As seniors, Juneau-Douglas High School soccer players Oswaldo Magallanes, John Scudder, Hunter Pegues and Treyson Ramos served as the spine of the Crimson Bears\u2019 formation. With Magallanes in midfield, Scudder at forward, Ramos on the back line and Pegues as one of the state\u2019s best goalkeepers, JDHS was talented at every level this year.<\/p>\n
The Crimson Bears\u2019 ability caught the eye of college recruiters, with the four recent graduates landing on college rosters.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Oswaldo Magallanes, midfielder, University of Redlands<\/strong><\/p>\n Magallanes \u2014 JDHS\u2019 creative leader in the middle \u2014 will be heading to a NCAA Division III top-20 program at the University of Redlands in Redlands, California.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re looking at top-20 teams in Division III, it mirrors a lot of a Division I program,\u201d Magallanes said. \u201cThey train and play at a Division I level but they\u2019re different in the sense that it\u2019s highly academic and academics are first. That was the first thing I looked at in colleges.\u201d<\/p>\n The University of Redlands Bulldogs made it to the second round of the NCAA Division III championships last year, winning 3-2 in overtime against Whitworth before falling 1-0 to Trinity College. Redlands had a 17-4-2 record in 2015 and were the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champs.<\/p>\n Magallanes, who\u2019s one of the most skilled seniors in the state, knows what he has to do to adapt his play to the next level.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery kid that comes in as a college freshman, the biggest difference is the physicality and the speed of play. Everything is faster and and everyone is stronger. I am going to have to hit the weight room hard,\u201d Magallanes said.<\/p>\n Redlands coach Ralph Perez has a 30-year long coaching resume that includes time as an assistant for the U.S. Men\u2019s National Team and Major League Soccer\u2019s L.A. Galaxy.<\/p>\n \u201cHe seems like a really good guy and mirrors a lot of what (JDHS coach Gary Lehnhart) does here,\u201d Magallanes said. \u201cI thought it would be a perfect fit. I just want to play for those kinds of coaches. He\u2019s very experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n Magallanes made powerpoints and travelled to a tournament in San Diego with an Anchorage club team to market his skills to Perez and his coaching staff, an effort he said Juneau athletes can\u2019t be afraid to take.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t be afraid to put yourself out there and contact people who can help you,\u201d Magallanes said. \u201cI talked to Gary a lot. Sometimes you have go down south and play a tournament even though it\u2019s costly, and I knew it was costly, because we\u2019re from Alaska. You might have to make some sacrifices but I knew it was all worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hunter Pegues, goalkeeper, Southern Oregon University<\/strong><\/p>\n JDHS goalkeeper Hunter Pegues single (and sometimes doubl) handedly kept his team in a 70-degree, double overtime penalty kick war of attrition with South High School at the state tournament this year.<\/p>\n Though the Crimson Bears lost the heartbreaker, Pegues, whose save in the penalty kick stage gave JDHS a brief advantage, cemented his name as one of Alaska\u2019s top talents between the uprights.<\/p>\n Pegues will get a chance to further his career at Southern Oregon University this fall as the Raiders\u2019 goalkeeper of the future. It\u2019s a position he says he\u2019s destined to play.<\/p>\n \u201cI like to stand out, I dress differently, I\u2019m loud, I like attention,\u201d Pegues said. \u201cI guess I am just different in a lot of ways and being keeper is cool because you have all the guys trying to score, everyone is trying to make this awesome shot and it\u2019s fun to be the guy who blocks their shot and ruins their game.\u201d<\/p>\n Pegues was a four-year starter with JDHS at the position and remembers taking shots from more experienced players in his freshman year described as a trial by fire, a process that\u2019ll start anew at SOU.<\/p>\n \u201cMy freshman year at JDHS I had these guys who had been doing it for four years and it\u2019s not easy having a freshman keeper back there who has no confidence and is new to all of this. I had to grow up fast,\u201d Pegues said, adding that he experienced a similar situation while trying out for SOU. \u201cTryouts were super scary. I thought I would show up and they would be like, \u2018Hey everyone, this is Hunter,\u2019 but everyone was just getting ready for regular practice and I had to just jump into their drills. The play was very fast.\u201d<\/p>\n At SOU he\u2019ll benefit from working behind two junior goalkeepers and plans to redshirt his freshman year to ease into the program.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted something like that, two guys who are cool with different skills and who can show you the ropes,\u201d said Pegues, who declined opportunities to hit the field sooner at junior colleges in order to play at a four-year school.<\/p>\n Pegues plans to study education at SOU and become a teacher.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n John Scudder, forward, Nazareth College<\/strong><\/p>\n Forward John Scudder\u2019s nose for goal \u2014 which led him to a six-goal single-game JDHS record this year in a game against Thunder Mountain High School \u2014 has landed him a spot at Nazareth College in Rochester, New York.<\/p>\n Scudder didn\u2019t always know he was going to play college soccer. Concussion-related problems kept him off the pitch for a while before he came back to the game.<\/p>\n \u201cFor a while I didn\u2019t want to (play in college),\u201d Scudder said. \u201cAs I got back into soccer more I realized it was something I didn\u2019t want to let go of yet.\u201d<\/p>\n The transition to a much bigger city will be jarring for Scudder, but he has family on the East Coast.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be really different than Juneau because it\u2019s in a bigger city, but one thing I like about Nazareth though is that it\u2019s a smaller school, about 2,000 or 3,000 people, so it has that community feel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n JDHS assistant coach Mike Garcia\u2019s son, Ben Garcia, is a friend of Scudder\u2019s. Garcia turned Scudder onto the program and Scudder said he is looking forward to the camaraderie.<\/p>\n \u201cOne thing he said was that your team are your instant friends, so that will be a lot of fun,\u201d Scudder said, adding that Garcia is back for the summer and will help him train for the \u201cfaster and more physical game\u201d he\u2019s expecting to see at the college level.<\/p>\n Scudder plans to study physical therapy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Treyson Ramos, defender, Saint Martin\u2019s College<\/strong><\/p>\n Treyson Ramos, a speedy defender and two-sport star at JDHS, will continue stifling forwards at Saint Martin\u2019s College in Lacey, Washington. Though Ramos might also try and walk onto Saint Martin\u2019s basketball team, he chose soccer after finding a roster spot at his ideal school.<\/p>\n Ramos made his decision to play soccer after a lot of deliberation.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we first went down to visit I talked to the basketball coach, so I thought I might walk on and try to play with them,\u201d Ramos said. \u201cThen I got a call from the soccer coach because the dean of admissions came down for a college fair. We were emailing and she knew I liked playing soccer, and this was later, like in May, when I was deciding. The coach said they had a couple spots open. I don\u2019t know how much I will get to play at first but I want to be a part of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n Like JDHS\u2019 other seniors, Ramos plans on hitting the weight room hard to get used to college-level play.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re (Division II) and they\u2019re probably really good and I\u2019ll probably need to get a lot stronger. They sent me a training program for the summer so I\u2019ll be working out a lot and also trying to make my touch stronger,\u201d Ramos said. \u201cI\u2019ll probably play outside back or something, they have a different formation than us. They play a 4-3-3 and we (JDHS) play a 3-4-3.\u201d<\/p>\n Being in the Seattle area was Ramos\u2019 first choice, and Saint Martin\u2019s offered the best deal.<\/p>\n \u201cI applied to Seattle U and I got in but they\u2019re super expensive. Saint Martin\u2019s offered me the most money and it\u2019s really close to Seattle,\u201d he said, adding that he\u2019s leaning toward a business degree but is still weighing his options.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve thought about business, … but I don\u2019t really know what I want to do,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll probably take general courses my first year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 Contact reporter Kevin Gullufsen at kevin.gullufsen@juneauempire.com or at (907) 523-2228.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As seniors, Juneau-Douglas High School soccer players Oswaldo Magallanes, John Scudder, Hunter Pegues and Treyson Ramos served as the spine of the Crimson Bears\u2019 formation. With Magallanes in midfield, Scudder at forward, Ramos on the back line and Pegues as one of the state\u2019s best goalkeepers, JDHS was talented at every level this year. 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