By Denise Tucker (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The 2021 season may not have lived up to the expectations the Camdenton Lakers had set for themselves, but coach Tyler Sevon says he is excited about his young squad’s 2022 campaign.
The Lakers ended with a 9-14-2 overall record, 4-6 in the Ozark Conference and fell to Rockwood Summit in the first round of the Class 3 District 4 tournament.
“I think we learned what kind of mental toughness it will take to have more success in close games and not give away leads like we did last year,” Sevon said. “We played much better against our conference opponents in 2021 than in 2020 and want to continue to challenge ourselves to play at an even higher level. We lost six games by one goal, and we are hoping that our mental toughness has gotten stronger so we can get a positive result in some of those close games.”
The Lakers graduated three players from last year’s team in Grant Thompson, Zach Reinhart and Max Thoenen.
• Grant Thompson, center midfielder – Earned all-region, all-district and All-OC first-team honors. “Grant was our leader on the field and our leading goal scorer,” Sevon said. “His leadership will be greatly missed.”
• Zach Reinhart, left back – “Zach was a solid defender who was never afraid to go into a tackle.”
• Max Thoenen, right back – “Max was a good player who helped anchor our backline.”
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Back for the Lakers this season are three seniors, six juniors and a sophomore.
• Jase Nickels, senior midfielder – “Jase has a motor that doesn’t stop and is a great leader,” Sevon said. “He will have a major role in the midfield.”
• Carson Holmquist, senior midfielder – “Carson has developed every year and is looking to have a breakout senior season.”
• Caden Kowal, senior midfielder – “Caden had a weird season of injuries last year, but when he is healthy, he is one of our strongest and most competitive players on the field.”
• Nicholas Pasley, junior midfielder – Scored 6 goals with 2 assists. Earned all-district and All-OC honorable mention honors. “Nicholas sees the field very well and will look to guide our team in the midfield.”
• Amado Banos, junior midfielder – “Amado is our most technically sound player on the ball and will look to be a lethal wing player this season.”
• Josiah Ketchum, junior defender – “Josiah is superb in the air and will anchor our back line.”
• Clayton Capps, junior goalkeeper – “Clayton scored some big-time goals for us last year but will play goalkeeper this year due to team needs. He is a total team player and is an excellent goalie.”
• Jackson Basham, junior striker – “Jackson had a very good developmental year as a first-year soccer player as a sophomore and we look for him to lead us in goal scoring this year.”
• Daniel Skinner, junior defender – “Daniel has developed tremendously during his first two years and will play a major role in our backline this season.”
• Garrison Thompson, sophomore defender – Scored 2 goals and was named all-district and All-OC second team. “Garrison was our best all-around player on the field last year as a freshman and will immediately help fill a leadership role that his brother (Grant) left vacant.”
Sevon says that depth will be his team’s biggest strength this season.
“I believe we currently have 20-plus guys that can play solid varsity minutes,” Sevon said. “I’m looking forward to these guys pushing each other and really seeing how good we can be.”
Sevon has spotted a couple of freshmen from summer workouts who could see time on varsity.
• Krasi Petrov, freshman midfielder – “Krasi has looked great this summer and he will definitely push the upperclassmen early on for varsity minutes,” Sevon said.
• Josh Brown, freshman midfielder – “Josh has done very well this summer and is very technical on the ball and will find himself with some varsity time sometime this season.”
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“The summer has been very successful with a full schedule of open fields, team camp and a 7v7 league in Jefferson City,” Sevon said. “We have had great attendance and hope our summer work pays off during the regular season.”
Camdenton will participate in a jamboree at Branson with Bolivar and Lebanon on Aug. 19 before opening its regular season at home against Jefferson City on Aug. 27.
“I am very excited heading into this season,” Sevon said. “I think we will be very competitive with a solid group of juniors and sophomores at our disposal. We are going to look at playing faster and trying to attack opponents higher up the field.”
