2025 Season(Boys)

[SoccerGuy22]

As the weather changes and we (hopefully) start to see some warmer weather I figured id spark up some soccer conversation for the summer and fall on the boys side of things.

I think this year we get CB changes, are there any teams that might be moving divisions? I know with the expansion some were close to the cutoffs for their respective division. As someone who mainly follows D5 soccer I know west Union and Minford were the two closest to going up to D4.

[SoccerDad]

I don't see any of the current D3 and D4 teams moving around. After seeing how the tournaments played out, I think the expansion was too much. I think four divisions, with only D1 being a low-number division would be better. That, or make D5 a small division too so D3 and D4 are larger. There shouldn't be an entire division between teams like Jackson and Minford

[SoccerGuy22]

I'm still shocked Minford was taken from D2 down to D5. They always seemed like a school the size of Wheelersburg to me I don't know why. I know people think the divisions are "watered down" but I personally don't mind it. All the usual characters were in district championships this past fall so it didn't really matter all that much. For the SHAC it really didn't change anything as all our schools are small enough to be D5 forever. West Union was one boy off the cutoff last time though.

Excited for the season to be here now that warm weather has finally arrived.

[SEOSports740]

I look for some goals to be scored by all teams this summer & fall no doubt

[bsee12345]

I will be interested to see if the OHSAA looks at Divsion I and DIvision II. 64 teams puts some teams starting the tourney in the District Finals. I would like to see the DIvision I and II go to 80 teams and then split the remaining Divisions equally with the remaining schools. But we will see if the OHSAA looks to make any changes.

[GoAt 10]

Feels good to start talking soccer!

Minfords enrollment continues to decline and I believe they have no added CB points now that Downey moved back in the district and Glenn didn't end up playing his senior year. Those two accounted for 14 CB points that pushed Minford into D2 the prior season.

South Webster should be the league favorite with Burg and Minford closely behind. Valley should take SOC 1 but always tough playing at St Joe. North Adams wins the SHAC outright, Lynchburg loses a ton. Gallia Academy returns their leading scorer in the Camden kid. They easily win the OVC.

Burg wins another district in d4, Unioto should be relevant again in d4 possibly. Watch out for the Tanks the next few years.

Webster wins a district in d5. North Adams could be a sleeper team to win a district title in D5. Minford lost a great senior class led by Myles Montgomery. I think they’ll be fine, but still should see a setback. I know the incoming freshman group is very talented.

Any coaching changes/openings?

[SoccerGuy22]

Like the takes. My only issue is as much as I want to favorite NA in the SHAC until someone can actually knock Lynchburg off the top I wont have full faith in it regardless of how much LC is losing. At this point its probably a mental thing for every team in the conference.

My very early thoughts for the SHAC are:

LC- to be the man you gotta beat the man and until someone does they stay at number 1
North Adams- only second until they can beat LC
Fayetteville- is a close third after not losing a senior from last years team and they are always a strong opponent just unknown due to being in the SW district
Eastern- Lost quite a few good pieces but their coach has changed the culture there it seems and the tie against Lynchburg last year was surprising
Peebles- Lost 8 seniors on a small squad but bring back a few pieces who can be game changers. With the right players and some depth could sneak in to 3 or 4
Whiteoak- new program but didn't exactly test themselves non conference wise last year. Lost half of their starters I think
Fairfield- Probably the biggest hit losing McIntosh, Mathews, and co. Good coach but don't know what numbers they'll have
West Union- Loses a few starters, don't know much about who is coming up for them but they've been at the bottom of the SHAC for a long while
Ripley- Lost one of the better players in the SHAC in Owen Kirk, plus a few seniors who worked their butts off. Not sure of what kind of freshman class they are getting. Interchangeable with West Union

Also have not heard of any coaching changes so far. Saw Waverly's was posted on ossca a month or two back

[danicalifornia]

Unioto lost a couple of starters, but both were first year players. Have their whole defense back, plus two capable goalkeepers. One of their better attackers will be back after a dirty tackle took him out of about half of last season.

Plus, their top two players will be sophomores and that should carry them for a while as long as the team stays healthy as a whole. I’d think they would be a favorite to at least get back to the district final again this coming season, depending on who else is in D4. Not sure they’ll be better than Wheelersburg or Gallia.

Zane Trace will massively fall off, but will have a new young coach who will likely stick around for a while, which will help them in the long run. Just lost too many skilled kids and a very good goalkeeper as well.

Chillicothe graduated a fantastic senior class, so they’ll likely be way down…but, they really haven’t had a large drop off in years, so I think their program is in very good shape for a quick reload instead of rebuild. But, losing that many talented kids will make things difficult in the early going at least.

[fball43]

Washington Court House has hired a boys soccer coach! Boys soccer seems to be back at WCH!!

https://www.recordherald.com/2025/03/27 ... cer-coach/