It was a year of growth for both Powell Middle School soccer teams, with the Cub girls finishing with a 2-4-2 record over the month-long season and the Cub boys finishing with a 0-5-3 record.

GIRLS RECAP

An up and down season for the Cubs resulted in a strong team effort at both the front and back of the team with the players learning valuable skills in the short season.

Coach Stan Hedges said that leading the team at the front was a strong quartet of Jesi Agee, Ava Gilliatt, Emery Hernandez and Veronica Kovich, who all contributed with Agee and Gilliatt leading the team in goals for the season.

He said at the back Ava Brewer and Charlie Eastman created a strong wall in the middle while players such as River James and Star Gonzales learned a lot about defensive containment.

“I wish the season was longer so we had time to perfect some skills,” Hedges said.

A strong group of eighth graders on the team will head up to the high school level next year, and he hopes that they will be able to take some knowledge from playing against these opponents and grow moving forward.

“I hope they understand a higher level of the game,” Hedges said. “Seeing some of the girls from other schools that will continue to be opponents for the next four years — they will build a knowledge base of how to be a better player.”

Hedges said that despite having a short season, he felt the team played some really good soccer and he is hopeful they will make an impact at the high school in years to come.

“I want to say to the girls that they did a great job and I saw some really good soccer,” Hedges said. “They played well together and I hope they are able to take their skills to the high school and hopefully, in the next two years, bring a state trophy to Powell High School.”

BOYS RECAP

In a year of growth for the middle school boys, the team continued to battle and create close contests by year’s end — learning valuable lessons along the way, said coach Justin Waterworth.

“I think they learned what it meant to be a team,” Waterworth said. “Boys at this age all want to do what is going to make the highlight reel on every play. These guys realized that they needed to start competing with other teams and stop competing with each other.”

Leading the way for the Cub boys was Braxton Batt, who was the talisman for the team finishing with 14 goals, while GianReye D’Allesandro led the team with seven assists.

Defensively for the Cubs, Waterworth decided to move Sean Ferguson into the back line alongside Oscar Meza to help solidify the defense for the Cubs.

He said that he saw big improvements from seventh graders throughout the season, with the trio of Rhyder Stewart, Kamea Wisniewski and Alex Warner all showing growth and starting on the back line to end the season.

Waterworth said that throughout the season the team learned as a group how to hate losing as opposed to just wanting to win.

“By the end of the season, we still had some losses, but they were close and you could tell that the team cared,” he said. “It’s something that middle school-aged kids start figuring out. There is a difference between wanting to win and hating to lose. The latter is much more of a motivator.”

GROWING PROGRAM

Despite it being the first official year and the fourth year as a program overall, the Cubs have continued to show a strong group of participation among seventh and eighth graders at Powell Middle School.

The program hopes to continue showing growth and having strong participation to help grow the groups at the high school over the coming years while committing to helping young athletes learn an appreciation for the game.