Peyton Takes Home Male Gamer of the Week Honors
Teays Physical Therapy Center, Inc. and The Putnam Herald are pleased to present this week’s male Gamer of the Week to senior, Huston Peyton of the Hurricane High School soccer team.
The Hurricane Redskins are nearly always a mainstay near the top of the AAA boys’ soccer rankings, but with this season shrouded in a cloud of uncertainty, the Redskins have had to employ new tactics to stay near the top. Senior captain and central defender, Huston Peyton has been one of the members leading the squad through this tough time. At the time of writing, Hurricane bears a record of 3-1-2 with wins coming over Robert C. Byrd, Huntington, and Parkersburg. In those 6 games, the Redskins have shut out their opponents three times in large part to the play on the back line by Peyton. Head coach, Cody Freas noted that one of the strengths of this year’s squad is in fact their defense. “We have a really good defense this year and Huston is a big part of that. He’s tough, gritty, smart, and a leader on and off the field for us.”
When pondering the difficulty that this season brings with the potential of playing a few games then not being able to play for several weeks, Huston noted, “When we get to practice, we are focused and trying to get better all the time, but the tough part comes when we are told we can’t practice as a team. When that comes about, you must hope that everyone is staying well-conditioned on their own and remain ready to go. I think we’ve done a rather good job of that so far in the year.” Huston also noted that after winning a state title as a freshman, he would love to close his high school career with another championship. “Winning a state championship is an obvious goal. I would love to go out that way. A personal goal of mine is to make first team all-state since I made second team last year.” He mentions GW, Huntington, Cabell Midland, and Wheeling Park as some of the teams they to move past towards that title.
Picking up the game at the age of 12, Huston answered that his favorite part about soccer is just being able to be around his friends and hang out with them, not to mention that soccer is good exercise. He has since gone into it as a full year activity, playing as a member of the school team in the fall and as a part of 2 different travel teams throughout the rest of the year. He believes that this work ethic, which he says he gets from his Dad, is what has led him to such vast improvements in his game.
Huston is carrying a 3.5 GPA into his final year of high school and has also been a member of the swim team. He plans to attend Virginia Tech next year to study architecture.
Please look for other local high school athletes to be named in next week’s male Gamer of the Week Sponsored by Teays Physical Therapy Center, Inc. and The Putnam Herald.