By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
With what head coach Jacob Osborne said was perhaps the best offensive team he’s ever coached, the Carthage boys soccer program played to a 19-5 record last season––with four losses decided by one goal, and two of them in overtime. It was the program’s best record since 2016, when the Tigers finished as the Class 3 runner up.
“We had a lot of really good varsity contributors back, we had a really experienced team,” Osborne said. “Offensively we were very gifted; we scored 99 goals and ceded 33.”
Most of the damage was done by four-year starter Welle Welle and fellow senior Silas Laytham, who combined to score more than 100 goals the last two seasons and totaled more than 60 last year alone.
“That’s a huge advantage whenever you go into a game knowing you pretty much already have two goals on the board,” Osborne said.
Welle earned first team honors as a forward in the Central Ozark Conference, and was also an all-area and second team all-state performer. He was named the boys soccer player of the year by the Springfield Sports Commission. Laytham also nabbed first team COC honors and made the all-area team as a forward. And the Tigers graduated several others who garnered postseason honors, too.
Carthage does return two players who earned all-conference honors in senior Aldo Sanchez, a second team midfielder who totaled seven goals and five assists, and sophomore Henry Laytham, a second team defender.
“We were known for our offense, but our midfield was also very strong,” Osborne said. “There were only one or two games where I felt like our midfield got outplayed or didn’t win the midfield battle and he was a huge part of that. Even though we had Welle and Silas, I still would have coaches make comments to me after the games about how much they liked Aldo as a player, he’s a standout for us. We also have Henry, a freshman starter last year and basically his whole life he’s played midfield until last year and we had him start at center back in the defense. He was a standout even as a freshman and I think he’s going to take a nice leap this year and be one of the better players in the area. He’s an incredible athlete.”
Carthage also returns sophomore goalkeeper Christ Monzon, who started at the position for most of his freshman season and brings good size to the spot. Junior Kenny Cifuentes scored five goals and added seven assists as a forward but will shift primarily to the midfield this fall. And senior Reece Horton, who was a backup forward last year that still scored seven goals, is another key returner.
The Tigers’ varsity unit wasn’t the only one that excelled last year, with the junior varsity squad going 16-2 overall with one loss on penalty kicks in the final of a tournament. But, while the varsity team excelled offensively, the JV team was “outstanding” defensively, Osborne said, with a dozen shutouts and only two games allowing more than one goal.
“We’ve got some good defenders coming in,” Osborne said.
That includes center backs Andy Granadeno and Ecker Mejia, both juniors now, who Osborne expects big defensive contributions from this year. Senior Axel Vasquez was a backup midfielder who helped close some games “because he was right there with our other midfielders” and Osborne said he could be poised to make a big jump this fall. And senior forward Israel Perez could make a big contribution offensively after being one of the JV team’s leading scorers last season.
“We’ve got a lot of kids just right there with each other,” Osborne said. “One thing I’ve noticed this summer is we’ve got a lot of depth, especially this junior class is really big and very talented. They’re very smart players with real high soccer IQ’s and it’s hard to distinguish who’s above who at times because some days one guy will look better than another.”
“I know we’ve got to find goal scorers,” he said. “Losing Welle and Silas where we knew at least one and likely both were going to score every game, that’s not a luxury you get to have very often, and they both could just create a goal out of nothing. That’s something we’ll have to get figured out as a team because we don’t have anybody that I know of right now that we can expect that from. I’ve had seasons where we have to rely on the whole team and our soccer IQ and skills; we’ve had teams that share the load and do a great job with it and I think that might be what we have to do again this year but I’m optimistic with what I’ve been seeing from the kids this summer. They’re hungry and they’ve got the right attitude. They want to continue to have the success this last senior class had and they’re continuing the culture this last senior class brought to the program.”
Carthage opens the season by hosting an Aug. 26 jamboree with Carl Junction, Webb City and New Heights Christian Academy. The Tigers officially begin the regular season Aug. 31 against Camdenton; they’ll also play in the Parkview tournament, Kickapoo Varsity Shootout and Kansas City Varsity Showcase.
