2024 Highland County Boys Soccer Preview

Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs
Division V
Head Coach: Jason West
2023 Overall Record: 8-8-3
2023 SHAC Record: 6-1-0

Last season, the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs finished in a three-way tie for the Southern Hills Athletic Conference championship, tied with Fayetteville and North Adams with each having a conference record of 6-1-0. The Mustangs reached the district semifinals last season as they went 1-1 in the postseason, defeating Portsmouth West (6-0) for a sectional championship and falling to Northwest (4-0) in the district semifinals.

Overall in 2023, the Mustangs — who are coached by Jason West — were 8-8-3, winning three of their final four regular-season games a season ago. Their one loss in the four-game span came against Fayetteville, a conference loss which saw their 73-game SHAC non-loss streak come to an end.

The eight wins by LCHS last season were against: Eastern (9-0), Clermont Northeastern (2-1), Peebles (3-0), North Adams (1-0), Wilmington (4-0), Ripley (11-0), West Union (5-0) and Portsmouth West (6-0).

Seniors for the Mustangs in ‘24 are Austin Bell, Cody Bell, Noah Bitzer, Josiah Burns, Jay Cordrey, Isaac Eyre, Asher Faust, Casey Holaday, JJ Massey and Braedon West.

The junior class for LCHS includes Caden Boone, Elam Faust and Wyatt Osborn. Sophomores for the Mustangs are Levi Fields, Mason Fisher, Aric Slack, Sam Turner and Alexander VanFleet. Freshmen include Harley Lewis, Tanner Roberts and Quinn Wells.

This season, the Mustangs return to the field as defending conference tri-champions of the SHAC — winning at least a share of 11-consecutive titles — coming off a ’23 campaign where they outscored their conference opponents, 33-1 as conference games saw them shut out six opponents, and the only SHAC goal allowed was in their 1-0 loss to Fayetteville on Oct. 19.

LCHS lost three players from last season's team to graduation, those being Layne Ellis, Americo Brioli and Kellin Storer.

That said, a majority of the Mustangs return from last season, including Austin Bell, who totaled eight goals and three assists last season. Also returning is Burns with six goals and a team-best seven assists in ’23.

Massey led the Mustangs in goals last season with nine, while West and Fisher each scored four goals, as West also collected four assists and Fisher had one assist. Noah Bitzer finished last season with three goals.

Others returning to the roster who scored goals or gained assists are Asher Faust (two goals), Cordrey (one goal) and VanFleet (one assist).

As a team in ’23 the Mustangs outscored their opponents, 47-22, and collected eight shutouts, with Isaac Eyre at goalie with 116 saves.

The Mustangs open the ‘24 season on Saturday, Aug. 17 at home vs. Minford with a scheduled start of 7 p.m.

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Fairfield Lions 
Division V
Head Coach: Jacob Alexander
2023 Overall Record: 5-13-0
2023 SHAC Record: 4-3-0

Coming off a five-win season in 2023, the 2024 Fairfield Lions are looking to improve from all their time on the soccer field a season ago.

Fairfield finished 5-13-0 in ’23 with wins over Middletown Christian School (9-1), Peebles (4-3), Ripley (10-2), Eastern (4-2) and West Union (3-0) as their four wins against Southern Hills Athletic Conference opponents left them with a 4-3-0 conference mark in ’23. Last season saw the Lions finish with 43 goals scored and 74 goals allowed.

Seniors for the Lions are Dane Hodson, Carson Jenkins, Zane Matthews, Logan McIntosh and Corey Zimmerman. The Lions have two juniors, and they are Quentin McIntosh and Aiden Teeters.

The lone sophomore for the Lions is Mason Lightle, while the freshman class consists of Lohan Burgess, Colton Durose, Noah Eldridge, Patrick Hughes, Anderson Humphreys, Joel Matthews and Silas Newman.

The Lions — who are coached by Jacob Alexander — had eight players graduate from last season’s team (Janre Lerio, JD Duncan, Isaac Burns, Larkin Friend, Grant Baker, Daniel Ward, Alex Wiget and Dylan Herbert). Friend led the senior class from last season with five goals, while Duncan totaled five goals. Baker totaled three goals and three assists, and Daniel Ward had three goals and one assist.

Also graduated are Burns (one goal, two assists) and Lerio (one goal). In all, the Lions lost 18 of their 43 goals scored in ’23.

Both co-leading goal scorers from last year return for their senior seasons, first being Logan McIntosh, who finished the ’23 season with 11 goals, and he also collected five assists. In previous seasons, McIntosh had five goals as a freshman, and as a sophomore he led the Lions with 10 goals.

Also returning for his senior season is co-leading goals scorer Matthews, who as a junior also scored 11 goals and finished with two assists. Matthews had two goals as a freshman, and his sophomore season he totaled eight goals, as his past two seasons he has been second in goal scoring for the Lions.

Others back with the Lions with stats from last season are Hodson (three assists), Teeters (one goal) and Zimmerman (one goal).

The Lions last season had four players with at least one save in ’23, as two return to the team this season, with Matthews returning with 21 saves, and Jenkins had 89 saves a year ago.

Fairfield starts the ‘24 season on the road with a game against the Clinton-Massie Falcons on Friday, Aug. 16 at 7 p.m.

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Hillsboro Indians
Division IV
Head Coach: Ben Howland
2023 Overall Record: 6-8-4 
2023 FAC Record: 2-4-2

After having a six-win season in 2023, the 2024 Hillsboro Indians want to add to their win total, and they will be doing so with their top two goal scorers returning and four of their top five scorers back from last season.

HHS — who are coached by Ben Howland — ended the ’23 season at 6-8-4 overall with wins versus Fairfield (6-3), Logan Elm (3-0), Eastern (6-2), Western Brown (6-0) and McClain (3-2, 5-0), as HHS finished last season with 47 goals and they allowed 42 goals.

Seniors for the Indians in ‘24 are Brayden Scruggs, Judah Brandyberry, Ryan Fender, Wesley Bailey, Austin Bledsoe and Tate Davis.

The junior class consists of Jacob Seaman, Cameron Burkard, Dylan Bender, Mathias Hostetler, Cooper Swope and Ryan Howland.

Hillsboro’s sophomores are Cameron Evers, Mason Harper and Grant Shepard, and the lone freshman is Easton Inman.

Last season, the Indians’ top goal scorer was Bailey, who finished his junior season with 14 goals and a team-high nine assists in 18 games, while Howland finished his sophomore year a season ago with 12 goals and seven assists.

Bledsoe — Hillsboro’s fourth top scorer in ’23 — returns for his senior season after a junior year that included five goals and six assists. Davis also is back for his senior season, finishing his ’23 junior year with three goals and eight assists (second place on the team), as Davis was fifth in goals a season ago for the Indians.

Tied for fifth in goals for Hillsboro last season was Brandyberry, who enters his senior season coming off a junior campaign where he also had three goals with two assists.

Goal scorers also returning for their junior seasons are Swope and Seaman, as each scored one goal their sophomore seasons.

The Indians also have as returning players this season: Scruggs (two assists), Bender (one assist), Hostetler (one assist) and Fender, who was the keeper last season for Hillsboro, totaling 143 saves.

Graduated players from last season are Carson Scott (seven goals, two assists) and Isaac Brandyberry (three goals, two assists). Keahi Mhanna and Jacob Schommer also graduated for the Indians from last season, as each collected one assist.

The Indians open the 2024 season Friday, Aug. 16 at home against North Adams at 5 p.m.

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McClain Tigers
Division IV
Head Coach: John Gill
2023 Overall Record: 6-11-2
2023 FAC Record: 0-7-1

After finishing last season with four wins, the McClain Tigers will be back on the field, working toward improvement in the win-loss record.

McClain — who are now coached by John Gill — ended last season with a 6-11-2 record with a Frontier Athletic Conference record of 0-7-1. McClain’s win last season included victories against Fairfield (4-1, 3-1), Eastern (11-2), Circleville (7-0), Westfall (4-1) and Waverly (7-0).

Seniors for the Tigers are Jordan Lugo, Rayden Daugherty, Nicholas Alvarez and Nathan Alvarez.

Juniors for the Tigers include: Creed Davis, Ethan Eakins, Brynnen Babbs, Zion Barron and Jayden Lanning. Sophomores for MHS are Caden Hargett and Case Robbins.
The freshman class for 2024 are: Brayden Shover, Bryce Barber, Zayne Knisley and Cade Raike.

The leading scorer for the Tigers from the ’23 season was Westley Smith, who graduated, leading MHS with 21 goals and 12 assists. MHS also lost their second-leading scorer from the ’23 season to graduation, as Seth Weller totaled 10 goals and a team-best 16 assists.

Also graduated is Jobe Lugo, who totaled five goals and six assists in ’23. Brice Graham was also a senior in ’23, as the graduated player finished with five goals and one assist.

Davis returns for the ’24 season, as he scored one goal and had one assist last season for MHS.

As a team in ’23, the Tigers finished with 46 goals and allowed 63 goals.

The Tigers begin the 2024 season on Friday, Aug. 16 at home vs. Piketon with a 5 p.m. start.

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Whiteoak Wildcats
Division V
Head Coach: Adam Schelling
2023 Overall Record: N/A
2023 SHAC Record: N/A

Coming off their first season as a soccer program, playing a JV schedule in 2023, the Whiteoak Wildcats will now have a co-ed team competing in a boys varsity schedule for the first time in school history, starting in 2024.

Coached by Adam Schelling — who previously coached the Hillsboro Indians boys varsity program — the Wildcats consist of boys and girls playing on a team that will compete at the varsity level in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference.

Seniors for Whiteoak are: Tyler Wessner, Adrionna Phillips, Dalton Vance, Austin Richards, Jackson Tedford and Tori Potts.

Whiteoak’s juniors include: Shawn Mitchell-Cox, Shane Mitchell-Cox, Kenyon Hughes and Cody Richards.

The sophomores for the Wildcats are: Miley Walker, Zayden Eichorn, Gideon Swingle, Tre Lamb, Abe Flader, Levi Smallwood, Gabriel Ullon and Austin Russell.

The freshman class for the Whiteoak soccer team consists of Rowan Roades, Jillian Lucas, Levi Flader, Grady Roberts, Christopher Wessner and Sam Martin.

In their inaugural JV season in ’23, the co-ed Wildcat team scored 31 goals and allowed 23 goals. 

Tyler Wessner returns as the leading scorer for WHS from their JV season in ’23, finishing last year with 20 goals and two assists. Shawn Mitchell-Cox finished with two goals last season,

Flader finished with 11 goals in ’23, plus added two assists, as he was second on the team in goals last season. Hughes finished last season with three assists, Potts and Phillips each totaled two assists and Richards had one assist.

Graduates from last season who scored goals for Whiteoak were Isaiah Roe (one goal, one assist) and Noah Rudy (one goal, two assists).

With the addition of Whiteoak to the SHAC boys schedule, the conference will now have 10 teams playing,

Whiteoak opens their 2024 and inaugural varsity season on Monday, Aug. 19 at home — WHS games are played at Bright Local Elementary — against the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs at 5 p.m. in SHAC action.

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