High school boys soccer: Highland players coming together to start soccer season

Because of the transient nature of Highland High's boys soccer team, getting everyone on the same page can be difficult — to say the very least.

Coach Eric Bliss doesn't always know who will be available from one season to the next, and it can be challenging to get his guys to play together once they reach the pitch.

So far, however, this year's bunch of Rams' players haven't just embraced that challenge — they're thriving on it.

With senior captains Erik Cortes and Abdi Issaq providing hugely important leadership, the Rams — early on — have the look of a team that can go places this spring.

That much seemed pretty evident after Highland notched a gritty 3-0 win over West on Tuesday. The Rams didn't necessarily play oodles of fantastic soccer as they're sometimes known to do, but many of the intangibles that you don't usually see from a Highland soccer team were there for all to witness.

"This team has really bought in this year," said Highland coach Eric Bliss. "I think they recognize the vast amount of talent that we have, and they realize this is a chance for us to do some great things. Each game we've gotten better."

With the win, Highland moved to 4-0 and stayed atop the early Region 6 table, and it was Issaq who helped get them there, as his two timely goals proved to be the difference.

Just 70 seconds into the game, he fired the ball into the net from eight yards after Cortes' initial shot had cannoned off the post. Highland then held onto its 1-0 lead for most of the ensuing contest, but West controlled the ball for large stretches and threatened on several occasions to come back into the game.

However, with just eight minutes to play, Issaq made sure there would be no comeback. From a corner kick, the ball pinged around, and Issaq eventually rose to nod home from close range to double Highland's lead.

"We needed the second goal," said Issaq. "Without it, we couldn't put this game away. So basically, we had to push it hard, and we got the ball by the goal and all I had to do was finish."

Carmel Kavita added a late third goal for Highland.

Meanwhile, on the heels of a hugely encouraging preseason, West dropped its third league game in as many attempts.

The Panthers actually played pretty solid overall soccer but simply couldn't stick the ball in the net.

"We felt that after that initial goal that we gave up that we controlled the majority of the possession in between the first couple of minutes and the last 10 minutes or so — just couldn't get opportunities to go in," said West coach Kris Hamlet. "We had some good chances . . . but we just couldn't convert anything."

E-MAIL: drasmussen@desnews.com