18U soccer team ready to continue success

Published 10:33 pm Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Along with the 15-and-under team, the 18-and-under team will be headed south this weekend, and in the process, claim another state championship.

But it’s not going to be easy.

Like his other team, Doug McLendon said it has been difficult getting all this players together.

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“A lot of the players on the team have a lot of different thing going on, so getting them all together for practices has been hard, mixed in with some rain outs here and there.

“But this group is always very competitive and is always ready to play when they get on the field and that is something that definitely plays to our advantage, especially during this time of the year.”

The 16-player team is made up of Jayden Barnes, Nathan Barron, Jacob Bensinger, Andrew Bentley, Tedric Davenport, Michael Fox, Trey Foster, Douglas McLendon, Nick Mobley, Joe Nasca, Michael and Nathanael Salmon, Jeb and Bob Sharp, River Wilkerson and Jessica Wilkes.

This collection of players has won the last three state championships and with a mature and experienced group as this one, coaching is pretty easy, according to McLendon.

“I’m really more of a organizer,” he said. “These guys have been playing together for years and they know what to do and how to play.

“I’ll tell them what the strategy going into the game should be and they will play it out and change it when it needs to be changed. It really is a lot of fun to watch this team play – there is a lot of confidence in this group.”

Troy will be in action twice on Saturday, beginning with Prattville at 12 p.m. and Dothan at 3 p.m.

On Sunday, the team will take on Eufaula at 12 p.m.