A day before the season-opener Rolla High School boys’ soccer head coach Mike Howard still wasn’t sure on his starting lineup. And the Bulldogs will be playing a formation they have practiced for about a week against a rugged season-opening foe.
So the Bulldogs aren’t sure what to expect when the ball drops for tonight’s opener.
RHS is slated to play at Columbia against Rock Bridge to begin the 2010 campaign tonight.
The big question the Bulldogs opened camp with earlier this month remains the big question entering the opener -- who will be in goal.
“The question will still be in goal,” said Howard, entering his 20th season as RHS head coach. “It’s not only making saves but it’s also chemistry with teammates. That’s something we’ve been evaluating. Eventually the games will separate them. But we’ll probably have three people playing and we’ll see who performs the best.”
For tonight’s opener Howard said either senior Taylor Fels or junior Trey Jernigan will get the start in goal.
As for the rest of his lineup Howard has switched from the 3-5-2 formation he began the preseason with to a 3-4-3 formation.
“We changed things up about a week ago, to better match the personnel we’ve got,” Howard said. “I think it will be a positive. It may set us behind the first few games. But I’m not worried about the regular season as much as (the postseason). I think it’s the right thing to do.”
Expected to start in the backfield are senior David Drewniak, junior Miles Wilson and freshman Nathan Kramme.
In the midfield are sophomore Matt Calvert on the right side, junior Abel McNece on the left side and senior Jason Howard and sophomore Michael Janke in the middle.
Forwards include senior Randy Wharton, senior Kory Carter and freshman Aaron Froelich.
Others expected to see varsity action are junior forward Nick Mills, junior midfielder Austin Lohr, senior midfielder Dan Butz and junior back Kenny Bohannon.
“One of the reasons we went to a 3-4-3 is we have athletic kids and I think we can press people defensively from the top,” Howard said. “And you’ve got to have some depth to do that.
“I think we have 16 kids who can step out there and we’ll have no drop-off. We’ll see if we’re ready to play a strong Rock Bridge team. We’ll find out right away.”
