Carson High’s boys soccer team got another wake-up call on Saturday, and unless they wake up, their season could end in disappointment and not joy.
The Senators have lost two of their last three matches, and one constant has been slow starts. Against Spanish Springs and Galena, Carson found itself in a two-goal hole early and never recovered.
More troubling than the slow starts is the attitude of the team. When this team gets in a hole it quits; throws in the towel. It doesn’t fight back. I saw it at Wooster last year and I’ve seen it against Spanish Springs and now Galena this year.
It makes me crazy. Where is the competitive spirit? It’s sports, and not everything is going to go right. It doesn’t mean that you give up — ever. I’m tired of watching the pouting, and I’m tired of kids whining about the officiating. Just play the game.
In each of the three contests I alluded to players have taken off their shoes when coming out of the game. Really? What kind of garbage is that? Against Galena, one of the starters took his shoes and jersey off with 24 minutes left in the match. In my days as a high school athlete, you didn’t take off your uniform until the game was over ... period.
You wouldn’t catch a baseball, football or basketball player at Carson doing that unless they were injured.
Do players like quitting on their own teammates because that’s what they are doing. It sets a very poor example, and no offense to coach Frank Martinez, but I would show those players the door.
Martinez admits that the team is having issues.
“It’s not everybody. We have a couple of guys (with bad attitudes),” he admitted after the Galena game. “They are two of our better players. We’ve got to figure it out. If we play like this against Wooster, the same thing is going to happen. I told the kids they need to think about it and get back to work on Monday.
“I don’t mind losing as long as we play hard, and we aren’t doing that (playing hard) right now.”
Hopefully this team gets it turned around. Last year was last year, and people are gunning for the Senators. If the attitude on the field isn’t going to change, maybe the Senators need to pack it in or rid themselves of a couple of players.
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Football starts for real this Friday as the crossover games are done in 4A.
Damonte Ranch is 4-1 with another nonleague game on tap Friday against Shasta. Carson and Manogue both finished 3-2, while Galena and Douglas are at 2-3.
It’s hard to get a read on Damonte Ranch because the Mustangs didn’t play Reed or Reno, arguably the two best teams in the Northern 4A thus far.
On the Sierra side, the Manogue-Douglas game on Friday could very well decide a playoff spot. On paper, it would seem that Damonte, Carson and Galena enter the season as the top three teams. Manogue has a lot of young talent and might be a year away.
