FWB's Keeler is boys soccer COY

By JARED MACARIN

jaredm@nwfdailynews.com

Zac Keeler knew his team had potential.

The first-year Fort Walton Beach boys soccer coach had seen the talent of his players the past two years as the JV coach.

Now, at the helm for the varsity team, he needed to bring it out.

So he made them talk about what they wanted: How far did they want to go? What goals they would like to accomplish for themselves?

It worked.

The Vikings finished runner-up to Niceville in District 1 and advanced to regional play for the first time since 2001. Keeler is this year's Daily News boys soccer Coach of the Year.

"They needed something to aim for," Keeler said. "A lot of times they didn't know what they could accomplish. They had a lot of talent and I knew their strong team play and effort would work well. I had seen it, and it's part of how I chose the players for the team."

Fort Walton Beach ended the year with an 18-10 record, but Keeler said everything started with those meetings before any games began. It also helped when the team's lineup was solidified in the early part of the year.

"It was a struggle at the beginning of year," he said. "We didn't have too much established players. Once we set up goals and got guys in the right spots, they started to play the right way."

After that, all it took for Keeler was to continue reminding his team of what they had wanted to achieve and pushing them to reach for those goals. And with some goals being met this year, Keeler and the team are already looking ahead to an even better year next season.

"I'm very happy and hope we can do a better job next year," he said. "It's very fulfilling because of the hard hours that go into it. It was exciting. Now we want to shoot for higher goals."