Introducing the 2021 Wichita Eagle All-Metro high school boys soccer team
The Wichita Eagle announced its 18th annual All-Metro boys soccer team on Friday, recognizing some of the best high school soccer players in the state of Kansas from the 2021 season.
The All-Metro first team features the top 11 players and the top coach from Sedgwick, Butler and Harvey counties, based on statistics, team success, postseason recognition and area coach’s feedback. Trinity Academy senior defender Ethan Cary was named the Player of the Year after another dominant season that helped Trinity reach its third straight Class 4-1A state championship game.
Here is the full look at the 2021 Wichita Eagle All-Metro boys soccer team:
Wichita Eagle All-Metro boys soccer first team
Uriel Aguilera-Fernandez, Wichita North senior forward
The leading goal scorer on the best North squad in three decades, Aguilera-Fernandez led all of Class 6A in scoring with 28 goals to go along with seven assists. He was a first team all-state selection in 6A, as he helped lead North to a 17-3-1 record, which included the program’s first City League championship and first trip to the state semifinals since 1991 after knocking off the defending state champions, Dodge City, on the road in a 2-1 win and ending their 38-match unbeaten streak.
North coach Curt Wullschlegler: “He just has an exquisite touch on the ball and the creativity and focus and drive to take on players and take chances and put defenses on their heels in a way that I’m not sure I’ve ever seen before in the players I’ve coached. But my favorite thing about him is his personal growth as a leader and just a young man being responsible and taking a leadership role and just really growing personally. Wherever he ends up going next, someone is going to be awfully lucky to have him.”
Ethan Cary, Trinity Academy senior defender
A two-time All-Metro selection and this season’s Class 4-1A Defender of the Year, Cary has a strong claim for being one of the best defenders in the entire state. The 6-foot-3 center back has been the foundation of Trinity’s defense for the last three seasons, which have all ended in an appearance in the Class 4-1A state championship game. Trinity’s defense pitched four straight shutouts in the postseason, then lost 2-1 in overtime to Bishop Miege in the finals.
Trinity coach Casey Casamento: “Ethan is the full package. He has the size, the speed, the height, the physicality, the mindset, the intelligence and the skill. He can play any position and lead any defense. What sets him apart is his ability to lock down any player on the field, while reading the game and and having the ability to win the ball and keep possession for us.”
Vitor Geromel, Maize South sophomore forward
An ascendant star near the top of the field, Geromel’s breakout coincided with Maize South’s best season to date. The Mavericks finished with an 18-2-1 record, shared the AV-CTL Division I title with Derby and reached their third state championship game, playing their most competitive game in a 3-2 loss to Blue Valley Southwest. Geromel played the false nine role, sitting behind leading goal-scorer Peyton Wilson and orchestrating the attack so well that he earned the Class 5A Forward of the Year and MVP of the AV-CTL Division I honors.
Maize South coach Rey Ramirez: “What makes him special is what he does off the field when the lights aren’t on him. Everyone sees what happens in the games and the quality he shows come game time, but he puts in so much work on his own to improve his skill. Vitor is the type of player who fills the holes and gaps in defenses where the average forward wouldn’t even imagine to. It’s the quality in his touches and dribbling to get from Point A to Point B. He just finds the most creative routes to get to goal and then he has such quality in his finishing.”
Connor Inlow, Augusta senior midfielder
Augusta practically rewrote its record books this season with the most explosive attack in the state and Inlow was the engine powering the machine. He finished with 17 goals and 19 assists, helping Augusta to its first AV-CTL Division III-IV championship and its first appearance in the Class 4-1A state semifinals. Not only did Inlow earn first team all-state and all-league honors, but coaches voted him the Midfielder of the Year in 4-1A.
Augusta coach Dusty Buell: “Where Connor disrupts the game is just how he controls the middle of the field better than any player that I have ever coached or seen in our league since I’ve been here. His defense really sets him apart and he is a true box-to-box midfielder that just makes everyone around him better. He’s the smartest player I’ve ever coached and the most talented player I’ve ever had.”
Kaden Kearney, Augusta senior forward
No one in the state had a better nose for goal than Kearney, who led all scorers in Kansas with 35 goals playing as the team’s striker. Augusta had unprecedented success with its first league championship and its first trip to the state semifinals because of a potent offense that was powered by Kearney. He earned first team all-league and all-state honors in Class 4-1A, as the Orioles finished their historic season with a 17-4 record.
Augusta coach Dusty Buell: “Kaden was our number one target in our offense and he delivered. He was our go-to guy on every set piece and a lot of his goals this season came off his head. He was so good in the air. He’s just someone with a nose for the goal and he kept us in a lot of games this season. He was a true forward in every sense of the word.”
Alex Kirsten-Westgard, Trinity Academy senior goalkeeper
A two-time first team all-state selection, Kirsten-Westgard has been the class of the area for two years running. Playing one of the toughest schedules in the area, which included games against all three defending state champions, Kirsten-Westgard allowed just 17 goals during a 15-6 season that ended with Trinity’s third straight appearance in the Class 4-1A state championship game.
Trinity coach Casey Casamento: “You can’t fully appreciate the success that they had without understanding the difficulty of our schedule as a 3A school. Alex is a keeper with a fighter spirit who is physical, technical and is not afraid to protect his box. When you play quality teams, you know your keeper is going to have to come up big at some point in the game and Alex regularly did that for us. He shut players down 1-on-1 and he came up with just some incredible saves in the clutch for us.”
Bergen Loveless, Bishop Carroll senior midfielder
One of the best box-to-box midfielders in the area, Loveless was a two-way force in the City League in his final season. His quality as a central attacking midfielder was recognized by the coaches after helping Carroll finish with a 13-5-1 record and another trip to the Class 5A quarterfinals, as the four-year starter was voted the 5A Midfielder of the Year on the all-state team. Loveless will play at the next level for Division II South Dakota School of Mines.
Carroll coach Mike Skaggs: “He’s a soccer and basketball player and I think the field vision in both sports is very similar and the skill set really transfers well. Bergen was the captain of the team and everything we did went through him. He can put the ball right on your foot wherever you are and he sees the passing lanes so well and distributes the ball. He actually plays defender in club, so anytime there’s a turnover he’s really good at tracking back on defense and helping us win it back.
Cade Martin, Valley Center senior midfielder
A two-time All-Metro selection, Martin saved his best season for his last as he helped carry a Valley Center program that had struggled to its first trip to the state semifinals in program history following a shootout upset at Bishop Carroll in the Class 5A quarterfinals. Martin scored 15 goals to go along with nine assists, doing a little bit of everything as a center midfielder for the Hornets to earn the AV-CTL Division II MVP for the second year in a row. Martin, who has signed with Kansas City, earned first team all-state honors in 5A again and ended his career as the program’s all-time leader in points and assists.
Valley Center coach Matt Coleman: “For a high school player, he truly has no weaknesses. He’s so technically sound. He’s big, strong, physical, fast. He could honestly be our best player at any position in the field. You get a lot of talent at the high school level that’s really good, but they almost always have that one thing that they struggle with. There’s literally nothing in the game that Cade struggles with. He’s just such a complete player.”
Sergio Najera-Garcia, Wichita North senior midfielder
No one could play the beautiful game quite like North and Najera-Garcia was the engine in the middle of the field making a lot of it happen. His best highlights came when he was attacking and threading passes to break down the defense, but the dirty work he did tracking back on defense was the stuff that helped North to a 17-3-1 record, its first City League title and its first trip to the Class 6A state semifinals since 1991. Najera-Garcia finished the season with three goals and eight assists, while earning first team all-state honors in 6A.
North coach Curt Wullschleger: “Pretty much everything we did offensively went through Sergio. He controlled the tempo for us and played our center defensive mid role. He was the link between the defense and the offense for us. He has an incredible creative vision and an ability to win the ball in the air and read people’s passes and get into passing lanes and pick off passes. He was very important to how we played and a big reason why we had the success that we did.”
Scott Simmons, Derby senior defender
How did Derby go from a mediocre team last season to a 15-2-2 season with a shared AV-CTL Division I championship and a trip to the Class 6A quarterfinals? A huge reason was because Simmons moved from a midfielder role to centerback, where he could anchor a Derby defense that was among the toughest to score on in the area. Simmons earned first team all-league and all-state honors in 6A for his standout play this season, partnering with a superb goalkeeper in Xhavier “Gato” Vaquera.
Derby coach Paul Burke: “Scott was definitely the heart and soul of our team. You wish you had more of him leadership-wise. He’s an extension of us on the field. He really does everything for us. I could probably not even coach and he would just do it all. He was fearless as a player. He would run through a brick wall if that’s what it took to win a game. He could shut down the other team’s best forward or keep us organized and make sure we didn’t get broken down as a team. Scott was a great center mid for us, but Scott playing center back is what took us from an eight-win team to a 15-win team. That’s the type of player he is.”
Peyton Wilson, Maize South senior forward
Few could match the intensity and shear tenacity of Wilson for seeking out goals. The Maize South striker led the team in scoring, helping the Mavericks to an 18-2-1 record, a share of the AV-CTL Division I title and the program’s third appearance in the Class 5A state championship game. He earned first team all-league honors, as well as first team all-state in 5A.
Maize South coach Rey Ramirez: “Peyton was just an absolute workhorse for us. He is so persistent and has such a drive and commitment to succeeding on the field. He’s so willing to fight for every single ball, every single chance, every single opportunity and he has the utmost degree of confidence in himself. He just finds ways to put himself in favorable positions to score in the biggest games. He scored a huge goal against Aquinas in the semifinals where he just had absolute belief on a corner that he was going to go up and get it and he did. Just that persistent belief in himself and his tenacity in front of goal really helped us become the team we were at the end of the season.”
Curt Wullschleger, Wichita North coach
While it’s hard to pass over the program-best success that Matt Coleman (Valley Center) and Dusty Buell (Augusta) delivered this season, no team pulled off a run to the state semifinals with a higher degree of difficulty than North. After winning the program’s first City League championship, North upset defending champion Dodge City, ending its 38-match unbeaten streak, in a 2-1 win on the road in the quarterfinals to punch North’s ticket to the state semifinals for the first time since 1991. North held a halftime lead in the semifinals, but ultimately fell in what still was a historic 17-3-1 season.
North coach Curt Wullschleger: “This season was so rewarding on so many levels. Being undefeated City League champions for the first time was just surreal. The support from our fans and parents was second to none. It was so cool seeing that kind of support and just the smiles on the kids’ faces after winning and watching them celebrate after by going out and eating wings together. We put in so much work for this. It was emotionally and physically draining, so to have so much success makes it all worthwhile.”
All-Metro second team
Payton Ball, Augusta senior forward
Justin Brokaw, Kapaun Mt. Carmel senior forward
Jared Cromly, Andover Central senior midfielder
Nash Crosby, Valley Center senior defender
Caleb Day, Derby senior midfielder
Jehovah Djimtotinine, Wichita North sophomore defender
Quentin Gee, Maize South senior defender
Colin Green, Trinity Academy senior midfielder
Landon Green, Trinity Academy senior forward
Devin Hake, Eisenhower senior forward
Gage Hosford, Bishop Carroll junior forward
Erik Huerta, Bishop Carroll sophomore defender
Oliver Jaberg, Maize South senior defender
Cole Matthews, Trinity Academy senior midfielder
Marcos Rodriguez, Maize South senior midfielder
Payton Simon, Maize South senior goalkeeper
Andy Sloss, Eisenhower senior midfielder
Tyler Smalley, Wichita Northwest junior defender
Alex Truong, Kapaun Mt. Carmel junior forward
Andruw Weeks, Rose Hill junior defender
Xhavier Vaquera, Derby senior goalkeeper
Leo Wurth, Andover Central senior forward
Dominic Zuniga, Goddard junior midfielder
Dusty Buell, Augusta coach
Matt Coleman, Valley Center coach
All-Metro third team
Alaa Alamood, Campus senior midfielder
Cooper Buell, Augusta sophomore midfielder
Brandon Bumgarner, Andover Central senior goalkeeper
Ben Dixon, Trinity Academy senior defender
Miles Edwards, Maize South sophomore forward
Emiliano Gallo, Wichita North senior midfielder
Collin Hershberger, Newton junior midfielder
Cooper Matthews, Trinity Academy freshman midfielder
Jack Moll, Andover junior forward
Jesse Ortiz, Wichita North senior goalkeeper
Micah Dick, Eisenhower senior defender
Alex Hoppas, Andover senior defender
Ilian Martinez-Valenciana, Wichita North senior defender
Matt McDaniel, Trinity Academy senior defender
Alvaro Quezada, Wichita North junior forward
Eddy Rachedi, Wichita Southeast senior forward
Holden Schaefer, Kapaun Mt. Carmel sophomore midfielder
Abe Vargas, Kapaun Mt. Carmel senior midfielder\u0009
Arturo Veliz, Wichita North senior forward
Gabe Villegas, Goddard senior defender
Caden Wait, Maize South sophomore defender
Connor Walcher, Campus senior defender
Eli Wilhite, Valley Center senior midfielder
Casey Casamento, Trinity Academy coach
Paul Burke, Derby coach
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