Familiarity is breeding success for the early frontrunners in senior boys soccer.
The Holy Trinity Academy Knights extended their unbeaten run to four games with results over Strathmore and Canmore to extend their cushion atop the Foothills Athletic Council senior boys soccer ranks.
“Most of them play a high level of soccer in Calgary or in Okotoks so it’s kind of nice that they came together,” said Knights coach Jake Janik. “And it’s awesome that all three grades are involved in this. It’s not just seniors, Grade 11s or Grade 10s.
“We only have (three) Grade 12s on the team, that’s a very small number of them, so this team should be set up for a couple years realistically to do the same exact thing.”
Janik, who coaches alongside fellow community coach Dean Hudson, credited those on the pitch with considerable soccer backgrounds for leading the way.
“These kids basically coach themselves, I’m not going to lie,” Janik said. “Their soccer knowledge is pretty immense and when you get eight kids that know exactly what the hell is going on then the rest of the kids just fit into the spots where you need them and they’re given direction by the older kids, the kids that know a lot about soccer.
“It’s been fairly easy coaching, to be honest.”
The Knights have hit triple digits in three of their four wins this season with striker Kurt Hymanyk providing the finishing touch on a regular basis.
For the coach, the attack starts from the back.
“You have to have a good pass out from the back to make anything work up front,” Janik said. “Kurt is a very good player, he can take one or two players on his own which makes him special that way and he can finish.
“In the (Canmore) game he put in three or four goals and I ended up putting him in a midfield position and he was supplying the ball just as good as he was putting it in the net.”
The coach credited defensive midfielder Ben Odd for his terrific feet and passing abilities as well as centre backs Xander Zwanepoel and Sam Griesser for their delivery which allows the front three of Hymanyk, Liam Eppleston and Daniel Hudson, among others, to showcase their abilities.
Playing with leads also gives the team the opportunity to experiment with the lineup.
“With this team it’s nice because you can take players that usually play forward positions and put them in the midfield, put them on defence, put them anywhere on the field and you give the other kids a good shot to see what the other kids are capable of in other positions as well,” he added.
“Usually with teams that have set positions that player will play that position for the whole year and that’s it. But with the amount of goals we’ve been scoring and the way the games have been going it’s really quite easy to switch players around from positions where they might not be as comfortable.”
Last week, the Knights blanked the Canmore Wolverines on May 4 in a blowout victory and two days earlier snuck by Strathmore 3-2 in the team’s only tight battle to date. The upcoming fixture list sees HTA take on the Notre Dame Timberwolves on May 11.
“We’re starting the second half of league play and every team that we’re going to be facing I’m assuming is going to be a lot better than when they started,” Janik said. “That’s just the way it goes every time.
"We'll see how it goes in the second half of league, I'm hoping we stay undefeated and go into zones on a high. And then in zones, you just never know."
Across town, the Foothills Falcons picked up their first victory of the season by shutting out the Timberwolves by a 4-0 count on May 4 to improve to 1-1 on the campaign.
The Falcons are on the road in Strathmore for their next match on May 16.
