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Show American fork Cilicn - I liiirsihiy. M.irch 10, 2(X)5 - Pajic 7 Cavemen gear up for season of tough Region 6 soccer Beky Beaton American Fork boys soccer soc-cer coach Eric Hundley is " approaching the season with optimisnj this year. Though new in the head job,; Hundley as been an assis- j tant for the past seven " years. "Sometimes change sparks motivation," Hundley Hund-ley said. "I know these boys, and it's been a smooth transition. tran-sition. "I have more talent and depth on this team than American Fork has had in a long time," he went on. "Many of these kids have played competition together for several years." Junior center midfielder Jared Vogelsberg and senior sweeper Clay Casper will anchor the squad this year. "As for the other positions, we'll have to see who will step up," Hundley said. Senior Nick Perucca and junior Jay Baker are battling bat-tling for the starting spot at goalkeeper. They may share time there until a clear front-runner emerges. Hundley thinks this team is strong in an area that has been historically weak in the program. "We've always struggled with ball skills," he explained. "Well be better in that area this year. The big key will be if our guys can play together." He also has more depth. The coach has 13 or 14 starting-caliber players, which will give him more flexibility in substitutions. He has forwards with both touch and speed. "Cam Rushton and Ty Hurd have good ball control, con-trol, and Mike Meyers is really fast," Hundley said. "If we can play together to get in scoring position, I think well have more offensive offen-sive punch." " Additional varsity players play-ers include Jeff Bean, Derek Davidson, Eric Hammer, Andrew Harrison, Craig Hundley, Jordan Johns, Mike Kuhle, Jordan McMurtrey, Creggan Baseball beats LP in opener; soccer Jared Lloyd As Lone Peak reliever Trent Rasmussen found out Tuesday against American Fork, a pitcher coming into the final inning of a tie game has nowhere to hide. He isn't like a quarterback quarter-back who can kneel behind his offensive line to go to overtime or a point guard who can dribble out the clock to take the final shot. No, all he can do is throw pitch after pitch and hope to get those three key outs. For Rasmussen, it didn't happen. The Cavemen scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning, then got the Knights to go down in order to get the 9-5 win in the opener for both teams. "We were just looking to play for a run," said American Ameri-can Fork coach Jarod Inger-soll. Inger-soll. "They got the first out, then we got some big hits and it snowballed." A pair of singles put the pressure on Rasmussen. He battled Caveman second baseman Austin Haws and catcher Shay Conder to full counts before they both COPY Wagstaff and Paul Warbur-ton. Warbur-ton. Hundley expects the same tough region battles. "The level of competition in our region is really strong," he said. "It has continued to rise over the past few years." To prepare for next year's shift to the 5A class, the Cavemen will face four 5A squads in the preseason to get a taste for what that will be like. Hundley has the same optimistic outlook for his JV and sophomore teams. "We have some good players," he said. "I'm looking forward to the season." Members of the JV squad are Cole Anstead, Tyrell Bowen, Kyle Eakins, Francisco Fran-cisco Garay, Trevor Gaten-by, Gaten-by, Trevor Graff, Adrian Guerrero, Hudson Gunther, Blake Hull, Kyle Ivins, Jon Keith, Travis Landeen, Phillip McKinney, Aaron Prestgard, Shad Roundy, Kent Savage, Greg Treuhaft and Trevor Whitlock. The sophomorefreshman team consists of Andrew Bangerter, Brady Brunson, Devan Davidson, DJ Devey, Tallon Ferguson, Hoyt Freeman, Free-man, Connor Harper, Chantry Hendry, Brady Hunsaker, Tyler Hunsaker, Tyler Johns, Shaun Jolley, Kevin Kuhle, Bruno Lima, Andrew Lund, Guilherme Meira, Shaun Mickelsen, Michael Quintero, John Rol-land Rol-land and Alan Smith. Here's a look at other teams around Region 6 by sports correspondent Chris Peterson. Springville If the Springville boys soccer team is going to repeat its success this season, sea-son, they won't take anyone by surprise. After finishing third in Region 6 in 2004, the Red Devils went on a tear in the postseason, ultimately losing los-ing in the 4A state title game, the first such trip for, the school. This year, Springville coach Chris Wright walked, pushing across the first run. A wild pitch advanced all three runners, scoring run No. 2 for American Fork. First basemanpitcher Hap Holmstead then drilled a double to center field to knock in the final two runs of the game. He led the Cavemen with two hits in four at-bats with four RBI. Holmstead took the mound in the bottom of the seventh and forced two quick groundouts, then struck out Lone Peak shortstop short-stop Pat Bailey to end the game. It capped a solid pitching effort by Holmstead, Holm-stead, who struck out four and only allowed two runs on three hits in four innings of work. "(Starter Hunter) Boone did a great job early on," Ingersoll said. "Then Hap came in and threw strikes, which is all you can ask. Both did a very good job for early innings, but they can get better. They 're not quite in shape. They need to be able to throw more innings." Lone Peak hitters struggled strug-gled to get going, hitting the ball solidly but directly to IPhoime a friend. -., . , acknowledges that his team won't be sneaking up on anyone. "We recognize that we have a great big bullseye 'painted on our backs," he said. "We definitely have our work cut out for us." Wright will be leading a squad that has plenty of experience, with five returning varsity starters and 15 seniors. Led by goalkeeper Casey Cropper, who recorded 2.5 shutouts last season and anchored a defense that allowed just 1.4 goals per game (second best in Region 6), the Red Devils hope to use their playing experience to full advantage. Timpview The Thunderbirds' roster features nine seniors, including five returning varsity starters from last season's team. "Our goal is to win the region, and have a good showing in state," Timpview coach Mike Anderson said. The Thunderbirds will be led by captains, defenseman Ronald Doria, a 1st team all-region selection in 2004, and midfielder Brett Shumway. Chris Bright, who saw limited action last year, steps into the starting goalkeeper spot. "We're pretty stacked at every position, and everyone every-one is a key to our success," Anderson said. "We're a very unified team." Provo The Bulldogs will field a strong team, with Sean Aslett, who topped the region in scoring with 11 goals last season, leading the way. Nate Miller (two shutouts in 2004) will be in goal, and sophomore forward for-ward Chris Dinehart should contribute. "We kept the base of our team, but we also have some new faces,"' Provo coach Cesar Cardoso said. The Bulldogs are especially espe-cially fresh on defense, which Cardoso describes as "brand new." Sophomore Roland Christensen, new to American Fork fielders. They only picked up five hits, but two of them cleared the yard. After the Cavemen scored a run in their half of the first inning, Bailey responded with a towering fly ball that sailed over the right field fence to tie things. American Fork got to Knight starter Mark Hansen in the second, working him for a single, two doubles, a triple and a walk to score four runs and take control of the game. Lone Peak scored two runs on five walks and a wild pitch in the third inning, then knotted the score on a two-run home run by left fielder Billy Burgess in the bottom of the sixth inning. "We're just trying to put together all seven innings," Ingersoll said. "We're going to do that before the season's sea-son's over." But even though Ingersoll Inger-soll sees some things for the Cavemen to work on, the most important statistic is the "1" now in the win column. J.'- : :' T7;;.-iJ i V', '' : - - i. A Caveman soccer player the team after returning to Provo from England, along with Greg Williams, Nelson Long, Ben Pike, Jo.sh Lemon and others, will look to make their mark in the backfield. "We were very young last year, it was definitely a rebuilding year," Cardoso said. "But we can't use that again this season. We should be a very balanced team." Spanish Fork The Dons finished atop Region 6 last year with a 9-1 9-1 mark, but that squad was drops one "It's always nice to get the confidence, to get off on the right foot," he said. "That will help us later in the season." The Cavemen play at Dixie College this weekend. They visit Northridge Tuesday Tues-day and Wasatch on Friday. Soccer opens with loss The Cavemen opened the road at Bingham, ranked third in 5A, and lost to the Miners 3-0. "We actually played them pretty well," said coach Eric Hundley. "They were big, strong and fast. We outshot them but couldn't put the ball in the net. All in all, I was encouraged by our overall play." This afternoon, the Cavemen Cave-men are away again at Skyline. Sky-line. Next Tuesday they will be at home against Cottonwood Cotton-wood at 3:.'i0 p.m. "My hope is that we will play well against these 5A schools. Even though we may not win, it will give us good experience and build confidence for the rest of our games," Hundley said. Beky Hcaton contributed to this report. works on a ball control drill in loaded with leadership that was lost to graduation. Spanish Fork now faces a rebuilding year. The Dons shocked many with their success last, year, and will have to climb an uphill battle bat-tle to repeat the feat. Payson . The Lions hope to improve: from a record and a fifth place finish in the region in 2004. Hut a talented and balanced Region 6 will make that a tough task. Eric Hundley Orem High School graduate grad-uate Sport: Boys soccer Position: Head soccer coach Favorite sports team: Utah Jazz Favorite food. Mexican cuisine Favorite restaurant: Cafe Rio Favorite book: The Lord of the Rings trilogy Favorite movie: The film version of The Lord of the Rings novels Most memorable career moment: Making the goal that won the state soccer championship for the Tigers in l!)7f. Hero: My wife Comments about the eoming season "We have a great hunch of guys. We have more depth and talent this year than in recent seasons. I'm looking forward to seeing them doing great this year." Reuders tin- na iled to mof:e Humiliations oj ' individuals individu-als for the sfotlifht. They can he anyone iim participates partici-pates in or supports an athletic program at your hih scliool. Send your surest ions uilh the reasons for the nomination to hbeulori'" herahlexlm one Handymen POWEK TOOL SALE! DeWalt Multi-Cut Saw ft Cuts Stl Fatr StrmuMftr $385.00 DeWalt Impact Driver . 14 i U 1 At.ll ... it.. T ? $179.00 'i HMttoril mcfhigal.com METAUfiart 181 South 1200 East Lehi Voro Ho'irv M Hej CAT 8 NOON Si J V N I'tiot.j hy Mutt Smith practice on Friday. Predicted order of finish rncoids. tinisti shown) 1. Iimpviow (7-3-0, 2nd in Region l. 11-7-0 overall) 2. Provo ( 4 fj -1 . 4th in Region G. 4-11-1 overall) 3. Springville (6 4-0, 3rd in Region 0. 10-8-1 overall) 4. American Fork (0-10-1. 6th in Region 6, 2-12-1 overall) over-all) 5. Spanish Fork (9-1-0, 1st in Region 6. 10-4-0 overall) 6. Payson (3-7-0. 5th in Region 6, 6-9-0 overall) Eric Hundley Milwaukee 1 4' ChppSaw Ahmhlvt Cut htnHl ltim SIS OO; tjwHSt Pri:e trvmtt SlophABrowKourSetokeofPrjwtrTook! 801 - 768 - 3332C ........ "ii;ufi.n.j)wifitifmin,nju f, 4 ' X f - |