Boys soccer eager to take next step toward glory

SANDPOINT — Tanner French isn’t here to win district titles. He’s here to win state titles.

The Sandpoint boys soccer head coach made that message clear to his players when he took over the team last year and the program he wants is starting to take shape.

“We’re in the rebuilding phase of a dynasty,” he said.

From 2000 to 2012, the Bulldogs won eight state titles. Since, the team has zero.

French was a member of the 2006 and 2008 state championship teams that were led by legendary coach Randy Thoreson. French said Thoreson instilled lifelong lessons and principles in every player that walked on his field. Times may have changed but French wants to make sure Sandpoint’s history and legacy aren’t forgotten.

“Quite a few of my players did not know who Randy Thoreson was and he is the one who built this program,” French said. “He’s the reason that I am the current coach.”

In 2019, the Bulldogs notched a record of 7-8-1 and the team’s season came to an end in the most devastating way possible. Sandpoint was winning 2-1 in the district championship game at Moscow when the Bears scored on the last kick of regulation to force overtime. Eight minutes into OT, Moscow buried a goal to end Sandpoint’s playoff hopes.

“I still can’t take naps to this day because I think about that game and I get so frustrated about what happened,” French said.

Moments like that can define a program, but senior defender Parker Prior believes the team has become stronger because of it.

“I definitely think that’s going to be a big motivator this season because we don’t want that to happen ever again,” Prior said.

French learned a lot in his first year at the helm and he said it was the most influential season of his coaching career because now he understands how he wants his program to be run.

“Going into this second year it’s much more relaxed from a coaching sense,” he said, “but at the same time, I can put that much more pressure on my players.”

Last year, the Bulldogs were young and at times inconsistent. French started four freshmen on varsity — Evan Dickinson, Randy Lane, Stirling Roget and Roman Jiles. It would be tough to find any other program around the country that had that much inexperience on the field at one time, but there was a reason they were given that opportunity. They earned it.

“I see bright things for a lot of players in my program ... but those four freshman gained experience that is nationally unknown,” French said.

The talent those four freshmen possess was apparent to French when they joined the team. French said Dickinson was the Bulldogs most consistent player last season, earning him a spot on the all-league team as a defender.

Dickinson is never satisfied with good enough and is always working to better himself each and every day, French said.

“He’s one of those players that is constantly asking can we work on this, can we work on that,” French said. “Evan’s a special kid and will grow into a very special player.”

Jiles stepped up and became Sandpoint’s starting goalkeeper last season. French said Jiles put in the time this offseason to sharpen his skills and he expects him to be a staple in net for years to come.

Roget and Lane gave the Bulldogs attack plenty of speed in 2019 and hopefully that will carry over to this season and result in more goals for the team.

Sandpoint lost six seniors from last year’s squad including all-league defender Tiegen Edmundson, but the incoming senior class has French excited about the potential of his team this season. The group is led by forward Zander Moore and defensive midfielder Chris Koch, who were both named all-league in 2019.

Koch had no clue he was named all-league last season.

“Just hearing that today motivates me to maybe try and become MVP,” he said.

Moore isn’t a stranger to the all-league team. He earned those honors as a sophomore as well scoring a team-high 11 goals. But last year Moore went through a scoring slump and was unable to find the back of the net until the district semifinal game against Lakeland.

Moore isn’t planning on repeating that drought again this season and is hoping to best his goal output from two years ago. To do that, Moore said he just needs to keep it simple and not overthink things.

“I think my main problem last year was I would kind of psych myself out when I got in front of the goal,” he said, “and I started putting them in the back of the net in the last two games, and that came natural and started to feel good. So hopefully I can just keep the cool, pick a corner and put the ball in the back of the net.”

The coronavirus pandemic prevented the team from getting together as much as they normally would during the summer, but a lot of the Bulldogs practiced with each other on a club team and French allowed the players to start doing open-plays twice a week about a month ago.

French said he wasn’t adamant about the boys playing together this summer and told them to avoid outside exposure with other people as much as possible.

“The boys wanted to play so bad and I said, ‘is open play more important or having a season more important?’ and it kind of gave them a little reality check,” he said.

Prior, Moore and Koch admitted it was strange being away from their teammates and more difficult to stay motivated. Koch said he experienced a roller coaster of emotions over the past few months wondering if the team would even have a season.

“When I looked on the TV and it said things were getting bad I’d be like, ‘gosh,’ and kind of lose my motivation, but if it was positive I’d be like, ‘yes let’s go, I’m ready,’” he said.

French believes the time he spent away from his team was beneficial because it allowed everyone to reset and take a breather. It also forced the players to take on more responsibility.

“They had to look at themselves and say, ‘hey I have to do this, this summer to be prepared for this fall,’” he said. “That’s asking a lot from a 14 to 18-year-old and I think they need that push every once in a while.”

Moore said he hasn’t played enough with some of the underclassmen and incoming freshmen to know if the lack of bonding this summer will hurt them this season, but he expects the uncertain times will bring them together not apart.

Koch admitted that staying focused this fall will be a challenge as he tries to be instrumental in attaining his team goal of earning 60% possession in every match.

“It is hard,” he said. “You just look around and see everyone wearing masks.”

French said the leadership of his seven seniors will be monumental to the success of this team and he is looking for the Bulldogs depth to really shine through this season.

Prior said he is embracing his role of taking younger players under his wing and showing them what it takes to be a Sandpoint Bulldog.

Moore can’t wait for the teams first match and he is feeling a lot more comfortable in French’s system.

“Last year was weird having a new coach and a whole new coaching style, but I look forward to that coach this year because I know he’s going to set us up for success,” Moore said.

French is confident in his ability to develop players into model community members on-and-off the field and he is hoping to instill the importance of team camaraderie into his program this fall.

French wants to win the entire Inland Empire League — consisting of 4A and 5A — and as always the goal is to bring a state title back to Sandpoint and the program.

“Trying to attain that is a tall order, but I’m not going to back down from someone daring me to do it,” he said.

The Bulldogs open the season 4 p.m. today at Lake City.