The Knoxville Boys Soccer Squad get to see just how far the Panthers have come in recent seasons as they host Southeast Polk in the season opener at Randy Wilson Track tonight. The Panthers are senior heavy this season with 21 of the 27 goals scored last season back. Carson Cecil is also in goal, who made 89 stops last season. Coach Dylan Mick tells KNIA/KRLS Sports this is a team they want to measure themselves against to see how they stack up against the bigger schools of the area and a match that could go a long way to sub state seeding later on.

Mick: “Historically they’re up and down, they have a really good coach, who has done a good job of modeling that program into his. We want to measure ourselves against these bigger schools and see how we stack up.”

The Rams went 9-8 playing in the Central Iowa Metro League and lost five of their top six goal scorers from 2024, however leading scorer Cole Skinner is back with 11 last season. Southeast Polk will also have a new goalkeeper as Mazin Arafa ,who saved 132 shots, graduated. Tonight’s match is set to begin at 7:00.