DonJuan named WAC Player of Year

By: John Zetmeir

The Dodge City High School boys soccer team have earned more than statewide recognition for winning the 6A state championship last Saturday.

On Tuesday, the Red Demons earned national recognition. Dodge City jumped all the way to No. 6 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s Super 25.

Along with being the No. 6 ranked team in the country, the Red Demons are the No. 1 ranked team in Region VII which includes Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.

“It was unexpected,” Dodge City head coach Saul Hernandez said. “I was just hoping to break the top 25 but seeing them rank us so high is a sign that these boys are starting to get the respect that I think they deserve and that they have deserved for the last couple of years.”

It was Dodge City’s wins over Shawnee Mission East and Olathe East that ultimately propelled them to be recognized as a nationally ranked team. Both Shawnee Mission East and Olathe East spent time in the Super 25 this season.

Not only does the national ranking add a cherry on top of Dodge City’s historic season, it will also help open new doors for Red Demons who hope to play college soccer.

“It’s going to start getting the boys exposed to some bigger colleges,” Hernandez said. “So now I can get more coaches asking about the boys because being ranked No. 6 in the nation is going to open up some eyes.”

Since returning from Wichita on Saturday, Hernandez admitted that things have been a little hectic for the team, though not in a bad way.

On Monday, the Red Demons were recognized at city hall.

There will be a community celebration at Memorial Stadium on Thursday at 5:45 p.m.

“We don’t mind the exposure for the program,” Hernandez said. “This is what everybody wanted in the program, it’s happened and now we have to know how to handle the situation in the best way possible.”

ALL CONFERENCE HONORS

Six Red Demons in all earned Western Athletic Conference honors this season.

Led by junior Joshua DonJuan who was named WAC Player of the Year, Francisco Cayetano, Miguel Baca and Mario Martinez all earned first team honors.

Juniors Eddie Del Toro and Cesar Alvarez were placed on the Second Team All-WAC list. For the second season in a row, Hernandez was named WAC Coach of the Year.

Since Hernandez took over as head coach prior to the 2015 season, the Red Demons are 16-0 in conference play with two outright WAC titles.

Dodge City advances to state championship game with 2-0 win

By: John Zetmeir

WICHITA – For the first 10 minutes of Friday night’s 6A state semifinal game, the Dodge City High School boys soccer team struggled to get possession of the ball.

After the shaky start, the Red Demons began to settle in Dodge City controlled the ball for much of the evening on their way to a 2-0 win over Shawnee Mission East which earned the Red Demons a spot in the 6A state championship game for the first time in school history.

“We just needed to get into a rhythm,” Dodge City head coach Saul Hernandez said. “(East) pressured high, they touched the ball well and they played a formation which we aren’t used to seeing. After we got a little bit of a rhythm going, we started playing our game and I didn’t see us slow down after that.”

The Red Demons (20-0) had four shots on goal before junior Joshua DonJuan scored his 25th, and most important, goal of the season.

The goal came 23 minutes before the halftime break.

“That goal was big for us,” Hernandez said. “It gave us confidence, it gave us momentum and it opened the game up more for us. We had a lot of opportunities after that.”

With 20 minutes to play in the game, junior Cesar Alvarez cemented the win with his third goal of the season.

“We felt at home,” DonJuan said. “It was amazing. There was a lot of fans that came from Dodge City to support us.”

Dodge City defender Eli Ortega suffered an early injury that limited the senior captain’s minutes for most of the evening. When Ortega had to come out, it was sophomore Alexis Alvarez that filled in.

“(Alvarez) had some big shoes to fill for Eli and he did a really good job,” Hernandez said. “We told him that his performance was outstanding.”

Last season, the Red Demons were happy to end their season with a win in the consolation game. It earned Dodge City it’s first soccer state trophy in school history.

This season a trip to the consolation game would have been a disappointment in the eyes of both the coaches and players.

“I think it gives the boys more purpose,” Hernandez said. “If we would’ve lost, it would have been kind of hard to get their heads in it because we wouldn’t have celebrated third place like we did last year. To have the opportunity to be in the championship game is something special. It’s what we’ve been looking for and hopefully we can put it together.”

Coincidentally, the Red Demons will meet Olathe East for the second season in a row. The two teams met in the consolation game last year where Dodge City topped the Hawks 4-1.

The 6A championship game will begin at 2 p.m. at Wichita South.

Return trip, better prepared

By: John Zetmeir

It would be an understatement to say that high school soccer in Kansas is dominated by teams on the eastern side of the state.

Since the classifications for soccer started in 1991, only two 6A teams located west of Topeka have won a state championship. Wichita North, who is currently a 6A school, won a state title in 1989.

Most of the teams that have won state championships, in any classification, that are located west of Topeka reside in the greater Wichita area. In 2011, Liberal became the first true western Kansas team to win a boys soccer state champions when they captured the 5A title.

While the lopsided numbers might suggest a talent discrepancy,soccer has been a staple in communities in western Kansas.

Dodge City High School head coach Saul Hernandez, a Dodge City native, does not think it is a lack of talent that has separated the western teams from competing at the highest level. He believes than main factor has been discipline, particularly in his hometown.

“If you’re not disciplined off the field, you’re not going to be disciplined on the field,” Hernandez said. “There has been some top teams from Dodge City but since they don’t have that discipline, they don’t work together as a team and that’s what’s gone wrong.”

When Hernandez arrived back in Dodge City prior to the 2015 season, he knew that he needed to groom his team into one that had discipline. He wanted a team that would both win and lose with class. Though, he has not had to deal with much losing since his arrival.

He recognized the talent level from the very first day of practice and his team respected him enough to listen and accept his coaching.

“We get along with coach (Hernandez),” Dodge City junior Joshua DonJuan said. “We can communicate with him and he understands more about soccer than our previous coaches. Basically, we have more chemistry than we did before.”

The Dodge City boys traveled 273 miles further than the next closest school for last year’s state semifinals. It was a new experience for both Hernandez and his players.

“We’ve been there before so we’re experienced,” Dodge City junior Miguel Baca said. “The nerves aren’t all there like they were last year. We’re a lot more composed this year.”

The Red Demons (19-0) earned a second-consecutive trip to the semifinals with a 3-0 win over Garden City on Tuesday.As a player, the furthest Hernandez ever got in the state playoffs was the quarterfinals. As the Red Demons’ head coach, he boasts a 38-2 record.

When they arrive in Wichita they will, again, be the only team from a community west of Topeka.

“The boys want to prove that we do know how to play soccer over here,” Hernandez said. “Even when I was playing, we didn’t get the respect that I thought we deserved and these boys are 100 times better than we were. I just want everyone to recognize and see what I see in them because they are a great group of boys and they are great soccer players as well.”

In last year’s semifinals, the Red Demons lost to Blue Valley Northwest after conceding a goal 10 seconds before the halftime break. Blue Valley Northwest went on to win the state championship.

Hernandez had “10 seconds” inscribed on this year’s team shirts to remind his team how one mistake in a small amount of time can cost a team a shot at their ultimate objective. That goal is something that still motivates the players who were apart of last year’s team.

“We still look back at that and think, what if?” Baca said.

In order to play for a 6A state championship, the Red Demons will have to get past Shawnee Mission East (17-1-1) in the first semifinal at Wichita South on Friday evening. The Lancers’ lone loss this season is to Olathe East (18-1) who is also in the semifinals.

Dodge City and Shawnee Mission East will kickoff at 5 p.m.