emilio ruiz benton

Saturday, February 19, 2022

It begins. Sophomore season, scrimmage 1: vs. Ardmore

At long last, varsity soccer is back. In the photo above, Emilio launches the Cougars' first shot on goal, a moonshot volley that the keeper caught.

I took my usual position on the endline at the offensive end and took video throughout the game, assuming that someone in the press box would be filming that angle as they did last year. They did, but apparently, they were rookies and the filming was inexpert, so some plays were not captured. Fortunately, though, the Ada Soccer Booster Club has a lot of photographers, and many photos were posted after the game.

On Saturday, Ardmore High School hosted the Tiger Den Shootout, which started with a match between the host Tigers and our visiting Cougars at 8 a.m. Emilio attracted a cheering section from north Texas (EmiNation?) led by Dad, Melissa, Norah and Aunt Carolyn, who all managed to arrive in time for a cold 8 a.m. kickoff.

Each scrimmage featured two 25-minute halves, with 5-minute halftimes and 5-minute breaks between games. We have games scheduled 12 noon (against Noble) and 4 pm (against Durant). We will play each of these teams again during the regular season. But first: this 8 a.m. game against Ardmore.

The most dedicated members of EmiNation will remember that when 4A Ada played 5A Ardmore in last year's pre-season Tiger Den shootout, they whupped us by many goals. We played them again, though, in a tournament at Noble, and shocked the world by producing on overtime nil-nil draw that ended with a PK-shootout for the championship. Freshman Emilio volunteered to take the first PK. He nailed it. Sophomore Sam was put in goal (for the first and only time all season) and blocked three kicks to bring home the trophy.

We lost six starters from the last year's team. Today, the first 11 to take the field in our new 4-1-4-1 (last year we ran a 4-3-3) formation are:

Keeper: Colton Scull (Sophomore; who started the first-half of the season last year)
Right fullback: A. J. Revels (Senior)

Right centerback: Saul Palma (Senior)

Left centerback: Augi Palma (Sophomore, returning starter)

Left fullback: Carlos Morales (Sophomore)

Holding midfielder: Minh Nguyen (Senior)

Right midfielder: Blake Vick (Sophomore)

Right centermid: Caden Mitchell (Sophomore)

Left centermid: Emilio (Sophomore, returning starter)

Left midfielder: Sam Rhynes (Junior, 2-year returning starter)

Forward: Jonah Ascencion (Senior, returning starter)

The purpose of running a 4-1-4-1 is to increase possession. Emilio is excited about it.

In the video above, Emi gets the attack started from the midfield. Several players share the ball, Emi chases down a crosser from Jonah (you can hear him getting praise from Coach Vaughn) and passes the ball back to the midfield to create an opportunity.

Two minutes later, our Human Fidget Spinner makes a nifty move before creating another opportunity for Oscar and Sam.

Emilio says jerseys were distributed on a random basis, and his #4 is just a pre-season thing.

The play above was both Emilio's best play of the game and the most controversial play of the game.
Sam starts us off with a great opportunity created for Blake, whose on-target shot is blocked by the keeper.
Caden takes the ball back from the defense and sets up Emilio in the midfield.
Emi slaloms past three defenders and then passes to the right foot of an open Jonah, who has an open Blake behind him.
Should Emilio have passed up the open pass to take the shot? That's what Coach Jones suggested, but Emi says he'd do it again.
Dad stood by me throughout the game. That's his chuckle of disappointment at the end.

Coach Jones lets Emilio and Sam decide who will take free kicks. After Emilio got fouled on the left side of the field, he told Sam he wanted this one. And he almost sneaked it in. Apparently, the cameras behind him were active.