River View soccer players put together record season
WARSAW – The dedication of his 10 seniors to the sport of soccer is one reason Head Coach Mike Burr believes the River View Black Bears were so successful this season.
“These 10 guys have stuck with it,” he said. “As freshmen they only won five games, as sophomores they won eight, last year they won 14 and this year they won 18. They’ve worked hard for this.”
River View’s varsity boys’ soccer team won the ECOL title this year and as of Oct. 26 was 18-1-0.
“We are tied for the most wins ever and have the best winning percentage,” Burr said. “They’ve all stepped up this year.
On Oct. 28 they played Zanesville in the district championship game and beat them 1-0. They now move on to regionals, a feat only the 2000, 2004, 2007, and 2008 teams have accomplished. The 2000 team was 18-3 and the 2017 team is now 19-1-0 and plays Columbus DeSales on Wednesday night, Nov. 1, in the regional semi finals.
Senior Nick Gunn said the season has gone by way too fast, but he’s enjoyed the opportunity to go far in the tournament and have the record they do.
“It’s been fun playing soccer with my friends,” he said. “We are all in the same friends’ group, play the same sports and have the same passions as each other.”
His classmate Gerik Snow said they knew they had the potential for a good season after winning 14 last year and only losing one senior. His favorite game from this year was when they thumped Carrollton High School on Oct. 17 in the first game of the tournament.
“We scored 20 goals, which was the most in River View history,” Snow said.
The most goals prior to that were 15 against Morgan High School.
Senior Obadiah Clutter recorded two of the goals in the Carrollton game.
“We’ve been working as a team this year and are better with fundamentals,” he said.
Senior Luke Brown couldn’t pick just one favorite memory from this season, but knows he’s going to miss his teammates when he graduates.
“We’ve played together since a young age and this is a real hard working team,” Brown said. “I’d tell the younger guys to cherish every moment because it goes by really fast.”
Burr believes River View has a bright future.
“We have good kids and the junior high coaches are doing a good job too,” he said. “Our numbers also are up more than they have been in the last 10 years.”
Category: Sports
