Martin Westview at HCHS soccer

Jericho Pasoal chases the ball in the early minutes of Tuesday’s HCHS soccer game with Martin Westview. Later, Thomas Millraney scored on a corner kick for the Patriots off an assist by Kenton McFarland. Henry County won 1-0.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following article was written by Henry County High School students Zane Samples and Josh Pruitt as a class assignment in the Marketing 3, Sports and Entertainment class that is taught at HCHS by Brian Welp. 

 

There is a mixture of experience and youth in the Henry County High School Patriot soccer team this spring.

Brandon Ryan returns for his third season as the Patriots’ head coach with Hugo Armas starting his second season as the Patriots’ assistant coach. The Patriots lost five graduates from last year’s squad, but they will have plenty of returning players looking to boost the team’s fortunes.

Senior leaders are Bryant Richardson, Dawson Willoughby, Wade McClure, Josh Pruitt, Travis Northington, Thomas Millraney, Brady Heath, Zane Samples, Caleb Akers and Joe’Marri Ray.

The will be aided by juniors Connor Mason, Bailey Armas, Johnathan Alexander, Timmy Whalen, Zach Hutson and Grayson Arrington. Sophomores battling for playing time include Harrison Cook, Cameron Hernandez, Fernando Corralis, Saul Hernandez, Jericho Pasaol, Keaton McFarland, Sam Garcia, Lorenzo Trainito and Ryan Gladwell.

The incoming freshman are Adam Millete, Eric Wallet, Christian Beidler and Cristian Pacheco. 

Ryan said he wasn’t going to list positions for the players this early in the season because there is still a lot of movement within the lineup as the team works to find the right role for each player.

“This season is going to be a little different having some players learning new positions,” Ryan said. “I hope to see our passing game and tactical play get better. I hope they play to their best ability.’

Ryan said, “Hoping our defense and midfielders will be stronger as a team, and I hope the forwards will be able to apply more pressure to opposing team’s defense. I expect our shooting to be better and finish better than last year.”

The Patriots will play some top teams in the Smokey Mountain Cup April 7-8 in Gatlinburg and an April 28-29 tournament in Tullahoma. They will have key district games against Clarksville, Rossview and Springfield. 

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