Ready for Rockford!

A record number of Southern Indiana players will travel to Rockford, Ill. this week to participate in the U.S. Youth Soccer Regional Championships.

They will be part of teams from Javanon, United 1996 and Mockingbird, who recently won the Kentucky State Open Cup in their respective age groups at the end of May.

Javanon once again dominated at the State Open Cup finals held at Bowling Green and Lexington — picking up eight titles — while two went to United 1996, and one to Mockingbird.

The teams will take on champions from Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, South/North Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Minnesota.

There are high hopes for Javanon's U13 girls, a team which includes Leah Mattingly of Floyds Knobs.

Dave Griffiths, girls’ technical director at the club, believes her team is a very good group which has a serious chance of making it out of its bracket.

“I feel good about their chances,” he said. “They are in a good bracket with teams from South Dakota (Rushmore Gold), Kansas (KCFC Force), and Nebraska (Toro Booyah).”

Griffiths is also coach of the U19s, a team which will travel to its seventh straight regional championship and is crammed full of college players, including Jeffersonville’s Chelsea Grover, who plays at Western Kentucky University.

“The girls are looking for their breakthrough year, but the likes of Bloomfield Force from Michigan would be big favorites,” he said.

One of the most fascinating brackets is at the U17 level, where Kentucky champions United 1996 have been drawn with local rivals Javanon, who they beat 2-1 in the final.

The pair have been drawn in the “Group of Death” with Michigan Wolves — last year's regional winners and national runners-up — and Ohio North's Pacesetter Premier. Javanon's team includes recent New Albany High School graduate Nathan Driggers, who is bound for Ohio State.


Pierce Crawley of Jeffersonville (right) and Javanon U13 team mate Brad Schickel after their Kentucky State Open Cup success.

Pierce Crawley of Jeffersonville will be part of the Javanon U13 team which has high hopes after scoring 23 goals in the state Tournament without reply. Crawley, who attends Providence Junior High, was recently selected for Indiana's Olympic Development Program U13 team.

Trevor Bruner, also of Jeffersonville and a Kentucky ODP player, and New Albany's Keenan Sparks are part of a Javanon U16 team which won its fourth state title. The team is having a great season in the Midwest Regional League, where they beat FC Pride, ranked fifth in the nation. That means confidence is high going into the regional championships.

Providence’s Daniel Wilburn and Floyd Central’s Matt Kelsey are part of the Javanon U14 side, which progressed to Rockford thanks to a thrilling 2-1 final victory over rivals Mockingbird.

New Albany High School's Kaitlin Robinett is part of Mockingbird’s only State Cup representatives. Her U16 team face a tough bracket, with FC Milwaukee, Dakota Gold Destiny and Johnston Freedom from Iowa.

Coach Larry Raible said, "We have some injuries that are a little troubling at the moment, but hopefully we will have all but two back for this weekend. I believe we will be ready to play, and I know that when we are focused and ready we can compete with the very best teams in our region."

United FC's U19 boys’ team includes New Albany's Derek Webb and goalkeeper T.J. Fox of Jeffersonville.

The opening ceremony will take place on Friday, with the bracket games taking pace Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The semifinals will be held on Tuesday and the finals on Wednesday.

Success at the regionals would see the winners progress to the national championships, which take place at North Little Rock, Arkansas, from July 22-27.