Wengerd optimistic about the future of Knights soccer
The record is far from stunning, and there are still the lopsided losses dotting the schedule, but for the most part, this version of the 2023 West Holmes boys soccer team has been exactly what second-year head coach Josh Wengerd was hoping to see coming off a winless season in which a massive rebuilding job took place.
The Knights have scored several wins and have been competitive in many other games, and along the way, Wengerd said he has witnessed his team giving all-in effort, encouraging one another, and the growth that has taken place is far more important than whatever the season record turns out to be.
“It’s been a process,” Wengerd said. “At this point we just have to be patient and keep working hard. I love our guys’ attitudes and effort, and we are getting better every day.”
Wengerd said he and WHHS Athletic Director Adam Brately sat down and addressed the schedule this year, forgoing playing some of the juggernaut teams on the schedule outside of league play and finding more competitive teams they could square off with.
“He understood the situation we were in, and we dropped some teams that drilled us last year and looked for competitive teams that could help us build some confidence. Then we rescheduled games against teams that we were competitive with last season, and I think that has helped the kids because we aren’t getting crushed every night out, and that has helped build some positive morale. At some point we have to learn what it feels like to win games,” Wengerd said.
Wengerd said the next phase of the program’s growth will be to gradually work those more advanced teams back into the mix, because he wants his players to understand that by playing better talent, it will only help them play better in the future.
In addition, the Knights have a middle school program this year, something that has never been in place, and Wengerd said developing youth at younger ages and affording them a chance to continue to build their skills from youth leagues into middle school will definitely help them maintain playing time and build skills necessary to compete at the next level.
“That’s such a big step for us,” Wengerd said. “We’ve got a large group of boys in seventh and eighth grade, and there’s a big group of promising young kids in fifth and sixth grade, and the numbers are growing.”
Rebuilding is nothing new for Wengerd. He took over a fledgling West Holmes Lady Knights varsity program years ago and went through a similar struggle to gain a foothold, and that program developed into one that saw his teams reaching regional play several times. The program is now in the hands of one of his former standouts, Schuyler (Jones) Snyder.
With his numbers growing in youth and middle school, Wengerd said the next step in the evolution of the program will be to field a junior varsity team, something the Knights don’t have this season.
“I think within two years we will have the numbers to field a JV team, and that’s another place where our kids can continue to gain valuable experience and playing time,” Wengerd said. “It’s tough to ask a young freshman to play against a group of much more physical and mature seniors on the varsity team.”
As was the case with his Lady Knights teams in the early going, he talked at length about continually raising the bar.
He said Knights football coach Zach Gardner used that tagline a year or two ago, and he didn’t want to duplicate it, so he came up with “trending in the right direction” as this team’s slogan.
“I didn’t want to suffer through any copyright infringements with Zach’s,” Wengerd said. “But it’s the same principle that I used when I started to develop the girls program. It’s all about work and effort and commitment, and I’m seeing that type of effort every day at the varsity level, in middle school and in our youth program.”
Always the optimist, don’t be surprised when this team turns the corner and Wengerd is leading a competitive team onto the field in the near future.