HOUNDS HOLD OFF JAGS

 The Corbin Redhounds soccer team opened the 2011 season with a split of two games last week. The Redhounds lost at Garrard County 3-0 and were aided by two penalty kicks then came back Saturday to edge the North Laurel Jaguars 2-1.

“We came out and played a stinker against Garrard County and lost 3-0, so I didn’t know what was going to happen today,” said Corbin Coach Armando Cima. “We made a lot of excuses about field size and we had a lot of bad calls, but I really didn’t know what to expect.”

“I was very worried about North, you always have to be worried about them because they are kind of in the middle of the table and those are very scary teams to play,” he said.

 The Redhounds helped ease their coaches’ mind late in the first half when Tulio Canineu got the ball past the North Laurel keeper for a 1-0 lead with less than ten minutes left in the half.

The 1-0 lead didn’t last long as the Jaguars were awarded a penalty kick on a Corbin handball. Levi Siedel went to the right and hit the back of the net, tying the game at 1-1.

The Corbin defense stepped up in the second half and played flawless, holding the Jaguars scoreless.

Junior Tanner Broughton put Corbin ahead for good in the first five minutes of the second half.

“I thought we passed the ball well,” Cima said. “But, I think in front of the field we need to learn how to break down the defense better. We possessed the ball more than they did tonight. They played a more direct game and tried to hit their two forwards, but we were able to snuff those out tonight.”

Cima was hoping for a third goal in the game to give his team some breathing room.  “I was very scared at 2-1, but we did OK with that. We could have managed the time better, but we did OK for a young team.”

Corbin has only one senior on this year team, midfielder Michael Brown. “You can look at our roster and see there is a good number of juniors,” Cima said. The Redhounds have 18 juniors, seven sophomores, 10 freshmen and two eighth graders that make up the 2011 team.

“We play a young team,” he said. “Two sophomores got a lot of time, a couple of freshmen got a lot of time. We have a very large junior class, but we are playing an inexperienced team. We are putting an inexperienced team on the field. We are returning three starters from last year.”

“We have a lot of kids that are learning the game as we go,” Cima said. “They are getting used to the speed and pace of a varsity game.”

The Redhounds will host the Commodores of Perry Central Thursday at 8 p.m. They will go to Letcher County Central for a 3 p.m. contest Saturday before hosting South Laurel Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.