Can Kapaun and Cantele Get it Done?

This season is as good as any other for Kapaun Mt. Carmel to win its first state boys soccer title since 1997. Fifteen players, including eight seniors, return from last fall's Class 5A state runner-up team. Among those seniors is leading goal scorer, Anthony Cantele. He is a special talent; Cantele followed 32 sophomore-season goals with 34 last year. With 77 current career goals, not including the field goals he kicks for the Kapaun football team, he's going to play Division I soccer next year at Missouri State. Teammates who will also play college soccer are senior center defenders Nick Palmer and Tyler Curbow. Seniors Philip Nguyen, who deftly passes into space, and Zach Huffman, with serious speed down the flank, are also looking to go on to the next level. Kapaun's biggest 2007 obstacle: St. Thomas Aquinas of Overland Park. The Saints have won four straight state titles and 10 overall. They beat Kapaun in the final last fall 3-0, handing the Crusaders only their second loss of the season (18-2-1). "We're good enough to get back again," said seventh-year Kapaun coach, Jack Geist. "But you've got to go through Aquinas. They stand in front of everyone." Back from the Philippines In five of the past six seasons, Trinity Academy has made the final four of the 4-3-2-1A state soccer tournament, but the Knights enter 2007 under a new head coach. With his sons graduated from the program, Bryan Hanning stepped down after one year as head coach and eight as an assistant. Tom Nykamp, a former Christian missionary in the Philippines, takes over a program with one state title (2001). Nykamp ministered to the people of Manila with his feet, competing and evangelizing at the same time through the game of soccer. In that city of 20 million, Nykamp and his students competed against jail teams and local neighborhood select teams. The games were opportunities for Nykamp to preach the Christian gospel and to teach his native students to do the same. "Sports have a central message - unity," Nykamp says. "It is a common language." Though seven seniors graduated from Trinity's 2006 squad that finished as state runner-up, juniors Scott Henderson and Chase Billings and senior Josh Funk provide a returning core of players who have started since their freshman seasons. Lawt-able Wichita Southeast soccer has risen to prominence under seventh-year head coach Thomas Rhodes, and senior Colin Lawter might be his best player yet. The Buffaloes' all-state center midfielder, who has verbally committed to Drake, spent the summer with the Blue Valley Grasshoppers, a U-17 club team with whom he competed throughout the Midwest and won the Kansas state championship. "At state in Olathe, we beat Wichita United, which had a bunch of Kapaun kids," said Lawter. Though improving at the state tournament is also on the minds of Southeast players (fourth-place finish in 2006), besting Kapaun Mt. Carmel, the defending City League champion, is at the forefront. Both teams return a majority of their starters, and Southeast retains its core up the middle, despite graduating its goalkeeper. Junior Taylor Knoll controls the tempo of the game alongside Lawter in the midfield, and both distribute to the speedy David Dao, Southeast's leading returning scorer. Buhler Upgrade Opposing coaches can no longer call Buhler's soccer field a cow pasture! The Crusaders finally have a pitch that fits their level of play. Faulty sprinklers formerly left the field hard, patchy, dry and weedy by season's end, making it fodder for visiting team's ridicule. However, new drip system sprinklers have made the Buhler field luxurious. They lie six inches under freshly imported sod, which the maintenance crew cuts at three-quarter inch. Buhler coach Tim Harris readily welcomed the changes to the field; his Buhler boys could win the state title if things go smoothly this fall. The Crusaders have 11 returning seniors, seven who received postseason honors as juniors. Eric Holland and Tyler Sellers lead the team from the center midfield. Holland distributes and Sellers scores, the latter tallying a school-record 20 goals last fall. Harris has led the Buhler program since it started twelve years ago. In 2006, Buhler finished with its best season yet at 14-4. Their first win of last season was their 100th in the program's history. With a coach who never played, but became a student of the game, and a field now fit for soccer, Buhler is poised to earn its first state tournament berth in program history. Hamm-ering It Home Andover Central could have its best team yet, and 6-2, 190-pound Austin Hamm isn't hurting their chances for a first state berth. He scores from the midfield or out of the air. The senior scored 23 goals in 2006 and intends to play in college in the Kansas City area. Central coach Mark Brooks had all underclassmen but one senior in the first year of the program in 2000. But, Brooks turned the Jaguars into something. Going 4-14 in 2000, two years later in 2002, Central was 12-4 against the same schedule. The 6-3 and built Zach Wiele defended last fall, and, after a couple summers playing top-level club ball, is getting looks from the next level. Junior goalkeeper Ben Clark is the last line of defense again. Not Just Bluegrass The Walnut Valley Festival is a given for things to do in Winfield in September. But what's going on the rest of the year? Many are playing soccer. While youth recreational soccer has been available for years in the spring and fall, community participation is increasing. With a new indoor soccer facility provided by the town's Recreation Commission and an annual 6 on 6 outdoor league for five weeks in June and July, Winfield soccer is on the map. The Winfield High soccer team has benefited from the increased off-season play, and Coach Don Birney said the creation of a club team made up of Rose Hill and Winfield high school players is in the works. Birney called Winfield a "hotbed for soccer." This fall, the Winfield boys team returns its top two players and gains a talented freshman. Senior forward Ryan Richardson has led Winfield in scoring since his freshman year, netting 14 with six assists in 2006. Junior Luke Pray will move from forward back to the midfield, with freshman Tanner Brock alongside. Pray and Brock are former ODP players. Not Run-of-the-Mill Andover High seniors John Milsap and Blake Miller are anything but average. They will double-dip again this fall: Milsap, an offensive midfielder, placekicks in football; Miller, a sweeper on the pitch, punts. College soccer awaits them both. "His PAT's are money in the bank," Andover soccer coach Tracey Repp said of Milsap. Repp just hopes he doesn't get hit. "I worry about him getting run over. Hopefully, they'll block for him." Andover reloads after their third-place finish at the Class 4-3-2-1A state tournament last fall. With four senior starters departed, Milsap, Miller and Ryan Haswell now lead the team. Repps says Haswell, 6-1 and 175 pounds, is the best athlete on the team (hurdler in the spring). Repp anticipates a return to the final four where Andover lost 1-0 in 2006 to eventual champ, Kansas City Christian. Aguirre Has Another Gear The Goddard Lions could roar back onto the state playoffs scene behind four-year starter Emilio Aguirre (Goddard won Class 5A state in 2002). Aguirre has started every game since his freshman year. Goddard coach Greg Clamons said he is a far different player from that first year. "Initially, he would just run onto balls and score on breakaways or cheap goals," Clamons said. "He has a great shot now. He's a complete player." Senior Jacques Blasi leads the defense, and junior Nate Walker and sophomore J.P. Gronberg have run the show in the midfield since freshmen. "They basically share a brain," says Clamons. "Their communication is outstanding." Flip-Flop Todd Brittingham finds himself in an awkward position this fall coaching Valley Center against his alma mater, Rose Hill. "I won't believe it till it happens," Brittingham said of the match scheduled for October 18 at Valley Center. "I take so much pride in that program (Rose Hill)." Annually Valley Center vs. Rose Hill is the final match of the season for both schools, and it often gets chippy. Brittingham traces the tenor of the game back to the fact that Valley Center and Rose Hill were two of the first schools outside Wichita to play soccer. Brittingham graduated from Rose Hill to play at Barton County for two years before signing at Kentucky. He finished up his degree at Kansas State this year and took the job at Valley Center. While the Hornets lost seven seniors from 2006, Brittingham doesn't see them finishing below .500. Senior Tyler Lohman anchors the defense as captain, and sophomore Zach Banick will dictate play in the middle of the field with his superb ball skills. Can Maize Bounce Back? From the late 1990's through the 2005 season, Maize's Mike Darrah established one of the stronger area soccer traditions. The Eagles made three final fours and two state title games. But, last fall, Maize fell off a bit with a young squad. "We had too many costly mistakes," Darrah said of the 2006 season. "There was a lack of communication." Maize had five own-goals. A more experienced team returns in Darrah's 15th season at Maize (two as an assistant). Seniors Shawn Kaylor and Jake Flynn will hold up the back, and sophomores Brendon Moore and A.J. Hoover will orchestrate the scoring. The well-rounded Moore distributes from the middle. Hoover is a solid ball striker. Darrah, an All-American player at Tabor in the early 1990's, has sent on many of his Maize kids to play at Friends and Tabor, including Casey Barton, who recently wrapped up a professional career. Barton went out on top, winning the MISL title this past spring as a defender for the Philadelphia Kixx. He retired after the season and has moved back to Wichita.