It has been a long time coming for the 15-and-under and 18-and-under recreation soccer teams, but both will find themselves playing for a state championship this upcoming weekend.

Both teams will be competing in the state tournament in Dothan on Saturday and Sunday and Doug McLendon is the head coach of both.

For the 15-and-under team, while the team has been together and practicing for the better part of a month, things are still going slowly, according to McLendon.

“All of our kids are playing in other sports, so it’s tough to get them all together at the same time,” he said.

“We are making progress though day by day, shaking the rust off. We still are not quite where we would like to be, but we will get there. Everyone is ready to play.”

The team is made up of Austin Adler, Hunter Bass, Madison Carpenter, Tanner Darby, Alexander Dorrity, Nathan Fox, Joel Kervin, Brantley Lecroy, Steven Macias, Scott McLendon, Mitchell Mobley, Elizabeth McKenzie, Victoria Outlaw and Robert Salmon.

One of the players who is going to be stepping into a new position this time around is Bass, who will be the team’s goalkeeper.

“Hunter has done a good job so far,” McLendon said.

“He is a very athletic kid and I trust his ability.

“We have worked a lot with Hunter to make sure he is ready. But the will be fine like the rest of the team. These guys have been playing in this tournament for a long time now, so they know what is expected of them and how they have to play.”

The team will be in action early Saturday morning, as it takes on Prattville at 9 a.m. and then will turn around and take on Ft. Rucker at 11 a.m.

“We have some really tough competition headed our way,” McLedon said.

“Prattville is always a good team. We are going to have mix it up a little bit and make sure we finish strong. This team struggled last season in the state tournament, and I know they will be looking to play their best, this time around.”