Today was our first official soccer game of the season. We began our season by playing in the Pine Grove tournament. Our opening matchup was against Pottsville or something like that. We struck early and never let up, leading to a nine point lead about halfway through the second half. They scored a scrap goal near the end of the game, but it was a great way to start our season. We then had an hour and a half or two hours to go get something to eat and get ready for our next game. Warming up for the championship game didn't go very well for me, because of how tired and sore I was from our first game. We got out onto the pitch and put a goal in within the first five minutes. That was an amazing boost for us, because we knew that this game was going to be tougher game than the first one had been. Within the rest of the first half we were able to put in one more goal to set the score at two nil going into the half. We didn't allow very many quality attempts for Hamburg to score, and they weren't able to capatilize on any of them. The second half was fairly uneventful, with the possible exception of a yellow card to Ryan Comiskey and some trash talk between the teams. When the final buzzer we found ourselves at a place we never found ourselves last year, as tournament champions. We also began our season with a record of two wins and zero losses. That's half the wins we had all of last year. The JV team also won the championship, so we swept the tournament in Varsity as well as JV. It is gratifying to go home after a game and know that you gave it your all and did pretty decent while you played. Our section is a very tough one, but if we stick together as a team we won't get destroyed like we did in previous years. It feels good to be a champion!

We held our own against a good team in our scrimmage today, and left the match with a draw of two to two. I haven't played well at all this week, and I don't really know why. Today I had my moments where things were going well, but I still just couldn't quite get everything together. Hopefully a good night of sleep will help that out.
On a completely random note, Usher is quite talented. Not only does he have a fantastic voice, he also has an amazing dancing ability. I wish I could sing and dance like him.
Speaking of singing and dancing, I am really looking forward to musical this year and I can't wait until Mrs. Masser announces what show we are going to do this year.

Tomorrow is our second scrimmage for soccer, and it is away at Big Spring. I have no idea where that is or how good they are. I just know that we leave class at 1:45 and will only arrive back at the school around 8:37. It looks like our defense is starting to take shape and work well together. Hopefully that carries through to the league games.
I enjoy just about all of my classes, which is awesome. I just can't wait until things settle down a little bit and I have time to hang out with friends outside of school. At this point my schedule is really crazy and I don't have very much free time.
This past summer I was on the 'support staff' for the K-Teams with Eastern Mennonite Missions. What that means is that I helped lead youth groups on inner city missions work in South Allison Hill (Harrisburg), Oxford Circle (Philly), and the Bronx. It was an amazing summer full of awesome relationships, fantastic outreach times, and incredible spiritual growth. I can't wait to see over the next few months where God will lead me from my experience.
I think I decided on a college and major. Which is impressive because normally I am a huge procrastinator, but this time I am actually ahead of the game. Of course, things could change in an instant as they sometimes do. Until then, I am going to pretend that I am going to Eastern University to major in youth ministry and minor in theater. Eastern has an amazing campus and lots of cool opportunities to do stuff. They also seem to have pretty sound and grounded theology which is always a good thing.

Senior year of high school is starting to sink in. It is crazy to think that it is finally here, and we will finally be graduating in less than a year. Future plans are starting to shape up and look more and more realistic. It will be interesting to see where my classmates and I will be in a few years. Actually it's kind of scary to think of us getting released to go out into the 'real world.' This year is going to be a lot of fun, and I can't wait to get settled into this year's schedule.