Photo Courtesy of Hillcrest Academy Yearbook

The Hillcrest Academy Raven boys soccer team got in the win column for the first time in 2026 on Tuesday, scoring a road Southeast Iowa Superconference win at Highland 10-0 in a shortened contest. The Ravens piled up the points early, finding the back of the net eight times in the first half and finishing the match early with a pair of second half goals to reach the 10 goal margin. This week, Raven head coach Marcus Miller joined the KCII PM Sports Page to talk about how it felt not only for his team to get the win, but also the way they were able to do it.

Miller said, “We talked about the need to come out strong. That we couldn’t just sit back. Our passing was much better. We took advantage of that with a couple of early goals. It was nice to see the scoring spread out. Guys that had been pressing or trying to score, it was nice to see them get a goal or get involved in the offense in some way. We’ve got a lot off freshman that are seeing significant playing time. So our confidence level is important. We have two young keepers Garrett (Bontrager) is a sophomore. He’s done really well for us. Beckett Miller has looked really good in practice and JV games. Lincoln Miller does a nice job in the back of the defense.”

The Ravens dominated both scoreboard and stat-sheet, winning shots on goal 18-4 and taking nine corner kicks. Eight Ravens scored including Angel Sambrano and Charles Hughes each tallying twice. Mateo Rodriguez-Yoder, Isaac Beachy, Calvin Meller, Jaxson Brokaw and Jude Ours all had one goal each. Rowan Miller was the leading facilitator with four assists in the match, Lincoln Miller had a pair and Sambrano, Brokaw and Rhys Bender had one helper each. Garrett Bontrager recorded the win in goal, working the first half with a pair of saves. Beckett Miller took the second 30 minutes with two saves of his own. Following the win, Hillcrest moved to 1-3 as the Huskies dropped to 0-5.