EVANSTON — After thanking everyone for attending, Red Devil soccer head coach Brian Richins opened the boys’ soccer end-of-year awards social by breaking down the evening’s agenda into three categories. 

“We’re going to celebrate, honor and look forward,” Richins said. “We’re going to celebrate these boys’ efforts and accomplishments for this season, we’re going to honor those who are finishing up with us and the awards they received, and then we’re going to look forward to a picture of what our program will look like as we move forward.”

Richins was joined by his assistant coaches, Cody Seale and Ben Gilmore, to celebrate those players who may not have earned a varsity letter, but whose contributions were no less important to the team. 

“I’d like you to project two or three years ahead as we celebrate these athletes and you will see the future of our program,” Richins said. “We’re excited about their potential.”

Participation award winners were then called forward to receive their certificates by junior varsity coach Ben Gilmore, who closed by complimenting the athletes for their marked improvement from start to finish. The list included Brayan Ontiveros, Ulises Saenz, Alex Arcadia, Jafet Godina, Rylan Worley, Carter Young, Dante Sinche, Micah Liechty, Logan Hunt, Farid Olivera, Krish Ahir, Jose Echeveria, Jake Paucarpura, Noah Anderson, Noah VanVleet, Garet Sharp, Kaden Welling, Ben Dodsworth and Nick Child.

“I really appreciate the attitudes they had all year long. They were a great group, a fun group.” Richins said of his JV group.

“I would encourage you to keep working. You are the future of our program.” Richins urged to his up-and-comers.

Varsity letter winners were then welcomed center stage by the coaching staff with Seale announcing the names of Carson Skaggs, Ramon Rivera, Beckham Carver, Latham Chandler, Victor Limon, Sean Knighton, Carter Garfias, Weston Wiley, Andrik Cortez, Bradshaw Haack, Tyus Cornia, Pablo Escalante, foreign-exchange student, Fransi Killo, and seniors Carlos Tapia, Nick Kunz and Jess Richins, Senior Brock Rigby was not present.

All-conference awards were then handed out with second-team selections Kunz, Tapia and Limon joining Escalante, Richins and Cornia named as first-team members.

Coach Richins had stated that “it is hard to say goodbye” a couple of times throughout the evening and seemed particularly choked up when turning his attention to the three seniors present, Richins, Kunz and Tapia. All were mentioned as starters from early on in their careers, two as freshmen.

“They have contributed a ton to our program. They were some of our first Evanston Express club soccer players and this senior class has done a lot for soccer in our town,” Richins said.

“When our season ends the way it did in Green River, these are the guys you hurt for the most. What they’ve done leadership wise and the kind of example they’ve set will hopefully last a long time. They’re quality guys,” the coach avowed, fighting back emotion before adding, “as good as they are as soccer players, they’re even better people.”

The three seniors each addressed the crowd, thanking their coaching staff, parents, sponsors and encouraging their teammates to build on what has begun. It was acknowledged that Kunz will continue his soccer career playing for the Generals of Sheridan College.

Team captains for the current year, Richins and Wiley, were then joined by the recently-elected Haack and Cornia, as the latter three will return to lead the team for the 2019 season, while the head coach’s son graduates in 2018.

Richins again thanked the parents and praised the effort of the booster club.

Steve Kunz, president of the booster club, said, “When we moved here, soccer was, for some kids, just an excuse to get out of class, to where we’ve seen the transition to our players just feeling crushed when they come off the field after a tight loss.”

He added that “with a few breaks, this season could have completely flipped,” referring to the team’s wins and losses, and that he sees good things in store for the Red Devil soccer program.

Richins then took the microphone for his final remarks during which he complimented his coaching staff and had individual words of praise for his players, which will be featured in Friday’s Herald. Before the coach got around to those final thoughts, a special presentation was called for where the team congratulated and thanked their foreign-exchange students, with Cornia presenting a team-signed soccer ball to Killo.

The coach did want to remind the crowd in attendance about the upcoming soccer camp in Evanston, scheduled for June 26-29.

Richins said the camp is open to next school year’s seventh-graders through seniors at a cost of just $50, compared to fees of $400 plus to attend camps elsewhere. For more information, Richins can be reached on his cellphone by sending a text message or by calling (307) 679-7221.