Good start good enough for Boyle boys – for now

Finishing well matters more than starting well, but starting well is a pretty good place to start.

The Boyle County boys have gotten off to good starts in the first two games of a new soccer season, but they know good finishes will be imperative if they hope to reach their goals this fall.

The Rebels got their first win Tuesday night when they scored twice in the first seven minutes on their way to a 3-0 win over Bourbon County at Rebel Stadium.

They didn’t score in the final 55 minutes, but they had already knocked Bourbon for a loop after senior Alan Wireman put the ball into the net twice in less than two minutes.

“It’s everything to start fast,” Wireman said. “We always emphasize that, and today we didn’t finish the way we wanted, but we had a good start and we were able to hold that lead.”

That wasn’t the case in Boyle’s season opener seven days earlier, when they led Lexington Catholic 2-0 but finished in a 2-2 tie.

And while Boyle was able to hold off Bourbon, coach David Ritchie said he saw some of the same things he had seen in their loss to Lexington Catholic.

“We started really well, we were attacking, moving the ball,” Ritchie said. “The first game (it) was sort of the same thing. We didn’t keep the intensity.”

Ritchie said that’s something the Rebels will be working on, and something he thinks will improve as the season progresses.

“We have a lot of young guys that haven’t played a ton of varsity minutes, and they’ve got to learn that it’s not the same as other levels, that just because you get up two goals there’s teams that have the caliber to come back if you don’t continue to battle for 80 minutes.”

Boyle, which was 1-0-1 entering a game Thursday night at Corbin, is blending those young players with a group of veterans that includes seven seniors who return to the starting lineup, and Ritchie said getting that blend right will be the key to getting to where the Rebels want to go.

He said it might also be a reason why they have gotten off to good starts in their first two games, which were sandwiched around a game against Cooper that was canceled after a thunderstorm forced play to be stopped in the first half.

“The upperclassmen, especially in practice, are pushing them, and I think that’s a lot of the reason why they’re coming out so ready to go,” Ritchie said. “As soon as they learn and progress to understand that it takes that full 80 minutes, yeah, this team could be very good.”

Ritchie said the players’ willingness to work and learn is perhaps their biggest area of improvement.

“They give it everything they have. They’re pressing, they’re constantly trying to learn,” he said. “As soon as they learn when to make the runs and that type of thing, it’s going to be phenomenal, because they want to learn and they try and do what is being asked of them.”

Wireman scored in the fifth minute on a missile from 25 yards out and again in the seventh minute off a pass from Bo Little, who later added a goal on a penalty kick.

“We watched some film on them. We knew what to expect, and we came in and executed early, came in with some intensity and had a good start,” Wireman said.

Boyle has high hopes after reaching the semifinals of the Kentucky 2A Championships statewide tournament a year ago.

“Our expectation level is to compete for the 2A state championship and win,” Wireman said.

The Rebels will host their 2A sectional next week, and they’ll open play Tuesday against LaRue County in hopes of reaching the state tourney next month in Owensboro.

They’re also aiming for a better finish in the postseason. Boyle won the 12th Region two years ago but a double-overtime loss to Somerset knocked them out in the semifinals last season.

“It’s good to have that winning experience and to try to carry on what we’ve had in the past,” Wireman said.

The post Good start good enough for Boyle boys – for now appeared first on The Advocate-Messenger .