Crawfordsville boys soccer knew it had all the tools to have a special season. A group that was led by 10 seniors and a star freshman, the Athenians were able to accomplish that special season. Crawfordsville went a perfect 7-0 in the Sagamore Conference to clinch the school’s first out-right conference title in school history.
Three of those seniors, goalie Landon Timmons, Emmett Bowman, and Edwin Gil-Herrera, played key roles in the undefeated SAC title run and helped Crawfordsville end a season in which they went 13-4-1.
“We lost a lot of seniors from last year, so it was nice to see all of us step up and see our development,” Bowman said of the Athenians season. “We made history and had a lot of fun while doing it.”
Timmons mentioned the camaraderie the team has built not just throughout their time in high school, but even before that which dates back to the group’s time in elementary and middle school.
“We’ve all been playing together for so long now so it’s been really fun to watch us grow up together,” he said. “Now we’re all in the same starting lineup in high school so it’s really just come full circle.”
Gil-Herrera who joined the group as a freshman echoed his teammates comments about getting to experience the level of success they have had.
“The courage that we’ve shown and developed over the years has been nice,” he said. “The development we’ve shown over the last four years has been special.”
It all came together for the Athenians this season and led by Timmons, Bowman and Gil-Herrera, the trio has earned the Journal Review Boys Soccer Players of the Year.
Crawfordsville coach Marcus Hale saw his team was not only having success, but were having fun along the way.
“That’s all you can really ask for,” Hale said. “All three of them played such big roles as did everyone on the team. Landon played great as the goalkeeper all season, as did Emmett who was more on the attacking side for us. Really after last year more teams started to key on him but he was still able to beat most defenses. Then Edwin was our starting center-back and anchored our back line, so each one of them played their roles fantastic for us and it all came together on the field.”
It wasn’t just the trio of Bowman, Timmons and Gil-Herrera for the Athenians this season. Along with them and their seven other senior teammates, they set out goals that the group wanted to achieve and they achieved those goals with flying colors of Athenian gold and blue.
“I think this group looked back on the 2018 class that we had and they learned from those guys about having a great work ethic,” Hale said. “Several of these guys had to play when they were younger and sometimes that’s not easy. At the end of the day, they came out and worked hard each and every day and set themselves up for what they were able to accomplish. I couldn’t be more proud of all of them.”
The undefeated conference title didn’t come easy for the Athenians this season. It took a 3-2 gutsy win over Tri-West in pouring rain and a 1-0 overtime victory over Danville to secure the conference crown. The trio talked about what winning the conference title in the way that they meant to them and to the school.
“We all wanted to finally be able to beat Tri-West,” Bowman said. “Everyone of those games was a battle and the whole team gave it everything they had.”
Timmons referenced Hale pushing them to be better than the 2016 team that shared the conference crown and the team had a little wager with Hale that ended up paying off.
“It’s a great accomplishment,” Timmons added. “The 2016 team went 6-1 and we ended up going 7-0 and that meant coach had to dye his hair blue so that was fun to see.”
Gil-Herrera knew that the his squad could win the conference and the feeling of going through some tough teams made it that much sweeter.
“Tri-West was really hard,” he said. “It was obviously a goal of ours to win conference and I’m glad that it happened.”
The legacy that this group left on the Crawfordsville soccer program will be remembered for quite some time. Hale talked what this senior class left on the program, and how the next group of leaders can follow the example that was set.
“We want to make sure that we’re having fun, but at the same time don’t want to be outworked in game play,” Hale said. “I think that the guys on the team this year, whether that be some young guys or even our juniors, competed hard in practice because of seniors and their leadership. There’s no reason that if we continue to work hard that we’ll still be very competitive next year.”
Bowman, Timmons, and Gil-Herrera know that they have left their mark on the program.
“We set the bar pretty high, but we want next year’s seniors to beat it,” Bowman said. “I hope we set a good example for them to follow and just to better themselves even further.”
“We’ve just continued to build off the success of the senior class that we had as freshman,” Timmons added. “We just tried to do the same thing for the rest of the guys under us.”
“I just hope that the younger guys sees us as role models,” Gil-Herrera concluded.
The standard has been set for Crawfordsville boys soccer. Even though the Athenians graduate ten seniors, they still have plenty of talent on their roster and will be ready to defend their conference title when next season rolls around. But for now CHS and their ten seniors will enjoy a season that won’t be soon forgotten.
