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ALTON - Alton High School’s boys soccer seniors have meant a considerable amount to the overall Redbird program over the past four years and continue to inspire the younger players.
The seniors were honored during a match on Monday against Jersey at Alton High. Alton won the match 5-0.
Alton High coach Nick Funk said the seniors are his club’s leaders on and off the field. Monday was a difficult night for Funk because of his love of the players and the very apparent same feeling from them back to him.
“They are all close-knit and love the game and love each other,” he said. “It is awesome to build off that chemistry they developed throughout the four years.
“I coached these boys as freshmen as the freshmen coach and the second year as JV. I have been with them since I started. Our team chemistry this year is amazing. We are more skilled per position than we have been in the past.”
Funk commended Jersey head coach Scott Burney and his squad for coming out and giving his team a difficult opponent on Monday.
“Jersey is always good and always comes out to play,” he said. “They play hard; you can tell all those guys are together and love their coaches as much as ours love us. It is cool to watch. I have never met a Jersey squad that doesn’t play extremely hard.”
It is always difficult to let the seniors go, Funk said, especially after spending so much time with them day in day out. Funk said a coach almost becomes like another member of a player’s family when they are together for four years.
He said he would miss all the seniors who will graduate next spring and wished them the best in their lives as they move forward.
The Redbird seniors are Solomon Blackmon, Levi Davis, Hunter Dill, Ethan Kercher, Orron Lee, Troy Lockhart, Colin Lombardi, Myles Marfell and Sam VanVoorhis.
THURSDAY
BOYS SOCCER
COLUMBIA 2, ALTON 0: Riley Hubler scored both goals for Columbia as the Eagles blanked Alton 2-0 at Piasa Motor Fuels Field Thursday evening. The loss sent the Redbirds to 10-7-2 on the year, while the Eagles improved to 21-0-2.
Hubler scored in both halves to give Columbia the win; Jon Kuebler recorded the clean sheet for the Eagles. Next up for Alton is a 5 p.m. Monday match with Waterloo Gibault before closing out the regular season with a 6:30 p.m. home match against Collinsville Oct. 12; AHS takes on Granite City at 11 a.m. Oct. 14 in a play-in game of the IHSA Class 3A Edwardsville Regional.
