The boys are happy, proud, and rowdy, just as they normally are when getting ready for a game. But this game some would have tears in their eyes and would mean a lot more to them. This is their last year, their last moments, and their last memories together before they separate. They walk across the field with their families as their name is called. A scarf is placed around their neck and they reflect on all the memories laid out before them. 

On March 6 the Varsity soccer boys played against Kenne, at the MISD Stadium winning 6-0. Coach Cashan Clark played every single senior on the field despite their position. The goal was for all the seniors to be able to score a goal of their very own, even for goalkeeper Konnor Koethe, who rarely ever plays the field. 

“Playing the field was fun considering I am always at the goal to defend,” Konnor Koethe (12) said. “I liked just being able to be with my team, laughing, and having fun. Even though I didn’t make a goal, I was smiling the whole time with my boys.” 

The seniors have developed a strong bond over the years of playing soccer. For most of them, it doesn’t seem like this is their last year together. 

“It seems so surreal,” Zachary Schmidt (12) said. “The past four years have been something that has changed my life and impacted it in so many ways. I will for sure miss playing with the guys I love and see as my brothers.”

Coach Clark has helped the seniors through a lot this season and the seniors have developed a close relationship with him over the years, even though the season has been cut short. He has been tough but mixed fun with discipline, from five, am practices and late-night soccer games. 

“I have seen a lot of coaches come in and out of this program, but no one has shaped our soccer culture and mentality like Coach Clark has,” Jett Whitaker (12) said. “I don’t think I had realized that until the work of early mornings and late nights meant as a team together.”

The soccer team, especially the seniors, were looking forward to going to playoffs and getting further and further to the goal of state. Now with the unknowns of everything going on currently it is hard to be able to determine the outcome of what will happen next. 

“I wasn’t too emotional during our game because I knew that we were going to have more,” Mason Whitworth (12) said. “But now it is pretty upsetting that we might not even get to finish the season out. Considering how strong of a state championship-caliber team we are, it would be sad not to go on.” 

The seniors thought they had longer to play which saddened a lot of them with the current conditions for UIL activities. A lot of the boys were a bit emotional during the game, thinking about their last moments as a team. 

“I am sad because this is my last season with my friends, but I’ve come so far and it has been so enjoyable,” Garrett Garvin (12) said. “These guys are like my family because we have been through so much together.”