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Cole Woodward, Chatham Glenwood clinch CS8 boys soccer title | Video
Cole Woodward scored the opening go-ahead goal on McKenzie Doe’s assist and Chatham Glenwood won the CS8 boys soccer title 3-0 over Springfield High.
Luke Baxter used to be shorter than everyone else.
That quickly became ancient history after a big growth spurt.
The 6-foot Chatham Glenwood senior now harnesses that size and height to his advantage and looms all over the field as a Swiss Army knife. He can hold his own defensively or rise above the fray when called to the front.
“It’s good for him to grow up a little,” senior teammate Chase Campbell said. “We need some height.”
Baxter knocked in a header on Jack Evans’ free kick to help retain the Cental State Eight Conference title for a fourth straight season (and second outright in that span) with a 3-0 win over Springfield High on Thursday, Oct. 9.
Baxter is lapping up this new presence.
“Growing up I always played different positions,” Baxter said. “When I first started high school, I was really small, so I had to kind of adapt to forward because I couldn’t really play defense. But now I can.”
Seniors carry the mantle
Baxter virtually played everywhere but goalkeeper at Lee Field. He initially appeared at left back before transitioning to forward and later midfielder all in a night’s work.
“I’ve watched him grow the last four years,” Glenwood coach Kyle Franke said. “He’s a big kid, he works hard in the weight room, he’s gotten strong and he’s a solid player.”
Baxter also engineered the game-tying goal against Normal U-High on Tuesday, Oct. 7 and currently totals eight goals and eight assists on a profoundly deep lineup.
Fellow senior Chase Campbell leads the Titans (13-3-4 overall) by a slight margin with 10 goals and nine assists. He supplied the team’s final goal against the Senators.
Several of these seniors — including Campbell — have played varsity since freshman year and have only gotten better.
The Titans won second place in the 2A state finals in 2022 and later reached the 2A supersectionals in 2023. They were only spurned by eventual state champion Belleville Althoff Catholic on penalty kicks.
Last season, Campbell and current senior defender Ryan Bridal earned all-sectional acclaim by the Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association.
“It’s a big responsibility coming in knowing that I need to step up and make a mark on this team because we’ve got a really good chance to go far,” Campbell said.
“We’ve just been a really tight-knit group. We grew up playing club together — lots of chemistry.”
Sophomore Cole Woodward, who scored the opening goal on McKenzie Doe’s blocked shot attempt against SHS, said the robust senior class pushes everyone each and every day at practice.
“We have so many quality players on the field and even coming off the bench,” Baxter said of the team collectively. “You could interview anyone and they’re good.”
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