Resurrected Dragons still gunning for first win

The Cameron High School Dragon Soccer Team returns to the pitch this season looking to finally pick up the program’s first win since its resurrection in 2019.

After going winless last season, Cameron coach Jason Welch has much more confidence this season with his returning starters having much more experience as well as a few new players up from the Cameron Dragon Soccer Club.

“We have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of COVID fatigue so we’re going to have to get that out of us,” Welch said. “… We have the skill set. We just have to polish it. We have to figure out how to work as a team. It will be monumental when we win a game, and we will. I have no doubts we will win a game.”

Although coming up winless in 2019, Welch said he has no intention of toning down his extremely offensively aggressive strategy. He said fundamentals and overall knowledge of the game made the difference last season, not an attacking offense.

“I like to try and reinforce the two-touch rule - one to control and one to pass just to keep the pace of the game up, try to keep the other team on their heels. Our weaknesses last year was a little over half the team was new to soccer,” Welch said. “Understanding soccer itself, and getting the fundamentals down, was a big stepping stone for us. Throughout the season, it took longer and longer to beat us. Another four or five games, we would have put one in the back of the net and won.”

With the Dragons coming back with much more experience, Welch said forwards Caiden Knowell, Skylar Fortner and goalie Chase Short could have strong seasons. After being away from the pitch for a year, Knowell said he’s looking forward to making up for lost time.

“I played with a majority of them on the club team. It’s tiring, but I need to get more conditioning in so I can play more throughout the game … We have a lot of skills, it will just take a minute to get used to each other,” Knowell said.