Tomorrow we play Saucon Valley in our first league match. I want the boys to play with love for each other and for our community. There is so much good in the team. I challenge us all to love like a family, despite the mistakes and all the different personalities. Positive, Positive, Positive. I say this to myself all the time also. This is always my vision for a team. Play with joy and strength tomorrow. TOUGH HUMBLE TOGETHER.

Oh, and I had forgotten we are off Friday so I have switched practice to Friday morning at 9:30 AM-11:15 AM but maybe I will reward the boys with rest if they win tomorrow! Lets go Warriors!!!!

Mandatory we wear blue and gold / blue jerseys to school. Blue socks to school are optional.

Report for game ready to rock NO LATER than 3:15 tomorrow.

Starting Line-up and Game Plan to be posted later tonight.

HOME OPENER!!!!

We ran into some conflicts originally with senior night dates but I think we have settled on 9/27 hosting Palisades. I will notify you when I have final confirmation with time.

1. Braden is our practice player of the day with Owen Smith as runner up. Approached practice with maturity and dedication! Great job boys. Thanks Noah for the help with the balls!

2. Today we worked on passing and pressing. Tomorrow it will be communication.

3. Our JV game against Saucon is canceled Thursday – they do not have a JV team evidently. JV, please show for the varsity game in your uniform. Dual roster players wear varsity uniforms.

4. I am very blessed to serve with these boys. Thank you for supporting us by encouraging them when we suffer, building them up when they are down, all the while trying to keep the standard high. We hope to get that balance right always. Wilson’s kids are a treasure to the community.

5. Two days from our home opener! Let’s get PUMPED!!!! GO WARRIORS!!!!

I had to break the video up into two parts. Shame because you lose some of my audio commentary on the ROMA Bologna game but that’s life. First,

PV Analysis, Press, and a few other things

Now, watch the qued SERIE A footage at time marks I post.

https://youtu.be/ebl6tEKcPkY

1:20-1:30 Watch as the wingback comes close to centerback and they do give and go with CB and he continues up field unmarked. CDM covers

1:50-2:00 Watch as wingback presses high and forces low percentage long ball. Also pause the video at 1:55 to see how CB and MF mark their men. They have ALREADY rotated and are TIGHT on their marks.

6:38-6:50 the quick movement. Little to no dribbling or stopping the ball. TEAM TEAM TEAM…everyone involved.

Reflect, Learn, Grow

I built in two rest days for the calendar and today is the first. Get sorted for school, good luck in golf match and get ready to get at it hard tomorrow for Saucon. I will post a MANDATORY video tonight discussing SHAPE in DIFFERENT PHASES, PRESSING, COMMUNICATING, and BALL MOVEMENT. Then we spend two days mastering these improvements on the field together.

Danny Thatcher – 82

Nolan Browne – 78

Andrew Bleice – 76

Jeff Sunderlin – 73

Justin Hetrick – 71

Season just getting going so plenty of time to rack up the points!

School is in session tomorrow and players have the day off due to the Saturday game. Your education is critical to your future boys. Doing well at one thing makes you better at another. Goal setting, personal responsibility, hard work, dedication. School helps with all those things. Academic success is critical to our athletic success. Stop by 103 and say hi – Coach will always be a friendly face for you at the high school.

As for Saturday, we have a lot to improve on collectively and individually to compete with the best teams and we will be hard at work on that on Tuesday for our home opener this week on Thursday which should be can’t miss entertainment. I want to encourage all members of the team to first look closely at oneself and reflect on areas we can improve. As coaches we are always doing that, as players this is critical also. Change of any positive nature always starts with ourselves.

Thank you to Mrs. Miller for sending some more pics and you can see those on the schedule and results section of the website! Have a great first day everyone!! All practice players of the day or men of the match can stop by my room anytime and grab a Gatorade from my fridge. You earned it!

Hard to believe but the boys will be out there again in less than 12 hours. I am proud of the boys. In life we can never guarantee an outcome, but we can guarantee that we will fight to the end to try to get it. And they did.

Danny’s goal was a marvel. I have seen some great goals coaching and enormous personal efforts and this ranks among them. He was also a rock in the back and is our man of the match – el capitan!

I thought the JV’s worked hard and had moments of nice link-up play and Tyam was the man of the match there. They are undefeated!

Varsity will support and cheer them on for the first half tomorrow!!!

BUS LEAVES TOMORROW AT 7:45 AM

JV game starts at 9:00, Varsity after (approximately 10:30). Wear whites please. Quick wash!

Analysis:

As always, as Head Coach I take responsibility for all outcomes on the team – big or small. Tomorrow we will emphasize that we need to string more passes together in the middle of the field and the attacking end. Too many long balls played into their hands and fatigued us and we lost our edge pressuring the ball. We need to stretch things wide and open more space. More give and gos and quick passes. We will get there! TOGETHER we are stronger.

Lots to love, lots to improve. Rest up, hydrate up, eat, and lets grab one from pleasant valley tomorrow. I know the boys can do it!

To my players,

The mission: Play our best, high energy, high octane, high communication, make them miserable harassed mercilessly around the field, first to every ball, calm and deadly with the ball when we have it kind of game. Have each other’s backs and do it all for the blue and gold. Don’t be nervous, be excited. Wherever we go, we go together. Get ready to lace up Warriors!

Freshman – wear your white jerseys to school tomorrow for orientation. Wear that jersey with pride. If you are dual roster, wear whatever fits you best or that you would like.

Bus leaves at 1:00 PM from high school. Do not be late.