Montgomery County raises the bar for itself yet again

Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo file photo Pat Young (13), now a senior, and Jeffrey Juarez (7), now a sophomore, helped Sherwood celebrate its second-straight 4A state championship last season. Both return this fall, but the Warriors lost nine starters and will face stiff competition from a number of other strong teams around the county.

Last November, four Montgomery County teams — Magruder, Poolesville, Seneca Valley and Sherwood — won boys soccer regional titles, and Sherwood went all the way for their second straight Class 4A state championship. Private-school teams Bullis and Sandy Spring Friends won the Interstate Athletic Conference and Potomac Valley Athletic Conference titles, respectively.

It will be difficult to top six championships, but the county is locked and loaded this year. The depth of talent may never have been better, despite the fact that two rising juniors — Wootton’s Adam Gracia and Quince Orchard’s Israel Sesay — were called into the U.S. U-17 National setup and shipped off to the IMG Soccer Academy in Bradenton, Fla., and won’t be playing high-school soccer this year.

Even without Gracia and Sesay, the talent level is high. The county was well-represented at last month’s U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships, and many of its historically strong programs have deep, veteran rosters this fall. Better still, all that talent is spread pretty evenly around the area, meaning a number of teams will be very much in the running for titles.

Two-time defending 4A state champion Sherwood is ‘‘rebuilding,” according to coach Hector Morales. The Warriors graduated 13 seniors and nine starters from the team that hoisted the MPSSAA trophy at UMBC last November.

‘‘I’ve got five seniors; we’re loaded with sophomores and juniors,” Morales said. ‘‘We’ve got a lot of role players doing their job and learning a thing or two. I’m pleased with our performances over the preseason, but it’s not about now, it’s about November.”

The two returning starters are forward Pat Young (‘‘my boy,” Morales said) and defensive anchor Erick Alves de Sa, who will be vital, as the Warriors’ choice in goal comes down to a freshman and a senior who hasn’t played high-school soccer in two years.

On the other side of Georgia Avenue, Magruder also has goalie issues. The Colonels return virtually their entire offense from last year’s state semifinalist squad, and is absolutely stacked in the center of midfield. The question mark comes in defense, with the graduation of four starters, including All-Gazette first-teamers Mark Eisinger and Freddie Merkel.

Injuries have plagued Merkel’s potential replacements in net, meaning the team’s one returning defender, senior Cooper Tilton, will have even more on his shoulders in the middle of what will probably be a three-man back line.

Springbrook, on the other hand, will build from the back this season, with three returning starters on defense. Senior Augustine Vandy will also likely be pulled back into defense from the forward role he played last year, further strengthening an already experienced unit.

‘‘Our defense looks to be pretty strong, so I think we’ll be in good shape,” coach John Haigh said. ‘‘Overall, I think things will be really good. ... They really look like a team, and I think they’re going to perform much better this year.”

Blair will also be a contender in the 4A this year, both in the East-West Division and the West Region playoffs. The midfield is senior-laden, and the defense should be solid, as well.

‘‘We’ve kind of gotten stuck on the second game of the playoffs,” coach Adrian Baez said. ‘‘We want to win the division, we want to get furter this year. We want to step it up a notch.”

At Blake, coach Rudy Tyrell enters his second season still looking for his first win. This year’s Bengals have a veteran roster and some intangibles that Tyrell feels were lacking from last year’s team.

‘‘They worked together all off-season and they’ve been working hard in the preseason,” Tyrell said. ‘‘There’s a lot of upbeat attitudes. It’s infectious, and I have a lot of confidence. I had confidence last year and it didn’t work out, though, so I don’t know if I’m just an optimist or what.”

In the county’s 3A⁄2A⁄1A Division, Paint Branch has an intriguing mix of old and new. A quartet of experienced seniors — Steven Briefel, Thomas Flechsig, Justin Lambert and Jung Woo — leads the way for an injection of new blood that includes freshman Luis Calderone and sophomore Edwin Granados, a transfer from Northwood.

‘‘We have a really nice mix,” first-year coach Mike Kogok said. ‘‘We can build around [the seniors]. We have a ninth-grader and we have five or six 10th-graders on the team, who are there legitimately because they can play.”

Rockville will be a contender for the division title for the third straight year. Front-runners Eduardo Flores and Alex Goychochea played together last season, and senior Luis Lemus returns to anchor the midfield. The real test, as always, will come at playoff time, in the 2A West Region.

‘‘I think it’s pretty much the same as last year,” coach Abdel Makhlouf said. ‘‘We lost three senior starters, and I think they were replaced and we’re in good shape. I don’t see any big difference.”

A year ago, Kennedy won two playoff games and came within penalty kicks of a berth in the 3A West Region final. The Cavaliers lost their goalkeeper and all but one starting defender, so second-year coach Kristin Werdann is shuffling things around in an attempt to duplicate that effort this year.

‘‘I don’t want to use the word rebuilding, but we’re restructuring,” Werdann said. ‘‘Our division is very evenly matched; there’s no dominant team. ... We want to keep improving from scrimmage to scrimmage and going forward so that by the end of October, we’re ready to give some teams some trouble, like we did last year.”

At times last season, it seemed like Wheaton played with 10 midfielders — the defense, as a result, was not as solid as it could have been. Coach Oscar Amaguana believes his team will improve in that area this year, and a good core of returnees has hopes running high.

‘‘As always, we’re looking to move players around and put the strongest players in their strongest positions,” Amaguana said. ‘‘I’d say we have a good group coming back.”

Einstein is back to where it was three years ago, with a slew of younger players looking to step into the shoes of a number of graduated seniors. In the last three years, though, the Titans have averaged a third-place finish in the 3A⁄2A⁄1A Division, so Nougais Metellus expects to be competitive again.

Northwood went from 0-12 in its first season to 5-4-3 in its second as a junior-varsity program. The Gladiators graduate to varsity this season, but without seniors, they could be in for another learning year.

‘‘We’re growing,” coach Kurt Logsdon said. ‘‘There are parts where we can work on certain things. But we’ll get to it. We’re keeping it positive, and we’re looking forward to the season.”

Sandy Spring Friends will have a difficult time living up to the standard it set last season — any team would. The Wildebeest went unbeaten and untied, outscoring their opponents by a combined score of 91-5. Despite losing a banner class of seniors, though, they are a strong pick to win its third straight Potomac Valley Athletic Conference title.

‘‘I get very excited coming off last year’s dream season, because the challenge is daunting,” coach Eduardo Polon said. ‘‘We kind of have an interesting question mark with the next generation, which we have great belief in.”

In the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference, first-year Good Counsel coach Julio Zarate has a rebuilding project on his hands. This year is about keeping the Falcons competitive and building the foundations for future success.

‘‘We have to work hard to bring a program to the school,” Zarate said. ‘‘But I’ve been very impressed with the hard work of these kids. I’ve been killing them. What I like is that at least if you don’t have the skill, you have to be in good shape. ... There is no quitting. They believe they can do it.”

In Montgomery County this year, they’re not alone.