There won't be any secrets when The Community School and Wood River High School girls' and boys' varsity soccer teams clash for the only time this season Saturday, Sept. 22, in a big back-to-back doubleheader in Hailey.
Wood River's front-running Great Basin Conference West girls face off against the unbeaten and top-ranked Community School girls at 11 a.m., while the #1-ranked and unbeaten Community School boys meet Wood River at 1 p.m., also on the South Valley Sports Complex pitch.
Players on both teams know each other well and have traveled and competed together for years in the Sawtooth United F.C. program and on international teams. They all wish each other the best, except, perhaps, in Saturday's games.
Coach Greg Gvozdas' 4A Wood River girls (5-3-1, 4-0-0 league) have played some of Idaho's best bigger schools and haven't yet reached their offensive potential. They've outscored opponents 31-15 and are unbeaten in their last five.
Gvozdas said his team might be the underdog against a high-scoring Cutthroat juggernaut (10-0-0, 8-0-0 league) that has ravaged opponents by a 65-1 score and has blanked two 4A teams, Minico and Jerome, 8-0 and 4-0 on the Sagewillow Farms field in Elkhorn.
Coach Kelly Feldman Cutthroat girls added to their spotless record steamrolling host Wendell (2-5-1, 2-5-1) by 7-0 Tuesday. Seven different players scored—Cody Curran (14 goals), Jessie Curran (11), Nellie Brown, Maddie-Kate Currie, Maddie duPont, Madison Murach and Jean Montgomery.
The Cutthroat girls visited Buhl (4-5-1, 4-2-1) Thursday as a final tune-up for Saturday's grudge match with the Wolverines.
WRHS girls' teams lead the 10-season, 21-game series by 13-3-5, including a 6-1-4 mark in Hailey. They have outscored the Fish 63-22. But there's more and more evidence that this is the best Cutthroat team since the program began in 1993.
Wood River has won four straight games against the Cutthroats, including a 3-1 success in 2006 at Sagewillow Farms. The last time the Cutthroat girls beat Wood River was five years ago, 2-1 in an OT shootout at the 2002 district tournament finale in Hailey.
Meanwhile, the Wood River boys (3-4-2, 1-2-1 Great Basin West) are finding their legs under first-year coach Matt Phillips but haven't mustered much offense, 14 goals in nine games. They've allowed 22.
But coach Richard Whitelaw's Cutthroat boys (9-0-0, 8-0-0 league) are on something of a mission, riding the firepower of senior striker Travis Stone (20 goals season, 79 career) and sophomore Tanner Flanigan (14 goals season, 27 two years). The Cutthroats have outscored foes 50-8.
To keep the score in check, Wood River midfielders and defenders will have to stop the Cutthroat through balls that send Stone and Flanigan in alone from midfield. Few teams have done so including 4A Minico, a 6-2 loser at Sun Valley Sept. 8.
Stone and Flanigan each scored two goals Tuesday as the Cutthroats outscored host Wendell (1-6-1, 1-6-1) by a score of 4-2. "Man of the Match" for the visitors was midfielder Wyatt Bunce. Stone has now scored in all nine Cutthroat games and in 36 of 50 games since 2005.
The Cutthroat boys traveled to Buhl (1-9-0, 0-8-0) Thursday.
In games against the Cutthroat boys, Wolverine teams lead the 23-season, 53-game rivalry 31-19-3, including an 18-4-2 mark in Hailey. But the Cutthroats won 5-1 last fall in Sun Valley and still have a 110-107 goal-scoring advantage in the long and storied series. Prior to last year, however, Wood River had won five straight games by a 21-5 score.
In other games, The Community School boys' JV visits Jerome today for a 4:30 p.m. game. On Monday, Sept. 24, the Wood River boys' varsity plays a Great Basin West game at Jerome while the Wolverine girls host Jerome at 4:30 p.m. on the Hailey soccer field.
Wood River's junior varsity boys (5-3-1) handled Minico 4-1 Monday in Hailey with goals by Crockett Stearns (penalty), Brendan Freund assisted by Jake Freeman), Brayan Donoso and Chance McCroskey.
Community School goalkeeper Riley Berman stops a shot in Cutthroat soccer action earlier this year. The undefeated Cutthroats play their annual grudge match Saturday with the Wood River Wolverines on the Hailey turf. Photo by Willy Cook
