BOYS SOCCER

By Seamus McDonough

Senior Captain Jack Billick has been on a tear carrying the Rebels and looking to lead them to a top seed in the playoffs. He started the season better than he ever has and he already scored 22 goals. Billick said, “This is the deepest team he’s been a part of and that we need to keep working every day to accomplish our goals.” 
The difference between his freshman year and his senior year is night and day. A big reason why Jack has been so successful from the start is because the team around him has improved since last year and they take away all the attention from Billick, which helps him get more chances. The Rebels have had some big results to start out the season with tying the Winchester Thurston Bears 1-1, the defending WPIAL Champs and defeating the North Catholic Trojans  2-0. 
Head Coach Nick Balzer said, “This is the best team I’ve had in some years and we could be playing till late November at Hershey for States.” Coach Balzer has been coaching the Rebels for nine years and this year he seems like it is his most put together team he has had since the last time had a WPIAL Championship team in 2015.  
Senior Nick Cherry has picked up where he left off last season by proving that he’s not only one of the best keepers in the WPIAL, but also the state. Cherry said, “This is my last year and I feel like I'm out of every year, this is the best we’ve had and I’m glad it’s during my senior year.”
The Rebels seem to have a different mentality after losing to the Eden Christian Warriors 2-1 in a shootout during last year’s playoffs. The Rebels were seven minutes away from advancing to the semifinals and then they gave up a penalty, which led to Eden Christian tying the game. That’s why last season’s loss was so devastating. 
The Rebels had lots of good chances against Eden Christian, but they couldn’t make the most of those opportunities. The shootout loss hurt everyone because the Rebels controlled that game for almost the entire time. 
When the schedule came out this summer, the team wanted to let the Eden Christian players know that last year’s victory was a fluke and the game should’ve never ended that way. In the 2023 “revenge” game against Eden Christian, the Rebels backed up their boasting by winning 5-0 in a one-sided game. This Rebels have a bad taste in their mouths from last year, so they want to add two trophies to the trophy case: WPIAL and State titles.