It’s been a long time since Scotland’s boys soccer team was demonstrably above average.
In 2010, Scotland earned its most recent trip to the state playoffs —a bid that led the Scots to a first-round exit against Athens Drive. A similar result happened in 2006, when the Scots fell to Ashley High School in the first round.
Numerous athletes have cycled through the program since then, and the playoffs remain a tough pinnacle to reach. The Scots posted a combined 52-117-8 record over the past nine seasons. Nine years ago was the last time the Scots hit the 10-win benchmark, as they finished 10-11-1 that year.
Collin McDavid was head coach during both of Scotland’s most recent playoff appearances. Danny Gallagher held the job for five seasons after McDavid left. Blake Dickerson is now in his second year as head coach.
Dickerson’s first year with the program was a learning experience. He took over shortly before the season started, and that small time frame made it difficult for Dickerson to implement his plans. Scotland finished with a record of 3-16.
Dickerson remained hopeful about the future of the program despite losing a large senior class. The Scots spent the offseason working on conditioning and fundamentals in a bid to undo the mistakes and shortcomings that hurt them during the 2018 season.
That work paid off in the first week of the season. The team played more aggressively than it did at almost any point last year, advancing the ball into its attacking third consistently and breaking out of some tough situations with well-placed passes.
Scotland began the season by playing 2 1/2 games in four days. The second half of the team’s season opener against South View was postponed due to repetitive lightning delays. The Scots ended the week without a win — although they did hold a 1-0 lead at halftime in the South View game. But the improvement Scotland showed over those three games gave me the impression that this team could be solid in the near future.
Some of the areas Scotland is coming up short in right now are fairly easy to identify. One of the biggest areas is communication. Several of Scotland’s defensive errors and missed scoring opportunities to this point could have been mitigated with just a little talking between teammates. Communication also could have helped reduce the many offsides calls that have flustered the Scots this year.
Another big area where improvement is needed is quality first touches — in other words, the players need to be more confident and explosive when receiving passes.
Dickerson knows all about those issues, and he’s constantly reminding his team to work on those skills. Some things can only be addressed to a certain extent in practice, and Scotland’s challenging non-conference schedule has allowed them to iron out some issues in live-action scenarios.
If the team continues to play as aggressively as it has this season, and it continues to improve in the necessary areas, the Scots could make some noise when they’re in conference play. That might not immediately translate into wins, especially in a conference with powerful teams like Pinecrest. But it could set the stage for something good this year and in the seasons to come.
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