By DAVID ERSOFF, Journal Sports
End-of-year awards are always hard to put together, and this year’s process had plenty of debates to shape the final list. This points to the quality of play that the Shreveport-Bossier area produces in high school soccer.
Seven schools are represented on the 11-player roster for this year’s Shreveport-Bossier Journal boys soccer All-Metro team. Loyola had four picks, Benton and Bossier earned three each, while Airline, Byrd, Caddo Magnet and Captain Shreve all had one player representing their schools.
The Gators’ Greg Palmer was voted the Coach of the Year. Loyola junior Holt Hamilton got the nod as the Overall Most Valuable Player.
Area coaches were tasked to submit players from their teams they would start in a so-far mythical area all-star game and were asked to offer reasons why they belonged. There were 32 players nominated for consideration. The SBJ staff prepared the All-Metro team based on those submissions. The “Best of the Rest” are players that were given serious consideration to be added to the All-Metro team.
Coach of the Year was decided by the SBJ staff. Along with Palmer, Loyola’s Wes Kyle and Bossier’s Gerardo Martinez were strongly considered.
Palmer had 17 seniors graduate last year, including nine of his starters and the main players that came off the bench. The Gators rebounded much faster than expected with wins against Bossier, Magnet, and Calvary and a tie against Byrd. As the Division I’s 25th seeded team, they took eighth-seeded Southside into double overtime before falling in the playoffs. Palmer has moved to the next level, taking an assistant coaching position at Louisiana Tech.
The players on the 2025 All-Metro team were very clear cut choices. However, that was not the case this year, starting from the top.
The Overall All-Metro MVP award came down to the leaders of their teams, Loyola’s Hamilton and Bossier’s Bryan Tuyizere. Both players had strong cases for the award, as both are extremely talented, but Hamilton narrowly earned the distinction.
The Offensive MVP honor also had two players earning consideration, Benton’s Joe Aboufaycal and Shreve’s Soloman Thanwgceu. Any coach would love to have either of these players leading their offense. This was so close, the idea of a joint award was floated but not adopted. Thanwgceu was the selection.
The Defensive MVP was the hardest to settle. Four players had very legitimate cases for the award: Benton’s Carson Byant, Bossier’s Homero Villareal, Loyola’s Bishop Doege, and Magnet’s John Wooden. Each has strong defensive abilities, and were leaned on by their respective teams, always meeting the challenge. This could have gone to all of them. The underlying thought was, how good would a team be having these four all playing together on the back line? Would anyone ever score on this group? It’s doubtful.
The Bearkats’ Villareal was the choice.
There were multiple debates when it came to filling out the roster on the All Metro team. All 11 selected put the work in and deserved the elite honor. The eight additional players on the “Best of the Rest” list also earned their way into this discussion and should be very proud of their achievement.
2026 SBJ All Metro Boys Soccer Team
Individual awards
Overall MVP — Holt Hamilton, Loyola, Junior
Offensive MVP — Soloman Thanwgceu, Captain Shreve, Senior
Defensive MVP — Homero Villareal, Bossier, Senior
Coach of the Year — Greg Palmer, Captain Shreve
Player, School, Position
Dylan Johnson, Airline, Forward, Sophomore
Stefan Cosse, Byrd, Forward, Senior
Joe Aboufaycal, Benton, Midfielder, Senior
Wilson Alvarado, Bossier, Midfielder, Senior
Bryan Tuyizere, Bossier, Midfielder, Senior
Whit Sample, Loyola, Midfielder, Sophomore
Graham Kyle, Loyola, Midfielder, Junior
John Wooden, Caddo Magnet, Defender, Junior
Bishop Doege , Loyola, Defender, Senior
Carson Bryant, Benton, Defender, Senior
John-Michael Salvail, Benton, Goalkeeper, Senior
Best of the Rest
Byrd (2) — Evan Delatte, Midfielder; Parker Guidry, Defender. Caddo Magnet (1) — Ryan Clay, Goalkeeper. Calvary (1) — Preston Walton, Midfielder. Captain Shreve (2) –Juren Torres, Forward; Hayes McDaniel, Defender. Northwood (2) — Peyton Nichols, Midfielder; Dustin Porter, Utility.
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