Soccer season is underway for the Newcastle Racers. They have eight seniors this year and prospects for a successful season. Those seniors, however, will be facing new competition this year because they’ll have a new District lineup in which to contend.
Newcastle moved from a District where they always played Chickasha and Cache, as well as others, to District II, which includes Clinton, Astec Charter School, Weatherford, Elk City, Woodward, Oklahoma Christian School, and Harding Charter.
While the Racers have played a couple of these schools in out-of-district competition, some of the games will be the first time they’ve played.
In preseason competition, the Racers, who play in Class 4A, went 2-2-2, but the losses came at the hands of Class 6A schools. The Racers now have an overall season record of 5-4-2. Newcastle lost to Moore 1-0 on a penalty kick, lost to Santa Fe South 2-0, Northwest Classen, 2-0, and Ponca City, 1-0.
The Racers tied Edmond Santa Fe 0-0, and Choctaw, 1-1. They beat Elgin, 4-0, Noble, 2-1, Mount Saint Mary, 1-0, Duncan, 2-1, and Harrah, 3-1.
District competition gets underway today (Thursday) as the Racers face Clinton, who has won the past three State titles. Head Coach Nick McMillian said the game is also the Racers’ chance to give back to STRUT Week. They would like as many people attending as possible.
“To my knowledge, I don’t think we’ve ever beat them,” McMillian said.
The Racers will follow in April with District games against Astec, Weatherford, Elk City, Woodward, Oklahoma Christian School, and Harding Charter School.
McMillian said, “We played Woodward last year and lost to them in the first round of the playoffs, and we played Astec twice and beat them both times. We’ll be playing competition we don’t really get to play.”
Leaders for this year’s Racers include captains Caleb Dupler and Justin Hayworth. Dupler is a four-year starter. He was a unanimous pick for captain and has played a pivotal role in Newcastle soccer, according to McMillian. Dupler has a younger brother, who also plays.
Hayworth is a senior center back. McMillian said he’s one of the big reasons why the Racers are so solid on defense.
“The guys know that if a ball goes astray that Justin will clean it up,” McMillian said.
The coach said Newcastle’s two goal scorers are Toby Batchelder and Jacob Cunningham, both wingers.
“The majority of our goals come from these two,” McMillian said. “They are extremely creative and fast. We know that when the ball gets on the offensive side of the field, we will have some success coming from that.”
McMillian said another senior is the team’s Swiss Army Knife, Will Huff.
“He’s played every position except goalie,” McMillian said. “He’s done everything we have asked. He’s someone every team needs to have.”
The coach added that Tobias Phifer is a three-year starter who plays at center mid.
“Tobias is extremely creative and when the ball gets to his feet, we know good things are going to happen,” McMillian said.
“He can go for a full game and we know he’s not going to get tired. He is expected to have a good season.”
To reach post-season play, the Racers will need to finish in the top four of the District. Their last regular season game is with Harding Charter on April 18.
“We then have a week off, and then the week after that is when playoffs start,” Mc-Millian said “Out of the eight teams we have in the District, we have to be one of the top four. Of course, we would always want to be in the top four.
“The realist in me says we are going to be number one. The conservative side of me says we’ll be in the top four. If we are not in the top four, then it’s a pretty upsetting season for us just for the talent we have on the team.”
McMillian said with the successes they’ve already seen this year against the larger schools, the Racers chances are pretty good for the team to compete in post season.
He said, “If our guys choose to buy in, there are not a lot of teams that can match up with us. It’s getting them to want to play.”
