Summer Creek HS boys' soccer with historic turnaround to play for first state championship
· Yahoo Sports
For the Summer Creek High School boys' soccer team, what a difference a year makes.
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"Our team doesn't have a lot of cliques," senior captain Patrick Cleveland said. "Last year, we would be like seniors, juniors, and sophomores."
"We really start to focus on each other and build as a team, and then now as we are in the postseason, we're on a good streak right now, and hopefully it doesn't end," junior captain Kainoa Carlsward said.
The Bulldogs finished last in the district a year ago, only winning five games all season. This year, they are District 23-6A champs and just eliminated with a shutout against the defending state champs from Vandegrift. The Bulldogs will play in their first state championship in school history.
"I don't think that there's a secret," head coach Parker O'Quinn said. "We just work hard, and these guys have been grinding since August and, you know, they've put in the hours, and I just try and get out of the way."
Their journey to this point started when O'Quinn took over and set the expectations for the program in August.
"When I got here in August, we didn't talk about a rebuild," O'Quinn said. "My perspective is you can't have a rebuild because these seniors don't get another year. These juniors don't get another year."
O'Quinn also said the goal was to win the regional final. Well, the Bulldogs have reached and exceeded their early-season goals.
"Making a reasonable goal was good, and then being able to get further than our goal and achieving a state final was great," junior captain Bruno Montemayor said.
And with a win, they'll add to history, which they have already made. Completing an improbable turnaround with memories that will last forever.
"You want to go out and think it's any other game, just play your game, try to keep a level head, and then stay confident yourself," Kainoa Carlsward said.
"I'm trying to hold off on visualizing," Monemayor said. "I don't want to get too ahead of myself, but yeah, of course, how can someone not imagine what it might feel like in the future in the school, not only in that school, but in the communities?"