By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
November 2, 2011

Call it a season of success.

Northeast High School’s boys’ soccer team has won 22 games with only 2 losses and a tie this season, ranking them No. 2 among Class 2 schools in Missouri.

“I feel blessed by God to get a chance to work with a good group of boys like this,” said head soccer coach Jim Conaway. “They’re extremely talented.”

In addition to their 22 wins, the team also clenched first place titles in the Winnetonka, Belton and Interscholastic League Invitational tournaments.

This week, the boys will compete in the Class 2 District 14 Tournament, which will be held at Van Horn High School, Independence, Mo.

Asked what has made the team successful, Conaway said, “They’re really dedicated to the game of soccer. They play year-round. A lot of them have played since they were very young.”

Conaway also credited the boys for working diligently during practices and conditioning.

“They’ve really just dug in and played well as a team,” he said.

They’ve also received community support, he said. During conditioning practices, the team routinely runs 3.5 miles through the residential neighborhoods of Historic Northeast.

“One night while the boys were running, a lot of the Northeast community residents who live on St. John happened to be out on their lawn chairs and in their front yards. They clapped for them like crazy like they were professionals,” Conaway said. “They encouraged the boys on their run. It was just uplifting and heartwarming to see that kind of response from the community.”

Approximately 30 boys play on the varsity and junior varsity teams and Conaway highlighted several players.

Both Carlos Gomez and Alex Cortez have excelled in defense, Conaway said.

“We’ve been able to outscore in all of our games combined 110 to 29,” he said. “We’ve really been able to count on them to handle our defense.”

Another advantage of the NEHS soccer team is that a number of players are able to score, not just the mid fielders and forwards, he said.

Top scorers include Luis Pacheco, 29 goals; Jose Payann, 18 goals; and Sergio Machado, 17 goals.

Senior Eddy Flores, goalie, has had six shutouts this season, Conaway said, and on the field has scored 11 goals.