Nc’s Soccer Team Kicks Their Way To The Top

North Central’s soccer team this season had a new coach and several new players, including three freshmen.

Ingredients for a building year?

Not in the mind of first-year coach Tim Cox, whose surprising Indians host the first round of state playoffs this weekend as number one seed after Tuesday’s upset victory over Ferris.

“Honestly, I always expected them to play well,” said Cox. “But this team has exceeded our expectations, no doubt about that.”

After winning three straight matches to lead the Greater Spokane League, the Indians lost three in a row. From that point on, they were faced with four straight win-or-else-the-season’s-history contests.

NC won all four. Included were 3-2 and 1-0 decisions over Shadle Park and University that put the team into the district playoffs.

Then followed a 1-0 reprise victory over the Highlanders and stunning 2-0 victory over Mead and shootout win over the Saxons.

“I coached Gonzaga Prep’s jayvee for four years and had never beaten Mead at that level,” said Cox. “This was the sweetest win of all.”

NC’s team has five senior starters, keeper Spencer Jewell, Nate Stanton, Justin Lake, Dustin Crogan and Cody Smith.

But the key to success has been the mature complementary play of the team’s youngsters, including junior scoring leader Eric Johnson and freshmen Bobby Johnson, Dustin Allbery and Aaron Fielder.

“I don’t see them as frosh, sophomores, juniors or seniors, except for those in leadership roles,” said Cox.

The team bonded with a ski trip, Laser Quest outing and pizza feed. Cox gave them a writing assignment developing goals and expectations for the season. He allowed them to evaluate the direction he was taking the program.

“It’s their game, a coach has little to do with it once it’s started,” he said.

Despite the do-or-die nature of NC’s last four games, Cox never wavered in his belief that the Indians could succeed.

“I’m not surprised,” he said. “From the beginning, we set the playoffs as our goal. The guys were simply not satisfied.”

Cox now has taken two NC teams, in chess and soccer, to state tournaments in the same year - by taking it one move at a time.

Mind over matter

When Mead won its 16th straight GSL track championship and 149th straight dual meet it was just another odyssey of the mind for Panthers athletes.

“I know all the other coaches hate us because we keep whacking them,” said coach Gary Baskett. “It’s just the process we work the kids through, the mental things we think make a difference.”

Baskett teaches and motivates with the passion of an evangelical preacher, coaching his coaches and convincing his athletes to visualize greatness by caring about each other and giving of themselves.

It’s a life-skill that goes beyond athletics, he says, but it obviously has worked just fine in his realm as track and field coach.

“If you get them to understand how to care about each other and give to the situation at hand, it’s as contagious as the things that draw them away from doing the right thing,” said Baskett.

As a result, in its meet against fellow unbeaten University, the 84-61 decision was not close.

“We figured the meet all kinds of different ways and anyway you looked at it we were going to win,” said Baskett. “I was pretty bold about it, saying we could be close, but it shouldn’t be close.”

They outscored the Titans 52-11 in the field events.

The Panthers didn’t have to double their long distance runners, because sophomore Tommy Becker was up to the 3,200 meter task.

“They know we have faith in them and give them responsibility,” said Baskett, citing Becker as an example of why Mead continually succeeds.

The mental edge gave Mead the physical advantage.

Last time just as sweet

There was a certain sadness for coach Annette Pedersen that went with Mead’s fifth-straight Greater Spokane League girls track championship.

In two weeks it all will come to an end. Pedersen leaves most of her Panthers when she becomes coach in the district’s new high school, Mount Spokane, next year.

“We talked about it on the bus,” she said. “We said, ‘It’s the last time all the coaches are together, that you guys are together. We’ve gotta go out in style.’ Then they said, ‘shut up, you’re depressing us.’

“They didn’t really say that,” Pedersen said.

Rather than be depressed, the Panthers improved on projections in nearly every event to withstand the relay brilliance of Shadle Park.

They got huge efforts in the shot put from Jen Bennett and Leah Merrill and in the 300 hurdles by Michelle Gemmell.

It offset three relay wins by the Highlanders, including Carolyn Nelson, Vanessa Larkin, Emilee Steckler and Katie Schurra who combined in 400 and 800 relays for 49.5 and 1:44.5 times.

But the bottom line for Pedersen is not the championships. She said she’ll miss her associations with Mead High athletes.

“You work with every group of kids and want them to keep the tradition, but it doesn’t matter so much if they don’t win.” said Pedersen. “They try so hard, that’s what’s cool. I love them. They’re great kids.”

Playoffs shape up

Mead’s GSL league champion baseball and runnerup softball teams have already qualified for their respective regional tournaments.

For Rogers and Shadle Park teams, particularly in baseball, the climb has just begun.

Either the fourth-place Pirates (9-7) or fifth-place Highlanders (7-9) will join the Panthers in softball regionals at Moses Lake, depending on who wins their game tonight at 6 p.m. at Franklin Park.

The remainder of the tournament is Friday and Tuesday at 3:45 and 6 p.m., for seeding purposes.

Shadle Park’s baseball team plays Friday at Seafirst Stadium, 3:45 p.m. It is the 10th time in coach Ron Brooks’s 13 years as coach that the team has qualified for district play.

The Highlanders need three straight victories, including two on Saturday, in order to advance to regionals.

, DataTimes