Roughly 10 years ago, Jerry Umberger, Jason Logan and Jay Rist had a vision for soccer in southern West Virginia.
“We wanted to provide an opportunity for our kids and the kids around us that were interested in more than just (recreational) soccer,” Umberger said. “We wanted to show them that the competition levels are different in our state and especially in other states. We all played together growing up, so we wanted to leave a legacy and we wanted the kids to leave a legacy. That is what it’s all about.”
With that in mind, the three former soccer standouts founded Legacy Football Club and while the venture involved much more than just wins and losses, success has definitely been a by-product.
Over the first weekend in June at the YMCA Paul Cline Memorial Youth Sports Complex, Legacy FC had its most successful run to date at the 2023 West Virginia Soccer Association State Cup Championships.
Qualifying six this year, five boys teams and one girls team, Legacy FC won three titles to advance to the United States Youth Soccer Region 1 National Championship Series played in Loudon, Va., June 23-29.
Legacy FC 2005 (U-18) boys defeated FC Alliance 2-nil. Legacy FC 2008 (U-15) boys knocked off FC Alliance 1-nil and Legacy FC 2011 (U-12) boys won 3-nil over West Virginia FC.
“We expected those three teams to do well. Did we expect them to win? That was obviously our hope, but those three teams had a very good chance,” Umberger said. “Our other two boys teams had a very good opportunity as well.”
Divisions are set based on birth years and W.Va State Cup competition begins with the U-12 age group.
The 2008 (U-15) team has been coached by Umberger from the beginning and was the youngest group when Legacy FC was founded. It is also the group that has reaped the highest rewards so far.
After missing the State Cup in 2020 when it was cancelled due to Covid, the 2008 team won the title in 2021 and finished runner-up last year.
“It was probably a year or so before we saw some success in regards to wins and losses. It was not instant for any of our teams because we were so new into it,” Umberger said. “The 08 group saw success early and it has been a product of this club. When we started, we trained everybody together. They were fortunate.”
Umberger’s team is comprised of Coby Dillon, Bryson Doss, Ali Farghaly, Cambel Fix, Kaedin Fleming, Jackson Gray, Hagen Hall, Andrew Holt, Judah Hrabrosky, Tyler Radford, Jackson Schroder, Jonathin Scott, Vince Umberger, August Vincent and John Withrow.
“They don’t realize how special they are to me. I love to coach and this group is very special to me,” Umberger said.
Making the move to the regional tournament naturally brings with it a huge step up in competition.
“We are still looking for a regional win, but it is an attainable goal,” Umberger said. “It is very overwhelming when you go in and their are 350 teams in a venue. We just have to play a little better soccer. It is not that we haven’t played well, it’s just the competition has been so good.”
The West Virginia teams are in somewhat of a David versus Goliath situation to say the least.
“Some of the teams we play have a pool of 500 players for 20 spots,” Umberger said. “We have 15 players from 15 players. We don’t have a large pool of players. I have talked to coaches who have had over 100 players tryout for just a striker position.”
“Doesn’t mean we can’t win,” Umberger went on to say. “It just means the odds are stacked against us since we are from a small area. We are like the underdog. Everybody wants West Virginia. It is hard for our teams to compete against them, but it is not impossible. We are much more ready this year than we have been before because of the experience.”
The win for the U-18 team was its first State Cup title and the U-12 team won the title in its first State Cup appearance.
The older squad is guided by WVU Tech men’s soccer head coach Oliver Hewitt-Fisher.
“He is a college coach and if you look around at the clubs, most of them have college coaches coaching their club teams,” Umberger said. “It gives the players a chance to learn from the style that college coaches have. A lot of these players will move forward and play college soccer.”
The 2005 squad is represented by players from schools like Beckley, Greenbrier East, Oak Hill and Shady Spring to name a few.
The roster includes Aiden Bell, Cooper Bell, Andrew Callahan, Joe Cochran, Jack Curry, Ishmael Fayiah, Jack Grimmett, Michael Loa, Chase Mizia, Ashton Moll, Jackson Quattrone, Michael Vecellio, Nicholas White and Ty Wilburn.
“We are based out of Beckley because the YMCA Complex is what we use for most of our training, but we have a large number of players from Lewisburg,” Umberger said. “We have players from Princeton, Oak Hill and Summersville. We want to bring in anyone that wants to be involved with travel soccer to play for our club. We don’t shy away from anybody. If you look at the successful programs in southern West Virginia, almost every high school champion has the majority of their players from travel soccer.”
Just like the the 2008 team, the young 2011 team has received extensive training with Legacy FC and Jay Rist’s team could also be headed for big time success.
The young group has already shown it is battle tested by reaching the regional tournament after an extensive qualifying process.
“In the 2011 boys division, there were 12 teams that attempted to qualify starting back in March,” Umberger said. “They played pool play for two days and the top two teams in points from that weekend advanced to the finals weekend. The rest of the teams competed again in another tournament to see which will qualify.”
The 2011 roster includes Ethan Baker, Evan Beasley, Drew Brown, Brock Estep, Isaac Fayiah, Reed Gillian, Jonathan Jones, Kase Legg, Corbin Long, Easton Miller, Jasper Pritchett, Jaxson Richards, Jace Richmond, Ethan Rist and John Williams.
The Eastern Regional Tournament will feature 16-20 teams in each division for both boys and girls.
“You play one game Friday, one game Saturday and one game Sunday,” Umberger explained. “If we do well, we will play a quarterfinal game on Monday. There is an off day Tuesday and you can play all the way through Thursday of the following week if you qualify all the way through. It is a lot of soccer and the competition is incredible.”
