Published: November 03, 2009 10:30 am      

Maintaining respect

By Tim Branstetter / Staff Writer

The Corbin Redhounds wrapped up an impressive season with a district championship.

Although the Redhounds are no stranger to winning a district title, they were forced to overcome a tough regular season schedule.

“I knew we had a tough schedule and the best way to approach the season was to pick out the games we knew were going to be tough,” Corbin coach Armondo Cima said. “From that perspective we didn’t start off bad.”

The Redhounds cruised to a 7-1 contest at home against Pulaski County to start the season, but dropped a 2-0 match to Ryle.

After an impressive 6-1 win over North Laurel, the Redhounds dropped two straight games.

They lost 4-1 on the road to Tates Creek and then at home 3-1 to South Laurel.

“Tates Creek was an eye opener,” Cima said. “I thought we should have competed better with them. They whooped up on us. We really lost some confidence there.”

After a tough loss to the Cardinals, the Redhounds took out their frustrations with a 10-0 win over Oneida Baptist Institute to improve their record to 3-3.

Unfortunately, the Redhounds had to face Anderson County and Bourbon County both on the road and dropped both matches.

Anderson County came away with a 5-0 victory while Bourbon County defeated the Redhounds 2-0.

Corbin responded with a 2-1 win over Dixie Heights, but lost another tough match to South Laurel 2-1 at Pulaski County.

“We were in games,” Cima said. “It was the last 20 minutes that we gave up goals. We put a hard schedule in front of us to get us ready for the end of the season.”

The Redhounds then defeated Monticello 4-1 and tied Somerset 3-3.

A tough loss to Madison Central followed, but they defeated Middlesboro 10-0.

After dropping three straight matches, the Redhounds defeated Oneida Baptist Institute 5-1. That win sparked a four game winning streak for the Redhounds.

After the OBI win the Redhounds were able to get some revenge against their district rival South Laurel. Corbin defeated the Cardinals 2-1 in overtime to claim the district championship.

“That’s a bit of a rivalry between district opponents,” Cima said. “That was a satisfying game and the Pikeville game was very satisfying. We were forced to make adjustments against Pikeville and I was really pleased with the way we were able to do that.”

The Redhounds lost a 3-2 heartbreaker to South Laurel in the region championship, but Cima was pleased with his team and their effort all season.

“I don’t think you can be anything but pleased,” Cima added. “When you look back, we did all the things we wanted to do. We maintained the respect we have as a program. You can’t ask the boys for more than that. I am pleased with the way they have played this year. We don’t make our schedule to score goals or pick up wins, we make our schedule to so we can get better as a team and I wouldn’t go back and change anything. I am proud of this team and the improvements they have made.”