A group of five 9-year-old boys won the right to compete in a national soccer competition in Orlando, Fla.

The group traveled to Chicago with their coach, Cass Cole, to compete in the Got Milk? 3v3 Soccer Shootout program. Their goal was to win the age bracket tournament, securing them a position in the National Championship tournament in Orlando in January 2005.

Coach Cole said the Redoubt Sharpshooters 95 boys, a U10 (under 10-years-old) Select Soccer team, joined 360+ other teams in the 3v3 Regional Championship. The team of five boys had qualified for the regional competition by winning the Alabama State 3v3 competition in June.

The boys competed against 10 other teams in their age group and competitive bracket. The competition was stiff in every game with the boys playing against teams from Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Missouri. On Saturday, the boys won 4 out of 5 round robin games placing second from their pool for Sunday's final round. The one loss came in Saturday's fourth game from the powerhouse Bush team, the St Louis Elite. It
was a close game with the Bush team pulling ahead from the very beginning.

Coach Cole said, "The boys would have tied it up going into halftime but the Referee missed/didn't see a goal scored by Caleb Cole that blew through the center bottom of the net. He called it a missed shot and a goal kick for the Bush team. The boys tied the game a couple times in the 2nd half but failed to hold their shape and mark up defensively on several occasions which resulted in goals and an 8-6 win for the Bush team.

"As a result of second seed placement in Sunday's final round, the boys played a quarterfinals match against the Chicago Crushers winning it 4-3. The game was controlled by our boys but once again several breakdowns in defensive shape resulted in two late goals by the Crushers.

"In the semi finals match the boys played Libertyville Orange Crushers, the number 1 seed from the other pool. The team was a local club team that was undefeated in round robin play from the second pool. The Libertyville team scored two very pretty goals within the first 3 minutes but our boys shut them down defensively the rest of the game to win the semi-final's match 4-2.

"In the finals match, the Redoubt boys had to face the Bush St. Louis Elite team again, the team the boys had lost a hard fought match to in Saturday's round robin play. The boys came out and played superb soccer, controlling the entire game defensively and offensively. The Bush team was a big, fast, highly skilled and tactically savvy team but were unable to generate any offence against the Redoubt defense becoming frustrated and even confused at times. The Redoubt boys simply played almost flawless defense combined with an exquisite passing game that resulted the Redoubt Sharpshooters maintaining possession for at least two thirds of the game to win the championship match 4-2.

"In the eight matches played over the weekend, the Redoubt boys scored a total of 44 points to their opponents 27. Scoring was lead by Caleb Cole with 18 points, Jalen Goddard with 10; Baggio Card with 7, Jonah Goddard with 6, and Ramsey Seagle with 3. It should be noted that 3 absolutely key goals were scored by Ramsey and Baggio at critical moments in the semi- and final matches while Jalen contributed a number of spectacular defensive saves worth 7-10 goals over the course of the weekend."

As Region II champs, the team will travel to Orlando in January to play for the 3v3 National Championship title.

REDOUBT Soccer Under 10 (years old) Select Team Roster:
Baggio Card, Chattanooga
Caleb Cole, Chattanooga
Jalen Goddard, Chattanooga
Jonah Goddard, Chattanooga
Ramsey Seagle, Hixson
Coach Cass L. Cole - Chattanooga