There is still a lot of soccer left to play in 2025, but Cumberland County High School Coach Cub Whitson is liking some of the things he’s seeing from his team.
The Jets have improved in all aspects on the defensive end of the pitch and many of their shots on goal have been finding the back of the net.
And Whitson may be able to look back at Cumberland County’s performance last weekend at the Smoky Mountain Classic in Gatlinburg as a turning point.
CCHS opened the tournament with a 1-1 tie to Cleveland High School. The Jets knocked off Kirkwood High School 3-2 and took down Jefferson County, 5-1.
“After a tough, fast-paced game against Cleveland, you could tell the impact of that in the first half of our game with Jefferson County,” said Whitson after the match.
“Unfortunately, we started out slow. There was a lot of back and forth in the action, and we weren’t really controlling the momentum like we wanted to.”
Cumberland County took the early lead with a goal from Dylan Moedano midway through the first half. However, Jefferson County tied the score at 1-1 right before intermission.
“We talked at the half about seeing the momentum of the match shifting and being able to keep that from happening,” Whitson said. “I thought we did an excellent job in the second half of controlling most of the game.
“Soccer is all about momentum, and it is going to shift. Reading it is key, sometimes it is about resetting or taking the wind out of the other team’s sails. Sometimes that one little spark can shift an entire game.
“We did a good job of reading those moments and getting the momentum back in our favor. Then, the goals just started pouring in.”
Moedano got his second score of the match early in the second half to give the Jets a 2-1 advantage.
CCHS kept the offensive surge going. A goal by Nicki Azzani pushed the Jets’ lead to 3-1 midway through the second half. Jaime Perez added a goal minutes later, and the scoring ended when Randy Donis made it 5-1.
Cumberland County’s five goals in the match, and nine in three matches, has Whitson pleased with the way the Jets are working together.
“We’ve been playing good soccer, but we haven’t been as dangerous attacking the goal as we’ve wanted to be,” Whitson said. “We’ve been focusing on that all week in practice; we’ve been working on that. I think it is starting to pay off.
“Tonight in the second half, we started shooting the ball and finding the back of the net. We’re finally piecing it together.”
Chemistry was also a focus for Whitson as his team worked its way through the Gatlinburg tourney.
“A lot of teams rehearse patterns and have the movements drilled into the players’ heads. Teams win a lot of games doing that,” Whitson said. “We like to give our kids a blueprint and just tell them to play and build off that blueprint.
“When you see the initial idea and you see it develop in the kids heads, and you see the patterns the kids are creating on the field, I think that’s when you see the chemistry really taking off.
“The second half tonight was probably the best we’ve looked as far as that goes.”