Bee’s Best: Incredible run for Reedley boys soccer behind its coach; Bee All-Stars named
Reedley High boys soccer coach Eric Velarde’s pride in his team and his hometown paid off.
The Pirates rolled through the North Yosemite League with a first-place finish with a 9-1 record. All that meant was a spot in the Division I playoffs.
“I told them I want to be in D-I and play the best teams, and not to say D-II is not competitive, but I wanted to play the Division I teams,” Velarde said.
“I wanted to because I’m from Reedley and I love this place so much I wanted to show the work we put in and that we can compete with anybody.”
Reedley hit the road as the eighth seed and took out No. 1 Central, No. 4 Clovis North and No. 2 Sanger to be crowned Central Section Division I champion.
“We kind of mapped it out in our head and we think we have a good enough team to make it difficult for other teams,” he said.
Turns out he was right and because of the success Reedley had with a 20-7-3 overall record, Velarde is named The Bee’s Coach of the Year.
“The work they put in ... to say we can compete with them and to bridge the gap in a year with the same exact same group of guys (as the previous season) for me is the best part about it,” Velarde said.
“This work is the culmination of the players and kids that come through us over the last 11 years. I’ve been head coach the past eight years. For me, the greatest honor is to build a program that was doing well and to be leading it is a great privilege.”
Large School Player of the Year
Andrew Huerta, Sr., striker, Clovis East
Huerta found the net 21 times and registered 50 points to lead Clovis East to a 17-4-3 overall record.
In four seasons, he finished with 58 goals, 16 assists and 132 assists.
Medium School Player of the Year
Daniel Perez, Sr., forward, Lindsay
The Cardinals wrapped up the season with a runner-up finish in the Central Section Division III championship to Garces.
Perez led Lindsay with 28 goals and 12 assists to finish with 68 points.
He had eight two-goal games and one hat trick.
Small School Player of the Year
Jose Solis, Sr., striker, Farmersville
Solis scored 47 goals.
He helped Farmersville to a top-seed in Division IV after a first-place finish in the East Sequoia League. The Aztecs wrapped up the season 26-3-1.
He also had 18 assists and 112 points.
Fans poll winner
Julio Hernandez of Sanger was voted The Bee’s Fans Player of the Year.
He won the poll with 38% in a close vote over Joshua Espinoza of Riverdale.
Hernandez was named to the first-team in the County/Metro Athletic Conference.
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Bee All-Stars
Jose Aguirre, senior, Orange Cove
Levy Alcantar, senior, Reedley
Raul Arzola, junior, Madera South
Julio Ayala, junior, Kerman
Simon Berrera, senior, Hanford
Elmer Calballo, senior, Buchanan
Favian Casillas, Chowchilla
Erwin Cerillo, senior, Kerman
Joey Chavez, senior, Clovis East
Izel Chavez, senior, Fresno
Luis Cruz, senior Clovis West
Nathaniel Dekker, senior Clovis North
Andrew Dutra, senior, Sierra Pacific
Joshua Espinoza, senior, Riverdale
Marcus Flores, senior Central
Ivan Flores, freshman, Avenal
Elmer Garcia, senior, Madera
Jesus Godinez, senior, Tulare Western
Ismael Gonzalez, senior, Riverdale
Alan Gutierrez, senior, Central
Isaih Hernandez, senior, Clovis East
Julio Hernandez, senior, Sanger
Gavin House, senior, Redwood
Andrew Huerta, senior, Clovis East
Gustavo Ledesma, sophomore, Reedley
Chris Macias, senior, Lindsay
Jibran Medina, senior, Mendota
Brian Meraz, senior, Mission Oak
David Lopez, junior, Avenal
Jonathan Lopez, senior, Golden West
Ernesto Pacheco, senior, Redwood
Daniel Perez, senior, Lindsay
Amilcar Pineda, junior, Mendota
Dylan Plunkett, senior, Clovis North
Jesus Ponce, senior, Clovis
Jacob Ramirez, senior, Dos Palos
Gahir Ramos, junior, Granite Hills
Sam Rieker, freshman, Fresno Christian
Cesar Rocha, senior, Selma
Mikey Ramirez, Golden West
Kyle Shimamoto, senior, San Joaquin Memorial
Jose Solis, senior, Farmersville
Jayden Valdez, senior, Selma
Isaiah Villalobos, junior, Sanger
Hipolito Villeages, senior, Lemoore
Jayden Valdez, senior, Selma
Jonathan Velasquez, sophomore, Kerman
Edgar Viera, junior, Central
Jaycob Walker, sophomore, Central
Chase Weiner, senior, Bullard
Felix Zarate, senior, Farmersville
This story was originally published April 26, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
