Parish soccer players make All-Metro team

The high-school soccer season is long gone, but that hasn’t stopped players of Ascension Parish from earning more postseason honors.

Many parish standouts were named to the Baton Rouge area All-Metro Divisions I & II teams. In all, 11 Ascension players were selected.

For the boys, six area players made the cut.

Dutchtown and St. Amant had the most selections. Dutchtown placed two on the team, and three Gators made the squad.

Leading the way for Dutchtown was Jaxson Stovall, who was previously named the district’s MVP and the Ascension Parish MVP.

Joining him on the All-Metro squad was teammate Ayden Rawashdeh, who was previously named the district’s Offensive MVP.

Stovall and Rawashdeh helped guide Dutchtown to its greatest season in program history.

First, the Griffins won an outright district championship. 

Dutchtown went undefeated in league play. The Griffins were 4-0-1 with the one tie coming against St. Amant. But with the Gators ending the schedule with two ties, Dutchtown finished ahead of them in the standings.

Once in the playoffs, the Griffins caught fire and made an improbable run.

After rolling past Central Lafourche in round one, Dutchtown went on to pull off road upsets over Brother Martin, Jesuit and St. Paul’s to reach the Division-I title game for the first time in program history.

The Griffins fought hard, but they eventually fell to defending champion Catholic, 1-0.

Dutchtown head coach Marcus Dyer was named the All-Metro Coach of the Year. Dyer was also named the district’s Coach of the Year, as well as the Ascension Parish Coach of the Year.

Making the All-Metro first team for St. Amant were Holden David and goalkeeper Dillon Staal. Staal was previously named the district’s Defensive MVP.

Also making the All-Metro team was Soren Gaffney.

After finishing as the District-5 runner-up and losing just one regular-season game, St. Amant was seeded fifth to begin the postseason.

The Gators took down New Iberia in round one, but their season was ended in the second round, as they were upset by 12th-seeded Denham Springs, 2-1, in overtime.

It was only St. Amant’s second loss of the season.

Representing the All-Metro squad for East Ascension was Brandon Hogan.

Hogan and the Spartans had some ups and downs in 2022, but they did make the playoffs.

Unfortunately for East Ascension, the postseason ended after a first-round loss to St. Paul’s. The Spartans finished with an overall record of 9-11-3. 

The All-Metro Outstanding Player was Denham Springs’ Alex Agurcia. He helped lead the Yellow Jackets to the state quarterfinals, scoring 27 goals and dishing out 12 assists in the process.

Here are all the players who made the All-Metro team: Alex Agurcia (Denham Springs), Buster Couhig (Catholic), Jaxson Stovall (Dutchtown), Ayden Rawashdeh (Dutchtown), Max Cavana (Catholic), Holden David (St. Amant), Skyler Hecht (Catholic), Brandon Hogan (East Ascension), Jack Earle (Live Oak), Charlton McMorris (Walker), Kade Breaux (Catholic), Nick Tran (Baton Rouge High), Haythem Abraham (Baton Rouge High), Dillon Staal (St. Amant) and Soren Gaffney (St. Amant).