South Carolina native Patrick Bueno takes over the reins of the Hopkinsville boys’ soccer program and looks to keep the Tigers in the chase in both the 8th District and the 2nd Region this season.
Bueno was hired in January to replace Tyler Stallons, who stepped down in November after a strong nine-year run.
Stallons was 168-49-11 during his tenure at Hopkinsville, which included seven district championships and four region titles.
Hopkinsville was 16-8-1 in 2019 and won the school’s fifth straight district crown. The Tigers saw their three-year run as region champs end with a semifinal loss to Henderson County.
Interestingly, Bueno and Stallons were teammates at Union College in Barbourville, where Bueno was a four-year captain and three-year All-Conference player.
After college, Bueno played in the Canadian Professional League for London City in London, Ontario, before playing in the Professional Arena Soccer League for the Louisville Lightning.
Bueno has also enjoyed an extensive coaching career both at the club, high school and college level.
With Hoptown losing 12 seniors to graduation last year, Bueno knows he has some retooling to do with the 2020 Tigers.
“The majority of the players this year haven’t had much time at the varsity level due to how strong Hoptown’s been in the past,” said the first-year skipper. “With having to deal with Covid-19, the season being pushed back and shortened like it has been, we’ve had to come together in a short time.
Right now our season is only about three weeks long so we have no room for mistakes and I think that’s going to be the hardest aspect to overcome this year. There is no room for error when facing the teams in our distrct with how strong they are.”
Still, the goals remain the same at Hoptown.
“The same as every year, to win district and carry that momentum into the region tournament,” Bueno said. “I know there is a lot talent in the district this year so I’m excited to see how our young team fits into the mix of things.”
Despite being young, opponents should not underestimate the talent the Tigers still have in their program.
“Josh Hermosillo is going to be a big influence on the back line for us this year,” noted Bueno. “Will Knight and Miguel Magaña will be really fun to watch in the midfield along with Ryan Lawrence and Zach Bryant. These guys always want the ball and know what to do with it and to have them playing as a unit this year is going to be something special to see.
“Layton Mason and Gabe Harton are going to be household names at Hoptown come soon enough,” he added. “I’m also interested to see how Donnie Holloway and Aiden Higgins fit into our system at Hoptown. Zach Moss is also going to be a big part of our team’s success. He’s only a freshman but when you see him standing in goal it’ll be easy to forget that. Spencer Powell and George Baker are also part of the young players making headway and it’ll be interesting to see what kind of players they become. We have a lot of talent on this team and it’s really exciting to see what the future holds for them.”
In the 8th District, University Heights Academy looks to be the favorite with everything the Blazers have returning from last season, but don’t discount Hopkinsville’s district championship run.
“I’m really excited to see how we fit in the mix of things this year,” said Bueno. “Everyone has had to deal with the same things we’ve had to and it really comes down to the players and how bad they want it. The entire coaching staff continues to remind our players that at any given moment this beautiful game we love can be taken away from us so as long as we go into every game playing like it’s our last, we should be able to accomplish a lot of great things this year.”
Hopkinsville gets an early test out of the gate when it hosts perennial 1st Region power Marshall County on Sept. 10.
“We have a very possession minded team that knows how to get in behind the back line and create solid opportunities all while being able to understand how to defend as a unit when we don’t have the ball,” said Bueno. ‘We play this game as a team and everyone knows their role and how they fit into the system I’ve implemented.”
