Boys’ soccer team hoping for big year

By DAVE COX/Staff
As the Southwest District grows bigger and better in boy’s soccer in the 2008 season, Richlands should field one of, if not the best teams it has ever had in the history of the sport at Richlands High School.
At least that’s what many observers think and second year RHS head coach Dennis Carr is inclined to agree!
“Offensively, we’ve got some weapons,” Carr said. “I think we’re going to surprise some people. I think we’re going to be right there in the mix (in the SWD). We can definitely tight up some defensively.”
Carr knows that the addition of Abingdon and Marion in the district is going to make life tougher for all of the other teams, including perennial district power Graham.
“Marion split with Abingdon last year (in the Highlands District), so they’re just as good as Abingdon,” Carr said. “We improve the quality of the district immensely with the addition of those two teams.”
Carr lost five seniors last spring, including goalie Matt Jessee. “I was wondering how we were going to replace him (Jessee) , but Chad Cole came out. He’s never played soccer before, but he’s just a great athlete,” said Carr. “I was worried that (goal keeper) was going to be our weakness, but it turns out, it might be our biggest strength.”
Carr’s varsity roster includes 17 names, some of which are new to soccer. “Roughly, we have about eight guys returning,” Carr said. “We’ve picked up some soccer players that weren’t playing last year.” The list of new players include senior Romulo Fajardo, better know for his accomplishments in football, but this is his first year in soccer at RHS and his younger brother, freshman Albert Fajardo, is also new. “Albert scored three goals in our scrimmage against Narrows,” said Carr. “He’s crafty. He’s always in the right place at the right time. He knows how to get the job done.” Also out for soccer for the first time is wrestling star Ethan Hodges. Another wrestler, Kent Saxton, is listed on the ’08 Tornado roster as well.
The Blues opened up their season last Saturday in the Virginia Cup tournament at Tazewell. Results of that tournament appear in this week’s edition of the Richlands News Press.


By DAVE COX/Staff
TAZEWELL- Last Saturday was a great day for four Tazewell County soccer teams!
Not a single loss could be counted among eight matches that Tazewell and Richlands took part in at Lincolnshire Park during the annual Southwest Virginia Cup tournament. Only a tie against John Battle kept the Richlands girls from being perfect on the day while both the Richlands and Tazewell boys registered a pair of victories apiece in the marathon event that started at 8:30 a.m. and didn’t end until about 10:00 p.m.
Perhaps the best showing of the day came from the Tazewell girl’s squad. Abbey Kitts scored five goals in two matches for her team and turned in a hat trick in her first match against John Battle early Saturday afternoon. Kitts played as goalie for her team much of last year and is expected to play there some this season, but Saturday, her coach Patty Gail Cecil decided to move her to the striker position, possibly to replace Allison Hunter who led the Bulldog team before graduating last spring. Kitts came through big time as defending Southwest District champion THS didn’t miss a beat with Hunter absent.
“Abbey has already committed to King College,” said coach Cecil. “We want to try and use her as much as possible in the field to get her more field experience because she’ll need that as a college player.”
Tracy Muncy replaced Kitts as goalie and didn’t allow a single score as Tazewell (1-2, 0-0 SWD) enjoyed two shutout wins with Muncy guarding the goal in both matches. The Lady Bulldogs defeated John Battle 5-0 and ripped Patrick Henry 7-0.
The first match of the day was between the Richlands and Lebanon girls. The Lady Blues posted a 1-0 win to start the victory parade for the Tazewell County teams. Miranda Mullins scored the lone goal of the match in the seventh minute before both teams settled down into a defensive battle. Richlands (1-1-1, 0-0 SWD) had two great opportunities to add to its tally near the end of the first half on a pair of penalty shots. Both missed, but one was close enough to bounce off of the side of the goal post. RHS missed still another penalty shot near the end of the match.
Up next was the Tazewell and Lebanon boys and the Bulldogs matched the Richlands 1-0 win as goals were at a premium in the cold morning conditions. A scoreless first half was followed with a goal by Jared Angles in the 36th minute. Zack Poskas enjoyed the shutout at goal for the ‘Dawgs.
The RHS girls returned for their final match of the day next against Battle and the two teams fought to a 1-1 tie. Takeysha Doud put the ball in the goal in the 10th minute to put the Lady Blues ahead 1-0, but the Trojans managed to knot the score at 1-1 in the 43rd minute. Sandy Sahyouni was on goal for Richlands during both of its matches Saturday.
“I think they were encouraged. They were happy to get the win- and the tie”, said Richlands coach LaRhonda Lindsey, who watched her team go one tie better than the inaugural 2007 RHS team finished all season. “I’m happy with the way the midfield plays, but I think we were a little weak on our offense and I think we’re a little weak on our defense. We’ve just got to keep on working on everybody being where they need to be at the same time at the right time.”
The Richlands boys took the field for the first afternoon match with Lebanon and came away with a hard fought 3-0 victory with new goalie Chad Cole guarding the net.
Romulo Fajardo scored the first goal of the new season for Richlands (2-0, 0-0 SWD) when he put the ball through in the 6th minute. Kheven Scheingruber added another goal in the 13th minute before Zack Lester wrapped up the scoring with a goal in the 52nd minute.
Kitts and company went up against John Battle in the fifth match of the day and her hat trick combined with goals from Laken McReynolds and Haylee Walker gave the Lady Bulldogs an easy 5-0 win.
The final match for the Tornado boys was next and Grayson County provided the opposition. Fajardo put the Blues ahead 1-0 in the 20th minute and 24 minutes later Schweingruber added his second goal for the day for the Blues’ 2-0 victory. Cole was at goal again for RHS.
“Solid soccer, two hard games,” said Tornado coach Dennis Carr of his team’s two matches Saturday. “I’m proud of them. They did a very good job. Defensively, we’d had some kids come out that have never played before and they’re just doing a great job. Chad Cole was phenomenal at goal for us. The first day he ever put on a pair of soccer cleats was February 25th of this year. He does a great job and is not worried about a little bit of contact.”
Lebanon and Patrick Henry’s girls squared off in the seventh match with the Lady Pioneers taking the win. Match eight pitted the Grayson and John Battle boys against each other and Battle came out victorious.
Tazewell’s girls returned for the ninth match of the event and the Lady Bulldogs scattered their scoring out pretty evenly in a lopsided 7-0 win. Kitts picked up two more goals, Walker and Cara Cecil added two each and McReynolds got her second of the day.
The finale belonged to the Tazewell and John Battle boys and the Bulldogs (2-0, 0-0 SWD) chalked up win number two of the day for them in a 4-1 victory.
John Battle scored its lone goal in the eighth minute to give the Trojans a 1-0 edge, but that held up for just 17 minutes before Blake Belcher tied things for Tazewell. Three minutes later Angles put the Bulldogs ahead to stay and gave his team a 2-1 edge at halftime. Glen Blankenship put the final two goals through for THS in the second half to wrap up the long day of soccer action. Poskas was at goal again for THS.
“Today was our first games and coming in I knew that were going to be a little bit rusty,’ said Tazewell coach Jeremy Call. “I think we shook a little rust off. We moved some players around to where they need to be and I was really proud of our kids today.”