The Elks are off to another fast start — 5-0 entering their game against Fairborn on Saturday, Sept. 12 — despite being hampered by injuries to start the season.
Two starters have missed quality time and two others are not playing at full strength.
“Just nasty stuff, stuff that keeps you out half the season,” Elks coach Don Skelton said of nearly separated shoulders, strained Achilles’ heels and bad hamstrings “We’ve had ACLs and things like that (in the past) but never this many at one time. I’m real proud of the way we started out.”
A defense with no seniors — including two sophomore keepers — has allowed just three goals through the first five games. The offense, meanwhile, has tallied 14 goals.
“Where I thought, quite frankly, our offense was going to be our strong point our defense has been our absolute strongest point,” Skelton said.
The Elks have just four seniors on the roster —Taylor Dearbaugh, Allison Ludwig, Kacie Kumar and Jenny Petree — to go with eight juniors and six sophomores.
Dearbaugh, a forward and University of Kentucky recruit along with forward Kumar, held Troy standout Erin Yenney to no shots in Centerville’s 4-0 win on Sept. 2. That win also gave Centerville its 500th in program history.
Overall, Centerville is 502-96-53 in its 33rd season of soccer.
“Over the years I’ve had some awfully neat players. Just some good, young Americans,” said Skelton, 429-80-48 in his 27th season.
Rick Powers (6-5-2) coached the program’s first season in 1977 and Maggie Brandon the next five (67-11-3). The trio have combined to guide the Elks to an average of 15 wins per season.
It’s not known where the 500 wins (now 502 entering Saturday’s game) rank Centerville among Ohio programs but it could put them in the top five, and at worst the top 10. Among area programs, Northmont won its 500th game in 2006.
Getting your kicks
Kicking around which games to watch next week? Here are two good options: Beavercreek (6-0-1) visits Wayne (5-0-0) in girls action on Wednesday and Alter (3-0-2) visits Centerville (5-0-2) in boys action on Thursday.
Wayne and Beavercreek are ranked No. 2 and 3 in the Division I Miami Valley soccer coaches poll.
Centerville is No. 3 in the D-I poll and Alter is No. 2 in D-II.
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