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Nine seniors occupy roster spots for the W.F. West High School boys soccer team and seven more are juniors. Roughly half of them played meaningful minutes in last year’s run to the Class 2A District 4 title game and a state tournament berth.
Plus, the Bearcats have to replace the EvCo’s Offensive Player of the Year, the Co-Goalkeeper of the Year and three other all-league guys.
Which has led head coach Allen Anderson to describe this version of W.F. West similar to when the door opens to a pristine home.
“Our roster looks kind of new and fresh,” Anderson stated.
The Bearcats jumped out on the “new” season with a “fresh” look on their offensive attack on Friday night.
A goal less than 30 seconds into the evening and a pair of goals from forward Alex Mathuzima allowed W.F. West to dispatch 3A River Ridge 4-2 in its home and season opener on a blustery plus rainy night in Chehalis.
“Thought this was a great first game for us considering the conditions,” Anderson said. “Really exciting to see some of those guys get their first opportunities at the varsity level. I really liked the way we started the game in terms of possession.”
The core four of Rafa Mendez, Gage Grisham, Fox Rogerson and Mathuzima all were in the thick of the Bearcats improbable run from the pigtail to their first district championship appearance in program history.
As were defenders Gabriel Burger and Yaden Quezada plus midfielder Julian Casimiro – a trio of all-league honorees.
Everyone else is getting vital minutes for the first time in their prep careers, including state wrestling champ Race Sacalici. Still, Anderson is banking on their chemistry after much of the roster place for TC Union over the offseason.
“We worked hard to build our program up and those guys take a lot of pride in trying to keep the tradition,” Anderson said. “This group seems to be tight-knit in terms of their friendship. It is hard to keep everybody happy. That connection is really special.”
Grisham got the party started 27 seconds into the match with his first goal to jump start W.F. West. After River Ridge tied it at one apiece, Mathuzima laced a free kick past Hawks netminder Braxton Martinez in the 22nd minute.
“It was a slow start again. We had some early nerves, especially since a few of our more experienced players were out, which meant younger players got bigger roles,” River Ridge head coach Daniel Arevalo said. “Our first goal was a perfect example of how we want to play. We completed eight passes in a row and moved the ball side to side and topped it off with a bloody great finish by Chris.”
As much practice time as the Bearcats have gotten in, a couple days have been spent on set pieces. Particularly on corners, the past two seasons have been a more compact look in trying to create chaos for the opposing goalie.
This year’s philosophy?
“Our goal is to find Fox’s head,” Anderson quipped.
Mendez did just that in the 61st minute to put W.F. West in front 3-1. Mathuzima tallied his final goal of the night four minutes later. First-year starting keeper for the Bearcats, River Haydon made several saves in the second half.
The junior was on their ‘C’ team a couple years ago.
“Getting a couple big saves boosted his confidence,” Anderson said of Haydon. “He’s really put in the effort. I swear he’s grown since we started the season a week ago. He is incredibly athletic for his size.”
W.F. West struggled more times than not in 2025, getting shut out eight times and walked into the playoffs with a losing record. Yet it went toe-to-toe with the best teams in D4 and nearly pulled off a stunner in the Round of 16 of state, falling to Sehome 2-1 in the 2/15 matchup.
The Bearcats will get tested plenty, starting with a four-match week that begins with Mountain View on Monday. Washougal is their only non-3A/4A non-league game. And Anderson feels the EvCo will be a battle on a nightly basis once again.
“It is going to be very tight,” he said. “It is any given night, who shows up and it is going to be very competitive.”
