All right, Weston, this is so going to be a biased post because well, sometimes a spade is just a spade. Both Owlets are on the Weston HS boys soccer team and both are having a great time. Not because they are winning (Weston is currently 0-2-2) but because they are playing with friends they have had since second grade when we moved to Weston, and because soccer is just fun to play (slightly enervating to watch, one must admit, shhhhh…Mr. Owl is Brazilian and might get offended). As most folks know, Weston soccer has a rough time of it playing against the big schools of Dual County League–today’s game is against Acton-Boxborough (school size 1,800 students, Weston 620 students). The hyphenated teams (Concord-Carlisle, Lincoln-Sudbury and A-B) are just hard to beat.

There are many reasons to cheer on soccer even though Weston is likely not to come home as state champions. One is that many of the boys have played together in the BAYS (Boston Area Youth Soccer) organization since third grade, when Weston begins to play other towns. At this point, a special shout-out must go to Mark Whitworth who coached many of these class of 2025 boys for the last six years at least. Weston’s best-kept secret is the strength of its BAYS “farm” system.

Weston High School’s Boys Varsity Coach Andrey Asparouhov is starting his 10th year as head coach. Coach Andrey is a former professional player from Bulgaria, which is just cool. The season got a rough start when the coach was out for the first week of the season with Covid, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be contenders:

“This season, the varsity soccer team has a good mix of seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen, but remains in a very tough league, being the only D3 school. Every game is a challenge,” said Coach Andrey.

“The team is looking for its identity in the second week of the season. Although the players who are most likely to start the games are younger, the team is fighting hard and I’m sure positive results will come soon. Our goal is to win the next game, no matter the opponent. We all are focused on this goal, and we all are hoping to reach the playoff stage.”

Coach Andrey is joined by assistant coach Monny Cochran, also known as a history teacher at WHS. Senior co-captains are Holden Langenhagen, Pete Lorusso, Erik Lambert, and Matthew Korbin.

One of the interesting things about the Weston soccer team, especially the boys, is that a huge number of them are BAYS referees for younger ages on the weekends. If there is any high school team unlikely to chatter to the refs or complain about calls, it is Weston, as they understand how refs don’t always see the illegal move. Both Owlets are referees, and there are three brothers also on the Weston Soccer team who are referees in their free time, as well as many others.

One of the Owlets was a ball boy for Weston High School Soccer when he was in fifth grade. He looked up in awe at the big kids and took his job very seriously. It is wonderful to see the new fifth graders at the sidelines and the new high schoolers thanking them as they accept a ball for a throw-in.

Weston is a unified bunch, including a bench that never gives up hope. If you look at the Weston sidelines, you will never see a player sitting unless they are injured. All bench players stand close to the line and encourage the field players.

New to the Weston team this year is Coach Marcelo Milioli, who is the Junior Varsity coach. We love Coach Marcelo if for no other reason than he is Brazilian. Have you ever met a negative Brazilian? Me neither. The junior varsity has thrived under his positive attitude and has a winning record this fall so far. Coach Marcelo is joined by assistant coach Mike Kelley. Sophomore co-captains are Nate Whitworth, Jackson Dickie and Cole Shulkin

The boys team is away today and Friday (Acton-Boxborough and then Norton) but home on Thursday evening at 6:30 pm. Take a stroll around the high school campus and check out the game. You may not know all the kids on the field but it is always always acceptable to just yell “go ‘cats!”

Team schedules for all high school sports can be found here at Arbiter Sports.