At last, Perryville fields high school boys soccer team

PERRYVILLE -- Michael Ochs Jr. spent four years as a Perryville high school student trying to persuade the school board to approve a boys soccer program.

His unsuccessful effort included raising $10,000 during his freshman year, which was the starter-fee money the school needed to launch the team.

But Ochs never stopped his mission after graduating in the spring of 2007. He continued to attend as many board meetings as possible, and at last he received his wish in December 2007 when the board approved a boys soccer program.

Ochs will be a volunteer assistant coach this fall while also working and attending classes at Mineral Area Community College.

He set his college courses around the Pirates' practice schedule.

"I just love Perryville," Ochs said. "I grew up here. I was raised here. I want to do everything I can to help this town.

"I fought pretty hard and took a lot of guff for it. But it's finally in now, and I'm just glad I'm being a part of it and helping these kids."

The first-year program had strong turnout. Thirty-three players showed on the first day of practice. Coaches said about 75 percent of the upperclassmen have not played organized soccer since junior high school, but that the players have worked hard and are ready to start playing games.

The Pirates will play in the Jefferson County Conference. Perryville also will play in Class 2 District 1 with two-time defending state champion Notre Dame.

"These kids have worked really hard," Ochs said. "Tell everybody to watch out. Perryville's got talent and we're going to give it our all."

Coach Jerry Fulton, who was hired in April and was an assistant for the Perryville girls team, said the Pirates hosted open field one night each week all summer and the program averaged more than 20 players each week. Twenty-two players worked out at a five-day Jackson camp this summer.

Fulton also averaged 27 players during the camp that Perryville ran during the last two weeks of July. Still, Fulton did not know how many players would turn out on Day One.

"It's been a pleasant surprise," Fulton said. "They have worked hard all summer. They are ready to play."

A program launched

Fulton credited Ochs as one of the leaders in bringing boys soccer to Perryville High School.

"I was shocked when they voted it in, actually, because it had been brought up so many times," Fulton said.

Ochs started by writing a letter to the school board to request a spot on the agenda. When he finally was placed on the agenda, he presented his case to the board, which told him it lacked the $10,000 starter fee. Ochs responded by approaching the community for donations.

"All the business owners said, 'I support you, here you go,'" Ochs said. "Not knowing that it would go in or not, they gave me the money because they thought it was what needed to be done."

Ochs said once he raised the money, the board gave him other reasons why the program could not be created.

"Every time they had a reason, I tried to solve it for them," Ochs said.

Ochs said he attended all board meetings, whether or not he was on the agenda. He wanted the board to know he was determined.

The school board eventually discontinued the cross country program due to a lack of participation, and it started looking to add a program.

"They were just figuring out which sport they could add, and since I was pushing for soccer, I kept pushing," Ochs said.

Some inexperience

Fulton said the majority of the freshmen are coming out of rec and club soccer, while some upperclassmen had stopped playing.

"The majority of the upperclassmen probably haven't played soccer in two or three years," Fulton said. "Some of them six [years]. I have a couple boys here who dropped out of soccer in sixth or seventh grade because they just knew there was no future in it. As soon as they heard there was a team, they are back."

Fulton did say that every member of the team has played soccer before.

He said the biggest challenge for the players was getting into game shape. They also have had to learn to work together.

Dalton Hoehn, who is expected to start at forward, said the last time he played was in the seventh grade.

"It was quite a big adjustment," he said. "I was out of shape quite a bit, and it's a lot different than playing regular rec league. You can't just pass up the middle. You have to take it outside. Kids are a lot faster, and most high school players are pretty decent."

Ochs said ball handling has been one of the most difficult parts of the game to learn.

"When you get up to high school, there is a lot more passing that you've got to do than dump and run," senior forward Ben Prevallet said.

Football factor

Prevallet played on the Pirates' football team his first three years of high school, starting at wide receiver and kicker and playing some backup cornerback as a junior.

He decided to stick with football primarily as a kicker, and tried out for the soccer team.

Despite there being no high school soccer team his first three years, Prevallet said he still played on recreation teams.

"I've always wanted [soccer] since freshman year, and we never had it," Prevallet said. "I ended up playing football because I played in eighth grade and kept on. But me and a lot of guys on the soccer team have always played since we were 5 years old. So it just always has been my life."

Although Prevallet stayed with the football team to kick, others who played football quit to play on the soccer team.

Prevallet said seven players, including himself, have played on the football team.

Fulton said when he asked his players earlier in preseason how many would have played football if the soccer team did not exist, about six said they would have.

Ochs said he thinks the hesitation over starting a soccer program could have been because Perryville is a football town.

The team

Wade Lawrence will join Prevallet and Hoehn on the front line.

Bryce Weibrecht, who has played club soccer, likely will start in the midfield. Brandon Allen will be the goalkeeper, while Marc Jannin will play sweeper.

"One person who is going to be a team leader is Marc Jannin," Ochs said. "He really knows how to push the team and give them encouragement. He's a real team leader. And I think he's going to be our big player."

Fulton said his team will play both a 4-3-3 and a 4-4-2.

"We've practiced both, and to be honest, I don't know which one they run better," Fulton said. "They do both of them pretty well.

"We hope we can play an aggressive style of soccer, a more controlled game, so we can control our own fate. ... We need to be a controlled team that backs each other up."