Summer soccer scrimmages are putting the boys High School soccer team in game mode as their season approaches. They are playing teams from Parkview, Hillcrest, and other schools throughout the summer to help prepare them for their fall season.

Joseph Florez, boys soccer coach, realizes that graduating half of their starting lineup, these scrimmages provide opportunities to experiment with different lineups while also giving invaluable experience of real game situations to newer members of the team. The team has close to 6 new members that will help patch up the new line-up; including, Evan Fullerton (10th), Sebastian Newkirk (9th), Bryan Hart (9th), Ryan Padgett (9th), Brian Carroll (9th), and Jaycob Kirtlink (10th).

Evan Fullerton (10th) explains, “The scrimmages allow us to get all of our kinks out before season and get us use to playing with each other.” This will be Fullerton’s first year playing on the team.

“They also help returning players find areas they can improve upon individually,” Anthony Campanelli (12th) says building on what Fullerton said.

In a scrimmage against Parkview on the 17th of June, the boys were losing 0-2 at halftime. In the second half, with good use of passing they created many more goal scoring opportunities and made three goals. The goals were scored by Lucas Alsup (11th), Preston Padgett (12th), and Sebastian Newkirk (9th). Newkirk is an upcoming freshman who is new to Fair Grove, he proved to be a valuable member in the scrimmage against Parkview. In spite of a great effort to close the gap, the boys lost 3-6 against the seasoned Parkview team.

At the multi-team scrimmage on the 27th of June the boys played three games. They lost to Marshfield 2-1. They later tied against Lebanon. The goals in both games were scored by Newkirk. The final game they played was a loss to Rogersville. The final score of the Rogersville game was 3-0. Every game they play, win or lose, develops their methods in handling new situations and gives them even more experience.

“My favorite part of scrimmages is being able to connect with future teammates while we also get to work for the season,” expresses Alsup.

“We’re starting to work together as a team and it helps us get the game mentality back,” says Preston Padgett, the previous season’s leading scorer. He looks forward to these scrimmages and being able to bond with his team while having fun.

The team has two multi-team scrimmages left for this summer. One on July 8th at Lebanon at 5:30pm and the other on the 15th of July at Fair Grove starting at 9am. They also have a home scrimmage against Hillcrest on July 17th at 6pm. For more information and the complete scrimmage schedule go to http://www.fairgrovesoccer.com/high-school/.