After starting the season 3-2 in the non-region portion of the schedule the Emery High School boy’s soccer team will open up Region 15 play with a road contest against the Grand Red Devils Tuesday afternoon in Moab.

With the season still less than two weeks old, the Spartans have played five tune-up games in only eight days. The compact, busy schedule includes two road games and three more on a neutral site in St. George.

After dropping the season opener 4-1 to Layton Christian on March 5, the Spartans responded with a 5-1 victory over Gunnison two days later. Emery added three more games to it’s resume’ at a St. George Tournament; the first was a 2-0 win over Juab, followed by a 7-0 defeat at the hands of Morgan. The Spartans wrapped up the weekend by stopping Union 1-0.

“It was a good experience and the team had a lot of fun,” said head coach Troy Winter Monday on KOAL’s Drive Time Sports. “We played three game in two days, and it was kind of the tale of three teams. We spent a lot of hours on the field, so I chalk it up to being a good weekend outing.”

So far this season the Spartans have been led by Parker Sermon, a four-year starter who has scored a team best five goals. Sermon also delivered a hat trick in the 5-1 win over Gunnison on March 7.

Brock Winter has provided Emery with a solid second option offensively scoring three goals so far this season. During the road trip to St. George Winter scored a goal in both of the team’s wins.

“We have kids who realize their role and it’s just a matter of getting them to fine tune their skills,” said Winter. “We have confidence and we know we are good enough to host another first round playoff game this season.”

Following Tuesday’s region opener with Grand the Spartans will return home for meeting with the mighty Manti Templars on Thursday.