With the departure of David McCarter from the boys’ soccer coaching staff, Travis Young got the chance to show what he has. After 17 years of coaching aside McCarter, Young was hired for the head coaching position.
“We had a conversation last year when McCarter decided he was leaving,” Young said. “I knew I was interested, so we began the process of getting me acclimated with the behind the scenes administrative stuff that he took care of as head coach.”
After Principal Andrew Neely and Athletic Director Phil Riccio reviewed the applications and interviews, Coach Young was hired as Boys Soccer coach and began working to build his program.
“The biggest switch was all the responsibilities being put on me,” Young said. “Planning practices, making sure the team had everything they needed and that the parents are informed; all of that was relatively new to me.”
Not only was the coaching staff changing, but the team was, too. After losing eight seniors from the 2024-25 season, the varsity line up has shown new faces.
“Those guys that replaced those seniors that graduated last year have been around the soccer program for a very long time, so it wasn’t anything new to them,” Young said. “They were prepared for it. It was just getting them up to speed with the varsity game.”
When the position of varsity goal goalkeeper opened up, sophomore Ryder Krause took the chance. The transition from junior varsity to varsity brought a change.
“It is much different than last year,” Krause said. “It definitely makes me nervous, but halfway through the game I forget about it.”
For the players, pre-season started in the spring and ran through the summer, including practices and strength and conditioning. During this time, the team practiced together while certain players prepared for new levels of competition.
Sophomore Elijah Gibson experienced this change as he prepared to become a varsity starter.
“Coming into pre-season, I was more focused on getting results than trying to make it fun,” Gibson said. “We wanted to make sure that we were the most prepared for the games and the season that was coming up.”
As of the fourth game, only three of 11 starting players are seniors. The team mainly consists of juniors and sophomores. Along with younger players comes less experience.
“This season, our seniors, Collin, Jace and I are focusing on them [the team] and bringing success,” Galal Ismail said. “We’re the loudest people on the field, so we try to set an example.”
Despite all of the changes, the team has been able to hold off the competition. After the first seven games the team maintained a 3-3-1 record.
The games against Bedford and Hollidaysburg set the tone for the season. Bedford was one of the first games played this season. It ended in a 2-0 win allowing Krause his first varsity shutout.
The game against Hollidaysburg ended in a 3-2 win after two periods of overtime. The Altoona team scored within a minute and entered halftime down 0-2. The team was able to end the second half with a score of 2-2. It was during the second period of overtime that George Delbaggio scored the game winning goal.
“It was a great feeling, [I] love that feeling,” Delbaggio said. “It was a sigh of relief from all the pressure coming off.”
As the season proceeds, the team hopes to go far. While the people have changed, there remains one common goal:
“We are winning Districts,” Ismail said.
Gavin Ciampoli • Mar 17, 2026 at 12:32 pm
Galal is so cool