Demons call for alumni to play in doubleheader

The 2018 boys soccer season is rapidly approaching, and the Santa Fe High Demons are looking for a few good alums.

Santa Fe High will host an alumni doubleheader Friday at Ivan Head Stadium, and head coach Rob Quirk is looking for a few more graduates to participate. Quirk said he has about 20 players committed to playing, but he needs a couple more bodies.

It’s a junior varsity/varsity doubleheader as each team will face an alumni squad, with the junior varsity match at 5:30 p.m. and the varsity starting after that.

Quirk said it was the former players who initiated the idea of having an alumni match.

“It’s the alums who keep bugging me to play,” Quirk said. “These are the guys who I’ve coached over the last four or five years, and they will be there. I’ve been in touch with the generation before me because I play with them in a men’s league in Bernalillo.”

Quirk said the matches are an opportunity for the current crop of players to reconnect and get some work in as a group.

Several of the players are competing on club teams, but he has had workouts once or twice a week to work on drills.

Quirk added that the players are excited for the upcoming season, as 10 seniors are expected to dot the roster

from a team that went 7-11-1 in 2017 and 2-8 in District 2-6A.

The Demons move into District 5-5A this year, which will include Capital and Albuquerque schools Sandia, Manzano, Rio Grande and defending state champion Albuquerque High.

“I am excited for these guys,” Quirk said. “This is the year that my core guys have grown up and I think realignment will get against teams that are a little more our size. And playing Capital twice will be exciting, too.”

Any Santa Fe High graduates interested in playing can call Quirk at 505-603-5448 or show up at the field Friday.