Soccer springboard: Oak Mountain High program a pipeline to semi-pro ranks

The public address announcer’s voice resonated across the soccer field as he introduced the starting lineups on a picturesque June evening in Vestavia Hills. Underneath marshmallow-like clouds and a light blue sky, players from the Birmingham Hammers and Chattanooga Football Club waved to a crowd of spectators as they heard their names called at midfield.

The voice arrived at No. 15, Keegan McQueen, a Hammers defender whom the announcer introduced affectionately as “The Man Himself.” McQueen gave a slight nod and acknowledged the fans before the start of the national anthem. 

It was almost game time. 

McQueen and his team huddled for one final chat, and then he ran to his position on the left side of the backline. He jumped in the air, pulling his knees to his chest. 

The whistle blew: kickoff.  

McQueen, a 2014 Oak Mountain High School graduate, cycled up and down the left sideline in the game’s early stages, moving with the flow of the match. 

Over the course of the night, two other Oak Mountain alumni joined him on the pitch. D.J. Jackson, class of 2010, substituted in midway through the first half when a teammate sustained an injury. Christian Adkins, class of 2012, provided a jolt upon his entrance in the 55th minute.

But those three players aren’t the only former Eagles who have found a summer home with the Hammers, Birmingham’s flagship semi-professional soccer team. Six Oak Mountain soccer alumni and both current varsity head coaches sprinkle the squad’s 2017 roster in some form or fashion. In total, nearly a quarter of the team consists of players with ties to the Eagles’ program. 

“The fact that we have people going on to play in college and then coming back to play for their hometown team, I think that speaks volumes about the program itself and the character that we try to build,” said Adkins, who joined the Hammers in 2016 after finishing his career at the University of West Alabama. 

Oak Mountain’s high standard trickles from top to bottom. 

Adkins now serves as an assistant coach at his high school alma mater, where he works alongside his new teammate, head boys coach Dan DeMasters. At 31, DeMasters is the oldest member of the Hammers’ 2017 roster, but that doesn’t bother him. He labels the opportunity to play semi-professionally a “dream come true.” 

DeMasters tried out for the Hammers’ inaugural team in 2015, but the coaching staff at the time denied him a spot. For the past two years, he doubted he’d be given another shot.

“I never ever thought I’d bring the boots back and take them down from being hung up,” he said. 

DeMasters channeled his competitive energy into coaching, and his Eagles captured their first of three consecutive Class 7A state titles in the spring of 2015. Until earlier this year, he had satisfied his itch to play by hopping in Oak Mountain practices.

Chris Blight revived DeMasters’ hopes of trading the sidelines for playing time. 

Blight completed his first season as the Oak Mountain head girls coach in May. But before he arrived at the school, he worked for two years as a graduate assistant with the Auburn University-Montgomery men’s soccer team. 

As fate would have it, the AUM head coach, Wulf Koch, was named the Hammers’ new coach late last year. Koch offered Blight a position as an assistant, and he accepted unequivocally. 

“As soon as he gave me the call,” Blight said, “I knew I wanted to do it.”

DeMasters expressed similar eagerness when Blight — only half-jokingly — encouraged him to come out for the team. In February, DeMasters performed well enough at an open tryout to catch Koch’s attention. The two had a pre-existing relationship since three former Eagles signed with AUM in 2016, and Koch pulled DeMasters aside after the audition to gauge his interest. Would he seriously consider playing in a semi-pro league anchored by college athletes?

DeMasters replied affirmatively and in April received confirmation that he had made the squad. He brought his boots out of retirement.

“I might be the old guy, but to be a part of the team is just a special thing personally for me,” DeMasters said. “It’s an experience I’m not taking for granted.”

Neither are the guys who coach with him at Oak Mountain — Adkins and Blight — or those who have played for him: McQueen, Bradley Louis and, most recently, Kennedy Davis. Chandler Stroupe is the final Hammer with Oak Mountain ties, but he graduated in 2013 and missed DeMasters’ arrival by one season. 

McQueen and Louis played on DeMasters’ first Oak Mountain team in 2014. This fall, both will be seniors on the West Alabama soccer team. Like DeMasters, McQueen is a Hammers rookie, while Louis is a seasoned veteran. He earned a spot on the inaugural roster in 2015 and has played each summer since. 

Louis said the biggest adjustment he’s had to make is calling DeMasters by his first name instead of calling him “coach” like he did at Oak Mountain.

Davis, a forward, has yet to reach that point, since DeMasters actually was his coach less than two months ago. The recent Oak Mountain graduate, who was named the 2017 Gatorade Alabama Player of the Year, began practicing with the Hammers a couple of weeks after he helped propel his Eagles to the 2017 state crown. In June, he was promoted by Koch to the Hammers’ active roster.

“It’s always good to play with Oak Mountain guys,” said Davis, who will don a Dartmouth College jersey this fall. “I’m just grateful for the opportunity.”

His surprise call-up was created by both skill and circumstance. Davis impressed at practices, and a few other Hammers developed injuries. DeMasters, a central midfielder, was one of them. He tore a ligament in his injury-prone right knee after absorbing a slide tackle against the Chivas U-23 team on Memorial Day. 

DeMasters required two surgeries on the same knee when he played for Villanova University in the mid-2000s. The latest blow, which he casts as “the price of getting old,” was projected to sideline him for two to six weeks. 

 Until he heals, DeMasters mans the bench during matches, a gray golf shirt emblazoned with the No. 2 having replaced his jersey. He offers up wisdom as he watches the Oak Mountain boys seize their semi-pro chances. 

Few high school teams send as many players  — or coaches — to this elevated level. At Oak Mountain, it has become the norm. 

“If you love the game of soccer, continuing your career is honestly not that difficult of a decision to make,” Louis said. “If you have that ability, which a lot of us — if not all of us — at Oak Mountain do, it’s just the next step.”