Sometimes it seems like Belton soccer star Chelsea Jones spends all her time on the soccer pitch.

As soon as the high school soccer season ended, Jones was driving to Austin on a weekly basis to practice and play with her club team.

That will continue through the summer until it’s time for Jones, a Texas A&M signee, to officially become an Aggie and start practice for her first college season in the fall.

More on WacoTrib.com

• Interactive: Meet the 2009 Super Centex Girls' Soccer Team
• List: The 2009 Super Centex Girls' Soccer Team
• All-district high school soccer teams

Belton's Chelsea Jones scored 32 goals to earn her second consecutive Super Centex Player of the Year award. (Duane A. Laverty photo)

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“That’s what I’ve done forever,” Jones said. “That’s the norm for me. If it wasn’t like that, I don’t know what I would do.”

What’s normal for Jones is spectacular.

She scored 32 goals and dished out 23 assists this season for the Lady Tigers. Jones, who compiled a 77-8-5 career record while playing for Belton, helped the Lady Tigers win four straight district championships.

A year ago, she claimed the Super Centex Player of the Year award after scoring 33 goals with 22 assists. This season she showed she could put up very similar statistics with a new crew around her and earned a second straight Super Centex Player of the Year award.

While Jones’ junior and senior seasons appear very similar on paper, her role changed significantly.

In 2008, Jones and then-senior Erica Michaud formed a dangerous attack for the Lady Tigers as they combined for 63 goals.

This season, Belton’s Michelle Hagen scored 24 goals and had 13 assists to complement Jones. But Hagen shifted to a more defensive role than she played in the past, meaning Jones carried most of the offensive load.

However, Jones said that wasn’t as much of an adjustment as becoming a senior leader.

“I guess I felt like I had a bigger role of being a captain and leader on the team,” she said. “I had to be a role model on the field and off the field. Last year, I was a captain with a couple of seniors, but that was more on the field. This year was both.”

Belton posted a 21-2-3 record this season, though the Lady Tigers fell in the second round of the playoffs, 2-1, to Rowlett. That was a disappointing end, Jones said, after the Lady Tigers showed they could compete with the best teams from the Dallas and Houston areas by winning The Woodlands and Richardson Berkner tournaments early in the campaign.

“That was a big deal to win tournaments in Dallas and Houston,” Jones said. “We kind of knew that if we can do this in preseason, we can hang with them in the playoffs.”

Jones edged out a worthy field of Player of the Year candidates, including Waco High’s Megan Vlam and Midway’s Jeri Hicks.

Vlam steadied Waco High’s defense and helped the Lady lions finish second in District 33-4A.

Hicks, a sure-footed forward, scored 26 goals with 20 assists and earned the 33-4A MVP award.

Coach of the Year: Oscar Bersoza, Temple

While Belton took out 11-5A’s fourth-place team in Mesquite Horn in the first round of the playoffs, the Temple Wildcats one-upped their district rivals by upsetting 11-5A champion Mesquite, 1-0, in the same round.

That put the exclamation point on a breakout season for Temple, which won its first playoff match in seven seasons and posted a 15-win campaign for the first time in more than a decade.

For guiding the Wildcats to a 15-9-2 record despite losing a key player early in the season, Temple coach Oscar Bersoza is the Super Centex Coach of the Year.

“I think we did overachieve,” Bersoza said. “We rallied and beat some good teams. These kids were really coachable. They bought into what we set out to do.”

Bersoza said he stressed set pieces throughout the season during practice, and the Wildcats came through with a huge one in the victory over Mesquite.

That moved Temple into the second round, where the Wildcats faced another Dallas-area power in Garland. Temple, clearly peaking at the right time, took Garland to overtime before falling, 3-1.

“It’s a mental steppingstone for the program,” Bersoza said. “We can do it. Had we gotten crushed by Garland, we would’ve been like, ‘We shouldn’t have been here anyway.’ But we’re not the poor man’s Belton anymore. We can play. I think things are starting to come together.”

Bersoza’s coaching job at Temple stood out in a season when the area’s top soccer programs were at their best.

Midway’s Bill Sharp guided the Pantherettes to within a win of the state tournament.

Meanwhile, Waco High coach Season Caughlin led the Lady Lions to the fourth round of the playoffs and Lorena coach Steve Glaser helped the Lady Leopards earn the first playoff berth in program history.

Newcomer of the Year: Brianna Johnston, Lorena

Central Texas saw an infusion of young talent this season as Midway, University, Robinson and Lorena had first-year players make an impact at the varsity level.

In Lorena, Brianna Johnston elevated the Lady Leopards program to playoff contention and earned the Super Centex Newcomer of the Year award.

Johnston scored 32 goals and dished out eight assists in helping Lorena earned its first playoff berth.

She scored two-thirds of the Lady Leopards’ goals on the season and three-fourths of their district goals.

But her influence made the biggest difference in the win-loss column.

“In our first two years of competition, we won four total games and scored a team total of 20 goals,” Lorena coach Steve Glaser said. “With Brianna sparking our offense, we won 11 games on the year, made the playoffs for the first time in school history, and she scored 1  1/2 times more goals on her own as the team did in its first two years.”

Johnston’s competition for Newcomer of the Year was so close that two first-year players earned first-team designation.

Midway sophomore Tasha Babers brought a formidable defensive presence to the Pantherettes’ midfield and earned first-team all-33-4A in the process.

In Robinson, freshman Taylor Duron led the Rockets with 32 goals. She found the back of the net 12 times in district play to help Robinson earn the third-place playoff berth from 33-4A.

cconine@wacotrib.com

757-5711

Player of the Year: Chelsea Jones, Belton

Newcomer of the Year: Brianna Johnston, Lorena

Coach of the Year: Oscar Bersoza, Temple