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Fall 2021
SPORTS PREVIEW/ BLACK HILLS PIONEER
Spartan soccer looking for redeption By Dennis Knuckles Black Hills Pioneer SPEARFISH — The Spearfish High School boys’ soccer team is looking for redemption. The Spartans finished the season 131-2 in 2020; the only loss coming to SF O’Gorman, in double overtime, in the quarterfinals of the Class AA state soccer tournament. Jim Hill, entering his ninth season as the Spartans’ head coach, still has not gotten over that loss. “We just didn’t play well. Honestly when you watch the film, when we got into the second overtime, we quit taking chances. We had chances to possibly go score, but we were more hesitant because it was 2-2, and suddenly they get a penalty kick. After that it was just a scramble; there was just four minutes left in the game. At that point, it was tough,” Hill said. Hill said his team played tight in overtime because they didn’t want to lose. He said that was a mistake. “You don’t lose by going out and taking chances. You don’t win if you don’t take chances. Just like in life, you have to take chances and sometimes they pay off, sometimes they don’t,” said Hill. Spearfish started practice Aug. 2 in preparation of their first game against Yankton, Aug. 13, in Spearfish. “The first day, I had to waste 20 minutes of practice going over “this has to happen and that has to happen.” Then we got out there and it was kind of lackluster,” said Hill. “It was like the first day, it was
hot, and with the electronic trackers they were wearing, it was very evident. It racks the percentage of the gain energy, and they only put in about 40%. The second they came out and we had nobody on our trackers who was under 110%.” The team is using electronic trackers to help evaluate how the players perform in practices. It tracks how many yards they sprint every day, how many total miles they run every day, the number of impacts they’ve taken, the number of power players which means you are running at a sprinting speed and cut at an angle. “I like using the electronic trackers because you can go to the kids and say ‘hey, here it is.’ The highest tracker percentage on Aug. 2 was 43. The lowest was 33. How many games guys are we going to win if we only work this hard.” They said not too many and I told them exactly, so you’ve got to change it around. Come in tomorrow with a different attitude. They came out and they proved that they could do it.” This season, the Spartans return a good nucleus of players from last year’s team. “We have six seniors back this year, and five of the six started. They are towards our defense, so we aren’t losing anything defensively,” said Hill. “Our guys up front will be different, but they are very experienced so I’m not too worried about that.” Hill said the team also has a good group of sophomores. “They are a very good group. Number wise physically, mentally, they’ll be the
kids to push the other kids in front of them. If the other kids in front of them don’t play real well, or don’t want to do what we asked, they’ll step right in,” Hill said. Hill added there were six or seven out of the group he wouldn’t be afraid to put in the starting lineup. Hill said the team also has six juniors. Hill is excited about the upcoming season. “I’m really looking forward to the year to see how good we can be. We are going to have some ups and downs this season, I don’t think we will be undefeated. I don’t care to go undefeated honestly. It’s great, but the focus goes on the wrong things then,” he said. Hill said this team has the potential to be as good as the 2016 state championship team. ‘The key for them is getting comfortable to what we want. Like Yohannes Peterson, who has always been a midfielder. He works so hard, He is one of those kids who have a relentless engine. He just goes, goes, goes, goes. We have moved him up top to help us score goals,” said Hill. “He may be there until we score two or three goals and then drop back in the midfield. Kids are going to have to be more dynamic in their play, not just play a position. They might have to play two or three positions.” Hill said this year’s team wants to compare themselves as defenders to the 2016 championship team. “During the 2016 campaign we only had four goals scored on us and they included
all the playoff games, and two penalty kicks. We only got six goals scored on us in 18 games. That’s what this year’s defense is shooting for,” Hill said, The Spartans opened their season Friday, Aug. 13, at home against Aberdeen Central.
SPEARFISH boys’ soccer schedule Aug. 13 hosting Aberdeen Central ........... 7 p.m. Aug. 14 Hosting Pierre T.F. Riggs ..............Noon Aug. 20 at Mitchell ...................................... 5 p.m. Aug. 21 at Huron ....................................... 11 a.m. Aug. 27 hosting O’Gorman ........................ 7 p.m. Aug. 28 hosting Yankton .............................Noon Sept. 4 hosting Sturgis Brown . ..................Noon Sept. 7 at Belle Fourche .............................. 6 p.m. Sept. 16 at Douglas/RC Christian . ........... 4 p.m. Sept. 21 at Sturgis Brown .......................... 6 p.m. Sept. 23 at RC Central . ............................... 6 p.m. Sept. 28 hosting St. Thomas More ............ 7 p.m. Sept. 30 hosting RC Stevens....................... 7 p.m.
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