Bruton welcomes youthful New Kent soccer team with 6-1 thumping

New Kent goalie David McCoy primes himself to stop a shot attempt in the first half.

Robb Johnson photo

The last time New Kent’s boys’ soccer team took the pitch, they were in a playoff contest against Bay Rivers District rival Tabb in 2019. Now, two years removed, the Trojans are learning that while they have promise and potential, practice and setbacks will be their best friend going forward.

Early scores by the visiting Bruton Panthers coupled with New Kent’s scoreless second half resulted in the Trojans falling 6-1 in Friday night’s season opening contest.

Youth and miscues were the early culprit in the contest, as an own goal by New Kent put Bruton up less than five minutes into the contest. Just over six minutes later, Bruton’s Brandon Turner would find the back of the net to double the visitors’ advantage.

New Kent’s tenacity paid off with 20 minutes remaining until the intermission break. Trojan forward Joseph Duvall caught Bruton goalie Carlos Juarez out of position, sniping a shot for a score and cutting the deficit in half (2-1).

As the hosts tried to swing momentum their way, an unsuccessful shot attempt resulted in play flipping and allowing Bruton to go on the offensive. The result was Logan Richardson’s conversion to bestow a 3-1 lead to the Panthers heading into the intermission break.

The second half yielded no favors to New Kent as they watched Bruton’s Omar Aly add on two scores. From there, one more additional score yielded the final outcome of the game.

After the contest, New Kent Head Coach Derek Yates talked about the young squad and the hopes for the remainder of the season.

“I only had one returning player who was a junior,” the coach said, commenting how his current team doesn’t have any seniors. “I knew it was going to be a year to try and rebuild.

“The boys did well, and we have not had a lot of practice time,” Yates continued. “There is hope and promise with this team. We just have to work harder in practice, but I look forward to the rest of the season with this team and the future as well.”

New Kent begins the season 0-1.