By Jay W. Bennett

Special to The Times

PARKERSBURG - Stephen Rose is hoping the third year turns out to be the charm for the 17-and-under River Valley Soccer Club Rapids soccer team, which has advanced to play in the Region I youth soccer championships in Barboursville.

Rose, a former Marietta High School and Walsh University soccer player, has coached the nucleus of this team for three years now. The Rapids were able to win the state championship in Beckley to qualify for the United States Region I championships, which will have the local team play at least three matches - one each day - starting Friday.

"When we play well, we play pretty simple," said Rose, who used to play as a youth for the RVSC. "Our work ethic is second to none and we have just a lot of camaraderie. The guys are very skilled and know what to do. Once we hit a little adversity we have a little trouble with that. We just have to keep it simple and play pretty hard. Usually the game comes to us because we are skilled enough to go play with any team we want."

The Rapids will open play in their pool at 3 p.m. Friday against Delaware. Then the tough test comes as the Rapids, ranked just outside the top 200 nationally out of all U-17 squads, square off against the nation's top-ranked Premier League team from eastern Pennsylvania at 11:30 a.m. Saturday.

Teams must win their grouping to advance to the semifinals with a hope of making the title game and continuing play this summer. The final pool match for the Rapids is slated for 8 a.m. next Sunday against Rhode Island.

"Our first tournament was the beginning of March," said Rose, who also is an assistant soccer coach at Marietta College. "This has been a long time coming. We've definitely matured the last couple of months and have been playing a lot better competition than we have in the past."

Class AAA state champion Parkersburg High School is well represented on the roster thanks to seven players - defenders Matt Brooks, Scott McClure and Zach Higginbotham; midfielders Evan Davis, Harlen Gibson and Kieran Spader as well as striker Matt Sellers.

"We'll definitely be the underdog," Rose said of trying to get out of the pool.

Marietta High School senior-to-be Chris Stollar is the keeper and the other strikers for the Rapids are Keith Schwendeman of Marietta and Jon Michael Starner of Warren High School.

Ravenswood is represented by midfielder Cole Gurtis. Other midfielders include Zach Hill (Marietta) and Caleb Jones (Warren). Matt Morrison of Marietta and Daniel Scott of Warren also are defenders for the Rapids.

"We're one of 50 teams in the country who get to go out and play for a national championship," added the coach.