Prairie Seeds Academy team graduated two seniors after their Class A state championship last season, including Gerald Ben, who flung them to the title with six goals in the state tournament. But the Lycans didn’t lose much else, and the route to the 8-0-2 start they’ve built – and the players they’ve come to rely on in the process – only reaffirm the depth of a program that appears sturdy for years to come.
This season, three of the top four scorers are sophomores that didn’t even get pulled up from junior varsity until the state tournament last season, and the fifth highest scorer is junior Ismaila Jome.
Based on what the rest of the team saw in the little they saw from the underclassmen last year, they rest assured that they would be competitive again this year, and that trust has proved valid.
“For me, I believe we’re still the team from last year,” senior Eric Gaye said. “The young kids know what they’re doing. I was expecting us to be out there again.”
Coach Youssef Darbaki says that’s a testament to the teeming system behind the varsity team, in which young kids are brought up with the expectation that if they work hard enough, they will be called upon.
“I believe in development – that’s my background,” said Darbaki, who grew up in Casablanca and played for the Moroccan national team for eight years. “That developmental side has always been a part of me because I grew up that way as a player. So I believe in giving the young guys opportunities to play. If you are good enough to play, you will play.”
That philosophy has been effective. In the state tournament last year, then-freshman Carlos Bouquin was brought up from JV. The ninth grader then unloaded for five goals in three games. This year, he has 12 goals and nine assists, the second-most points behind senior Adam Keita. The Lycons have scored five or more goals five times, 10 or more twice and have shut out opponents in seven games.
Some of the seniors simply shake their heads, looking at the way they’ve been replenished and the talent still to come. Currently, the freshman team is all eighth graders, because all of the freshman have advanced to either JV or varsity.
“We’ve actually talked about it,” Gaye said. “I think this team could be really good for years to come. If we just keep doing what we do.”
