Ian Park is the epitome of a versatile and talented small-school athlete.

A four-sport letterman at Bismarck-Henning, Park plays soccer with the Hoopeston Area/Bismarck-Henning program and also serves as a placekicker in football before turning his attention to basketball in the winter and track and field in the spring.

"He is able to manage everything and seems to be hitting his stride," soccer coach John Klaber said.

Park plays for the Little Illini Soccer Club and has developed into a player who was chosen for the state's 18-and-under Olympic Development Program during the summer.

Park scored three goals Thursday in his team's 5-0 win against Watseka.

"He is starting to be able to take over games," Klaber said. "In the past, he was a little more of a role player."

The commitment to soccer has helped Park elevate his level of play.

"Over the last two years, he has worked hard on his touch and the ability to make the ball do what he wants," Klaber said. "He is a very vocal, natural leader and has great vision. He definitely has a future past high school soccer."

Park was one of five juniors chosen to the All-Area first team last fall. He was joined by Urbana's Adam Blackman, Centennial's Ben Flodstrom, Danville's Dennis Forrest and Champaign Central's Micah Walker.

Park is part of a strong veteran nucleus for the Hoopeston/B-H program. Ten of 21 varsity squad members are seniors. He and Kraig VanWieringen could form one of the top midfield tandems in the Vermilion Valley Conference.

VanWieringen is chasing a school record for career assists. He entered the season with 30 and needed eight to surpass the current mark set by 1999 graduate Adam Nelson.

The Cornjerkers don't just have good numbers in the senior class: 13 freshmen also are playing soccer.

Hoopeston dedicates memorial

A rock statue at the Hoopeston Area soccer field, just south of the school's football field, was dedicated last week in conjunction with a match against Watseka.

It honors Michael Symmonds, a former team manager in soccer and baseball and a member of the varsity basketball team. He died last Oct. 29 while riding with his cousin, Dillon Eighner, on the way to school for basketball practice. Their pickup collided with a semitrailer truck.

Eighner is the starting goalkeeper on the soccer team. The Cornjerkers have dedicated their season to the memory of Symmonds, who was 17.

Sabers speak up

It's never a good idea for an entire team to talk at once, but if it happens at St. Thomas More, it could be a sight to behold.

Squad members are fluent in 10 languages, including English. The list includes Chinese, German, Greek, Italian, Korean, Latin, Norwegian, Spanish and Vietnamese.

Coach Dave Cox, tongue-in-cheek, said he can add to that list. "I am a Hoosier," he said, "and can speak several dialects of hick."

The languages will likely not be the school's only claim to fame this season. With what Cox said are "nine players who are legitimate scoring threats," St. Thomas More is targeting its school record for wins in a season (13) in the fifth year of the program.

The Sabers have a turnout of 28 players, including 11 seniors and 11 freshmen.

Big-time goalie

If Urbana Uni High senior Warren Skoza is not a major-college recruit in his first year as a soccer goalkeeper, he at least strikes an impressive presence. A center on the basketball team, Skoza is 6-foot-7.

Skoza is one of 43 boys playing soccer this fall for the Illineks.

Tourney time

Rather than play the regular season schedule and hold a league tournament prior to the IHSA postseason, the Sangamon Valley Conference opted to hold its soccer tournament early in the season. The five-team event starts today and will conclude with championship- and third-place matches Saturday in Gilman.

"It should give each team in the conference a good look and understanding of each other before entering conference play," Iroquois West coach Robert Rhodes said.

Record climb

Fisher/GCMS junior Jordan Sizemore, who played about 50 matches for the Decatur-based Midstate club team (along with freshman teammate David Ricks) in the offseason, started the season sixth on the Bunnies' career list for goals scored (15) and assists (15). Sizemore and Ricks are starting forwards for the Fisher/GCMS cooperative team.

Sizemore was also in a group of 18 players from the state selected for the 16-and-under Olympic Development Team, which played in Overland Park, Kan.

Passing on football

Last year, Colby Barham was the passing leader for the Iroquois West football team (524 yards) and tied for second on the team in scoring (18 points). This fall, he has switched to soccer as a forward.

Hanselman makes strides

Monticello junior Jacob Hanselman is more than halfway to a school record after the completion of half of his prep career. His 17 career assists are 14 behind the all-time mark set by Tony Cook. However, with 21 goals he has a daunting task to challenge Cook's career mark (112 goals).

More records for Decker?

A year after he set the Oakwood single-season record for goals (17), Kegan Decker is poised to shatter the school's career scoring mark (31). Decker entered the season with 24 goals, six shy of Matt Reynolds' record.

Teammate Zach Carnahan is also on a record pace. The midfielder started the season with 10 career assists and needs five more to tie the record of 15 held by Mitch Cronk.

Defense solid for Comets

Oakwood's school-record 11-win season could be challenged this year as the veteran Comets feature a lineup with eight senior starters. Defense was the team's strength last year. The holdovers include senior Conner Youhas, a four-year starter, senior Adam Cundiff, a three-year starter, and junior Garrett Barr, a two-year starter. The Comets yielded 23 goals in 20 matches a year ago, and first-year keeper Austin Buckley – a former football player – is showing signs of maintaining the standard of excellence at the position.

Area newcomers

Four area schools are under the leadership of first-year coaches.

At Mahomet-Seymour, club coach John Moore has several goals for his Bulldogs.

"My expectations are to be more technically sound and begin to study the opponent more than just play against them," he said. "I intend to develop my players to know the game of soccer and play the game of soccer better than they were at the start."

St. Joseph-Ogden's second-year program has its second head coach: Richard Vetter. At Sullivan/Lovington, Ashton Taylor Harwood, a former prep player at Columbia, moves up from the assistant's position. At Salt Fork, Todd Woods is in charge of a cooperative team that includes athletes from Salt Fork as well as Westville. An electrician at the University of Illinois, he has seven years of youth soccer coaching experience.

Notebook items

Senior Spencer Cloyd, a returning starter at center-back for Centennial, is sidelined for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. He suffered the injury while playing lacrosse. ... Weston Depratt, a Vermilion Valley Conference all-league first-teamer as a sophomore, has transferred to Danville and is projected to be a starting striker for the Vikings. ... Danville senior midfielder Dennis Forrest is a nephew of former Kansas City Chiefs defensive back Deron Cherry, a six-time Pro Bowl selection. ... Monticello is looking for senior Drew Schumacher to follow up on his banner debut season. A year ago, the forward had 13 goals in his first year of varsity competition. ... Unity returns eight starters. ... Three St. Thomas More senior starters have freshman brothers on the team. The seniors are forwards Zach Shin and Trevor Shoemaker along with defenseman Athanasios Sofronis. The freshmen are forward Daniel Shin, midfielder James Shoemaker and midfielder Demetrios Sofronis. ... Centennial kept an 18-member varsity and an 18-member junior varsity from the approximately 60 hopefuls who tried out.

News-Gazette Top 10
TEAM    2009 RECORD    COMMENT
1. Urbana    10-8-2    Seven straight winning seasons best current streak at the school
2. Centennial    16-10-1    Team’s most experienced veterans have played in two super-sectionals
3. Hoopeston Area/Bismarck-Henning    16-5-1    Nine returning starters increase optimism for a promising season
4. St. Thomas More    8-11-1    Seventeen lettermen among nine returning starters
5. Urbana Uni High    10-6-4    Two of the past four years an Illinek has led the area in scoring
6. Danville    8-8-5    Midfield and striker positions boast talent and depth
7. Champaign Central    8-5-5    Well-conditioned team hopes to compensate for loss of nine starters
8. Blue Ridge    17-4-3    Defense will be a team strength along with Jonathan Malone’s scoring prowess
9. Schlarman    17-5-2    In the 11 years soccer has been offered, Hilltoppers never have had a sub-.500 season
10. Monticello    15-4-2    Sages regrouping after graduation took 13 players from the 2009 team

Save the date
EVENT    DATE
Regionals (1A)    Oct. 11-19
Regionals (2A/3A)    Oct. 15-23
Sectionals (1A)    Oct. 21-26
Sectionals (2A/3A)    Oct. 27-30
State (1A)    Oct. 29-30
Super-sectional (2A/3A)    Nov. 2
State (2A/3A)    Nov. 5-6
N-G All-Area    Nov. 10