By Audrey Dodgen/Staff Writer

The El Reno High School boys soccer team suffered a 4-1 setback in its district game with Chickasha Tuesday.

Abel Renteria scored the Indians only goal, with a shot that richocheted off two Chickasha players before finding the back of the net.

Renteria took three shots in the game.

Gabriel Gonzales also had three shots on goal, as did sophomore Richard Meyer.

Alex Weaver took four shots on goal after moving from goalkeeper.

Jorge Acosta, Ryan Hughey, Jake Meyer and Carlos Banks each took one shot on goal.

The Indians had a total of 18 shots on goal, compared to Chickasha’s 15 shots.

“We got stung when we switched keepers. We needed some punch on offense. I thought if I switched Alex and Jorge, we could get some goals, just having something different up front. In the end it cost us,” coach Ray Apple said.

Chickasha scored once just before the half ended, when a miscommunication between Weaver and his defense left the goal open.

“That goal they had before the half was totally just miscommunication on our part,” Apple said.

“It seemed like we had a good thing going, and we tried to improve on the opposite end of the field and we really struggled when we got down.”

Apple said he has challenged his team to attend practices and learn to play together.

“This is an after-school program, and that hurts us because not everyone can be here. We will have days when only six or eight guys show up for practice. Some days we may have 10 or 11, but usually it’s around six or eight. We’ll work on executing a scheme in practice, and those six or eight guys will go out and do it in a game, but the guys who weren’t at practice don’t know anything about it,” Apple said.

“We worked this week on taking the ball in the middle and then pushing it out to the corners. We have guys who come into the games, and they have open men in the corners, but don’t know that’s what we’re trying to do because they weren’t at practice.

“I challenged whether or not they want to get better. The only way to improve is to practice. We are not going to get better in games. It’s going to take coming to practice and working together.”

Apple said his team’s natural talent has proven ineffective against teams who are trained in fundamentals and teamwork.