By Blake Chadwick 

Coming off of a relatively disappointing year where Rose Hill lost a lot of their players to injuries, the Rockets have bounced back with a fast 8-4-1 record through early October. 

The hot start has been credited to how longtime head coach Jerry Treat has drilled his motto and culture into his players. 

“Practice makes perfect, if you practice incorrectly, practice makes permanent, it has to be done the right way,” Treat said. 

The head coach of 30+ years also gives all the credit to his staff of Phil McNany, Shelby Kaba, and Brent Nussbaum who have been with him since 2009. 

“The success of the team has a lot to do with the devotion of the coaching staff and without them we wouldn’t be who we are,” Treat said.

The Rockets have reaped the benefits of playing the way Treat wants as they have two state championships in six state title games, which has set up a great culture and complimented the great soccer community in Rose Hill. 

“Growing up here and playing here means a lot more to you,” Treat said. 

After some struggles the year before, where coach Treat admitted that injuries really hurt their goals of becoming state champions, Rose Hill was forced into playing a lot of younger guys early on. 

The depth of the Rockets will have to be defined once again after their senior leader and captain Scotty Carr is out indefinitely due to injury. Treat would mention that the Rockets will have to “figure it out” but he is confident they won’t have to change too much.

Key players such as Johnny Leck, Trey Bias and Luke Anderson will have more pressure on them to perform with the loss of Carr.