Boys’ soccer: Rines back for the Bucks

BUCKFIELD — Kyle Rines cares about his roots.

He grew up in a small town where everybody knew everyone else. People worked hard. The community had pride in itself and a loyalty to each other. That environment was the stepping stone for his own life.

Before Rines even finished high school, he envisioned coming back to Buckfield and making the same kind of impact that others had on him.

“Ever since I was in high school, I always wanted to be a high school coach,” Rines said. “Ever since I graduated from here, the culture around everything was going down in the dumps a little bit. I always had a lot of pride and a lot of loyalty. I always wanted Buckfield to have some pride especially with the kids. It’s a place I’m familiar with. It’s a place I love. I grew up here and wanted to be able to give back a little bit.”

Rines, who graduated from Buckfield in 2009, is in his first year as the head varsity coach for the Bucks boys’ soccer team. He assisted Travis Magnusson with both soccer squads last fall.

“It’s been a really good experience so far,” Rines said. “We’re all excited. We’re more talented than in years past. I feel like I know what I’m doing out here. We’re all excited to be able to compete a little bit more.”

Despite only being 22, Rines has no shortage of coaching experience. He coached middle school soccer, baseball and basketball at Buckfield in recent years. He also assisted with the UMF women’s basketball team last winter.

“I feel like I’ve been coaching forever,” Rines said.

Though he’s a new varsity head coach, he’s not unfamiliar with his team. He coached many of them in middle school.

“I think it’s good that he’s from here,” said junior Jared Eastman. “We can relate to him. When he was in high school, my cousin was in high school. So I saw him and a lot of his teammates play. I think it kind of cool that we can connect with him that way.”

He also brings an understanding of what its like to play soccer at Buckfield and what this group of players need in a coach.

“He knows the program,” said senior Kyle Chabe. “He knows a lot of the teams. He knows about the league. That makes it a little easier. He’s been around us since we were younger.”

The Bucs went 7-8-1 last year. That included a quarterfinal win and a loss in the Western D semifinals.

“We want to get back to the semifinals,” Rines said. “That was the first time we’ve been to the semis in a long time. I never went to the semis in high school. We’re trying to build on that.”

In a Western D field that has been dominated by Richmond, Waynflete and Monmouth in previous decades, Buckfield hasn’t been to the regional final since 1993. Rines would like to see the Bucs build a consistent program that can challenge each year in the tourney.

“We’ve got a lot of challenges but we’re building,” Rines said. “It might not be this year and it might not be next year, but we want to get to where a team like Richmond is.”

The way to do that, Rines said, is to bring up the level of play in the team. He started a summer soccer program this year, something the Bucs haven’t had recently, if ever. Buckfield played tougher opponents while learned a better brand of soccer. He doesn’t want to see the boot ball game of the past.

“Now we’re trying to switch that to a more successful soccer program,” Rines said. “We want to possess the ball more than the opponent. We want to defend well, execute on our chances and be well disciplined.”

Playing this summer helped set the tone for this season ahead. The players started the season with a head start they hadn’t had in recent years.

“It was a really big help,” Eastman said. “It’s a good step to build the program to where we want it to be. Quite a few people came out. It helped us get in shape and get to know each other better. I think it helped out a lot.”

This year’s club only lost three seniors from last year but the team is still young and building their experience. Chabe, Jacob Marin-Moody and Jacob Kimball are the only returning seniors.

There are still eight starters back. Eastman and fellow junior defender Jesse Warren anchor the defense in front of junior keeper Calvin Downey. Sophomore Jon Randolph was one of the top scorers on the club and should lead the push up front. There’s also solid group of newcomers that could make a difference when they adjust to the varsity level.

“We’re a pretty young team but there’s a lot of talent on the team,” Chabe said. “I think we’ll do pretty good.”

kmills@sunjournal.com