Shelbyville High School’s boys soccer team won 12 matches in 2020, the Hoosier Heritage Conference championship and played for a sectional title.

Head coach Ben Purvis believes the program is ready for more accomplishments. With 36 players rostered and 10 juniors returning from last year’s sectional roster, the Golden Bears are trending in the right direction.

“It’s a bigger squad than I’ve had in my coaching career,” said Purvis. “It’s nice to have solid depth and not worrying about who is playing junior varsity.”

After losing its HHC opener at Delta, Shelbyville swept the slate to capture the conference title (team photo) and carry momentum into the sectional. However, it still was not enough to overcome a decade-long drought since its last regional appearance.

“Winning our own invitational is important because we want to win a trophy on our home field and the conference is important but the kids want to get over that sectional hump and hoist that sectional trophy and play in a regional,” said Purvis.

To find success, the Golden Bears must quickly break-in a new goalkeeper and replace their top two scorers from 2020.

Jalen Hounshell, a junior, steps into the starting goalkeeper role.

“As well as Jalen plays can dictate how our season will go,” said Purvis. “If he can make the routine saves, we will be just fine.”

Hounshell will have a veteran presence in front of him in seniors Brayden Basey and Rey Bramasco, and juniors Carlos Torres, Tony Harbert and Jack Johnson.

Senior Sam Price and junior Benny Cazares also will be in the defensive rotation.

“I am not concerned about the back line,” said Purvis. “They should put everybody in position to be successful.”

Shelbyville lost leading scorer Oscar Hernandez (15 goals, 11 assists) to graduation while junior Alex Gil (10 goals, 11 assists) is not playing this season which led Purvis to building a more balanced attack.

“We will get a lot of goals from the midfielders and the strikers,” said Purvis.

Al Hernandez (6 goals in 2020), Christian Haas (5 goals), Osvaldo Reyes, Brayden Jones, and Drew Hassebroek will be counted on early to set the tone for the season.

“Drew Hassebroek could be the best midfielder in the conference,” said Purvis. “He will create for teammates or score himself.”

The program added Jake Heaton, a California move-in last fall who played basketball for the Golden Bears during the 2020-2021 season.

“He will see a lot of varsity minutes,” said Purvis.

The Golden Bears open the 2021 season Tuesday at Franklin.

MORRISTOWN

The Yellow Jackets will add some military precision to their practices and game planning in 2021.

Former Yellow Jacket Austen Clark takes over the program after serving three seasons as assistant coach. The Marine Corps veteran is changing the soccer philosophy of the program.

“We are changing our style of play,” said Clark. “I want smart, simple passing – no more over the top passing. It flows better and we will have much more possession time. We will use smarter passes and better angles.”

So far, the team has responded well.

“I am very impressed with how fast they are learning,” he said.

The program had just two seniors in 2020 when it finished 1-12-4. Look for juniors Nick Stidham and Chase Theobald and sophomores Kade Rogers and Matthew Carlton to lead the charge this season.

Morristown opens the 2021 season Saturday at Jennings County’s Panther Cup.

“We have a rough start schedule wise against some tough opponents,” said Clark, “but there are some winnable games.”

Clark looks forward to rebuilding the Morristown program into a consistent winner.

“I want to take my experience and give it to the kids,” he said. “I will push them to their full limits.”

SOUTHWESTERN

At many small schools, a highly-successful season is typically the product of a strong senior class that has played together for many years.

In 2020, the Spartans finished 18-2 and captured the program’s third sectional title – but only had three seniors.

“We have eight starters back this season,” said Southwestern coach Taylor Meredith.

Lost to graduation were co-leading scorer Anick Hartsell (35 goals, 21 assists), starting goalkeeper Christian DeArmitt and defenseman Braden Monroe (1 goal, 2 assists).

So there are voids to fill but plenty of options to choose from for Meredith.

Eli Fix, a junior, has spent ample time preparing to be the starting goalkeeper at Southwestern.

“He moved to goalie toward the end of his eighth-grade season and liked it,” said Meredith. “Then he had to wait two years to get on the field because of Christian.”

Conner Jewell and Gavin Shaw, both juniors, will serve as the last line of defense in front of fix. Jewell has started every game over the last two seasons.

In the midfield, Conner Gooch, Forrester Werbe, Jordan Jones, Owen Stringer, Garreth Stringer, and Johnny Joy will direct traffic and work on transitioning quickly into offensive mode.

Tucker Simmons, a move-in from Waldron, joins the program.

While one Hartsell departed, another one remains with a monster season potentially on the horizon. Aidan Hartsell matched his older brother goal-for-goal and assist-for-assist in 2020.

“We can look at it that we lost a senior that scored 35 goals and had 21 assists to graduation but we are returning someone that scored 35 goals and had 21 assists,” said Meredith.

With such a veteran roster, Meredith has kept the preseason workouts simple.

“We don’t have too much formation wise to learn,” he said. “We will see who steps up, see who is more of an attacking midfielder and who falls back and is more defensive minded.”

Southwestern opens the season Tuesday at Knightstown.

New on the schedule this season is a visit by Providence, the defending Class A state champion, on Sept. 11 at 10 a.m.