Leechburg/Apollo-Ridge boys soccer co-op readies for debut

By: George Guido
Saturday, August 17, 2019 | 9:14 PM

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History will be made Aug. 31.

That’s the day the new Leechburg/Apollo-Ridge co-op boys soccer team makes its debut in a match against Ellwood City.

It also will mark the first time all local high schools will have boys soccer in one form or another.

That’s a far cry from the 1960s and early ’70s, when Springdale and Fox Chapel were the only soccer schools.

Coach Brad Walker is starting the program from scratch and is anxious to see how his players perform.

“Our numbers have gotten better over the summer,” Walker said. “It kind of looked grim over the summer, but closer to camp we got up a few, so that’s great.”

Walker expects 15 or 16 players when the season gets underway, mostly underclassmen.

“We’ll be very young, mostly freshman and sophomores,” Walker said. “But as the years progress, we should come together nicely and start competing with everybody.”

Most of the students from Leechburg and Apollo-Ridge played youth soccer with the Kiski Area Soccer League.

Leechburg will practice and play home games at Northmoreland Park in Allegheny Township on fields primarily used by the KASL.

The program hopes to have Veterans Memorial Stadium reconfigured to accommodate soccer by the 2020 season.

Leechburg will begin section play against Mt. Pleasant on Sept. 3 in what was supposed to be the first home match for the co-op. But cleanup operations will be going full swing at Northmoreland Park after the annual Labor Day festival the preceding day. After a trip to Shady Side Academy on Sept. 5, Leechburg will make its home debut at 2 p.m. on Sept. 7.

The new boys co-op got its origin after students and soccer fans from both schools saw the success of the girls program.

Said Walker: “When that happened, it sparked the interest with boys. It’s a happy medium that the boys will play under the Leechburg name and the girls under the Apollo-Ridge name. Kind of the best of both worlds.”

Walker is accustomed to building a program. When he took over at Highlands five years ago, participation had dropped to 13 players. His philosophy then, as now, is to teach the players the game and work on fundamentals, drills and tactics.

The offense will be led by Jake Schuffert, Ashton Redmond, Nico Spagnola and Jacob Mull.

“It’s definitely hard to do starting from the ground up,” Spagnola said. “For a while we were running short, but thank goodness we’ve got the numbers now.”

Redmond, a Leechburg student said, “I’m pretty excited about this team. I’m a big soccer fan. I played in (youth) leagues with a couple of Apollo-Ridge kids, so I know how they play.”

The combined enrollments of the schools place the co-op in Class AA. Walker will use the Philadelphia 76ers slogan, “trust the process.”

“I really think we can compete with some of the teams in our section,” Walker said. “It’s going to be some growing pains.”

Among the section opponents will be last year’s WPIAL champion, Shady Side Academy, and state runner-up, Deer Lakes.

Tags: Apollo-Ridge, Leechburg