Farmersville’s Daniel Mendoza attempts to kick the ball around two Gainesville defenders last Saturday. Photo by David Wolman / C&S Media
By David Wolman
When the Farmersville boys soccer team made the playoffs last season for the first time in program history, head coach Barrett Clark felt it was the start of good things to come.
That run culminated in a hard-fought 2-1 loss to Sunnyvale in the bi-district round of the Class 4A Division II playoffs.
Although just three seniors graduated from that squad, the Farmers — with only five seniors overall — will again field a young team this season. Most of the roster is made up of juniors and sophomores. Nonetheless, Clark remains confident the team’s overall talent and skill level will help Farmersville overcome its youth and clinch a playoff spot for the second consecutive season.
“I think that we’re in a good place,” Clark said. “Our guys are super motivated. I think Farmersville is going to have some success this year. I think we’re going in the right direction, but we’ve got some things to fix. However, we’re getting better every day.”
Farmersville went 1-3 to open last season, but a change the coaching staff made at goalkeeper after the fourth game helped turn the season around and propelled the Farmers to a historic playoff run. Seniors Daniel Mendoza and Jairo Acosta shared goalkeeping duties for the remainder of the season, but with Farmersville needing more offense this year, both players have moved back up the field. Mendoza will play midfielder, while Acosta will line up at forward.
Taking over at goalkeeper for Farmersville is junior Markus Estala.
“He’s very athletic, fast,” Clark said of Estala.
The combination of Acosta and sophomore forward Felix Maldonado is expected to generate plenty of offense for the Farmers.
Farmersville is stacked in the midfield, returning four varsity contributors: Mendoza, seniors Christian Aguilar and Juan Vargas, and junior Gael Mendoza.
The Farmers also bring back an experienced defense led by senior center back Yoan Pineda and junior Gustavo Ramos, along with junior defender Luke Lair.
“We’re still a young team that’s growing,” Clark said.
Returning to the playoffs won’t be easy for Farmersville, especially after District 11-4A expanded from seven teams to nine with the addition of Prosper Richland and Sanger. Richland, which opened its doors to students for the first time in August 2025, is 4-0-1 in its first season as a varsity program.
To prepare for the grind of a nine-team district schedule, Farmersville’s coaching staff assembled a challenging preseason slate. The Farmers defeated Class 6A North Forney 2-1 in their Jan. 2 season opener and faced Class 5A Frisco seven days later at a tournament in Wylie.
“I’m hoping that playing a tough preseason schedule will help us,” Clark said. “District 11-4A is probably the hardest 4A district in soccer. Our district with Celina, Gainesville, Panther Creek, Prosper Richland and Aubrey — that’s a really tough district. You have to schedule a tough non-district schedule because you won’t be ready to play once district starts.”
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