It’s been a whirlwind month for the Durango High School boys soccer program.
And it’s been a whirlwind year for its new head coach.
Kenny Wood abruptly resigned his post almost exactly a month ago, and the Demons turned to girls soccer head coach Dalon Parker to jump in on short notice – two days before varsity tryouts, in fact.
And after that quick transition, it’s time for DHS to hop into the regular season against Hinkley High School from Aurora at 3 p.m. Saturday at Riverview Sports Complex.
The Demons, fresh off a 9-4-3 campaign, had to adjust to Parker’s coaching style and his variety of formations rather quickly and work several new players into bigger roles after the graduation of 12 seniors from a year ago. But after having some time to get everything in order, senior Zeb Soignier said the Demons are ready to roll.
“It took awhile to get adjusted, but ultimately we persevered,” said Soignier, son of Brian and JoC Soignier. “We love having Dalon. We think he’s doing a lot of good for the program.”
For Parker, having 14 seniors listed on the roster alongside a trio of juniors helped trim the learning curve. His job, he said, is to point the team in the right direction and let them do what they do from there.
“They get to the point where they have their ways, and coach comes in to kind of direct the ship – not just take over, but direct it and let them know that I’m here to put some pieces and puzzles in place to make sure we’re successful,” Parker said. “But at the end of the day, it’s your team.”
Nick Aggeler, Soignier and Cameron Treeharne return to give the Demons scoring punch after ranking at or near the top of the team scoring list in 2012. The key for DHS will be how well it can mesh defensively.
Goalkeeper Ben Marvin-Vanderyn and defensive staples such as Ian Bowers, Mason Johnston and Seumus McAliney graduated, leaving holes in need of filling as the Demons look to return to the top of the Southwestern League and make a deep postseason run.
“We definitely needed to work on a lot of things, like, obviously, our defense, which is what we’ve been doing with Dalon,” said Aggeler, son of Cheryle and Terence Aggeler. “I think Dalon was an excellent choice.”
It’s been quite the year personally for Parker. He started off last year as the junior varsity girls basketball coach before moving on to the varsity girls soccer position, where he led a young Demons side to a 10-5-1 record, a 6-3-1 SWL mark and a playoff berth before a first-round exit after a 2-0 loss to Discovery Canyon.
Now, he’s in charge of both varsity soccer programs at a school that tends to have high expectations for both programs.
“It was something where coaching is something I felt has been a calling for me. Everybody has that calling,” Parker said.
Saturday’s opener will bring another change of sorts: Very rarely, if ever, has a Front Range team come down to Durango for a nonplayoff game. Typically, to build up schedule strength, DHS has to travel several hours to the Front Range during the first few weekends of the year in what can be taxing road trips. Saturday’s game with Hinkley is the return matchup of a home-and-home series; the two teams played to a 1-1 tie last year.
“It’s very exciting. It’s a great way to start off our season, see where we’re at,” Soignier said.
“I think we tied them last season. (So we want to) redeem ourselves, go for the win,” Aggeler said.
rowens@ durangoherald.com
