RANTOUL – Coaches and players on the Rantoul/Paxton-Buckley-Loda High School soccer team are entering new territory.
This is the first year of a cooperative agreement between Rantoul Township and PBL High School, and for the 7-8 PBL students on the soccer team, it is their first time playing soccer at the high school level.
“I think it’s going to go pretty well,” PBL sophomore Natalie Bunag said. “I’m excited to see how it goes.”
Bunag’s mother, Kimberly, led a parent group that did some research on the feasibility of forming a soccer team at PBL High School and filed petitions. The PBL school board would later vote to form a soccer coop with RTHS.
“I was pretty excited that she did this for me because I’ve played soccer pretty much my entire life,” Bunag said. “Her doing this for me was pretty special. I really thank her for it.”
Bunag played club soccer for the Illini Futbol Club in Champaign while participating in softball, basketball, volleyball and cross country for the PBL school district.
Fellow sophomore Brady Young played soccer for the Paxton Park District while participating in football, baseball, track and field and cross country for PBL.
“I was excited. I love soccer, so I was like, OK, I’ll obviously play that,” Young said.
“I’ve always loved soccer,” added Zavier Smith, another PBL sophomore.
Head coach Bryant Anderson and assistant coach Julia Bleich are newcomers as well.
Anderson, who is from St. Joseph-Ogden, is in his first year as head coach in Rantoul after coaching an age 13-and-under recreational team in St. Joseph.
“I’m really excited for the season,” Anderson said.
Bleich is a Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley graduate who played her freshman year with the Fisher/GCMS soccer team as well as some club soccer before playing for Olivet Nazarene University.
“When I saw they had an opening at PBL, I was excited because I wanted them, especially other girls, to have the same opportunity I did,” Bleich said.
Anderson and Bleich will both get a chance at a homecoming as Rantoul/PBL will face Fisher/GCMS on the road on Sept. 14.
“I think it’ll be exciting to play against some of the players I’ve coached and some of the players my brother (Caleb) played with and to see how we do,” Bleich said.
The Eagles will host St. Joseph-Ogden on Sept. 29 at the Rantoul Family Sports Complex.
“I’m excited to play them,” Anderson said.
Rantoul/PBL has 24 players signed up for its soccer team.
“We’ve got some pretty good talent,” Bunag said. “I’m just hoping the season will go well and we can all connect as a team.”
“I think we’re going to do well,” Young added.
When preseason practices started in early July, only 2-3 players were present. On Wednesday, there were still at least eight players out due to work obligations.
“It’ll probably get better next week when we have all the kids here,” Bleich said. “We’ve just got to learn how to connect more, but I think overall, it’s gotten a lot better.”
“Once we got more kids, it’s been really exciting. We’ve got a really solid team this year,” Anderson added. “We were a little bit late starting off, but I think we’re good now.”
The Eagles will host Champaign Central in their season opener at the Sports Complex on Aug. 25.
“I’m excited for that,” Anderson said.
After playing at Hoopeston Area on Aug. 27, Rantoul/PBL will go back on the road to face Urbana, which won an IHSA Class 2A sectional championship last year, on Aug. 30.
“I’m looking forward to playing Urbana and seeing how we compare against one of the better teams in the state,” Anderson said.