West Plains Zizzer Soccer

The site selection for the Girls Soccer District Tournaments has been completed. The Class 1 District 12 Tournament will be held at Willard for 2007 and 2008. The District includes the following schools: Bolivar, Greenwood, Marshfield, McAuley, Pleasant Hope, Catholic, West Plains, and Willard.

We are now accepting nominees for the 2007 Zizzer Soccer Wall of Honor Ballot. We are seeking nominations for the Soccer Supporters category to add to the list of nominees below. The Soccer Supporters category was added in 2005 as a way to recognize those individuals that make great contributions to the Zizzer Soccer Program in areas other than playing or coaching.

Players, coaches, and other soccer supporters may submit nominations through the website contact form (See the Contact Link in the Left Hand Column of this page). Please include why you feel your nominee is deserving of the honor (what they have done to support the program). Nominations will be accepted until January 12th. Voting will be conducted in February. The Wall of Honor Class of 2007, will be honored on Friday, April 20, during halftime of the Lady Zizzers game in the Lady Zizzer Soccer Classic. The 2007 Class will include automatic qualifier, Nick Dryden, as well as those individuals who receive enough votes during the February ballotting.

Here are the individuals that will appear on the Class of 2007 Ballot. Any Soccer Supporter nominees will be added to the list.

2007 Wall of Honor Nominees

Boys

Girls

Coaches and Soccer Supporters

The 2007 Zizzer boys soccer schedule is complete. It is possible that some things could be tweaked if the situation calls for it. But we think it is pretty much set. Downloadable copies are available in Word and Excel format on the schedule page.

The Springfield Newsleader has announced the All-Ozarks soccer team in today’s issue of the newspaper. Here is a link to the on-line addition of the story.

The Zizzers’ Justin Scicluna was named to the All-Ozarks First Team. In the print edition you can also find the Second Team selections. Those Include Zach Auala, Brice Hunt, and Stuart Ziegler.

Here are the entire lists:

First Team All-Ozarks
Forwards
Tyler Williams, Senior, Kickapoo
Ryan Schlichtman, Junior, Cassville
Tom Marlow, Senior, Parkview
Midfielders
Heath Melugin, Junior, Kickapoo
Danny Collins, Senior, Glendale
Justin Scicluna, Junior, West Plains
Ryan Toombs, Junior, Bolivar
Defenders
Alex Palmer, Senior, Kickapoo
Jared Dusha, Senior, Glendale
Tanner Roberts, Junior, Bolivar
Goalkeeper
Stephen Conner, Senior, Glendale

Second Team All-Ozarks
Forwards
Tyler Sinnott, Sophomore, Rolla
John Duncan, Senior, Joplin
Stuart Ziegler, Junior, West Plains
Ross Chaffin, Senior, Greenwood
Brett Murray, Sophomore, New Covenant
Midfielders
Adam Peterson, Senior, Kickapoo
TJ Martin, Junior, Webb City
Defenders
Chris Adamson, Senior, Greenwood
Sam Palmer, Senior, Glendale
Brice Hunt, Junior, West Plains
Goalkeeper
Zach Auala, Senior, West Plains

What are your thoughts on the selections?

Hopefully you’ve been checking out SGFsoccer.com.If not, please do. Mr. Olson has been very supportive of our team and helps us with this website. There is an article on his site about soccer in Iraq. It is a good read so check it out.

Selections for the 3rd Annual Southwest Senior All-Star Game have been announced today. The event is co-sponsored by SGFsoccer.com and the Springfield Soccer Club. A boys and Girls Game will be played in June. Three Zizzer Seniors have been selected: Zach Auala, Richard Jones, and Dustin Smith. For more info and the complete All-Star Selections, check out the article on SGFsoccer.com and the website dedicated to the event SWsoccerallstars.com. Congrats boys

The girls schedule should now be complete. We had to move the Harrison games from March 30 to March 24 in order to participate in the Neosho Tournament. The Neosho Tournament will be held March 29-31. We will play a first round game on either Thursday March 29 or Friday March 30. We will then play 2 Games on Saturday March 31. The complete schedule can be found by clicking the schedule link under Lady Zizzer Info in the left hand column of this page. Downloadable schedules in Word and Excel format will be available on that page soon.

Have you seen the West Plains Daily Quill article about the Zizzers who earned All-Ozark Conference Honors in Soccer? How about the Quill article on the Zizzer Soccer Players that were named All-Region? Did you catch the Quill article about the 4 All-State players from West Plains? No you didn’t, because there haven’t been any articles. The All-Ozark Conference information was sent to the Quill on November 16th, yet no mention of it in the newspaper. They came to take pictures, but nothing in the newspaper. The All-Region info was sent to them (It was sent to them November 27th), but hasn’t appeared anywhere in the newspaper that I can find.

In talking with Coach Simpkins about the lack of coverage by our local newspaper, I was informed that the Quill said they only have so much space to put things in the sports section. The Grizzlies will be in there, you can bet on that (Nothing against the Grizzlies, my family enjoys going out and watching them and they should be covered by the newspaper). High school athletic coverage isn’t guaranteed. There was a nice write up and pictures of the WPHS softball players that earned honors. A few days later the football honors barely got mentioned, and there were no pictures. Soccer? They mentioned the All-District honors at the very end of the article on our 3rd place finish in the November 13th edition, but haven’t mentioned any other awards.

Since the November 13th issue, they have included at least 10 pictures of people who have killed Deer (I didn’t count the ones from Friday, although there were several), one of someone catching a big fish, and another of someone shooting a goose. Those are all fine things to include in the newspaper, but if they can include those, can’t they recognize the achievements of those athletes that excel at their sport?

The only way this is going to change is for the parents and people in the community to express their opinions and push for change. This is the same newspaper that failed to have anyone come and take pictures when we hosted Districts for the boys last Fall. They have been at only about 3 Home Soccer Games in the last 2 years and they failed to send anyone to cover our State Quarterfinal game or the Final Four. The only reason there were pictures from those games is because they came from Randy Hunt.

These are your kids that are earning these honors. They deserve to be recognized by the newspaper and the community. Only you can get this changed.

The radio stations have been great about getting the information out over the radio and we appreciate that. We would like to see the local newspaper to do the same.

If you’ve been wondering why those things haven’t been in the newspaper, it isn’t because the information hasn’t been provided to them.

The MSHSAA released the Girls Soccer Districts this morning. West Plains is in Class 1 District 12. Other schools in the District are: Bolivar, Greenwood, Marshfield, Joplin McAuley, Pleasant Hope, Springfield Catholic, and Willard.

We won’t know for a little while where the Districts playoffs will be held. We’ will keep you posted.

The Missouri State High School Soccer Coaches Association have announced the 2006 Boys Soccer All-State Teams. Below you can find the Class 2 All-State Team. (For Class 1 or 3, visit the Missouri State High School Soccer Coaches Website at www.mosoccercoach.com or click the MSHSSCA link on the left hand column) The Zizzers are well represented with 2 First Team Selections including the Class 2 Offensive Player of the Year, 1 Second Team Selection, 1 Honorable Mention Selection, and Class 2 Co-Coach of the Year. Here is the list:

Class 2 First Team All-State

Class 2 Second Team All-State

Class 2 Honorable Mention All-State

Co-Players of the Year: Jack Wedemeier (Notre Dame) & Grant Ellison (St. Dominic)
Offensive Player of the Year: Justin Scicluna (West Plains)
Defensive Player of the Year: Josh Walburn (Priory)
Goalkeeper of the Year: Ryan Wehking (Priory)
Co-Coaches of the Year: Brad Wittenborn (Notre Dame) & Nick Schmitt (West Plains)

Final State Rankings
1. Notre Dame
2. St. Dominic
3. West Plains
4. Hannibal
5. Ladue
6. Duchesne
7. Borgia
8. Priory
9. Westminster
10. Smithville
Others: Kearney, Lutheran South, O’Hara, Sikeston