By Max Goodwin
Football
Left tackle Robert Isaiah IV was all-conference last year and returns for his junior season. Another junior, Larry Clayton, returns at running back for his third varsity season. Sophomore Israel Johnigan was named District Player of the Year in basketball as a freshman and also stands out at wide receiver and tight end for the football team.
Sophomore Jaiden Goode said he sees the goal for this year as getting more wins than a year ago. He said they are working on these early practices to improve their team chemistry on the field.
The Yellowjackets beat Lafayette (St. Joseph) 24 – 15 in the season opener on August 29.
Girls Volleyball
Center ended a 49-year-long drought without a district championship last year, finishing with a record of 14-11-1 before losing to Pleasant Hill in the Class 3 state tournament.
The strength of this Center volleyball team is communication, senior Icysis Buckle says. That’s easy for this group because they’ve already played together for six years, going back to Center Middle School.
“We feel comfortable with each other,” Buckle said. “We’re okay with each other making a mistake, just as long as we recover from it.”
That includes their coach, Megan Couch. She was the head coach at Center years ago before moving down to teach and coach middle school. She has been the coach of this group since they were sixth graders, and she moved with them as they progressed to the high school level.
Boys Soccer
Steve Mattson is entering his 22nd year as head coach at Center. He thinks this is a team that could come together and compete to win their conference, district, and have a chance to go to the state tournament.
The team finished 8-13 last season and returns some key players, including one of the top goal scorers, senior midfielder Rex Taylor. Senior Dixon Alvarez is expected to have a big season at forward. The team consists of 26 players overall, with a good number of juniors and seniors to rely on.
The team will run a 4-3-3 formation as they have for years. It works well for them if the three midfielders can dominate the central part of the field and get the ball forward.
Cross Country
The Center boys’ cross country team will be the smallest at each of the meets they participate in this year. Kaiden Dean is the boys’ cross country team at Center. He is just a sophomore and isn’t intimidated at all to be the only runner representing Center. He ran a personal record time of 23 minutes, 6 seconds at District last year.
The girls’ team has a bit more depth with seven runners. Marissa Uyoa is the only senior, along with two freshmen, a sophomore, and three juniors. For many of them, it’s their first year running cross country.
It’s also the first year as head coach for Jen Durbin. She was an assistant last year and now steps up to lead the team. She says this time of year is focused on new runners learning conditioning and finding the right pace.
Girls Tennis
Samantha Ortiz is coaching tennis for the first time this year, with just two players returning. The other four players are learning the sport for the first time. Ortiz has the benefit of teaching them the game at the same time as the US Open is happening. She says some of the players have been going home and watching matches after practice.
Allison VanHorn is the senior captain. This is her third year playing, and she wasn’t sure that Center would be able to have a tennis team this year.
“I’m really just optimistic that we have a team and I get to keep playing in my last year of high school,” VanHorn said.
Coach Ortiz, who is of Puerto Rican heritage, chose a Spanish phrase to serve as a team motto for when they break from practice: “Pa’lante.” It’s a term of resilience, meaning to move forward regardless of the circumstances.
“It’s a term for the underdog to push beyond and break barriers,” Ortiz said.
Girls Golf
There are no seniors among the four athletes on the Center golf team this year. There are three juniors: Elyse Anderson, Lillian Franklin, and Sushi Xiong. And Isabllella Prewitt is the lone sophomore. Matt Simpson is the coach.
The season begins Sept. 2 at Country Creek Golf Course with a tournament against Warrensburg and Pleasant Hill.