After the best season in program history, the Tallassee boys soccer team is ready to take the next step.
Tallassee is coming off a 16-4 record where the Tigers outscored opponents 135-22, both of which were program bests. The Tigers, however, did not make the postseason after going 5-3 in area play and missing the cut by just one loss.
With the majority of his team returning in 2024, coach Matt Tarpley knows his team can reach the playoffs this year.
“We have to pay a little more attention to those area games,” Tarpley said. “Three of our four losses were area plays, and those are the ones that hurt the most. We have to be more focused when it comes to those matchups this year.”
That starts with Tarpley bulking up the schedule.
Now that his team has proved it can win games, Tarpley wants to be prepared for the postseason and the tough area play.
The text starts Saturday with a game against Auburn. The Tigers also play multiple playoff teams from a year ago in 6A’s Wetumpka and Stanhope Elmore, and Montgomery Catholic.
Not only do the Tigers travel to Auburn, they also hit the road against Opelika and even have a mid-season matchup set up in Dallas.
Tarpley doesn’t care what his team’s overall record is as long as the Tigers reach the playoffs.
“Our schedule this year is very different than it’s been the last few years,” Tarpley said. “I was very intentional about beefing up the level of competition to help prepare us for the area games that are so important. We’re jumping right into it with a game against Auburn.”
Leading the Tigers on the field will be one of the best players across the entire state. Irvin Delfin led the entire county in scoring a year ago as he racked up 30 goals across 20 games and added 11 assists in the process. He was named All-State across all classifications. He comes back but will have to pick up the load of graduated offensive players Will Blocker and Jonathan Wright, who combined for 49 goals a year ago.
“It pretty much starts and ends with Irvin,” Tarpley said. “He’s got a lot of recognition around the state so Irvin is certainly a key playmaker for us.”
Helping him up front will be two new playmakers, Lewis Moseley and German foreign exchange student Luis Ruemmler.
Ruemmler, Delfin and Yuren Rodriguez will control the middle of the field for Tallassee.
“I feel like adding those guys can kind of make up for the lost goals from last year,” Tarpley said.
On defense is goalkeeper Trey Bosch, who barely allowed a goal per game last season. In front of him will be Grant McCraney and Alec Carswell, both returning starters playing center back.
The two outside backs will be Ricky Murillo and Rush Wright.
“We feel our back line is the best we’ve had since I’ve been at Tallassee, skill wise and they’re just really athletic,” Tarpley said. “Three of them are also over 6 feet tall and that should be formidable for opposing attackers.”
Coach Tarpley is more than pleased with how his team performed in its first season as a program. But now he’s ready for more.
Tallassee started its girls soccer program last season and the Tigers finished their first season with a 4-14 record and a 3-7 record in area play. They missed the postseason, but that was never the goal.
Tarpley wanted his team to learn the game. And now that they’ve had a year to learn and get comfortable on the field, he wants the Tigers to take the next step.
“The girls are excited for Year 2,” Tarpley said. “I think last year went better than anyone expected and we lost a bunch of games by just one goal. We’re looking to turn those our way this year. A lot of our girls return and have more experience and developed as players.”
While that is the case, Tarpley still has to teach his team the basics every day. Many players are back, but there’s plenty of new faces on the roster that have never played soccer before.
So, the Tigers spend every practice working on the fundamentals.
That starts with working on two-touch soccer. Tarpley makes sure his team can receive the ball cleanly and pass the ball to others accurately.
From there, he works on understanding the game better.
“We’re still developing at times,” Tarpley said. “A lot of times, the ball may just bounce off their foot and their first touch isn’t as clean as we want it to be. So we are working on that and then just understanding where we want the ball to go and finding open spaces. That has to continue to develop alongside their soccer IQ.”
The Tigers aren’t super inexperienced, however. The team features some players who made massive impacts on the field last season, starting with sophomore Tania Alvarez, who led the team with nine goals.
Just behind her was Jhala Anderson with eight goals, and the two were neck-and-neck all the way until the final game. Helping them out is eighth grader Madison Moseley, who Tarpley says showcases loads of potential.
Isabelle Diego is expected to play a big role as a newcomer, and Aubrey Paggett, Anouk Calhoun and Milly Crain are all going to help lead the team.
“We’re really excited about this bunch of girls and seeing their continued development,” Tarpley said.
Tallassee’s season almost looked very different last season. Four games were decided by scores of 1-0, and all four of those games were area games against Brewbaker Tech twice, Valley and Beauregard.
If those games flipped, Tallassee likely could have found itself in the playoffs as the No. 2 seed.
That’s the team goal this year.
“We’re looking to take that next step and win some of those close games now that they’re comfortable playing,” Tarpley said.
Dalton Middleton, Tallassee Tribune