Central Oregonian
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Cowboys ready to kick off season
After nearly seeing season cancelled, the Cowboy soccer team is alive and well
Crook County High School Junior Daryel Lopez leaps high in the air to head a ball during practice on Tuesday. Lopez is one of six players on the Cowboys roster with varsity experience. Crook County opens their season with a game home game against Sisters on Thursday, Sept. 9.
For most of the summer, the Crook County High School boys soccer team wasn’t even sure that they would get to play this season.
First, they didn’t have a coach. Then, when that was resolved, there weren’t enough players.
This week, the news became official that there would be a team. Players and coaches alike intend to make the most of the opportunity.
Joel Carrillo, who coached the team to the playoffs in 2008, returns to the helm after a season off. Carrillo will be assisted by Gregg Munn.
“We have to put it all together in a very short period of time,” Munn said. “I think the two most important things are fitness, and being ready to run for 90 minutes and working together as a team. If we can get them to that point then we’ll be great.”
Although the team did not have an opportunity to work together with a coach for most of the summer, Carrillo is pleased with the progress that he is starting to see. Several members of the team began working out two weeks before the official start of the season, and Carrillo spent the time working on skills.
“We started with the basics first,” he said. “We’re still working, but we’ll be ready for our first game. We are starting to understand how to play as a team.”
After having as few as nine players for the first week of practice, there are now 15 players on the team — including five with previous varsity experience.
Luis Toledo and Daryel Lopez are expected to provide scoring punch for the team. Edgar Toledo, and Lucas Smith, who also have varsity experience, are expected to provide needed stability to the team.
The final player with varsity experience is Brady Slater, who started at goal keeper the final half of last season.
Although the remainder of the team is inexperienced, Carrillo is confident that they can gel as a team.
“We are starting to put things together,” he said. “We are working on finishing (putting the ball in the goal), and on our defensive scheme. I want to try my best to go through everything step by step.”
Although the team is looking to be successful now, that’s not the only goal of the program.
“We want to build a program that will be there next year and the year after that,” Munn said. “We want to build a solid program that we know will be there from one year to the next.”
Neither coach is certain what Crook County’s drop to 4A will mean for this season.
The team will still play a number of 5A schools during the regular season, including Bend, and Mountain View, who are perennial 5A powerhouses.
“I’m not sure that it’s much different,” Carrillo said about the drop to 4A. “Some private schools in the Portland area get a lot of scholarships for their players, and know how to play. The change to 4A will be a good experience, but we don’t really know what to expect. It will be a surprise at the end of the year, and we have to prepare for that.”
The Cowboys will open their season on Thursday, Sept. 9, when they host the Sisters Outlaws starting at 4:30 p.m. The team will be back in action on Friday, Sept. 10 when they travel to Redmond to play the 6A Panthers.
“We are excited to play these teams,” Carrillo said. “They were pretty good last year, but we will prepare for them mentally and be ready to compete. It will give us a chance to see what our team has learned.”
