Grenz ready for possible rebuilding project

1 week ago 2

Micah Grenz is entering his third season as the head boys soccer coach at Stone Memorial High School, and the success he’s had in just two seasons has been noticeable.

Since arriving, Grenz has guided the Panthers to 24 wins, and helped develop numerous all-district and all-region players. He’s also had the district’s Defensive Player of the Year in consecutive seasons.

It has been a good run.

But now, Grenz and his staff must figure out a way to keep that run going. Stone Memorial lost 10 players from last year’s team to graduation.

“We’ve been able to do some good things,” Grenz said. “I think we won nine the first year, and we were 15-5 last season. Over the last few years, we’ve had really strong senior leadership. [Defender] Isaiah Richard is probably the best player to come out of Stone Memorial. We had another strong group last year.

“We lost eight guys to graduation, and a lot of those were very important players. Then, two guys we thought would move into starting roles this year, graduated early. We’ve lost about 80-85% of our scoring from last year.”

Grenz said preseason soccer practice will officially begin for the Panthers Feb. 9.

Stone Memorial is coming off a balanced season. The Panthers produced goals at an abundant rate several times last year, scoring three, four or even five goals in a game.

However, defensively SMHS was just as strong. The Panthers were very stingy to opposing offenses.

“I knew internally, I knew we would do well,” Grenz said. “I don’t think many people expected that. We have well-rounded kids, I knew they had the capability of doing well. I thought we did a good job of taking what we were saying as coaches and implement them on the field.

“We weren’t shut out in any single game last year. Not a lot of teams can do that. We had five guys score in double figures. So, opposing teams couldn’t focus on stopping one of our guys because someone else would just pick up the slack.”

Versatility may have been the key for the Panthers. Grenz said he had options on both offense and defense and that allowed him and his staff to try different things.

And that pays dividends for SMHS because Grenz, at least through the first few weeks of the season, has to let some of his players that played other sports in the winter, get in soccer shape and find their place in the rotation.

Grenz said he’s looking forward to getting the season started, as he prepares to begin the rebuilding process. One reason why his rebuild may be smoother than expected are the possible contributions from incoming freshmen.

He also said because he knew he would be losing a lot from last year’s squad, Grenz said he made sure to give his bench players as much time on the field as possible.

“We were able to incorporate some of those students into the action that maybe wouldn’t have gotten varsity time normally,” Grenz said. “People might say ‘you only won 4-1 or 5-2. But, we were able to incorporate some of those kids into the action.”

Grenz said his schedule will have obstacles for the Panthers to overcome. He said besides the district games he has to play, he tries to divide the other matches into matches they should win, matches that should be tough for them, and matches where they’re probably going to get beat up.

“Our ultimate goal is to be one of the elite teams in Tennessee. I don’t know who the elite teams are, but we want to be in that conversation,” Grenz said. “We could sit up there and play teams we should destroy, but that’s not going to make us elite.

“Considering our schedule, we could be .500 at the end of the regular season, but still be ready for district play, be ready for regional play, and be ready for those based on all the things that we did during the year. And that’s what really matters.”

Grenz said anyone interested in playing for the Panthers should call him at 931-881-8167.

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