Owens Community College men’s soccer will look to contend for its first-ever conference title by opening the 2011 schedule at home against Mercyhurst College North East on Sunday, Aug. 28. The match will begin at 4 p.m.

All home matches are played at the College’s Soccer Field on the Toledo-area Campus. 

The Owens men’s soccer program is led by Head Coach Art Johnson. Johnson’s Assistant Coaches are Dave Prediger and Keith Closson. The Express completed its thirteenth season as an Owens athletic program in 2010. Owens finished with an 11-10 overall record and in third place in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference/Michigan Community College Athletic Conference (10-6 record) standings. The Express lost to Ancilla College in the first round of the NJCAA Region XII Championships. 

Sean Kaighin

“We have a talented team that is extremely balanced in all areas of the game, especially in control and passing the ball,” stated Johnson. “The team is also very young with only six returning student-athletes from last year’s squad. However, I am very impressed with the group’s cohesiveness. They play together as a team and understand what is needed to compete at a high level. There is no reason that Owens can’t be in the mix for the program’s first conference title at the end of the season.”

The Express has six players returning from last year’s team. Among the second-year players on Johnson’s squad are Kyle Whitmore of Toledo (Start H.S.), Travis Turner of Holland (Springfield H.S.) and Sean Kaighin of Oregon (Clay H.S.). In 2010, Whitmore earned team Most Improved Player honors and was an OCCAC Academic All-Conference selection. The sophomore midfielder totaled one goal and two points. Turner is a sophomore defender and was named the team’s Coaches Award recipient. He recorded one goal and two points for the Express. Kaighin, a sophomore forward, earned OCCAC Academic All-Conference honors last season.

Also returning to the Express program are Ababacar Ndoye of Ann Arbor, Mich. (Ypsilanti H.S.), Nikoy Wallace of Lauderhill, Fla. (Anchovy H.S.) and Matthew Spence of Sunrise, Fla. (Calabar H.S.). Last year, Ndoye, a sophomore midfielder, recorded two goals and five points. His postseason honors included OCCAC Academic All-Conference selection. Wallace, a sophomore midfielder, totaled three assists and three points last season for Owens. Spence is a sophomore forward and recorded one assist and one point for men’s soccer during the 2010 season.

First-year players to the Express men’s soccer program are Jacob Olman, goalie (Maumee); Alexander Klever, midfielder (Northview); Alec Heifferone, defender (Anthony Wayne); Leyton McKay-Ellison of Liverpool, England, defender; Chris Kervick of Waterford, Ireland, midfielder; Alexander Smith, midfielder (Perrysburg); Jauvanie Cole of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., midfielder; Novak Vuk Janicic of Belgrade, Serbia, forward; Ruel Lawrence of Savana La Mar, Jamaica, defender; Blake Niemiec, defender (Otsego); David Ortega-Gonzalez of Madrid, Spain, midfielder; Shane Bloom, defender (Swanton); Nickyle Webber of Trelawny, Jamaica, midfielder; Jeff Cooperider, goalie (Northview), and Dillon Lemley, goalie (Southview).

Soothsayers
There remains the same faces among Press football soothsayers this fall. Four local business and government “celebrities” are in the mix once again.

Oregon Mayor Mike Seferian, Genoa Banking Company President Marty Sutter, Alan Miller Jewelers owner Alan Miller, and Big Apple Deli owner Tim Williams, a former NCAA Division I and professional football player, have agreed to be soothsayers again this fall.

They will be joined by veteran sportswriter Mark Griffin, who will represent The Press, WRSCRadio.com broadcaster Mark Reeves, Press contributing writer and author of Voice on the Street Deb Wallace, and former Owens Outlook editor and Press contributing writer Nick Huenefeld, who is known for his attempt at breaking the Guinness Book of World Records in ketchup drinking which earned him an appearance on the Jay Leno Show.

Huenefeld, who graduated from Owens Community College and has moved on to Bowling Green State University, and Wallace are both Lake graduates, Wallace attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, majoring in sports management. That is the same school where Williams played his college football before a stint in the World Football League.

This will be the 11th year Press soothsayers forecast the weekly performance of 10 local high school football teams along with NCAA Division I games played by Bowling Green, Toledo, Ohio State, and Michigan and NFL teams Cleveland and Detroit. The first week of picks will be listed in next week’s Press along with 2010 football previews.

Sutter won the 2010 Press Soothsayer competition with a two-game victory over Oregon Mayor Mike Seferian. Sutter finished at 115-29 (79.9 percent), while Seferian, who was perfect in his first two weeks of picking high school, college, and pro football games, finished at 113-31.

Sutter came two percentage points short of breaking the all-time record, set by Reeves (81.1 percent) the previous year.

Following Sutter and Seferian were Miller (110-34), Griffin (104-40), Reeves (102-42), Williams (100-44), Wallace (98-46), and Huenefeld (95-49).

Radio/televised prep football
WRSCRadio.com and Toledo Sports Radio will once again be internet broadcasting or telecasting local prep football games.

On August 26, WRSC will broadcast the following games: Swanton at Lake; Northwood at Delphos Jefferson; and Waite at Maumee.

TSR will produce the Ottawa Hills at Genoa and Clay at Northview games for cable television. They wil air Saturdays starting at 3 on WTVG 13.2 or Buckeye 614, along with Time Warner Local on demand, and WMNT Buckeye channel 58 Sundays at noon.

TSR will also be providing live audio for Cardinal Stritch, Clay, Rossford, Genoa, Toledo Christian and live audio for the two televised games. A highlight video will be presetned for televised games at The Press's website, www.presspublications.com.

Sports Announcements
Clay HIgh School bowling tryouts are Sept. 3-4 at Southwyck Lanes starting at 9 a.m. each morning. The season begins Sept. 10 at 9 a.m. Contact Coach Ron Koles at 419-704-8133 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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