Season Preview: 5A Boys Soccer

Maize's Zack Pappan can recall how quickly he noticed the magnitude of the challenge presented by St. Thomas Aquinas in last year's Class 5A boys soccer championship match.

Like a tidal wave, the Saints outside flank players moved the ball down the line and toward the center of the pitch with clinical precision. As a defender, Pappan and his teammates seemed under constant attack.

"Of all the 5A teams we played, they were the best at being able to move the ball," Pappan said. "The level of play was just way different."

Maize had high hopes for its first state championship appearance. But like so many teams outside the Kansas City area, the Eagles struggled against an Eastern Kansas League power. Aquinas scored twice in the first three minutes, added four more goals before intermission and won 8-1.

It was the Saints' 17^th state soccer title, and the EKL's 15^th 5A championship in the past 17 years.

With six players on the Kansas High School Soccer Coaches Association All-Class 5A first team, Aquinas captured its first state title since 2014 with a 15-3-3 record. The Saints yielded 10 goals all season as goalkeeper Carter Diggs registered 15 shutouts.

"Their communication level was also very good," Pappan said. "I noticed a lot of players in their midfield were very loud, very talkative. Even their keeper would shout across the field. That's communication you usually see more of at the club level."

The result added to a decades-old quandary for 5A teams outside the EKL, particularly around the Wichita area. Goddard, in 2002, is the last team from Wichita's metro area to win 5A. McPherson captured the crown the following year as Aquinas moved up a classification and won 6A. Liberal (2011) and Salina South (2015) put temporary stops to the EKL's run of 5A titles.

Since Goddard's title 19 years ago, five current members of the EKL - Aquinas, Blue Valley West, Bishop Miege, St. James Academy and Blue Valley Southwest - have hoisted the 5A championship trophy.

"To experience what they did in that championship game, they definitely had their eyes opened to that level of play," said Maize coach Brett Womack, who takes over for Mike Pfiefer this season after spending the past seven years as an assistant at Goddard. "The guys are working hard and they want to get back to that championship game. We've got enough depth where they're competing every day for that varsity spot and a starting position, and that makes everyone better."

Maize had plenty to celebrate en route to last year's championship match. The Eagles dealt rival Maize South its only two losses of the season within a nine-day period, the latter in the regional final.

In the 5A semifinals, Maize outlasted fellow Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail League member Andover Central 2-1 in a penalty-kick shootout. While the Eagles lost to Aquinas the following day, Andover Central also dropped a 2-1 decision to Shawnee Heights in the third-place match.

"I've talked to the Aquinas and Blue Valley Southwest coaches in the summertime and we get a good look at the level they play at," Andover Central coach Steven Huskey said. "Teams like Maize, Maize South, Bishop Carroll and us, I don't think we're right there with them, but we're close. Kansas City schools do have a stranglehold on those championships, but everyone here is doing the right things as far as creating opportunities for kids and encouraging them to be at their best."

As Maize moves on without all-state forward Mikey Velasquez and midfielder Tanner Prophet, Pappan will switch to forward to try to provide the Eagles with added scoring punch. Like the challenge of competing against the state's elite northeastern teams, Pappan said, "It's a learning experience in a good way."

"This is where I want to be at as we try to get to that level," he added. "These are my boys."

As Diggs and senior Jacob Muckerman return to anchor Aquinas' defense in its bid to repeat, Shawnee Heights brings back senior defender David Skinner and junior forward Jordan Garvin from a team that finished 14-5-1. Andover Central's top returnees include all-stater and team captain Jared Cromly, a midfielder who scored seven goals and nine assists. Blue Valley Southwest, which saw its streak of three consecutive 5A titles end last season, returns senior forward and 5A first-team selection Sam Michael.