The following seniors are:

Track:

Erica Brand, Duke University

Cross Country and Track:

Christne Nelson, University of Wyoming

Lisa Imgrund, Missouri State University

Girls’ Soccer:

Cara Lightle, Park University

Boys’ Soccer:

Jon Kankam, Xavier University

Sam McCrills, Barton County Community College

Lippi Souza, Barton County Community College

Baseball:

Cody Ball, Fort Scott Community College

Cody Parks, Fort Scott Community College

Adam Giacolone, Neosho County Community College

Jake Thompson, Iowa Western Community College

Taylor Berthusen, Butler County Community College

It was an electrifying feeling. Everybody knew the game was over; it was only a matter of time. The Cougars had a 2-1 lead over the number one seed Olathe South Falcons with only seconds left on the clock. Senior Lippi Souza started his victory sprint toward the packed Cougar faithful fan section, tearing off his jersey. As the final seconds ticked off the clock, a Falcon player fell to his knees in disbelief, realizing that his hopes of a state championship had been squashed by the one team that nobody thought stood a chance, the team that continued to defy all expectations.

That seemed to be the theme all year for the Cougars­ — never say never. During summer conditioning, it seemed as though there was an air of uncertainty hovering around the upcoming season; who were going to be the leaders this year? Who was going to step up to fill the shoes of the many seniors that were lost from last year?

“With the group of guys we lost last year, we were just wondering if these guys were going to be able to step up and fill their shoes,” coach Todd Boren said.

After losing an overtime battle to the nationally ranked Rockhurst Hawklets on Sept. 28, the team dropped two more games and seemed to have lost its way.

“You know, that was kind of gut-check time right there,” Boren said. “That was going to be the time that the season was either going to completely implode, or we were going to try to screw our heads back on and get after it.”

The team came together and decided that they would not let the season go down in the record books as a failure. On their way to a third place finish at state, the Cougars upset two number one seeds­­ — Olathe East in regionals 1-0 and Olathe South in the quarterfinals.

“We really came together as a team and realized that we had the potential to be really good,” junior Kyle Moore said.

Throughout the season, and well into the postseason, the NW fans gave a huge boost to the Cougars. At almost every game, the designated fan section spilled over into the rest of the bleachers. The NW fans outnumbered opponents’ fan sections.

“It was really fun going to the games this year. I loved going; there were always tons of people there,” senior Tyler Amble said. “As a fan you could kind of feel the team’s momentum. Every time the team won, we would all go crazy. It was awesome.”

Going into the season, the expectations had been relatively low, which may have contributed to the team’s success. After a shaky start to the season that left the team with a losing record, 5-6, a 7-0 win against SM South sparked a surge of momentum that would carry the boys to the end of the season.

After upsetting the number- one-seeded Falcons, the Cougars went on to the state semifinals to play Washburn Rural High School. Washburn was 17-1 at the time, losing only to St. Thomas Aquinas. The Baby Blues had beaten the Cougars earlier in the year, and the eventual state champions had the speedy and slender team outsized and outmatched.

Despite the largest turnout of the year from the NW faithful, it was the first time in five games that senior Jon Kankam was not able to do a post-game victory back flip, as the Cougars fell 3-1.

Sticking with the theme of the season, the dejected boys wiped away tears of sorrow to prepare for the consolation game the next day. They came out with kicks of fury, beating the Dodge City Red Demons 2-0, and taking home the third place trophy. But after the miracle run they had made in the postseason, third place seemed like a letdown to some of the Cougar players.

“It’s frustrating getting this far and then not getting to the championship, you know, because that’s where everyone wants to be. We began the season with expectations to win the league. That didn’t work out, but we came out in the postseason, and we really started clicking at the right time,” senior Lippi Souza said. “Overall, I guess I’m happy with the result that we got in the end.”

SMNW soccer VS. SMW from smnw on Vimeo.

Amazing :: Soccer on Vimeo.

Where will amazing happen this year?

Courtesy KUGR

“I think tonight we saw some definite improvement as far as being more dynamic in the attacking third,” Boren said of the Cougars offensive domination.

“Obviously some mental lapses along the way, but overall some of the things we needed to improve on, we improved on.”

The Cougars look forward to their meeting with rival SM West next Tuesday at 7:00, at the SMAC complex.

Win Zoellner, SMNW soccer booster club website

Senior Sam Mccrillis launches a shot from just outside the 18 box. Mccrillis had two goals in the Cougars victory.

defeating Shawnee Mission North Indians 3-0. The Cougars came flying out of the gates, quickly taking possesion and furiously attacking the Indians defense. Senior Eric Haun scored the first goal of the night within ten minutes, followed shortly by a goal from senior Sam Mccrillis. Neither the Northwest players nor coaches were satisfied with the team’s performance, though. The Cougars seemed cursed as shot after shot was either stopped by the Indian’s defense, or just narrowly off target.

“It was frustrating because we came out in the first ten minutes and put two goals up, and then we went flat.” Coach Todd Boren said of the Cougars sloppy finishing.

“We don’t come out and execute the things that we talked about in practice, and we don’t execute the things we talked about on the board before the game. First ten minutes we did, with positive results, then we go back to our bad habits.”

But a win is a win and the victory gives the Cougars points in the league standings, which become even more critical when they reach the tougher part of their schedule later in the season.

“On a positive note, this gets us back to two and two (record), and gives us momentum moving forward.” Boren said.

“Second half I thought we came out and played a lot more aggressively, we did a lot better job moving the ball around. We still have a lot of things to work on, but that will come eventually.”

Unfortunately, the Cougars may be without junior midfielder Adam Zoellner, who went down with an apparent broken collarbone in the second half. Zoellner was a crucial part of the Cougars defense and the team will have a hard time finding a replacement.

The Cougars will have to solve these issues while still riding on the wave of momentum from their victory before they face the Lawrence High Lions on Saturday, at 7 pm.