By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette
Fall sports for ACGC and Panorama are right around the corner. ACGC football and volleyball, and Panorama volleyball are participating in scrimmages, and Panorama plays a week 0 game later tonight. And, by next week, the cross country programs for both schools join the party. With each new sports season comes a new sports guide from Big Green Umbrella Media. I’ve interviewed every head coach in each of these programs across the two schools to find out what to expect from all the teams.
Panorama
Panorama football is heading in a new direction after being led by Charlie Lake the last few seasons. The Panthers experienced back to back 1-7 seasons and have now pivoted to Jim Demers. Demers is in the Buena Vista Hall of Fame for his performances in football and basketball. He has 20 years of football coaching experience under his belt and is ready to bring Panorama football into prominence.
The volleyball team is also under new leadership with Mollie Lint stepping down and Angela Mincy taking her place. The volleyball program saw several years of steady improvement under Lint. The team had won double-digit games in back-to-back seasons for the first time. Mincy has been an assistant for the past five years and brings plenty of experience as an AAU coach as well. She will look to continue the program on its current trajectory.
There is no coaching change for the two cross country programs, however, as the indomitable Greg Thompson steers the ships for another year. The boys and girls did not qualify for state as team or qualify any individuals for the state meet. That is a rarity under Thompson, but it looks like it will be short lived. The boys return several solid runners, and he says all made great strides throughout last season. For the girls, two-time all-state runner Kylie Rochholz is back to full health for her senior season with several solid runners joining her on a team that narrowly missed the state meet without Rochholz last year.
ACGC
Perhaps the biggest offseason news for any of these programs was the departure of ACGC football coach Cody Matthewson. Matthewson led the program for eight years, including three straight 10-1 seasons the last three years. In his place comes Will Shull, who had been an assistant for the last two seasons. Shull will be a familiar face for the players and the staff that remains largely intact. He says he doesn’t plan on changing too much with the program. If your team won 30 games in the last three years, would you? I wouldn’t either. It will be interesting to see how the Chargers and Shull handle the transition.
ACGC volleyball has also had a solid program for the last decade and then some. The girls were led by Caley Vaughan last season, who took them from a 20-11 season to 24-12. That’s just one win shy of the team’s all-time best record of 25-7 set back in 2013-2014. The Chargers did graduate some solid players from last season, but their star hitter Stella Largent returns for her senior year. Largent’s 514 kills were the fourth most in the state last season. Before that, her 443 were eighth most in the state. Even as a freshman, she led the Chargers with 317 kills (92nd best in the state). A total of 730 kills led the entire state last season. Could Largent reach those heights this season? We will soon see.
ACGC cross country will also have a new head coach with Gabe Soda. Soda was an assistant coach at Madrid last year and was also the head junior high track coach. He has only been out of college for two years, but his personal running experience rivals most. Soda’s list of accomplishments as a runner at Cornell College is long. He will aim to translate that success to a Charger program that could use a jolt. The boys have an excellent runner in Preston Kent, who is coming off of a successful track and field season, and the girls have another excellent runner in Cadence Petersen. Both qualified for the state meet last year.
New coaches, returning stars and high expectations make this a fall sports season worth watching. From the football fields to the volleyball courts and cross-country courses, ACGC and Panorama have plenty of storylines to follow. The season is here, and the formal action is about to begin.
Reach out with comments, suggestions, story ideas and more to cyote@dmcityview.com.