Looking back: Kahok boys soccer has another banner year
By Mark Jurgena
It was another fantastic season for the Collinsville boys soccer team this fall. While they didn’t quite get as far in the postseason as they had hoped, a 17-4-2 record and another Southwestern Conference championship is nothing to sneeze at.
“Looking past the disappointment of your last game, it was a good season all-in-all,” said Collinsville coach Rob Lugge. “Winning your conference for the third year in a row, only losing four games total, and just the quality of soccer we played all year…in my eyes, it was a success.”
Collinsville faced a difficult schedule all season and went 9-1 in the SWC. In fact, before they dropped their last conference match at O’Fallon they had won 18-straight SWC regular season contests.
The Kahoks spent some time in the #1 spot in the STLhighschoolSPORTS.com rankings for the entire St. Louis Metro Area. For the vast majority of the season, they were ranked in the top five.
Lugge had an interesting take on the impact of rankings on his team.
“Being #1 in the St. Louis area for a while was huge, it was a good year,” said Lugge. “I think it’s hard for a high school kid to deal with expectations, outside expectations. There was a lot of that put on the boys this season. Not from us but from outside the team. It does have an effect on the pressure you put on yourself.”
Collinsville handled that pressure extremely well during the season thanks to a solid core group of seniors including Bryson Bode, Gavin Chrisman, Jimmy Crowder, Kevin Figueroa, Hugo Gonzalez, Justin Hamann, Emilio Hernandez, Zair Medina, and Nicolo Santuari.
“The seniors…those boys…I’m going to miss them,” began Lugge. “Just beyond soccer, I’m going to miss the personalities, the laughs, just the conversations. Every year you build these lifelong relationships. During soccer season you’re with them more than their parents are. I’m blessed to be around an amazing group of guys.”
But the cupboard isn’t bare, the Kahoks have a solid junior class to lead the charge next season led by Adam Reiniger. He scored 24 goals for CHS this year including hat tricks against Triad and Highland. He also scored two goals against Chatham (Glenwood), St. Louis (CBC), Alton, and Granite City.
Reiniger also had four assists this year.
He has been named to the IHSSCA All-State soccer team for his play this season. He was also named all-state at the end of last season after scoring 18 goals.
Bryson Bode was named to the All-Sectional team while Trey Peterson was an Honorable Mention All-Sectional team.
Lugge reflects on season
Lugge reflected on his most memorable games of the season. He settled on three of the team’s four losses. However, while the results were not in Collinsville’s favor Lugge saw those games as a positive.
“That sounds a little weird but playing CBC and losing in double overtime…it was an amazing game for us,” said Lugge. “Playing (St. Louis) Chaminade to a 2-1 loss but again we played really well. If you were watching that game you wouldn’t think we were a lesser team.
“Finally, playing Webster Groves (Mo.), with a different formation, down a few players to a 1-1 tie…those are quality games that showed the quality of the team and of the guys.”
