From five double overtimes to a second-place finish in the Sunset League, Fountain Valley High School’s boys’ soccer team had an eventful and memorable season.
Led by senior captains Drew Payne, Ethan Ro and Zachary Groff, the team finished with a 9-3 league record, earning second place in the seven-team Sunset League. This year, league play returned to the classic format, with Fountain Valley playing each of its opponents twice, instead of the recent format of two four-team Sunset Surf and Wave conferences.
Payne, a four-year varsity veteran who was named the Sunset League Offensive MVP and Fountain Valley MVP, led the Barons in scoring this season with 16 goals, including a hat trick against Corona del Mar.
“Being on varsity since freshman year, I was able to start, but I worked hard for my position. It wasn’t easy,” Payne said. “And since I worked hard, now I get to score all these goals — the hard work pays off.”
Fountain Valley advanced to the Division 3 CIF-Southern Section playoffs, where they faced off in a rainy-day game that went to penalty kicks against eventual CIF Division 3 champion Warren High School.
Jason Smith has been the Barons’ head coach for 27 of his 32 seasons coaching at Fountain Valley. Other members of the coaching staff include varsity assistant Jon Lloyd, goalkeeper coach Mitchell Wilson, junior varsity coach James Lawson and frosh-soph coach Duc Tran.
Groff, Ro, Majid and Cash Heit were named to the Sunset League First Team, while John Ennen, Nixon Hunt and Jacob Stevens were selected for the Sunset League Second Team. Additionally, eight Fountain Valley players made the all-league academic team.
“We are trying to get back to the old Fountain Valley ways, where we are competing for championships,” Smith said. “It’s been exciting going back to the true Sunset League, and our guys excelled. We were competing for a title with Edison, coming down to the final few games. Going forward, we’ve got a lot of talent in the program … We’re going to be good for years to come.”