Wooster Celebrates Another Successful Season of Fall Sports
As winter comes into view, fall sports athletes at WHS look back on a memorable year as they pass it on to the next generation. These teams tie the knot and now gear up to head into sectional play.
SOCCER
The boys’ soccer team celebrates an outstanding season, with a 10-3-4 record and an OCC title win.
This is the fifth OCC title won by Coach Brian Hansen, who attributes the team’s win to their cohesion and drive on the field. The team has not been able to accomplish this feat since 2010.
“They’ve come together as a group toward that one goal [of winning the OCC championship]… the refusal to lose took over this year,” Hansen said.
Senior captain Cameron Reed also credits the team’s ability to work together, as well as the team’s seniors, most of whom not only have multiple years of varsity experience and have played together for over twelve years.
According to Reed, these seniors were an asset to the team in that they taught and improved the younger players and kept every player focused. Despite the large group of seniors graduating this year there is a close knit squad of younger players that will fill their shoes.
Goal keeper and senior captain Theo Crawford saw the potential in this year’s team before the season even began.
“We all knew that if there was a year that we were gonna do it, it was gonna be this one… we put our heads down and worked harder than we’ve ever worked before,” Crawford said of the season.
The regular season is finished, and the team won their first playoff game of the state tournament against Akron Garfield before falling to Brunswick.
CROSS COUNTRY
The boys’ and girls’ cross country teams continue to have strong seasons with a multitude of accomplishments.
Girls’ cross country coach, McKenzie Doup, is proud of the results her runners have shown throughout the season. Doup says their most successful meet was the Wayne-Holmes Championship.
“All, but two runners got their personal or season bests, we won the meet overall and we had a new school record set by junior Maddy Nacci,” Doup said.
The girls’ cross country team finished their regular season with a second place award at the OCC Championship, trailing Lexington by five points.
The boys’ cross country is no stranger to success either, placing first at the Wayne-Holmes Championship and third at the OCC Championship.
Varsity runner Connor Niro (11) reflected on how their regular season has gone as a team.
“At the start of the season, our team knew the potential we shared and, over the first part of the season, we learned how to compete. Now we are peaking at the right time,” says Niro.
The teams hope to use the momentum to continue far into the postseason at the district, regional and state competitions.
GOLF
As the golf season wraps up, they took time to recap their season, finishing with a 5-2 conference record.
During the beginning of the season, the team showed success, winning most of their matches.
“After a couple bumps in the middle of the season, they took care of business,” golf coach Mark Snowbarger said.
Continuing strong, the team was able to win the OCC tournament, however, they came up just short of the OCC title, finishing second overall behind Ashland.
“This is one of the better teams I’ve had. They are a lot of fun to coach,” Snowbarger said.
Wooster’s golf team competed in Sectionals and will continue on to the state competition.
FOOTBALL
The Generals football team’s season is spiraling to end as their last regular season game is tonight at 7p.m., at Thomas Worthington.
The Generals finished third place in the OCC this year, as they were coming off a first place finish in their 2015 season. The Generals only losses were to Ashland and Lexington.
“I thought we had an amazing start. We hit some speed bumps and faced some adversity, but we’re set for a great finish,” linebacker, Eddie Rooney (12) said.
A major setback for the Generals this year was caused by injuries, as some of their starters were not able to play.
“It’s been a good season so far. We faced a lot of injuries, but I think we responded in the best way possible,” quarterback, Peyton Bennington (12) said.
The General’s overall record is 7-2.