight, and they did exactly what I wanted them to do.”

If one of Taylor’s requests to his defense was to deny the opposing attack mentally as well as physically, they surely listened. Hickman (11-8-2) had the unenviable task of playing with a 1-0 lead for 74 minutes, but the confident backs played like they were used to protecting leads against Rock Bridge (13-9), which won the first meeting this season 2-1.

“Our intensity was really high,” goalie Chuck Wilson said. “We talked a lot — our communication was great tonight. We played like one team.”

As the desperate Bruins vigorously attacked in the second half, Logan Forsythe and Koby Meyer countered the speed and agility of Rock Bridge players such as Rhys McCracken and George Baird with their size. When the Bruins managed to get open and take shots, Wilson anticipated every one.

“I was trying to keep the ball in front of me as much as I could,” he said. “It was coming at me left and right nonstop the second half.”

Cognizant of the Bruins’ tendency to capitalize on headers and long crosses, Taylor emphasized outfighting them in the air.

“We knew their strategy was to send the ball in the air to the far post,” he said. “I preached to them that if we win the ball in the air we would win the game.”

Almost lost in the suspense surrounding the second half was George Plakorus’ odd goal six minutes into the game. Rock Bridge’s early anxiousness led to numerous Hickman free kicks. Plakorus sent one — a line drive that was meant for forward Matthew Baker — a little left of where Baker meant to head it. He inadvertently blocked goalie Brady Wulff’s line of sight, allowing Plakorus’ kick to roll uncontested into the far left corner. At the other end of the field, Wilson was confused by what he’d seen.

“I was like, ‘Is anybody going to get that?’ ” he said. “I saw the other goalie standing still. I was amazed. I did not expect it to go in.”

After the first 10 minutes, and especially in the second half, Rock Bridge Coach Kyle Austin felt his team outplayed the Kewpies.

“We created a number of opportunities for ourselves,” he said. “We had two balls on our forwards’ feet inside the 18 and neither one could make good solid contact. Ironically, we played better this time against them than over at our place when we beat them.”

As time passed, the Bruins became progressively frustrated, leading to an extremely physical second half. At one point Wilson was bodyslammed out of bounds as he collected the ball.

“We talked about that a halftime,” Taylor said. “I said, ‘The last 20 minutes they’re going to be coming at you, and you need to keep your composure because you can’t give them free pieces outside the box.’ ”

Fourth-seeded Hickman bottled the momentum it gained from a 7-0 quarterfinal victory over Smith-Cotton on Saturday. Taylor hopes that his team does not drain all of it before the district final against second-seeded Jefferson City at 6 p.m. tomorrow. The Jays (10-5-3) beat Troy Buchanan 1-0 last night in the semifinals.

This article was published on page B1 of the Wednesday, November 4, 2009 edition of The Columbia Daily Tribune. Click here to Subscribe.

Kewps Turn Up Pressure

Tigers have no answers vs. Hickman.
By Andrew Wagaman
Sunday, November 1, 2009

__________________________________________________________________
SOCCER
Class 3 District 9
YESTERDAY
Hickman 7, Smith-Cotton 0
TUESDAY
Hickman at Rock Bridge,
5 p.m..
___________________________________________________________________

What was Hickman goalie Chuck Wilson thinking about for most of the Class 3 District 9 quarterfinal game versus Smith-Cotton?

“Probably day-dreaming about what he was going to dress up as for Halloween tonight,” forward George Plakorus said.

Wilson had little else to do in the Kewpies’ 7-0 victory. His teammates managed to keep the ball about 80 yards away from him for nearly all 80 minutes. While doing so, they managed to take advantage of ample opportunities.

“We wanted to dominate this game from start to finish to give our guys some confidence going into Tuesday night,” Coach Adam Taylor said. “It was a good opportunity to show what we can do.”

Plakorus scored one goal and provided a perfectly placed corner kick that allowed Brian Willcox to get Hickman on the scoreboard in the third minute of the game. It was sweet redemption after being at the center of a penalty-kick collapse against Camdenton.

“I tried to fly” the corner kick “over the PK spot, far enough out where the goalie couldn’t get it,” Plakorus said. “Brian was there to head it in. It was a big confidence boost after missing that penalty kick.”

The Kewpies scored just once more in the first half, on forward Connor Hollrah’s goal, but they quarantined the action to the area in and around the Tigers’ box. There was no urgency to score, because Smith-Cotton had no chance of clearing the ball past midfield.

“I think Coach said we had 15 opportunities to score in the first half,” Plakorus said. “We just outworked them.”

It was only a matter of time before Hickman’s shots started finding the back of the net, and Colin Janicek scored twice in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Less tenacious pressure let the Tigers attack every once in a while, which, by opening up the field, created easier opportunities for the Kewpies.

“I feel we got a little lackadaisical in the second half at times,” Taylor said. “Even though the scoreboard showed differently, we played better in the first half.”

Plakorus, who scored the fifth goal in the 51st minute, felt he and his teammates had a better grasp of how to attack the Tigers after a 2-0 win over them earlier in the season.

“We knew we need to keep the ball, switch across the field and attack along the sides,” he said.

With the victory, Hickman (10-8-2) advanced to the semifinals Tuesday against top-seeded Rock Bridge. Despite all the controversy surrounding former Coach Larry Thornburg’s resignation in the middle of the season, the Kewpies have prevailed and are playing exactly how they want to be as the postseason begins.

“We’ve come together as a unit and are starting to play good soccer,” Taylor said. “We are moving the ball a lot better than previously. This is the time when we wanted to play our best soccer, and I feel like today was one of the best games we’ve played this year.”

Hickman will need to sustain its momentum against the Bruins, who beat them twice this season. More important, according to Taylor, is keeping their heads in the game. It is safe to say that Tuesday night Wilson will not be day-dreaming about Halloween.

“We need to stay disciplined,” Taylor said. “Whenever we allow goals, it is due to a mental mistake.”

This article was published on page B7 of the Sunday, November 1, 2009 edition of The Columbia Daily Tribune. Click here to Subscribe.

Cruel Twist of Fate for Hickman

Cruel twist of fate for Hickman
Kewps miss OT chances, tumble in penalty kicks.
By Matt Harris

Wednesday, October 28, 2009


Photo by Don Shrubshell

Camdenton’s Jeron Sinclair scored in the 52nd minute in a game against Hickman Tuesday night. Rayder Bennett pictured. The Lakers went on to win the game 2-1 (3-1 penalty kicks). Photo Caption..

George Plakorus gazed as his penalty kick swung wide of the right post, turned on his heel and trudged towards his teammates at midfield.

The miss marked the bottom of a slow descent for the Hickman senior forward in a 2-1 loss to Camdenton after a 3-1 result on penalty kicks.

Three minutes earlier, Plakorus stutter-stepped and buried a shot that appeared to even the score at 2 on penalty kicks after the teams grappled to a 1-1 draw through two overtimes.

The stutter-step was the problem.

Under state rules, a player that stops his forward movement before striking a kick must attempt it again. After a brief conference, officials ruled that Plakorus halted and made him take another try.

“Apparently, you can’t interrupt your motion,” he said. “I didn’t stop. I kept moving forward. It’s a legal kick.”

Two kicks later, senior Matt Baker clanked a shot off the cross bar, giving the Lakers the win.

The gaffe was a cruel turn for Plakorus, who tied the game on his first goal of the season in the 76th minute of regulation after collecting a punt by Kewpies goalie Chuck Wilson, dribbling to his left and booting a low line drive past a splaying Ryan Moriearty from 18 yards out.

“It’s kind of late,” Plakorus said of the goal, “but better late than never, right?”

Hickman Coach Adam Taylor agreed with the bittersweet assessment.

“That was a great lift for us,” he said. “It was something the seniors needed for senior night. I didn’t want them to lose. Unfortunately, that’s what happened.”

Aside from Plakorus’ strike, Hickman (9-8-2) struggled to capitalize on its scoring chances against a team whose defensive tactics provided Taylor’s club with ample opportunities.

On two occasions, forward Connor Hollrah had the makings of an easy tally but couldn’t close the account.

His best chance came in the 35th minute, when Baker found room behind the Lakers’ pressing backs and swerved a cross onto Hollrah’s foot 7 yards in front of the net. The junior put too much behind his attempt and sent it sailing over the top of the net.

“They were leaving our wings,” Taylor said of his team’s offensive woes. “Their backs were pushing up too far, and we weren’t taking advantage of that. We’ve got to do better at that. It’s going to be tough to win games 1-0 at this level.”

Hickman’s backline faced a strain of its own: an opportunistic Lakers’ counterattack that lobbed in long balls and sent Matt Norris and Jeron Sinclair rushing forward to lead the onslaught.

“Their game plan was just kick and run,” Wilson said. “It’s hard to get the ball when they’re just coming over your head. We were trying to keep it in front of us as much as we could.”

Problems clearing the ball from the penalty area and leaving ample space between the midfield and backline finally converged in the 52nd minute.

Wilson bobbled a pass back from defender Logan Forsythe at the top of the penalty box after a long boot from Camdenton. As Wilson tried to snare the ball, Norris swooped in, took it off Wilson’s hands and slipped it into the back of the net to put Camdenton ahead 1-0.

“I had my hand on the ball,” Wilson said,” and they just kicked it out of my hand. I thought it should have been a call.”

After Plakorus knotted the score, Hickman seized control of the action in extra time, choking up the midfield with bodies and sending charge after charge towards the Lakers’ net.

Baker bulled his way into the box, getting off a shot that was turned aside in the 86th minute and set up a corner kick. On the corner, a rebound found its way onto Plakorus’ foot only to be sent wide right.

While his team filed off the pitch, Taylor said the loss served as an example of what can happen if a team doesn’t seize on the good fortune it creates.

“That’s the kind of team that’s going to beat you on the counterattack, and that’s exactly what happened,” he said. “You can never trust the PK system, so you got to beat a team like that in regulation.”

This article was published on page B3 of the Wednesday, October 28, 2009 edition of The Columbia Daily Tribune. Click here to Subscribe.

Kewps settle in after turmoil

Kewps settle in after turmoil
Midseason change doesn’t faze Hickman.

By Steve Walentik

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Photo by Parker Eshelman :
Adam Taylor took over as Hickman’s soccer coach after Larry Thornburg resigned in the middle of the season.

It’s been two weeks since the Hickman boys soccer season was thrown into upheaval by Coach Larry Thornburg’s resignation in the wake of a Sept. 30 loss to crosstown rival Rock Bridge.

But his departure really hasn’t been the disturbance that it could have been.

The Kewpies dropped their first game without Thornburg on the bench but have won three of four since Adam Taylor took over as the interim coach. Their latest victory was a 2-0 shutout of Glendale yesterday at LeMone Field.

“It was a change, that’s for sure, but I think we’ve adapted pretty well,” senior forward Taylor Cox said. “It could have caused a lot of distractions, but we didn’t let it get to us that much, which is good.”

Some players said the change was welcome after Hickman’s 4-4-2 start. Thornburg’s system put an emphasis on getting the ball to the wings and using crossing passes to generate scoring opportunities. The Kewpies scored fewer than two goals in six of their first 10 games, including the 2-1 defeat to the Bruins.

“I think all the guys were looking for something, to make some changes at that point,” senior midfielder Matt Baker said. “But we were all unsure of what we were going to do with the whole coaching thing. Now that we’ve had a few weeks, things have kind of settled down.”

The Hickman players have started to adjust to Taylor, who coached many of them on the junior varsity team over the past three seasons.

“He gives us more positive feedback and tries not to put us down but helps us along the way,” senior forward George Plakorus said. “He lets us learn from our mistakes, and we feel more free.”

Taylor has tinkered with Hickman’s plan of attack, putting another forward on the field in an effort to generate more scoring chances.

“The first couple games I watched, I just didn’t feel like we were going to the goal enough and wanted to try to get some more shots on goal,” Taylor said.

It hasn’t paid immediate dividends. The Kewpies only managed one goal in Friday night’s loss to visiting Kickapoo.

But Hickman fared better in yesterday’s game against Glendale, dominating the possession and putting steady pressure on its opponent. The Kewpies found the net in the 37th minute when sophomore Alex Holliday finished off a cross from Plakorus at the far post, and they took a 1-0 lead into intermission.

The defense and goalkeeper Chuck Wilson turned back every Falcons scoring chance. Hickman added an insurance goal with about eight minutes remaining when Colin Janicek fired the ball into the penalty area, Glendale goalie Jordan Pitts misplayed it and it came to Baker, who drove it into the net.

“We have twice as many shots as we did when we had Coach Thornburg, so we’re just going to get more chances,” Cox said. “We’re just not quite finishing right now.”

The Kewpies have two weeks to work on that before opening district play Nov. 2. They’ve already dropped games against district foes Jefferson City and Rock Bridge, but both defeats came by one goal.

“Our No. 1 goal is to be ready when playoffs start,” Taylor said, “so these kind of games are good work and good tests for us.”

Reach Steve Walentik at 573-815-1788 or e-mail swalentik@columbiatribune.com.

This article was published on page B7 of the Sunday, October 18, 2009 edition of The Columbia Daily Tribune. Click here to Subscribe.

Inmates running asylum?

By Rus Baer
Sunday, October 4, 2009

There was one varsity player on the Hickman boys soccer team who did not play in Wednesday’s 2-1 loss at Rock Bridge.

That one player not playing led to Larry Thornburg resigning his position as the Kewpies head coach in the middle of his third season.

After a meeting with Hickman Athletic Director Doug Mirts on Friday morning, Thornburg stepped down as the Kewpies coach, effective immediately.

During a telephone interview yesterday morning, Thornburg explained in detail his abrupt resignation.

“This is what led to the resignation,” Thornburg said. “Following the Rock Bridge game on Wednesday night, I got an e-mail from the athletic director. There was one player that I had not played at all in the Rock Bridge game, and Doug Mirts in his e-mail said that the parents of that player wanted to meet with me Friday morning at 8 o’clock in his office.”

Thornburg responded that he would be unable to attend the meeting at 8, but he relayed to Mirts the specific reasons for why that player did not play against the Bruins.

Thornburg said that none of the reasons were related to discipline but were based entirely on the player’s performance and ability.

“I had my good reasons as a coach why that player didn’t get any playing time,” Thornburg said. “His parents were not happy with my answer, I guess.

“Rock Bridge has a very skilled, very athletic team, and I just felt like I had some players I needed to have in there if we were going to have the best chance to win.”

Mirts still wanted to meet with Thornburg before the team departed for a tournament in Collinsville, Ill., at noon on Friday. Later that morning, Thornburg met with Mirts.

“At that time, he told me that the parents were very unhappy,” Thornburg said. “The parents were going to start going over his head with their complaints, and it was going to get ugly if we didn’t handle the situation right now.”

Thornburg said he was informed by Mirts that more than 50 percent of the varsity parents had complained to him about the coaching their sons were receiving.

“They did not like my coaching style,” Thornburg said, before relaying some of the reasons given. “Their player was afraid to play in a game because he might make a mistake. Their player did not understand what I was asking him to do in practice or games.

“Doug said that because of the majority no-confidence vote, he wanted me to resign.”

Faced with the news that a majority of the parents and players did not want him as Hickman’s coach, Thornburg decided to step down immediately.

“I agreed, that with more than 50 percent of the parents of that attitude, I said, ‘I resign.’ ”
Mirts did not want to get into specifics about the meeting but said he did not ask Thornburg to resign.

“We discussed that aspect,” Mirts said. “At some point, I asked, ‘Where are we going with this?’ Those were all parts of the discussion. He decided to resign. That was where things ended up. That was his feeling on that.”

Thornburg also has some feelings on the coaching climate in Columbia. A soccer coach for more than 30 years at varying levels, Thornburg believes parental involvement has become a growing problem at the high school level.

“It’s a parent problem, in my opinion, because of the nature of soccer in Columbia,” Thornburg said. “With all the competitive teams that play in Central Missouri, starting young the kids are told to kick the ball and do this and score goals. When you get them in high school, they’ve been doing that for seven, eight, nine years, and you ask them to do something different, and there’s a lot of resistance. And if anybody sits on the bench, they’re not used to sitting on the bench, and the parents are going to raise Cain.

“That’s my interpretation of what’s gone on for the last three years I’ve been at Hickman.”
It’s an interpretation that continues to build credence. Hickman is still looking to replace baseball Coach Bobby Chick, who resigned in August after his first season as head coach, and last spring Rock Bridge girls soccer Coach Kelly Gates resigned five games into the season.

Hickman assistants Adam Taylor and Conrad Hake coached the Kewpies to the consolation championship this weekend at the Gateway City Soccer Classic.

POLLING PLACES: A few more coaching changes might be in order, because neither Columbia soccer team has cracked the state rankings put together by the coaches association.

The same four area teams continued to receive votes in the rankings that were released Friday, with Jefferson City holding the seventh spot in Class 3, Helias No. 6 in Class 2 and Southern Boone No. 10 in Class 1.

Moberly did not crack the top 10 in Class 2 but is receiving votes.

Reach Rus Baer at 573-815-1787 or e-mail rbaer@columbiatribune.com.
This article was published on page B3 of the Sunday, October 4, 2009 edition of The Columbia Daily Tribune. Click here to Subscribe.

Hickman boys soccer coach resigns

By Rus Baer
Posted October 2, 2009 at 7:11 p.m.

Two days after coaching the Hickman boys soccer team to a 2-1 loss at Rock Bridge on Wednesday, Larry Thornburg resigned his position effective immediately.

Two Columbia Public School officials confirmed the resignation Friday.

In Thornburg’s third season, the Kewpies were 4-4-2 entering a tournament tonight in Collinsville, Ill. Hickman assistant Adam Taylor was expected to fill the head coaching position on an interim basis.

Thornburg was hired as Hickman's third boys soccer coach following the 2006 season. The Kewpies went 10-7-1 in 2007 and 9-8-1 last year before falling in the Class 3 District 9 title game to Jefferson City.

Thornburg is the second Hickman coach to resign this school year. Baseball Coach Bobby Chick resigned in August following his first season in charge. Hickman has yet to fill that opening.

Thornburg is also the second high school soccer coach in Columbia to resign this year in the middle of a season. Rock Bridge girls soccer Coach Kelly Gates resigned five games into the season last spring. Marc VanDover replaced Gates and led the Bruins to a district title.

One hot minute

Game turns on Bruins goal, save of Hickman penalty kick in 73rd.

Photo by Nick King
Hickman’s Logan Forsythe slides under Rock Bridge’s Rhys McCracken as Forsythe’s teammate James Moesel trails in the second half last night. Rock Bridge’s 2-1 win put the Bruins (6-5) above .500 for the first time this season. Hickman fell to 4-4-1.

By David Briggs
Thursday, October 1, 2009

Rock Bridge’s boys soccer team is not short on experience. The Bruins start eight seniors while another four provide depth to a squad expected to contend for the Class 3 District 9 title.

Photo by Nick King
Rock Bridge goalie Brady Wulff gives the bench a thumbs-up after blocking a Hickman penalty shot in the second half. The save came moments after Rock Bridge took the lead in the 73rd minute. Rock Bridge Coach Kyle Austin called it the season’s “signature save.”

Photo by Nick King
Rock Bridge’s Danny Baird, center, celebrates his game-winning goal with teammate Rhys Mc- Cracken in the Bruins’ 2-1 victory. The 73rd-minute goal was the first of junior Baird’s varsity career.
BOYS SOCCER AT SELLS FIELD
Last night
Rock Bridge 2, Hickman 1
Just don’t forget about the underclassmen.

Last night, it was a pair of varsity greenhorns delivering the biggest plays in Rock Bridge’s 2-1 victory over Hickman at Sells Field.

Junior Danny Baird, a lifelong midfielder turned defender this season, scored his first career goal to put the Bruins ahead in the 73rd minute before junior goalie Brady Wulff saved the game moments later. After a foul high in the box set up a Kewpies penalty kick, the first-year goalie dove left and made what Coach Kyle Austin called the season’s “signature save.”

Perfect timing, too. The clutch displays came not only in the crosstown clash but helped push the Bruins (6-5) above .500 for the first time this season.

“Just a great win,” Wulff said. “It’s a big district game, so it gets us off to a good start.”

The night ultimately pivoted on that single one-minute sequence in the final minutes.

As the 73rd minute came, neither side had wrested away any lasting advantage.

Senior Josh Litofsky keyed a strong Rock Bridge start — the Bruins had five of their 12 shots in the opening 10 minutes — with a score off a corner kick in the fourth minute. But the pace had long been tempered by the time Hickman’s Colin Janicek answered early in the second half.
The game winning play, too, began innocuously enough with a throw in on a set Rock Bridge often practiced but rarely mastered.

“Maybe one in 100 times it works perfectly,” Austin said.

Senior Travis Salvo launched the ball from near the right corner to forward Josh Hulen atop the box opposite the near post. Normally, the ball is cleared away in traffic. But this time, Hulen was able to post up and bump a pass to Baird a few yards in front of the goal.

Baird took the bouncing ball from the air, aimed straight and hoped he’d kept it low enough.
He did … barely. The ball ricocheted down and past the goal line.

Rock Bridge’s bench erupted while Baird sprinted in joy to the far 18-yard box.

“It was probably the most pumped I’ve ever been in my life,” said Baird, who was moved to Rock Bridge’s defense before his first full varsity year. “Probably the biggest goal I’ve ever scored.”

“To step up and have a goal like that against your district rival and to have that be your first goal on varsity?” Austin said. “I can’t even imagine what’s going through his head.”

Yet the celebration lasted less than a minute as a foul sent junior midfielder Matt Baker in for a penalty kick.

On the sideline, Austin waved frantically trying to get Wulff’s attention. He almost always left decisions on penalty kicks up to his goalies, and said he would feel particularly comfortable doing so with Wulff.

“He’s just a great goalkeeper,” Austin said. “He’s got great natural instincts and great reaction time.”

But Austin remembered Baker had gone to the right during Hickman’s shootout win over Rock Bridge last season. The Bruins’ second-year coach had a feeling he would do so again.

“I was yelling frantically trying to get his attention,” Austin said. “I’m waving trying to point which direction he’s going. To his credit, he didn’t tip it if he saw me.”

“I saw him,” Wulff said.

The scouting report held true. Baker lined the ball to the low right corner, where the diving Wulff lay in wait. The junior’s third tough save of the night secured Rock Bridge’s first victory over Hickman since October 2007.

Hickman, meanwhile, fell to 4-4-1. Coach Larry Thornburg said he was proud of his team’s effort.

“We play possession soccer and we’ve been working on that all year,” Thornburg said. “This was the best game we’ve had yet. Rock Bridge has a heck of a team of athletes and it’s extremely hard to possess the ball on guys that are quick and strong, so I was really happy with the way my guys possessed the ball.”

Reach David Briggs at dbriggs@columbiatribune.com.