Soccer preview : Young Rams focus on leadership within
“Youth must be served,” the old saying goes. “It had better be,” is what Riverside High School soccer coach Donnie Hodgson is saying, after losing 10 of last year’s seniors to graduation, including nine starters.
Coming off its latest successful season – the Rams have never had a losing record – Riverside is faced with all the challenges associated with a youth movement, but Hodgson is confident that more good things lie ahead.
The Rams finished second in the Great Northern League last year, ending their season with back-to-back playoff losses to Pullman and Quincy. Three of Riverside’s six losses in 2006 were to the Greyhounds, who were undefeated until a 2-1 loss to Cascade-Leavenworth in the state tournament.
The Class 2A GNL has a reconfigured back-to-the-future look this season with the addition of Clarkston, Cheney and West Valley, but Hodgson says his focus now isn’t on anyone but his team.
“There are new teams in a new league,” he said, “but we need to concentrate on ourselves and what we need to work and improve on. We’ll make adjustments when we play those schools, but for now we’ve got plenty to do to get ready.”
Although the graduation losses concern him, Hodgson remains confident in both the skills and leadership of his returners and additions.
“We’re very young, with only one senior (midfielder Jaime Rebuelta), but he’ll be our go-to guy. As far as where our leadership will come from, Jaime, Tyler Bland and Tyler Florez have really stepped in to fill that gap. We’re fine with that.
“We’ll be a strong team, and we’ll need to be. Only two teams get through from our district to the regional tournament, and I think our league’s as strong as the central Washington area, which gets six.”
Hodgson is in his sixth year as head coach at Riverside after assisting Kevin Moon for three. He graduated from the school in 1996 and played for the Rams when the team was a Riverside-Deer Park combination.
“The level of play is much improved since then,” he said, “not just in soccer, but in every sport. It’s tougher in the smaller schools where almost every athlete is a two- or three-sport guy, but if you get kids who are athletes, they can learn. Of our varsity kids, Tyler Florez is our only one-sport player.
“I’ll probably focus more on basics at the beginning this year because we’re so young, but most of the time, I start from ground zero anyway. One thing I know, we’re way further along than I thought we’d be simply because the work ethic of these kids is amazing. I sure don’t have any complaints!”