When Luis Gomez Dominguez became a head soccer coach, he started thinking about what programs he wanted to emulate.

He found one in Troy Athens.

On Wednesday, Gomez-Dominguez gets a chance to knock Athens out of the playoffs and lift Ann Arbor Huron to the Division 1 Final.

“They do a great job,” Gomez-Dominguez said. “They do things the right way, even little things like having Grandparents Day. It’s a great program.”

New soccer coaches in the state would be on the right track if they start emulating what Gomez-Dominguez has done at Huron. He’s been head coach for seven seasons, oversees a program of nearly 90 soccer players, and Wednesday takes his 16-1-3 squad to Troy for a Semifinal game against the Red Hawks (14-3-4).

“I like to say it’s been a process, a three-year process,” Gomez-Dominguez said.

Last week the River Rats captured the school’s first Regional title. They won the Southeastern Conference and have steadily increased their number of wins each season, from four both of his first two seasons in 2019 and 2020 to 16 this year.

“We started building the program,” he said. “After COVID, our numbers just exploded.”

With the huge interest in soccer, Huron made the decision not to cut players.

Instead, the program drew up a plan for a freshman team, two junior varsity teams – an A and a B – and the varsity team.

“I think it gives players a clear path,” Gomez-Dominguez said. “You start with the program on the freshman team, progress to the first JV team as a sophomore, maybe play on the ‘A’ JV team as a junior and as a senior, you are ready to contribute to the varsity.”

Sometimes, of course, players jump that progression.

Three years ago, a substantial group of sophomores were on the varsity. Nasser Diarra, Kyle Johnsen, Kinley Poole, Philip Leucht, Amadou Sidibe and Matthew Pletcher all made the top team as the River Rats won 11 games.

“They were the core,” Gomez-Dominguez said. “We thought if we keep them together and add a few pieces around them, we would see the success.”

The plan worked. Those six are now seniors, part of an 18-senior varsity squad.

“We have a lot of experience,” Gomez-Dominguez said.

Poole is among the top scorers on the team with 12 goals and 10 assists. He’s a four-sport athlete at Huron, playing wide receiver on the football team, guard on the basketball team and sprinter in track. He’s likely to run track in college, Gomez-Dominguez said.

Pletcher is the starting goalkeeper. He’s allowed just four goals all season. Leucht has seven goals and three assists. Sidibe is a do-everything defender.

“He’s a lockdown defender,” Gomez-Dominguez said. “He’s our Swiss Army knife. He manages the other team’s attacking players. He can play anywhere on defense, and we line him up as a midfielder for defensive duties.”

Senior Malic Kasham is the team’s top goal scorer with 13. Jules Heskia has five goals, as does sophomore Kaito Yoshida.

Two more seniors – Unejs Ramaxhiku and Christopher Zou – joined the program this year after playing for MLS NEXT, a year-round club program. Zou has four goals and four assists.

“I think they saw the kind of fun we were having and wanted to be part of it,” Gomez-Dominguez said.

This season’s team, ranked No. 2 in Division 1, includes five sophomores and seven juniors.

The River Rats already have had a historic season when it comes to defense. They have given up just seven goals all fall.

“We are keeping an eye on the record book for that,” Gomez-Dominguez said.

The coach grew up in the Ann Arbor area, graduated from Pioneer and played college soccer at Madonna. He was an assistant coach with the River Rats when the head coach moved to California, and was named head coach. He has 65 wins over his seven seasons.

Huron has embraced a program-wide attitude. Gomez-Dominguez has five assistant coaches; the team is active on social media and lists its goals and expectations on a website dedicated to the program.

Huron defeated Troy Athens earlier this season, 2-1, but Gomez-Dominguez isn’t taking Wednesday’s game lightly.

“A lot has changed since then,” he said. “That game was played on a Saturday morning. It felt like a Saturday morning game. This one will be at night, at Troy High School, under the lights and we expect a big crowd. We are taking a fan bus. It will be a great atmosphere.”

Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.

PHOTOS (Top) Ann Arbor Huron players stand for the national anthem before a game this season. (Middle) Andrew Rooks controls the ball as he charges up field. (Below) Kinley Poole (left) and Malic Kasham celebrate a moment. (Photos courtesy of the Ann Arbor Huron boys soccer program.)