KALONA

If you listened real closely the night of April 18 in the rolling hills of southwest Johnson County, where Hillcrest Academy is located, you just may have heard the singing of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” echoing through those hills.

Just like Liverpool.

Football.

On this special night, outfitted in red Liverpool FC uniforms, Hillcrest’s boys soccer team delivered a memorable win for a coach who loves Liverpool FC and certainly celebrated Liverpool’s Premier League championship four years ago.

Marcus Miller, whose soccer passion with Hillcrest and Iowa Mennonite School goes back to the 1970s when he played a starring role in the school’s only unbeaten season, captured his 300th coaching victory April 18 in the Raven’s 2-1 win over Danville.

Ravens players surrounded and mobbed their coach and posed for photographs.

They didn’t break into a song, but if they had, it would have been the famous anthem of Liverpool football, “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” by Gerry and the Pacemakers.

Miller taught the song to his players aboard Hillcrest’s bus during a road trip. And it stuck.

The song isn’t all that Miller has taught over the years. After the win over Danville, comments from former players were read over the public-address system. Among the many listening in the big crowd were Ledru Miller and Noah Hughes, his assistant coaches, and Truman Shetler, the girls soccer coach at Mid-Prairie who played for Miller.

The words hit the coach deeply.

“You see these kids grow up and have success,” he said.

“I’ve been here a long time,” said Miller, whose 31st year of coaching has seen the Ravens win their first seven games. “I’ve been blessed to have good kids to work with, good assistant coaches, good administrators and ADs. This made it much easier. Families that have been supportive.”

“Marcus has earned the respect of his players,” said Dwight Gingerich, Hillcrest’s principal and boys basketball coach. “Built a great relationship with the guys, works hard at it. You can tell his passion for the game is real.”

But where did he learn this game? It happened in phys ed class, when the teacher wanted to teach his students this “new sport.”

“He made us put our hands in our pockets because you can’t use your hands,” Miller said, laughing.

That’s where the passion began.

“The soccer field was like home to me,” he said. “It seemed like I knew where to go.”

He played at IMS for three years and was joined in 1976 by Gingerich when the team won all 14 games it played to post an unbeaten season.

“He was a great player,” Gingerich said. “He was a star. He was one of our key players.”

Even now, Miller shrugs off such a compliment. That’s his style, a quiet demeanor that somehow pulls the best out of his players, both on the field and in the classroom where he teaches social studies.

“It’s just been fun to see this team be strong through the years. He’s just really good with the kids,” Gingerich said. “Very dependable. Reliable. Helps me so much across the board in school. He’s a great human being.”

But a 300th career win was quiet. Too quiet. Hughes was pushing Miller to look at those 31 years of coaching records. Finally, after a 1-0 win against Burlington Notre Dame on April 12, Miller did the math. He was just one win away.

“I knew it was getting close,” he said. “But I didn’t want to look. After we beat Notre Dame that weekend, I looked.”

And he didn’t tell the team. No pressure.

As the final minutes ticked off in the milestone victory, everyone on the Hillcrest bench stood. A final defensive clearing clinched it. Soon, the 300 wins banner was unfurled and Marcus Miller’s 31st team celebrated with him in front of the home bleachers.

Yes, you never walk alone.

Those Liverpool-style jerseys are put away now. But not forever.

“We’ll probably pull them out some other time this year,” he said.

Liverpool would be proud.

News columnist Paul Bowker can be reached at bowkerpaul1@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @bowkerpaul