Panthers going for Four Straight
Corey Yates has a difficult dilemma. One that almost any soccer coach would love to have and that’s what to do about the 2021 Elizabethtown Panther season. Elizabethtown is the defending 5th Region Champion. They have won 51-games in three years. They have won it (Region Title) three straight times (that in itself is very impressive as it’s believed that it’s the first time that has happened in this Region). He returns a very talented team, but has lost ten seniors from the 2020 squad. Yates knows that he has scoring in Cole Varela and Dylan Barnes and he has been able to find defense despite four straight years of graduating starters. He knows the challenges in a District that isn’t kind to past Region Champs and thrive on change.
Central Hardin looks to be a serious challenger under second year coach Jaymes Varela and like Yates lost a big (13-seniors) class with plenty of starters, but he does return young scorer Micah Brown and will look to fill holes on both sides.
Thomas Nelson put together a fine record and made a second round Region Tourney appearance and coach Ronnie Hatfield still has Isaac Reiner and Gannon Mattingly back from a team that scored 60-goals.
Taylor County made another run at the Region Tournament last season and coach Derek Bell lost plenty of scoring from the past two seasons, but has Carson Floyd and Seth Russell to build around.
Despite a tough 2020, North Hardin could be the next team to make a serious move. The Trojans were pretty good defensively, but struggled to score. This time around they are a year older with guys like Cayden Logsdon, Jonathan Chandler, Rakai Handley and Jabari Rasheed. Hopefully, that will add up to a few more goals.
