The Community School boys' varsity soccer team has a score to settle during the 2005 season that begins Saturday, Aug. 27 with games in McCall.
Missing the state tournament for the first time since 1998 is the main thing that sticks in the craw of 14-year head coach Richard Whitelaw (150-58-16, 17-9 at state).
Last year's Cutthroats ran out of scoring gas and settled for third place in the six-team Fourth District 3A tournament—snapping a string of five straight state trips. This fall the 'Throats be shooting for the top two in the league and a berth in the State 3A tourney in Boise.
And they'll have to do it with a young team that lost its MVP and leading scorer Bobby Flanigan (14 goals, 37 career).
"We're young, inexperienced but very enthusiastic," said Whitelaw, helped by junior varsity coach Jason Lynch and coach emeritus Bob Brock.
The Cutthroat turnout of 30 players includes just three seniors and four juniors, but 14 sophomores and nine freshmen. "Plus our eighth-grade class is strong. Give us a couple of years," Whitelaw said.
Although the upperclassmen are few, they are "very solid and lead by example," Whitelaw added. "I'm impressed with the seniors and juniors. This is going to be their team," he said.
Seniors include sweeper Kevin Wade and last year's Most Improved player, Ross Campbell. They'll start on defense with returning goalkeeper Regan O'Reilly, a junior. The other senior is Wes Flanigan, attacking up front with sophomore Travis Stone (7 goals last season).
Other defenders include sophomores Cody Edison and Mac Whittington, and freshman Alex Conn. "That's a solid group back there," said Whitelaw about all-important back line. "Regan has gotten bigger and more experienced. He'll be a real asset for us."
Whitelaw has welcomed a slew of midfielders including juniors Ryon Campbell, Alden Remington and Caleb Sonneland; sophomores Spencer Harris, Connor Brown and Max Harris; and freshman Austin Grill. "We're very high on Austin," said the longtime coach.
Other sophomores are Quinn Baser, Trevor Boley, John Cortese (out six weeks with a broken foot), Christian Dallago, Jeff Gaecke, Ian Ingram, Rafael Pena and McClain Porter. The rest of the freshmen are Eddy Albarran, Peter Atkinson, Taylor Benz, Riley Berman, Riley Lynn, Max Sabel and Lucas Vorsteveld.
Two major concerns involve scoring and depth.
"We don't have any go-to guys like Bobby (Flanigan)," said Whitelaw. "Our big concern is major injuries. But if we can keep everyone healthy and playing up to their ability, we will do fine. It's a blue collar team and we'll just get it done."
The Community School will have a real eye-opener Saturday at McCall.
The first Cutthroat game at 9 a.m. is against defending state champ McCall-Donnelly (17-2-2). The Vandals outscored opponents 16-0 during last year's state tournament and handled American Falls 5-0 in the championship game. But McCall lost 10 seniors and may come down to earth. At 1 p.m. Saturday the Cutthroats then play 4A Vallivue of Caldwell.
And in three weeks, on Saturday, Sept. 17, the Cutthroats will host American Falls at Elkhorn. Once again, league play will be "cutthroat," you might say. Whitelaw said, "In our league anyone can beat anyone on any given day."
Since the Cutthroats play four of their first five league games away from home, starting Tuesday, Aug. 30 in Filer, a key factor will be grabbing two or three wins in those road contests. Then, presumably the Cutthroats could mount a strong league defense at their home Browning Field where they always play so well.
Last fall the Cutthroats won the regular-season league title with a 7-1-2 record. But #4-seeded Buhl was the Cinderella team in the district tournament, beating #3-seeded Wendell 4-3 for the title. Buhl (8-8-1) went 0-2 at state but Wendell (10-6-2) placed fourth.
