North teams loaded with standouts

Saturday, October 04, 2008

As the boys’ and girls’ soccer teams of Madisonville-North Hopkins High School approach their respective district tournaments, each team enters as the No. 1 seed and both squads seem to have followed the same path to success.

Although boys’ coach John Tichenor and girls’ coach Steve Shepard, like many successful coaches, emphasize the team concept, Lady Maroons Heidi Clayton and Laura Rao and Maroon players Rush Dugger and Miles Durham have benefited the most from their teammates’ unselfish play to vault into the top 10 in the state for goals and assists.

Entering this week, Rao and Clayton ranked two-three in goals scored while Dugger ranked third in goals for the boys and Durham was second in assists. In addition to her goal-scoring prowess, Clayton leads the state in assists.

While some players may point immediately to their individual stats, at North the soccer players have remained grounded.

“Honestly, I didn’t even really know I was leading the state or in the top three really,” Durham said. “We really just try to do what’s best for the team. Rush and I know our parts on the field and coach Tichenor gives us that freedom. He says, ‘If you see where you can make a difference, then make it.’ ”

Durham notched two more assists in his team’s 10-0 win over Lyon County on Thursday to put his to-date assists mark at 22. Last season, Durham paced the state with 29 assists, seven better than his closest competition.

More often than not, Durham’s passes have been made to Dugger, who topped the state in 2007 for goals scored at 35. This year, Dugger has 24 goals through 13 games.

“When Miles sees me, he usually finds me and passes me the ball, and I do my best to finish every time and that sets him up for the assist and me the goal,” Dugger said. “He knows the runs I make to get open, so he usually looks to the spots where I should be and he gives me the ball as much as he can.”

Dugger has done his part to return the favor as well, collecting nine assists while Durham has amassed 12 goals on the year. In 2007, Durham tied for 16th best in state for goals and Dugger was 12th best in assists in addition to leading their respective categories.

Tichenor said he can see the communication, verbal and non-verbal between the duo.

“I think there’s like a sixth sense among the two,” he said. “They are friends and they understand... They kind of know what the other is thinking, maybe before the person himself knows what he’s thinking. That’s important.”

Dugger and Durham have collected a lot of the accolades for North, but Tichenor said the pair have stayed level-headed.

“I do talk about the team concept and that’s what we preach and preach because it is a team sport,” Tichenor said. “Miles and Rush will be the first to tell you that team honors are more important than individual honors.”

They’re not worried about who gets theirs, they’re just worried about the end result: putting goals in the back of the net and winning matches. They’ll be the first to tell you so. They’re just two outstanding young men.”

Clayton and Rao said they buy into the same philosophy.

“I don’t care if (Heidi) scores, I don’t care if I score,” Rao said. “My main focus is to score. It doesn’t matter who it is.”

Last season, as a junior, Clayton ended the year tied for 12th-best in the state with 15 assists. Now, as a senior, she is trying to leave her mark.

“I feel like this is the best team that I’ve ever played with,” Clayton said. “The chemistry, even though we haven’t played with each other that long, I feel like our chemistry is the best chemistry of a team that’s gone through North, I believe.”

Rao, a junior, said she wishes they had another season together.

“I’m not ready for Heidi to graduate, honestly,” Rao said. “We just work really well together and it’s worked so far this year, obviously... . We just complement each other really well.”

The Lady Maroons have plenty left to play for though. Through 17 games Rao has 34 goals, two ahead of Clayton, but Heidi holds a 22-12 assist advantage.

The only competition between the girls is friendly though, as the pair are good friends on and off the field.

“I couldn’t think of a better player to play with,” Clayton said. “It’s like I know where she is and she knows where I am.

“I know when I’m going down the line, if I don’t have a shot, I know Laura is there for the drop and she yells my name and she’s there and I give her the ball.”

Neither the girls’ or boys’ pair would be able to have such success without the unsung support of their respective defenses, and all four players agreed.

Rao cited the team’s 1-1 tie at Marshall County on Sept. 26 as a prime example.

“We went to the Marshall County Tournament and that’s a premier tournament in this state and they held Marshall County to one goal and that’s pretty amazing,” she said. “They’ve got a top-notch player that plays for them and they held their own.”

Tichenor, however, said it best.

“My philosophy is basically you have a lot of good players and every one is just as important as the other,” he said. “If we play 10 against 11 against a good team, we’re going to lose because you have to have everybody.”

Although unity generally wins ballgames, Tichenor said a certain amount of praise is due for the individuals’ achievements.

“They deserve the credit,” he said. “They put in the hard work, the time and effort to be able to put those stats up and they do have talent, but it also comes from an outstanding work rate they portray on the field and the off-season.”