Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Northwood’s first-year head coach John Orozco says he has some talented players, but the key to his team’s success will rely upon the defensive efforts.
“You can score a lot of goals, but if you're going to give them up, it's not going to help you,” he said. “You've got to stop goals in order to win games, and they were in some close games last year and didn't pull them off.”
The Rangers finished 5-11-3 overall despite giving up at least five goals in eight games. The team was hurt by a six-game losing streak late in the season.
“I had a chance to watch them play last year,” Orozco said. “The games that I watched them play, they won. I thought that was a real positive for them. I think that's what we're trying to build on.”
Orozco is excited about the potential of his team, which features talented players such as Danny Genzman (17 goals, 3 assists) and Caiden Genson (13 goals, 21 assists), a duo that combined for 30 goals and 24 assists last year.
“They're both exceptional players,” Orozco said. “We've got other talent around them, and that's the best thing right now from what I can see.”
One of those players Orozco noted is TaeVeion Greene.
“We got some phenomenal athletes in the returning group,” Orozco said. “I'm looking at this list, and I'm seeing guys that play two and three sports. We've got wrestlers and basketball players and guys that run cross country. We have athletes in this group.”
Orozco plans on attacking with every player.
“We attack with as many people as we can,” he said. “We make it clear, and even the goalie, as a guy who will start the offense and go and create the offensive opportunity for us by finding ways to connect with players up front who are going to get us in a position where we can score and create opportunities for ourselves.”
Northwood is the fifth stop for Orozco in his coaching journey, which began at St. Francis and took him to Southview, Toledo Christian and Whitmer before his arrival with the Rangers.
“There’s certainly been a big learning curve for them, just the adjustment to a new head coach, to a new philosophy, to a new program,” he said. “We've implemented some things that they've never done before, even the structure, and I think some organizational things that I've learned over the course of my career.
“In the big picture, I think that what I'm catching is that the ability's there, the interest is there, the desire is there, and they're working hard. That’s all you can ask from them right now. And then again, the other piece of it is they're athletic. I truly believe that if you have athletic players, you can turn them into soccer players. They just gotta be able to learn some different skills. Because a lot of the principles are the same.”
Overall, the Rangers return nine players, including eight seniors. Those seniors include Greene, Genzman, Joey Springer, Austin Hagemann, Mason Hurley, Hunter Hagemann, Kellen Smith and Brayden LaGrange. Five of those eight lettered last year.
LaGrange, the team’s goalkeeper, and Genson, who is a junior, are both members of the Olympic Development Program. Genson was even one of 18 players in his age group to make the state team.
“That's pretty good for a player coming out of Northwood,” Orozco said. “And that doesn't happen because of a coach. That happens because of his desire, his willingness to be good, and his commitment. That's something I think is important.
“We’ve got some players, including freshmen, that can play and that's the true blessing of it. When you start to get that nucleus of players together, that's what sells your program. That's what makes your program strong. Caiden hasn't reached his limit. His year is gonna be next year as a senior. And we'll see how great he's gonna become as a player.”
