With the graduation of all-state honoree Albert Lachance, Nelson County’s boys soccer team needed a center midfielder.
They didn’t have to look far.
Senior Logan Harris, the Governors’ striker and leading scorer as a junior shifted back and Nelson hasn’t fallen off much, if at all. Harris has helped push the Governors into the Region B semifinals Wednesday on the road against Manassas Park.
“We needed him to come back, take over the center mid and set the tempo for the team both offensively and defensively,” said Nelson County coach Jeff Harris. “He made a wonderful adjustment.”
Logan Harris scored a pair of goals against Randolph Henry 7-1 in the region quarterfinals and sparked an offense that also got two goals each out of Nicola Rasi (the squad’s leading scorer with 15 goals on the year) and Josh Alderfer. With his experience as a striker, Harris is a great fit to run the Governors’ free-wheeling, creative attack.
“It’s a 4-3-3 so we all get our own spaces and it’s really spread out,” Harris said. “You can find anywhere on the pitch.”
The offense has been helped greatly by the emergence of Rasi, a tall, skilled Italian exchange student who has taken some pressure off Harris to be the Governors’ top offensive power source.
“He plays a point man and we just play off of him,” Harris said. “He can hold the ball however long he needs to.”
Senior James Kahler gives Nelson yet another scoring option. He got the scoring started against Randolph Henry with the game’s opening goal and he’s scored 10 goals and assisted on six others on the year.
The rest of the supporting cast has also played a monster role in Nelson’s solid season. Goalie Paco Becerra allowed just a single goal against Randolph Henry and had four shutouts during the regular season for the Governors. London Wheeler, a speedy midfielder, drew a foul in the box with long run against Randolph Henry, and Alderfer took it and buried it at the 25:30 mark in second half to put the Governors up 5-0.
“When you get to this time of year everyone fights as hard as you can,” Jeff Harris said. “(Randolph Henry) never quit which I respect, it made us have to work for the whole game.”
If Harris, Rasi and the rest of the Governors can keep the scoring coming, Nelson won’t be far off last season’s state quarterfinalist club. They’re only a win away now with Manassas Park looming Wednesday.
