West Union’s Gavin Rowe, left, battles for possession with a Ripley opponent in what turned out to be the final West Union game of the season. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

West Union’s Gavin Rowe, left, battles for possession with a Ripley opponent in what turned out to be the final West Union game of the season. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

The West Union Dragons boys soccer team saw their 2024 season come to an abrupt end on October 15 as they hosted the Ripley Blue Jays in a Division V district quarterfinal match up. The game was scoreless at halftime but the Jays scored twice in the second half to claim a 2-0 victory. The Dragons finished the season with a 7-9-1 overall record.

The Defender caught up with Dragons’ first-year head coach Silas Mills, who recapped his team’s season.

“My first year as head coach has had many ups and downs and many in between moments,” said Coach Mills. “Starting off the season with a win over Piketon was a great start, but then jumping right into the strength of our schedule made it tough. We played our best defensive game against Lynchburg, keeping them scoreless until the last minutes of the first half. Everything seemed to be clicking, communication was great, our pressure coverage spacing was on point, however, we just got gassed in the second half losing 3 to 0. Through a tough loss and in talking with Jason West, the Lynchburg head coach afterwards, he told me this was the best West Union team he had played in years and that made me feel like we were moving in the right direction.”

“I referred to our team as a roller coaster several times this season because at times we played at a really high level and then the next we seem to have lost our way again. Though small and inexperienced, these boys were always resilient, and it is hard to play against teams with full 22-man rosters of skilled players. Having the numbers to have full side scrimmages at practice does make a huge difference and unfortunately, we’re still working to grow our numbers. As we played through our schedule, we were competitive, many were close games, and we weren’t getting blown out as we have in years past and I think the many compliments from coaches to refs on how West Union soccer has improved and is looking better has motivated me to get these boys to work even harder to achieve what I know they can.”

“Every game has a stretch of highlight from someone, and every player achieved something special in their own right,” Mills continued. “Maybe it was breaking a record, one learning to better communicate, to some getting their first goal or a great defensive stop to just learning how to settle a ball in practice for those more inexperienced. All the little things lead to bigger things and at times it is hard as a player or even as a coach to understand that, but we have to grow as a team together to make it all work. I hate to see the seniors move on as they will leave several holes to fill on both sides, especially on the defensive side of things, however, I look forward to seeing them grow and do great things in life. We have a lot of knowledge and understanding of what makes a team better coming up with junior captains Brylee Mills and Logan Caldwell. I’m hoping to see them continue to take the underclassmen under their wing and continue to help develop these players.”

“Our tourney run certainly didn’t go as planned and we simply weren’t mentally ready to play that day and were battling a few challenges, but I hope they learn from that loss. I told them afterwards ‘Do you hear them celebrating?’ I don’t want you to ever forget what that feels like at this moment and you have two choices, you either let it fuel you to never feel like that again or you lay down, and that decision solely falls on you as a player. Positivity breeds positivity and we must show up at every practice and in every game we play. I’m looking forward to next season already and I’m anxious to get to work. I’m hoping assistant coach Travis Harris’ work schedule opens up for next season as he has been heaven-sent with completing stats and taking care of getting subs in and out on the field. He is a wealth of knowledge to have on my sideline and I’ve been blessed to have my first year of being a head coach with him beside me as my assistant coach. I’ll finish on this note: don’t write us off as these Dragons continue to put in the hard work and I know great things are on the horizon!”

The tournament loss marked the end of the high school careers for a quartet of valuable seniors Ethan Cantrell, Darius Davis, James Smith and Daulton Shupert. Smith was the team’s leading goal scorer, racking up 24 goals, while adding seven assists. Between the pipes, goalkeeper Brylee Mills led the way with 156 saves.