Varsity 541

BOYS PREP SOCCER

Case for the Defense

South Medford takes what has been an impenetrable stop unit into the state title game

Mail Tribune
November 20, 2009

In this case, last is first.

The last line of South Medford's defense is the first reason people point to for the re-emergence of the Panther boys soccer team, which will play South Salem for the Class 6A state championship Saturday.

The game is at 3:30 p.m. at Liberty High School in Hillsboro.

South Medford (13-5) was picked to finish third in the Southwest Conference and, due largely to a nondescript first half, that's where it landed.

"A lot of it had to do with, last year we lost a lot of seniors," says senior center back Blain Rennels, the defensive leader. "When it came to this year, it took a while for us to find the type of defense we wanted. Once we did, everything settled in. Now we're ready to go."

Indeed.

South Medford, which graduated 11 seniors off the SWC championship team of 2008, was 3-2 and had given up eight goals in back-to-back losses to South Eugene and Roseburg as the first half of conference play ended.

The second half began with a home contest against rival North Medford, and Panthers coach Dave Kaufman tweaked his lineup. Some changes were due to necessity, some were due to hunches, but all paid off.

Against the Black Tornado, Rennels was moved from forward to center back to fill in for Cody Anders, who missed the game. At halftime and with the score knotted 1-1, Kaufman acted on a move he'd been considering and put freshman goalkeeper Mitch North on the field.

The result was a 2-1 victory that served as a springboard for the new-look Panthers.

With Rennels entrenched in the middle, the senior Anders moving to the outside of the back line and North remaining the starter, South Medford has won seven of its last nine games and has shut out all four of its state-playoff opponents.

Joining Rennels and Anders in stop mode are sophomore center back Eddie Tovar and junior outside back Josue Rodriguez.

"They've earned their stripes, that's for sure," says Kaufman. "They've all had very key contributions."

A by-product of the Rennels-Anders machinations was the move of freshman Humberto Alvarez from outside back to midfield, where he has excelled.

The major move, however, was inserting North in place of junior keeper Jorge Ruiz.

As a technician, Ruiz "is a very good goalkeeper," says Kaufman, but he and his teammates were coming off setbacks of 5-0 to South Eugene and 3-2 to Roseburg, and the coach acted.

In years past, keeper changes have been made late in the season, says Kaufman, and the new player hasn't received enough challenges to make his mark.

When North was promoted, it appeared the Panthers were earmarked for third place no matter what.

"If it turned out well, he'd have some games under his belt leading into the playoffs, and that's what happened," says Kaufman.

North doesn't resemble a freshman. He's the tallest player on the team, is athletic and has a take-charge personality that belies his years.

Still, the way he's evolved mentally and handled the pressure of playoff competition has impressed his coach and teammates.

"I won't bag on any of our other keepers," says Rennels, "but I had a lot of confidence in Mitch going in there. I'd seen him in practice. He can catch the ball and is great with his hands. He's reliable and knows the game well. The biggest thing was making the transition to the speed of the varsity level."

The other Panther players didn't feel like they needed to protect the young goalie by upping their level of play, says Rennels.

Still, the stalwart play of the back line left North few opportunities to make plays until a 1-0 home win over Jesuit Tuesday in the semifinals.

"That was a crazy last five minutes trying to hold that one-goal lead," says Rennels, who lauded the Panthers' communication and defensive switching tactics during the frenzy.

North's play has allowed teammates to take chances without the fear of it costing them, says Kaufman, adding that the freshman prevents shots by being active in goal and coming out to thwart them before strikers can get comfortable.

Jesuit managed to fire off a couple of dangerous shots Tuesday, but North "made two saves we haven't seen him make all season because he hasn't been forced to," says Kaufman.

That's because of the guys in front of him.

Rennels has taken over a leadership role in the middle.

"He had visions he would be contributing offensively," says Kaufman, "but we realized he always had the defensive capabilities."

Rodriguez was playing center back, but he suffered a broken nose and was shifted to the outside, where there are fewer balls in the air that require heading, says Kaufman.

Despite his youth, Tovar is mature and experienced and, like Rodriguez, is a "very good reader of the game," says Kaufman.

"I don't do a lot of talking," says Tovar. "I just try to get the ball and keep the other team from scoring."

Anders and Rodriguez are particularly adept at shifting from defense to offense and distributing the ball.

"They help initiate much of our attack," says Kaufman. "And when you're building the ball out of the back, they're crucial in that aspect."

It'll come in handy against a South Salem (15-0-2) team that is somewhat familiar to the Panthers.

They played each other in a summer tournament at South Salem and were "kind of jokingly" declared co-champions, says Kaufman. The Saxons defeated South Medford, 2-1, in round-robin play, but the Panthers downed an opponent the Saxons lost to. Each only had one loss in the tournament.

"Their coach and I said we need to settle it on a bigger stage," says Kaufman.

There are none bigger than the one they'll play on Saturday.

Tovar remembers the summer meeting.

"It was my first game and I was really nervous," he says. "I improved through the year and I'm a better player than I was that game, and I'm ready for Saturday. We match up pretty well. We were tied most of that game, then they got a goal at the end. With our defense, I think we can stop them from scoring."

Kaufman considers the teams similar because they are creative and free-flowing enough that if one plan fails, they'll rapidly shift gears and try something else.

Neither team would be considered predictable, he says.

"I like our chances," says Kaufman. "We'll see how it unfolds. I expect it to be overall a good matchup and a very enjoyable game."

And South Medford's first order of business will be calling on its last line of defense.

Reach sports editor Tim Trower at 776-4479, or e-mail ttrower@mailtribune.com