Old Town High School soccer begins a new chapter this fall as the Coyotes have hired two new head coaches for their girls and boys teams.
The girls are mentored by Boston native Chris Wesley, who previously coached in the Corinth and Dover-Foxcroft areas for 18 years before moving to Milford to become youth sports director of the Old Town-Orono YMCA in 2022.
The team is led by Connecticut native Josh Bousquet, who previously played in the NCAA Division II and has been a club soccer coach in Maine for the past decade for programs such as Seacoast United, Acadia Fire and the Bangor Soccer Club.
Wesley and Bousquet take over two teams in very different stages of development, with the girls on the verge of a regional title and the boys in need of a complete rebuild. Over the past three seasons, they have posted overall records of 32-13-4 and 12-26-3, respectively — the girls were regional finalists in 2022, while the boys have not advanced to the regional quarterfinals since 2018.
Wesley sees himself as a player-coach and believes a championship is within reach.
“Teamwork and collaboration is everything. I want to make sure they want to be here and make sure practice is structured so that nothing surprises them in the games,” Wesley said. “Communication is key for me. Our lineup is going to be aggressive and I think we should be able to score goals this year. I haven’t had this much talent in a long time.”
At Foxcroft, Wesley transformed a team that hadn’t won a game in four years into one that made five straight playoff appearances. He was named the Penobscot Valley Conference Class B girls coach of the year in 2018.
“Class B is tough and you have to give it your all in every game,” Wesley said. “We have six seniors and nine juniors, so they’ve been through it all and know what they need. We could last until November.”
The girls are coming off a season under Eric Damboise that saw them finish 6th in Class B North, losing 1-0 to eventual regional champion Ellsworth in the regional quarterfinals. Their season begins again with a home game against MDI on September 12 at 6 p.m.
Bousquet is a die-hard soccer fan and calls the sport by its worldwide name, “football.” He wants to create more passion for the game in the old town community.
“I was born and raised as a football player. I watch it every day – if it was a religion, it would be mine,” Bousquet said. “This program is still a work in progress and I want to get people excited about football. I want to develop the game.”
Bousquet has family ties to the Old Town soccer club through his daughter Rhiannon (a senior on the girls’ team) and his older brother Jeremy (the high school’s athletic director who was not involved in the recruiting process).
“I’ve been watching Old Town for the last few years and wanted to get involved,” said coach Bousquet. “There’s a lot of work to be done (in) building camps and a development program. The fundamentals should be basic at the high school level.”
The boys are coming off a 2023 season under Mark Graffam that saw them finish 12th in Class B North, losing 4-0 to No. 5 Gardiner in the preliminaries. They will hit the ground running at home against reigning regional finalist Ellsworth on Sept. 5 at 6 p.m.
