Eight Eagles Named to All-District Soccer Team

Junior captain Zachary Hawkins (19) battles a Moberly player for the ball in the closely contested district championship match in Ashland. Southern Boone fell by a 0-1 score. Hawkins was named to the all-district first team for his strong defensive play.

By: Todd Pridemore
After falling just one win short of the district title, the Southern Boone boys soccer season ended with eight team members receiving all-district honors.

Four players earned first-team honors. Senior midfielder Drew Dial scored 15 goals and had 13 assists on the season, as well as being a team leader as a captain. Fellow senior midfielder Alejandro Pagoada added 9 goals and 7 assists. Junior captain Zachary Hawkins, who played the majority of the season as a center back and wide back and was not often in a position to score, tallied 4 goals and 1 assist.

Rounding out the first-team selections was sophomore Brayden Watson, who missed several games for concussion protocol, but still netted 15 goals and 6 assists.

Sophomore Brayden Watson (right) moves the ball through several Spartan defenders in the district title match. Watson joined three other teammates in being named to the all-district first team following the tournament.

Three Eagles were voted to the second-team. They included senior captain and center back Ethan Brown (1 goal, 1 assist) and senior back Easton Cooper. Freshman Miles Butler was also honored and led the team in scoring with 25 goals (one short of the freshman scoring record set by phenom Jacob Moore during the 2011 season) with 9 assists.

The final honoree was senior captain and goalkeeper Emery Arnold, who was honored even though he missed a significant portion of the season due to injury.

In addition to the individual player awards, this Eagles team was one of the most prolific scoring squads in recent program history, netting a total of 97 goals during the season. In comparison, last year’s 2023 team scored a grand total of only 37 goals.

The 2019 team which advanced all the way to the Class 2 Final 4 in the state playoffs is the most recent squad to tally more goals, netting a total of 130 that season.