Montgomery County’s 12-year reign over the 39th District has finally come to an explosive end.
The GRC boys soccer team hasn’t seen a championship at the district level since 2007. Since then, the Cards always made it to the finals but walked away short, losing out to Montgomery County too many times to count. However, this year was different. The boys soccer team defeated the Indians last week with a 7-1 victory.
Drawing a bye as district championships, the Cards face Bishop Brossart tonight in the 10th Region semifinals.
The district championship run was especially sweet for the 10 seniors but all players contributed to the championship and GRC dominated from the beginning.
After a 10-0 victory over the Paris Greyhounds in the first round, the Cards came into the championship game confident and ready to clinch the title, and that’s exactly what they did.
“Going into the game I just wanted to get the trophy we deserve,” says PK Vogel, who scored the opening goal in the district championship. “But our job’s not over, we still have work to do.”
Senior Clay Turley said the Cards were confident. “We haven’t beaten them in like 15 years, so I just wanted to beat the brakes off them,” says Turley, who scored the second goal to secure the lead over the Indians.
The Cards were led to victory by Coach Vogler, who shares in the excitement of this long-awaited win. “I’m happy for my players and the community. Competing and winning championships is what they deserve. I’m glad I got to play my part in that.”
The team has been preparing for the post season since the end of the regular season. Post-season training focuses on technical drills that involve passing, dribbling, shooting, and first touches, along with watching film and analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the team, as well as the opponents. “This played to our advantage for this particular tournament,” he says.
When focusing on goals for the team, Coach Vogler takes each game as they come. “Honestly, my goals are always just next game,” he says. “That’s just pretty much how all coaches have to approach something. So we won a district title. We got to mark something off of our sheet, and so now we are just preparing for the next game until we get to mark another goal off of our sheet. You’re always wanting to hope your players understand generally what hard work and perseverance can lead to, and I think especially this group of kids have been able to see that over a period of four and five years. They are getting to see that pay off.”
Vogler has been head coach for the past five years and has continued to watch the program grow from around 28 players to now close to 50. He wants to see the program stay on its current path, competing for district, region, and and hopefully state titles one day.
“We are just going to continue to grow the program,” he says, “continue to grow the expectations, continue to have the right work ethic, and see where that takes us.”
Game time tonight in the 10th Region tournament is 7:30 at Bishop Brossart. Come out and support your Cards!
