Boys’Soccer
that I coached from the beginning to the end of the season—the improvement and just the way we handled the ball,” Carpenter said. “In the past we had tough teams, but right now I feel like this is one of the most skilled groups I’ve ever had. And they are young. More than half will be back with me next year.”
The entire game was a defensive battle, which is exactly what Carpenter said he preaches to his team. His strategy, he said, was to have fresh players match up with Heritage’s elites on offense.
“We marked one of their best players,” Carpenter said. “We put somebody with him at all times, and when one of mine would get tired, I’d put somebody else in there. I rotated three players to cover this one guy—one of their best shooters their whole game. On my defense, once they got to the box, we marked their other best players in my opinion. So we marked one up and down the field and we marked two more when they entered the box area. So now we are guarding three of their top ball handlers.”
Carpenter said he instructed Jayden Khouanerasa to defend the Generals’ best player in the first half, while Khaleil Price got the assignment in the second half. Meanwhile, Belmin Kojic and Jorge Arellano were left to guard two other top players in the box.
According to Heritage coach Nate Erwin, his three best ball handlers were Gauge Sartin, Kevin Ho and Aaron Hilliard.
Aside from defense, Lakeview, when they did have chances on goal, did their best to put shots up. Heritage’s Gavin Chandler had three saves from Lakeview’s offense.
Erwin said he was proud of the way his team performed in the championship and during the entirety of the season.
“I thought we did a good job growing as a team as the year went on playing together and moving the ball around,” he said. “A kind of weakness we had all year was finishing close games. That kind of proved to be a little bit of a difference today. We had some opportunities that we didn’t quite take advantage of.”
Heritage finished the season with a record of 10-2.