Entering last fall, coming off back-to-back seasons playing for Howard's JV program, Matt Blum was largely an unknown commodity. In fact, in the early stages of his junior season, the Lions' defender found himself simply battling for playing time.
But fast forward to this season and Blum has quietly transformed himself into one of the county's top back-line players on a Howard defense that has served as the anchor behind a 5-3-1 start to league play. It's the best opening mark against county competition for the program since the team went 6-0-1 and won the county championship in 1990.
If ever there was a poster child for how far hard work and determination can take someone, Blum would be it.
With the regular season winding down and the playoffs on the horizon, he recently sat down with Sports Editor Brent Kennedy to discuss the team's start to the year, his journey to becoming a team leader and what lies ahead.
When you look at your guys' start so far, would you say you are ahead of schedule in terms of your preseason expectations or right on track?
I would say we have probably exceeded our expectations in the sense that we knew going in that we had a strong team that was going to be competitive in the league, but I don't think we necessarily thought we'd be as far along as we are so quickly. We just had a lot of guys stepping up into new roles coming into the year. Starting off the season, though, with two strong wins against Reservoir and Atholton, I think we started getting a real rhythm to our play and we gained a ton of confidence. And, you know, probably the biggest turning point was the game we lost against [Mt.] Hebron. Even though we lost, we showed that we could be extremely competitive against probably the best team in the county. Since then, we've really built on that effort.
Despite the hot start, you guys still haven't garnered a ton of buzz around the county. Do you feel like a team that's still flying under the radar?
From the team perspective, it's really just been about focusing on our game and making sure we're coming out and giving it our all every single day. Playing hard and smart soccer every single time, something we've struggled with in the past, is just so important for us. But, sure, I do feel like some teams may still be overlooking us and that's fine. We just can't go in with that mindset. We always have to be prepared for every game and treat it like that is the most important 80 minutes we are ever going to play.
While things have been mostly positive so far, you guys did suffer a lopsided 7-1 loss to Centennial earlier this fall. What did that game do in terms of helping you guys grow and come together as a team?
Going into that game we just were not in the right mindset. We saw it right from the start, they came out and scored a couple goals early on in the first half and it just got worse from there. Honestly, that was a tough loss to take. You never want to get embarrassed like that. But going forward, we definitely used that game as motivation that we had to do some things differently. I definitely think it was an important lesson.
On the flip side, you've had some big wins that included a win over a strong Hammond team just a week after the Centennial loss. What did that game prove in terms of your ability to regroup?
That game was really important for a lot of reasons, but more than anything it proved to ourselves that we could put the ball in the back of the net. The first half it was tied 0-0, but we came out in the second half and really capitalized on our chances to score three straight goals. On the other side, we also did a really good job I thought against a Hammond attack that has some really good players this year. We contained their offense throughout the game, allowing just the one goal on a free kick, to make the lead stand up and earn a big win.
In terms of your personal progression as a player, what has your high school experience been like and what has it taken for you to get to this point?
Playing at Howard the past four years, I've had a wonderful opportunity to play alongside some of the most amazing guys. Each and every day, I've tried to put forth my best effort and I definitely feel like I've gotten that from them as well. So we've really pushed each other. Going through those two JV years, it really helped me in terms of getting used to playing with the guys and the system that we want to play with. Then on varsity last year, just getting minutes and getting comfortable playing at that level … it really has all added up to me feeling ready to have the best senior season possible.
Thinking back to your freshman year, did you envision you would eventually find yourself as a varsity starter and leader?
I've always been very passionate about soccer, going all the back to when I first started playing at four or five years old. So I knew that playing on the varsity soccer team at Howard was something that I definitely wanted to do and I knew that I was going to work hard to get there. But I don't think I knew in my head the kind of impact I was going to have, and even going into this season I honestly didn't know exactly what my role was going to be. I just told myself to be ready to fill whatever role the team needed me in. As it turned out, being a leader and an anchor for the team in the back was what we needed and I'm just trying to provide that the best I can.
What's it like playing in front of a goalie like Brendan [Hartlove], who has a couple years of varsity experience under his belt?
Brendan is obviously a very strong keeper, but I think the best thing about him is that he's just a great human being on and off the field. His personality and his ability to communicate, it just creates a great connection between himself and the defenders in front of him. Having him back there definitely takes pressure off guys like Zach [Coyle] and myself, allowing us to focus on ourselves and on working together because we know that he's going to take care of things on his end.
When you aren't playing soccer, what are some of your other interests?
I'm actually really interested in research. I've done documentary film making for a few years and I enjoy that. I've done some informative films, mainly focusing on government — which is a strong passion of mine — public policy and public health.
So big picture, while you guys are maybe ahead of where you expected to be at this point as a team, how do you make sure to still peak at the right time similar to the way last year's group did on the way to the region title game?
Last season we had a great run in playoffs and definitely played our best at the end. So, while we have come out a lot stronger than last year's team did and gotten some wins under our belt, I don't feel that the formula or game plan changes that much. Honestly, even though we are playing well, I don't think this team has peaked yet. We've still got bigger and better things to come. We have that experience of winning in the playoffs, we know what it takes and we're working every day to give ourselves the best chance of reaching that ultimate goal at the end of the season.