Ben Whitehead
All of the preseason practices and scrimmages are over and that only means one thing. It’s soccer time in Duncan.
Halliburton Stadium will be the site of tonight’s soccer match between Duncan and visiting Lawton High at 5 p.m. Both schools scrimmaged early in the preseason with the Wolverines seemingly having the upper hand in both the boys’ and girls’ games.
This time around, girls coach Delydia Gay and boys coach Marcus Williams feel that the Duncan teams have a much better chance of gaining a victory.
“We’ve gotten better from our first scrimmage compared to our last one,” Gay said. “The girls are understanding the formations we want to run and understanding why we run them. Our ball skills and passing have gotten better and we worked the kinks out and got some experience in the scrimmages. I think we’ll be ready to go.”
Williams said that he has seen his team go from “an average group of players to a fantastic team.”
It will the first game of the season for Duncan. Lawton played on the road at Altus Tuesday night and earned a 6-2 win.
Gay said there will be many determining factors as to how the game plays out, but one of the biggest will be that the Lady Demons stay in attack mode.
“We’ve done a good job of getting more shots on goal in our recent scrimmages than in the first few,” said Gay. “We need to attack and not sit back and defend the whole game. If we can run our formations and communicate with each other to make sure we are where we need to be, and stay aggressive, I think we can win.”
When the Lady Demons aren’t attacking, Gay said she expects her defenders to be strong. Duncan will use four players in the backfield and Gay believes no matter what the combination may be that all four will play hard.
“Our defense has played really well lately and I think they’ll be strong for us again,” Gay said. “Also, Taylor Gardner needs to be big for us. She’s my left midfielder and she needs to have a big game and take some shots for us.”
Williams is also optimistic about the boys game. The Demons will be missing three starters because of suspensions but Williams said the team has been on a roll as of late.
“It’s a different story now,” Williams said in reference to the Wolverines winning the aforementioned scrimmage. “Things are clicking for us now and we’re more crisp with how we play.”
Williams said the Demons have been moving the ball around with a purpose and scoring more goals in their recent scrimmages. He added that the defenders have done a good job of containing midfielders and will need to do so again to stop the Wolverines.
“Their midfielder moves the ball around very well and is pretty fast,” said Williams. “We need to shut him down to have a chance to win.”
Confidence is key for the Demons and Williams said the players’ confidence has taken on a new height. Williams has put the responsibility in his players’ hands and he said that has made them become better players.
“I put the pressure on them. They know what to do and they’ve performed well,” Williams said. “They have that confidence that they believe they belong. They put their trust in me and trusted themselves and because of that, we have a really good chance.”
— Ben Whitehead is a sports writer for The Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 255-5354, Ext. 165, or via e-mail at ben.whitehead@duncanbanner.com.
