The 2021 Boys’ Soccer season is in the books with the Minutemen kickers ending the season with a 7-10-2 record.  

The Minutemen hosted the Herbert Hoover Huskies for the sectional tournament Oct. 19 and fell to conference foe 4-0. The players said they were disappointed with the loss but are looking for the upcoming season.

“We could’ve given a better effort,” Sophomore captain David Hairfield said. 

The 2021 captains are Hairfield, Junior Nick Murray and Sophomores Keller Bennett and Tanner Griffith.

The Minutemen opened its season with losses against Charleston Catholic and Herbert Hoover but brought it back with a tie against Braxton.  

The team had its first win against Preston County 10-1 on Sept. 7, leading into their second win 6-0 against Lincoln.  

“I’m very proud of our team this year,” Hairfield said.

The boys had a few more matches in between, but they had one of their most prominent games this season against the Elkins Tigers for the first seed in sectionals. The game started out with two yellow cards for the Elkins Tigers within the first 12 minutes of play, and the game remained scoreless heading into the second half. The boys continued working through the game until the referees dealt a red card to an Elkins team member for colliding with the Lewis goalkeeper. One minute after the card was dealt, the Minutemen scored the single goal of the game.  

After that, the boys won against South Harrison, tied against Buckhannon Upshur and lost to Ripley.  

The team consists of Seniors Ethan Smith, Jack Paugh; Juniors Murray, Luke Davisson, Joey Butcher; Sophomores Hairfield, Bennett, Griffith, Joey Aman, Jared Flanigan, Brayden Lipps, Mitchell Norman, Nova Stenger, Isaac Smith, Hunter Baldwin; and Freshmen Parker Williams, Garrett Carnes, Lucas Turner, Zander Carlton and Landyn Taylor.