2005 JV Black Game Reports JV Battle - Red vs. Black Write-up compiled from reports from Lois Partridge and Larry Brown Red and Black Scrimmage - Lois Partridge      The JV Red Team introduced the JV Black Team to high school soccer in their scrimmage on Saturday. The JV Red prevailed over the Black squad 6-1. The Red squad moved to a commanding 4-0 lead at half with goals from Hunter Soffge, Kaleb Jordan, Ryan Batchelor and Derek Torres. They also saw strong shots at the goal from Brad Benson, and Blake Barakat while having a strong defense anchored by Chima Onyebuchi. The Black squad was on the defensive side of the field and saw some strong play from Keith Patton, Sebastian, Daniel Cauthen, Ben Hamilton and Abraham Avalos to keep the score within reach.      The second half saw much of the same dominance by the Red squad with additional goals from Kaleb Jordan and Brad Benson and strong shots from Hunter Soffge (3), Doug Castillo, Alex Ramirez, and Blake Barakat. The Black Squad did sustain a few offensive drives with some good passing and ball skills displayed by Ross Loudamy and Grant Nelson. The Black Squad had one goal by Charlie Schlott with an assist from Jeremy Guidry called back just prior to when they finally scored their only goal by J.T. Updegraff with an assist from Grant Nelson.      All together, it was a great start for both of the squads as they are working hard to hone their skills in ultimate preparation for when their time on the varsity team comes about. It was great to see the support for both sides by their parents in the stands. Both of these squads will have a successful year due in part to their hard work, the coach's dedication and to the support they receive from their families. -from Larry Brown-      As usual, the JV Scrimmage was the first game of the afternoon. This game always provides a look into Martin's future and the future looks bright. The older crew dominated the game early, but the frosh made a game of it at the end. The red team saw outstanding play from Juniors Brad Benson and Ryan Batchelor with each scoring early goals. Sophomore Blake Barakat made some very nice attaching runs from the midfield. Eric Nguyen and Daniel McLaughlin anchored the team in goal. Unfortunately, I don't know many of the freshmen this year, but the midfield play of Greg Partridge and Jeremy Guidry did catch my attention for the black team. It appears that we have a great new crop of parents and fans with the incoming freshman class. The stands erupted every time the black team made a good play. Martin JV Black vs. Marcus JV on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2005 This day saw many of the crowd (parents) arrive late due to the traffic congestion to find the stadium. The game was played at Lewisville High School on artificial turf and the part of the first half was spent getting our young men adjusted to the speed of the ball on this surface. At halftime, the score was 2-0 in favor of Marcus due to one own-goal score and another good score from one of the Marcus forwards.      The second half saw a more balanced game with considerable time spent in the middle of the pitch. Martin had a few good runs forward led by Greg Partridge and Charlie Schlott but ultimately very little pressure was applied on the goal of Marcus. A couple of other highlights of this half saw a header by Spencer Admire at the goal, good defensive play by Alex English and T.J. Davis and some offensive pressure being applied by Grant Nelson. The game ended with the score still 2-0 in favor of Marcus and the JV Black still looking for their first goal of the season. Martin JV Black vs. Lewisville JV on Friday, Jan. 14, 2005      This game was very similar to the previous game as both were played on artificial surface. Unlike the previous game, this game saw the Martin squad get much more aggressive and a desire to create offensive pressure on the Lewisville Farmer's goal. The first half saw three good shots on goal, one from Charlie Schlott and two from Greg Partridge but none found the net. The best opportunity came just before the half when a Lewisville defender took down forward Greg Partridge inside of the box in front of their goal. The stage was set for the 1st Martin goal of the season if Greg could score on the penalty kick. The kick was low and just slightly to the left of the goalie but another opportunity was missed as the goalie made a good save on this shot. The halftime came with the game still tied 0-0 and Martin still looking for a break.      The second half started much like the first half with a majority of the time spent on the Lewisville side of the field with Martin applying the offensive pressure. Charlie Schlott made an outstanding run at the goal moving past several defenders and creating a one-on-one situation with the goalie but it did not result in a goal. Outstanding play was noted for both Sebastian Barraza (forward), TJ Davis (midfield) and Brett Minardi (goalie) but as the game was nearing the end, the score was still 0-0 in spite of the statistics being heavenly in favor of Martin. With just under two minutes left in the game, Martin started one more offensive push towards the opponent's goal. A throw in by Spencer Admire to Charlie Schlott, who used his ball skills to bring the ball near to the goal, and then a outstanding pass to Ryan Call directly in front of the goal and Ryan delivered with the first goal of the game and the season. The boys and the crowd (parents) were very excited and the last minute and a half went by quickly with Martin claiming its first goal and first victory of the season, 1 - 0. Martin JV Black vs. Stephenville JV on Saturday, Jan 15, 2005                 Now this is the type of improvements that Martin High School needs to consider for its stadium. The game was played at the Marcus-Flower Mound High School on quality artificial turf with padding and simulated grass. Both of these factors contributed to the speed of the ball being very close to the natural turf but without having to worry about the poor drainage, mud puddles or over-utilization of the field.      The game itself saw Martin controlling the ball for most of the first half. Martin had 5 shots on goal versus 3 for the visiting Stephenville Dragons squad. Two of the shots came from a Martin defender/midfielder Keith Patton on several surges towards the opponent's goal. This half also saw several good stops from goalie Brett Minardi. The best and only successful run at the Stephenville goal came about with just 5 minutes remaining. A good pass from Charlie Schlott up to Grant Nelson gave Grant an open path from about thirty yards out towards the goal. Grant used his ball skills as he went around the last defender and was one-on-one with the goalie. Grant's shot, from about 10 yards out, went across the face of the goal, past the goalie and into the back of the net. The half ended with Martin protecting its 1-0 lead.      The second half highlights saw two good breakaways by Greg Partridge, as the result of good passes forward from his team mates. On the second breakaway, Greg's shot went just wide right of the goal. Outstanding defense was again noted by TJ Davis, Keith Patton and Reice Raudry. The second half also saw an appearance by Jordon Levesque in the back line. The results of all the defenders was key to keeping the Stephenville forwards to only one shot on goal in this half. The only shot was stopped again by Brett Minardi and the second straight shut out was secured as the game ended 1-0. This win streak and shutout string will be tested this next week with a rematch with Marcus JV but Martin is staring to show signs of getting and keeping pressure on the opponent's goal. Jan 17th Martin JV Black vs. Marcus JV at Marcus High School      After driving 50 miles each way back to one of the fields where the tournament was this past weekend, we saw a soccer game which had the same result as the tournament game between these same two teams. Sounds like Déjà vu all over again!      Other than the score of this game, there were many aspects of the game that were different. This game saw a fairly even first half which ended in a 0-0 tie. Both teams had some good shots on goal with Marcus having the upper hand x-y shots. Brett Minardi had to make several great stops to keep Martin in the game. This half also contained outstanding defensive efforts from Daniel Cauthen and TJ Davis to keep the Marcus shots to a minimum. Several offensive thrusts were orchestrated by combinations of Grant Nelson, Charlie Schlott, Greg Partridge and Spencer Admire. Many of these resulted in shots on goals which is an improvement over the first meeting of these two teams.      The second half started and appeared to be a repeat of the first half with both teams have opportunities to score. One of the best opportunities for the Martin squad came on a breakaway by Greg Partridge with a one-on-one with the Marcus goalie shot. The goalie stopped the initial shot but was unable to cleanly field the ball. The ball bounced back to Greg who readied for a return shot but was twisted by the goalie grabbing onto one leg while Greg attempted to the shot with the other leg. The ball went wide of the goal. Just as some people in the crowd thought about the game ending a 0-0 tie, with about 12 minutes left in the game, Marcus' player seemed to get a second wind and started making repeated runs and shot against our goal. Brett had his hands full but finally yielded the first goal when a Marcus forward got a clean pass across the goal on to the foot of his team mate who delivered a strong kick into the back of the net. After this goal, Martin tried to respond but Marcus continued with the offensive pressure in spite of Martin defenders best efforts. With just over two minutes left in the game, Marcus scored again on a header off of a corner kick. The game ended 2-0 with the Martin JV Black now 2 wins and 2 losses and headed for the Seguin Tournament this coming weekend.      This game did see Martin be more aggressive and work harder to establish offensive pressure then the original game. We actually made the Marcus goalie make several plays to stop some of our shots. We also saw the return of Ross Loudamy and he added a positive presence to the overall Martin game. Thus the Martin squad showed it could play with teams of this caliber and with continued improvement they could be ready for several victories through the rest of this season. It will take a team effort and for each of the player to decide they make a difference and play/practice with that goal in mind.