The Brandon varsity boys soccer team’s season came to an end Oct. 16, and with it, the high school soccer careers of 12 Brandon seniors.
The Blackhawks lost a 1-0 game against Pontiac Notre Dame Prep in the opening round of district action at Brandon High School. Erik Kaltz scored the lone goal of the game for the Fighting Irish about 20 minutes into the second half.
Brandon’s season ended with a record of 8-6-2. The Blackhawks will be losing what Coach Nathan Hunter said is ‘the nucleus of our program? with the graduation of the 12 seniors, the most in Hunter’s four years as Brandon coach.
The graduating seniors are: Clayton Carpenter, Andrew Chester, Frank Cianek, Ben Cruce, Jamie Drayton, Nick Loeffler, Ryan Morales, John Soave, Matt Thomas, Kyle Vallier, Tyler Walls, Steve Webber and Matt Wegman.
‘I think this group really understood dedication and brought it back to our program,? Hunter said. ‘They were extremely motivated to improve our program and make it decent enough where we can compete against any team. We played a lot of teams that were rated in the top ten in the state. I’m extremely proud of this group.?
Next year, the Blackhawks return eight juniors and four sophomores to the varsity. Hunter said combined with the ‘tremendous kids? in the junior varsity program, the Blackhawks should be a competitive team for many years to come.