Fort Madison High School boys soccer coach Kevin Wellman is expecting a successful season, and he said not having a 2020 season didn’t change that.
“Each season pretty much stands on its own,” Wellman said.
Normally, a preview article posts the players lost to graduation as it affects how many shoes a team will have to fill.
Instead the reason to post those not back for the 2021 season is because those graduates of 2020 didn’t get to play their final season.
For the Bloodhounds, those would be defenders Chris Kistner, Tanner Brown and Kali Maestro and forward Austin Sexton.
“It was heartbreaking to see those seniors not get their senior year of soccer,” Wellman said, “and all the other guys are only going to get three years instead of four.
While other teams in the area have low numbers out, Coach Wellman said the Hounds are about where they had been before 2020 and he picked up six from Holy Trinity Catholic High School when the Crusaders couldn’t field a team this spring.
Seven FMHS players had experience in the 2019 season.
The three seniors are Anthony Barnes, Will Larson and Alex Steffensmeier, all three of them defenders although Larson plays midfield as well.
Four juniors who played as freshmen are: defender Phillip Goldie and midfielders Will Gager, Austin Miller and Reiburn Turnbull. Miller can also play as a defender.
Senior Chandler Rung brings experience from HTC, and Renzo Eid is the other senior out. Both are defenders.
Other HTC players are junior Mitchell Pothitakis and sophomore Jacob Pothitakis, his cousin. Mitchell is a midfielder and Jacob a midfielder or forward.
Sophomores who didn’t get a chance to have a freshman season are keeper Tate Settles and forward Xander Wellman.
The other three varsity players are freshmen: midfielder/forward Leif Boeding, defender/midfielder Nathen Bowen and HTC’s Conner Gehling, a keeper.
“I expect be very competitive in all of our games,” Wellman said, “and expect to win many more than we lose.
“We have a very skilled midfield and attack. Our defense is solid. Those boys are strong and don’t shy away from a physical game.”
The only area of inexperience are the two keepers, Settles and Gehling.
“They may be a bit shaky in the early games, but I am confident they will learn quickly,” Coach Wellman said.
Of the seniors, Wellman said, Barnes “is fast to run players down and fit to stay at it all game long if needed;” Eid “brings a lot of tenacity and energy to the field;” Larson “will be a target man for corner kicks as he is the bravest of us going up; for headers;” Rung “will bring stability to our back line;” and Steffensmeier “is also fast to run players down that might get behind us. He’s one of our smaller guys but plays very tough.”
Coach Wellman hopes to win the Southeast Conferenced this year but it’s hard to gauge with the year off.
“Fairfield is always tough, and Mount Pleasant may bring a tough game to us as well,” Wellman said.
Speaking of small numbers, Keokuk High School dropped its girls program due to low numbers and will compete on the boys team. There are 14 boys and six girls on the squad.
