March 8, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
DCHS Tiger Soccer fans will get their first look at the boys’ team in action this year on Saturday, March 11 during the Upper Cumberland Classic Pre-Season Play Day in Smithville.
Action will take place at both the game field at 600 Allen Ferry Road and the practice field at 1130 West Broad Street.
DeKalb County’s first game will be at 9 a.m. at the game field against Macon County. Other schools participating are Community, Smith County, Bledsoe County, Cannon County, Watertown, and Westmoreland.
The regular season begins on Tuesday, March 14 as the Tigers travel to Baxter to face Upperman in a district match at 6 p.m.
With this year’s team consisting of several experienced seniors, Tiger Soccer Coach Dylan Kleparek (Coach K) is expecting a good year.
“We have a really strong team coming back. On paper we look like one of the better teams we have had, and we have had a lot of good teams in the past. We lost one senior last year, so we are basically returning our entire team. We have ten seniors who will all start so it’s a really strong group and behind them we have a good group of juniors and a really strong group of sophomores, so we have some depth. I have coached a lot of these players since they were really little kids and watched them work their way up through the middle school program. They are all well experienced and strong players and work well together. We look to score a lot of goals this season. They are very aggressive at attacking the goal and creating a lot of great chances for us. We’re looking forward to a strong, positive season but we have to really work hard and take each game one at a time” said Coach K.
Although the district race will be competitive, the Tigers are expected to be a strong contender.
“Our district is made up of Livingston Academy, Stone Memorial, and Upperman who are in the north side of our bracket and in the south side we have Cumberland County, White County, and DeKalb County. We play each team once and we play everyone on our side of the bracket a second time and then the top team on each side will get a first-round bye (in district tournament) and then the other teams will play in the tournament between the two sides,” said Coach K.
“On our side of the bracket, Cumberland County is always very strong, and they will be tough competition. White County is also usually pretty strong but this year they are kind of an up-and-coming program so we will have to look out for them because in soccer any team can beat another on any day, so you always have to play hard. On the other side of the bracket, Stone Memorial and Livingston Academy are both tough teams and Upperman is kind of the up-and-coming team there so it’s sort of an even two sides to our district. I expect Cumberland County to probably be our biggest opponent this season,” Coach K said.
2023 DCHS Tiger Soccer Schedule:
REGULAR SEASON
March 14: *Upperman-Away: 6:00
March 16: Coffee County-Home:7:00 p.m. (JV) 5:00
March 24: Springfield JV (Smoky Mountain Cup)-Away: 6:00 E
March 24: Ooltewah (Smoky Mountain Cup)-Away: 8:00 E
March 25: Shelbyville JV (Smoky Mountain Cup)-Away: 9:30 E
March 25: Carter (Smoky Mountain Cup)-Away: 11:30 E
March 26: Gatlinburg-Pittman (Smoky Mountain Cup): Away-9:30 E
March 26: William Blount JV (Smoky Mountain Cup):Away-11:30 E
April 4: *Stone Memorial: Home- 6:00
April 6: Cannon County:Home-6:00
April 11: *Cumberland County: Home- 6:00
April 13: *White County: Home- 6:00
April 18: *Livingston: Home- 6:00
April 20: *White County: Away-6:00
April 25: *Cumberland County:Away-6:30
April 27: Central Magnet: Away- 6:15
May 2: Macon County: Home- 6:00 (Senior Night)
May 4: Warren County:Away-6:00
POSTSEASON
May 8: 1st Round District Tournament: TBA
May 9: 2nd Round District Tournament-White County:TBA
May 11: District Championship-White County: TBA
May 16: Region Semifinals:TBA
May 18: Region Championship:TBA
May 20: Substate: TBA
May 22: State Tournament : TBA
2023 DCHS Tigers Soccer Roster
#2-Jonathan Balderas-Junior
#3-Cooper Brown -Senior
#4-Connor Hopkins-Freshman
#5-Brayan Aguirre-Sophomore
#6-Ekow Afful-Turkson-Junior
#7-Jonathan Zavala-Senior
#8-Miguel Mata-Senior
#9-Cameron Miller-Senior
#10-Yair Mata-Senior
#11-Adan Ramirez-Senior
#12-Axel Aranda-Sophomore
#13-Aydan Bean-Junior
#14-Jaxon Kleparek-Freshman
#15-Leo Delgado-Sophomore
#16-Emilio Garcia-Junior
#17-Hector Cervantes-Sophomore
#18-Brandon Silva-Senior
#19-Jose Guzman-Sophomore
#20-Milas Driver-Sophomore
#21-Ryder Miller-Senior
#23-Giovani Palomo-Freshman
#24-Jesus Guzman-Sophomore
#25-Bryan Ramirez-Sophomore
#26-Jonathan Garcia-Senior
#27-Cesar Gaspar-Junior
#28-Cale Brown-Sophomore
#29-Erick Hernandez-Sophomore
#30-Miguel Guzman-Sophomore
#31-Connor Vance-Senior
#32-Jack Gassaway-Freshman