The Caldwell County boys’ soccer team was young last season.
The Tigers are still young this season.
The difference is that the 2020 version of the Tigers has another year’s experience under its belt — and a year under head coach Tanner Reed.
Caldwell went 4-12-1 last season in year one under Reed, who took a team some thought would struggle to win a game and made them competitive most nights.
The Tigers lost just one senior to graduation, goalkeeper Josh Hagan.
Caldwell is looking to a freshman to fill that spot. Reed and the Tigers have a lot of confidence in Corbin Nichols, who will see his first varsity action when Caldwell opens the season Monday night at Mayfield.
The two center backs in front of Nichols are his twin brother, freshman Timothy Nichols, and sophomore Christian Jones.
At left back is sophomore Blake Lancaster while sophomore Blake Bard is at right back.
A trio of sophomores will man the three midfield spots — Haiden Ball, Weston Phelps and Nick Adams.
The front three will include the only two juniors on the roster — Blake Vivrette and Ethan Weatherspoon — along with sophomore Grayden Miller.
Miller, whose father is Lady Tiger soccer coach Rhett Miller, was the leading goal-scorer for the Tigers last season. The younger Miller had 14 goals while Vivrette added 10 goals and six assists.
“The only real changes from last year is that we moved Ethan to a wing and Nick has been moved to midfield,” noted Reed. “Ethan played defense last year, but we really want to utilize his speed up front.
“I think our players are finally starting to understand some of the things we were trying to implement last year. We’ve changed our format a little bit this season. Last year, we were just trying to play the ball forward, but this year we’re looking to string five or six passes together to break a team down.”
Reed said his squad should be OK coming off the bench, too.
“We’re actually quite deep. We’ve got players we can bring in especially at the midfield and forward spots where we really don’t see a significant difference.”
The ultimate goal for Caldwell County is to challenge Madisonville-North Hopkins for 7th District supremacy. Reed thinks his group will get there, it’s just a matter of when.
Madisonville lost a huge group of seniors from last year’s regional championship team that finished 20-4-2. But the Maroons remain the team to beat in the district.
The Tigers also know they have to get past Hopkins County Central as well.
The Storm eliminated Caldwell 3-1 in the 7th District semifinal last year after the Tigers won the regular-season matchup 2-1 on penalty kicks.
But Reed appears to have the Tigers on the right path.
“We want to play what we call ‘beautiful soccer,’” Reed noted. “Our defense understands their role and Corbin understands the game very well back in the net. I think we’re going to be a good team. And I think we’re going to be a smart team.”
After opening at Mayfield, the Tigers will see Hopkins County Central Sept. 15 in Mortons Gap.
The first home game for Caldwell on Sept. 17 will bring Madisonville-North Hopkins to Butler Stadium in Princeton.
Reed was interviewed last week on WPKY Radio in Princeton by Todd Griffin and Dennis Stephens.
