'Temporary' coach guides Western Sierra boys soccer to section final

Roughly two or three games into the fall boys soccer season, Western Sierra Collegiate Academy found itself suddenly without a head coach. But at the end of the season, the Wolves found themselves competing for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division VII championship. After the team's original head coach abruptly stepped away after the season began, Bryan Fritsch, a West Sacramento police lieutenant whose son Adam is a junior midfielder for the Wolves, volunteered to "temporarily" take over with the blessing of his captains and WSCA athletic director Zach Logue. "Coach Fritsch stepped up to navigate the team for the rest of the season," Logue said. "He kept the ship steered in the right direction." From that point, the team's only losses came against the eventual section champion Cristo Rey, to whom Western Sierra fell 3-0 in the D-VII finals Saturday. "It was just convincing the guys that we had enough talent on the team," said Fritsch, who comes from a soccer background and still actively finds games in which to play. "It was just putting guys in the right positions and having fun. We just started winning from there." As a No. 6 seed in an seven-team bracket, the Wolves eked out a sudden death win in the opening round against No. 3 John Adams Academy after two rounds of penalty kicks. Starting goalkeeper Cole MacLean held a shutout as far as his cramping legs could take him. MacLean left the game before the second round of PKs for forward Danny Osuna-Hoy, who had never played goalie in his life, to step in and block two critical shots. Osuna-Hoy's efforts allowed Logan Rapelye to sneak one past the Patriots' keeper in sudden death and push the Wolves into the semifinals with momentum. WSCA then knocked off No. 2 Victory Christian 3-1 with a pair of early goals from the coach's son lifting the Wolves into the title game. Despite Cristo Rey winning its second section banner in three seasons, the Wolves still had plenty to celebrate from 2019. Bryan Fritsch was voted as the Sacramento Metro Athletic League's Coach of the Year while Adam Fritsch, Brett Bickerstaff and Dylan Nguyen were named First Team All-League. Not bad for what was supposed to be a temporary coaching hire. "It was all about changing our mindset because we were good enough to compete against anybody in the section," coach Fritsch said. "I'm already looking forward to next season. I'm ready to take it on again and get to work."