Talk about your turnarounds.
The 2024 boys soccer season is only two weeks old, and St. Henry has surpassed 2023’s 3-14-2 debacle. Saturday’s 3-2 penalty kick win over Newport Central Catholic in the Ninth Region All “A” final gave the Crusaders a 4-1-1 record and the first small-school regional title since 2019.
“I couldn’t have been happier for the boys,” second-year coach Jacob Litzler said of the win over NewCath. “They worked really hard all preseason, early season so far.”
Being 4-1-1 is just the start of St. Henry’s comeback. The Crusaders’ 14 goals is just two shy of last year’s 16, and the 14 assists so far is two more than last year’s 12.
“I don’t necessarily know that I’ve changed coaching at all,” Litzler said. “I’ve stayed kind of consistent.”
Maybe you’ve heard some coaches kvetch about having a young team. St. Henry has only four seniors – Jackson Popil, Cameron Darnell, Cody Crowder and Will Carter – and Litzler is fine with having so few.
“But when you have the four seniors I have, the way they lead, not only vocally but physically as well, coming in to train every single day, it plants a seed in the young kids in our program,” Litzler said.
Popil’s team-high five goals is two more than last year. He and Crowder scored on penalty kicks against NewCath.
Litzler suggested not overlooking the underclassmen, especially against NewCath. Freshman Cooper Gastright and junior Kayden Durrett scored regulation goals, junior Logan Thoss assisted on Gastright’s goal and added a penalty kick, and sophomore Nik Maher assisted on Durrett’s tally.
“I start three freshmen (Gastright, Luke Lubert and Landon Thoss, Logan’s brother) this year in all my games, and unless I told you that these kids were freshmen, you would never know,” Litzler said. “They’re not fearful of anything; they think every time they go out on the field, they’re better than the person across from them, and that’s the kind of confidence I like in my players.”
Litzler describes his coaching style in two words: very honest. He encourages questions and nobody responds well to yelling.
“People use the term ‘players’ coach’ all the time; I don’t love that term because I’m a team coach,” he said. “You can’t have the best for your team unless you have the best out of your individuals as well.”
St. Henry started with a 2-1 home win Aug. 13 over Boone County. Then, the lone blemish – a 2-0 setback Aug. 15 at Cooper.
After the Cooper loss, St. Henry squandered a 2-0 lead and tied Bishop Brossart, 2-2 and rebounded with wins over Beechwood, Villa Madonna and NewCath.
Familial help
Litzler played high school soccer at Covington Catholic; he was a member of the state champion 2015 team. He has some familiar, familial help – his aunt, Holy Cross alumna Jayney Litzler, is one of his assistants along with Michael Carroll.
“When we’d go to family parties and everything, we grew up playing in the back yard, she was always the aunt who was out there with the kids, picking on us until we eventually got better than her,” Jacob said. “Her competitiveness definitely comes out when she’s coaching. I love to see her around the kids.”
Jayney Litzler, who teaches fourth grade at St. Henry Elementary School, said a family soccer match could break out in Villa Hills (where Jacob grew up), Fort Wright or anywhere in Northern Kentucky where there was an available backyard for cousins-versus-aunt matches. There were usually disputes over who won.
“It was a good match until they got older and they could get really pretty physical,” she said.
Jayney Litzler is in her second year with her nephew for a variety or reasons – timing, love of soccer, love for St. Henry, and wanting to give back. The last of her four children graduated from St. Henry in 2022, and she wondered if she wanted to continue until Jacob asked her to consider returning.
“It really didn’t take much thinking, it didn’t,” she said.
Jayney Litzler said one way to tell attitudes are changing is, ties are no longer acceptable.
“The ties that we have no longer feel good,” she said. “We accepted them last season, we know we can play better. It feels good to have a positive outlook on our expectations. It’s fresh, it’s just different.”
‘Pretty confusing’
Popil scored three goals with three assists last year. He had played defense for most of his high school career before being moved to striker.
“At first it was pretty confusing,” Popil said. “It was mostly positioning. I played right back, so I could kind of always see the field. But now that I’m playing striker, I have my back turned towards where we’re trying to score.”
One question lingers: is it time to add St. Henry to a list of the Ninth Region’s best teams that in part includes defending champion Ryle (which has eliminated the Crusaders the last two seasons), Highlands, Cooper and CovCath?
“Before it’s time to do anything like that, we’ve got to win some head-to-head matchups with those big programs,” Jacob Litzler said.
Aunt Jayney, meanwhile, opines differently.
“This year, I think it’s time,” she said. “This year, I think it’s time, yes. It’s about time.”