Tiger soccer looking to build around core of retrunees

Fort Scott High School senior Josh Buller takes a shot at the goal during Thursday evening's annual scrimmage at Ellis Park. Buller scored three goals in the scrimmage, in which the Tigers defeated a team of alumni, 9-3. (Michael Pommier/Tribune)

Fort Scott High School's soccer team outscored a team of alumni players, 9-3, in the Red & White Scrimmage Thursday night at Ellis Park as seniors Josh Buller and Max McAllister and junior Wyatt Hulbert scored three goals each.

Brandon King scored twice for the alumni and Chris McAllister had the other goal.

Fort Scott head coach David Gray said that a lot of positions are still unsettled and there's only three practice days to get things sorted out before the season opener against Louisburg at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Ellis Park.

"I think it was a pretty solid effort," Gray said. "We switched a lot of people around because we're not sure of all the positions yet."

The Tigers have six returning seniors and eight on the roster with Aaron Cowlishaw out of the lineup due to injuries suffered in a traffic accident (see page 1 for related story). Buller and McAllister have spots up front while Jordan Karleskint and Kurtis West will be key players on defense. Chris Herman was, along with Buller and McAllister, an All-Southeast Kansas League player last season. Allen Pearson also returns while Seth Bohlken and Matt Carillo are out for the first time.

"We have a good group of seniors and juniors coming back," Gray said. "That's a good core to build around and we have some other solid seniors."

Hulbert is one of four returning juniors along with David Goff, Katrina Yakel and Andy Cowlishaw. Glenn Gaeke, a newcomer, is likely to be a defensive starter. Don Savage and Alex Ly are also out for the first time.

Sophomore Brett Allen is back as the starting goalkeeper. He faced 10 shots in the scrimmage and turned seven away, including one where he had to make a low save, then regroup quickly to stop the rebound from going in.

"Brett was sold last year and he's had a good off season," Gray said. "He's improved quite a bit over what he did last year. Starting goalie as a freshman is a tough road to take but the year under his belt helps him a lot. He's a lot more confident and he's doing a good job so far. We feel real solid along the back line."

Fort Scott enjoyed the program's first winning season (11-6) last season -- the program started in 2000 -- finished second in the SEK to Independence and hosted a Regional playoff game for the first time, losing to Paola in triple overtime as the light faded at Ellis Park.

"You always expect Indy to be there," Gray said. "They've won the league seven years in a row but that's our goal, to knock them off. We want to repeat at the Coffeyville Tournament and then get past that first game in Regionals. Win the Regional is what we want do."

The Tigers also host Blue Valley Southwest -- which opened just this year -- Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at Ellis Park.