Approaching the field Monday evening at Lowndes County Soccer Complex, it was impossible not to see the difference between the boys soccer teams from Heritage Academy and Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science.
The MSMS players, all juniors and seniors, were in uniform, warming up in two circles. On the other end of the field, what looked like a group of random kids from the neighborhood, several half the size of the average MSMS player, was kicking around a soccer ball.
“That’s us,” Heritage Academy coach Tom Velek said, downing his post-match snack at the complex’s concession stand. “That’s how young we are. We have four seniors, no juniors, three sophomores, and everybody else is ninth grade and below.”
Although MSMS dominated possession for most of the game, it took 27 minutes for the Blue Waves to score. But for the next 13 minutes bridging the two halves, the Blue Waves had their way with the Patriots. A header on a corner kick, a shot that just rolled past the goalkeeper and a mishandled save leading to what only could be called a walk-in goal were part of the barrage that gave the Blue Waves a 6-0 lead.
“We played a team that has players that are really fast and have really good skills,” MSMS coach Armando Leyva said. “The score was deceiving. They have really good talent.”
The Patriots do have talent, but it takes more than talent to compete against a side full of players three and four years older than yours.
“The back line that was playing tonight — we played three on the back — our center back is Drew Knittig, a great leader, and we have two eighth-graders on either side of him,” Velek said.
But this group is ahead of previous groups of eighth-graders Heritage has had on its rosters.
“We probably have our largest contingent ever on the boys’ side of kids with club playing experience, which is a positive thing,” said Velek, who knows something about such things as director of Columbus United Soccer Club. “They’ve just got to grow up.”
They grew up a little during the second half against the Blue Waves. Barely a minute after the sixth MSMS goal, the Patriots got on the scoreboard on a goal that had the opposing sideline applauding.
That was because the goal scorer was freshman Armando Leyva, and the name is no coincidence.
“Armando Leyva is the son of the MSMS coach,” Velek said. “That’s a good one, isn’t it? I’ve known Armando for a decade or more. He used to coach for us in the club program.”
Three minutes after the first goal, the younger Leyva tallied again and, just like the first one, the assist came from senior Todd Sharp.
“At halftime, it’s like, listen guys, we’re not even playing the way we practice,” Velek said. “You’ve got to remember what we’ve worked on over and over again and implement those things.
“I thought the second half we kind of calmed down, stopped being impressed by how big they were — and they’re a big team — and started playing some of our soccer, which is balls on the ground; short, quick passes; looking for ways to split the defense. Once we did that, we were able to get a couple on the board.”
This was the third scrimmage for each team, and while it could be argued that they are more important for the less experienced team, all teams have a lot to gain from live competition before the season starts.
“We’re just trying to test the effort of all the players, putting them in different positions and challenging them in positions they’re not used to,” Leyva said, noting this scrimmage was more technical in nature than the first two.
“Goal number one is just see what we’ve got, goal number two is try some of these kids at different positions and see where they fit best, what formation works out well,” Velek said, saying the Patriots had won their first two scrimmages. “I knew this was going to be the toughest, simply from a maturity standpoint. … I think they give us a really good picture of who we are and what we need to work on.”
In what might be a better sign for future seasons than for the upcoming campaign, Velek said he was especially pleased with the efforts of the smallest of the Patriots.
“I’m just really impressed by my younger players,” he said. “McKinley Kilburn; the two eighth-graders we had on the back line, Jacob Britt and Max Ledbetter; and I think Arthur Dawson, another eighth-grader who I put in frame in the second half, I thought he had some good saves and distributed the ball well.
“I think they seemed less impressed by how old the other team was than my seniors.”
MSMS opens play Thursday against Philadelphia at the soccer complex, while Heritage kicks off the season Nov. 18 against Magnolia Heights in Senatobia.
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