Going all out

On the soccer field, there's not too many that will outwork Timmy Mueller.

A case could be made for that in the classroom as well.

Mueller, a 6-foot-3 senior striker, will graduate from Post Falls High in January and join the Oregon State men's soccer team, where he's verbally committed to play soccer.

"I took two online courses through the IDLA (Idaho Digital Learning Academy) and am taking six core classes this fall," Mueller said. "I'm required to take two semesters of government - one I took over the summer - and an English class."

He's also taking classes in trigonometry and honors calculus this fall and his current grade point average is a 4.2. He intends to study engineering at OSU.

"I just like both math and science," Mueller said. "I think it would be interesting."

He has a work ethic instilled in him by his father, Roland - who is a real estate agent for Century 21 - and his mother, Erin.

"He just loves supporting our family and making sure that we've got the best we can have," Mueller said of his dad. "If he could, he'd spend everything for us and nothing for him unless my mom told him to. He's just someone that I hope someday to be like him."

The Post Falls boys soccer team enters play this week 2-2 in the 5A Inland Empire League, one year after Mueller led the Trojans to their first state soccer championship in school history.

"It's a team thing where I don't want to let them down," Mueller said. "They expect a lot from me, and I expect a lot from them. It's a mutual thing. If you expect someone to do something, you need to be able to do the same thing."

"When it comes to work ethic, you can't question it during games," Lake City High coach Chad Beadell said. "In four years, I have not seen him take a game off, or even a play off. Kudos to his parents for being great role models to Timmy. He is one of those guys that you can tell he wants it and will achieve everything he wants by how hard he works."

Some of the other top schools interested in Mueller were Gonzaga, UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara.

"Corvallis really felt like where I should be," Mueller said. "The team is really unified together and really close," Mueller said. "The coaching staff is phenomenal. It just blew me away just how close they really are as a group," Mueller said. "The academic spectrum of it is that I want to do something with engineering and they've got one of the most respected programs in the nation. It's a really fit class, especially with their success with the striking positions."

Mueller is approaching 100 goals for his high school career, and is sitting at 95 entering today's match against Lake City - his final regular season home match. Post Falls' final regular season game is Thursday at Coeur d'Alene.

"My goal wasn't to score 100 goals," Mueller said. "The main goal the entire time has been to win games. If the defense is doing something right, all of it goes to the defense."

Mueller entered his senior year with 74 goals, and has had at least two goals in all but four matches this season.

"As long as you get the job done on the field, that's the most important thing to me," Mueller said. "It's more a signal of how hard you worked and dedication over time. It was kind of nice to start as a freshman and help the team out, then develop into a leader and someone to follow and looked up to on the team. The whole goal thing is just a footnote."

Trying to contain Mueller - both Beadell and Coeur d'Alene coach Jeff Lake - have their ideas.

"When coaching against Timmy, you have to have a mark on him at all times and two guys on him during corner kicks and free kicks if he is not taking it," Beadell said. "You have to gameplan for him and know where he is at all times. He is just that kind or type of player that makes you worry at all times. Timmy is to Gabe what (goalkeeper) Tanner (Horton) is to me. You never have to question what they bring to practice, game and most important, to the team."

"Coaching against Timmy is extremely difficult," Lake said. "He is fast, quick, strong, technically gifted and tactically brilliant. He really has no flaws to his game. He's been tormenting the IEL for four years, and has been one of the top - if not the top - player in the league each year. He rallies and leads his team, and is a positive influence both on and off the field. He is a terror to coach against due to the fact that there is not much you can do. He is one of the best soccer players who will ever come out of North Idaho and the entire state."

"It got to the point where I had to give him our bag of soccer balls," Post Falls coach Gabe Lawson said. "He's the first one out here during the school year, and nine times out of 10, he's the last to leave. He gets up every morning at 4:30 a.m. and goes to the high school gym to lift weights at 5, even on match days."

Following last Thursday's loss at Lewiston, Mueller stayed late - real late - at the field, working on his game after the team returned to Post Falls.

"He got off the bus and shot soccer balls in the dark until midnight," Lawson said. "That's his work ethic. It's uncanny. All summer long, when he wasn't working, he was at The Dome in Hayden, working on his game. He never tires and is always working at it. It's like nothing I've ever seen. I've had players that were driven, but not to his extent."

"Timmy works tirelessly whether his team is up or down," Lake said. "He is a coach's dream to have on your team as he is always on go and stays at the utmost highest consistency throughout the game. He leads by example, and that example is hardworking, respectful and always 100 percent. His work ethic is through the roof, and I have never seen that falter in the four years coaching against Timmy."

During his junior year, Mueller also was the kicker on the Post Falls football team - but never was considering being a dual athlete in college.

"I wasn't bad at it," Mueller said. "But I didn't practice it that much. My main priority was toward the soccer team. Kicking was a side thing trying to help my friends out. It was fun, and a little more stressful than soccer because I don't do it a lot."

Kicking field goals was a lot like penalty kicks in soccer.

"With a PK, everyone expects you to make it," Mueller said. "But if you miss it, it's like 'Are you kidding me.' It's too stressful and I didn't want to go into it."

Post Falls is aiming for a third straight trip to state in soccer.

"It means we've got a versatile team," Mueller said. "It's not just me scoring goals, it starts with (goalkeeper) Noah (Gondo) shutting down people in goal and getting it to our outsides and middle and going from there and finding a way to attack. It's not just me making the pass through and dribbling through, there's those guys that are helping me get those goals."

Lawson, in his 11th year at the helm in Post Falls, is six wins from 100 for his career.

"I've learned that dedication really pays off," Mueller said. "He didn't have the best teams starting off here, but his persistence of wanting to get better and that drive to get his teams better for the last couple of years. He took this school from the beginning to a state championship and we've gotten better each year. His work ethic is something that I take pride in and use it in my everyday life. The work ethic I've learned from Gabe and my dad is something I'll cherish forever."