OPRF Soccer’s Easton Bogard is selected Illinois Player of the Year

Oak Park and River Forest High School soccer player Easton Bogard has been selected as the Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association’s (IHSSCA) Player of the Year—the first to do so in Huskie history.

At the same time, Jason Fried became the first OPRF coach to be named IHSSCA Coach of the Year. In his eighth season at the helm, Fried guided the team to a 21-1-2 mark and a best-in-Illinois state ranking for most of the season.

The awards, voted upon by high school coaches throughout the state, date back to 1972 and cap the pair’s enormously successful four-year collaboration.

“I’m really happy for Easton,” Fried said. “To be recognized by all these coaches—he really worked hard and sacrificed. It’s such a confidence boost. Rarely do you get to coach a kid for four years; it was a really cool journey to be a part of.”

Both were honored last week at an IHSSCA awards event hosted by Aurora University that also turned the spotlight on other players from across Illinois, including two other Huskies--Bryce Richards, a junior forward, who was named to the All-Sectional team; and Charlie Maguire, a senior defender, who received Honorable Mention All-Sectional laurels.

In addition, Bogard this week was named to the United Soccer Coaches High School Boys All-America Team. He is one of three Illinois players, and one of 80 nationally, to be selected.

Over his Huskie career, Bogard shattered OPRF single-season and career scoring records, earned three All-State selections, led the program to its deepest run in the playoffs two years ago and to an undefeated regular season this year.

During that span, Fried’s teams posted 61-14-3 record. Overall, Fried has posted a mark of 120 wins, 34 losses and 10 ties.

The recognition was a reflection of the entire coaching staff and its work over the years, said Fried. “I’m grateful; this is as just much theirs as mine,” he said. “This is all of us working as a team, year in and year out.”

The Huskie coaching staff includes varsity assistants Jon Cummings and Luis Perez; junior varsity 1 coaches Dave Bernthal and Jake Truty; junior varsity 2 and goalkeeper coach Mike Dolan; and freshman coaches Luis Perez and Pam Whitehead.

Fried learned of his own selection indirectly, when he received a flurry of texts from other coaches congratulating him one morning. “I had no clue what they were talking about at first,” Fried recalled. “It’s humbling. There are a lot of great coaches on that list (of previous winners).”

Bogard said the recognition “shows me that my hard work paid off. I’m really going to miss playing in front of my friends. I’m grateful that I took advantage of the great support our team gets; it always felt amazing to feel that support.”

As a sophomore, Bogard was instrumental in the Huskies winning their first Sectional championship. He scored the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over the state’s top-ranked team, New Trier, and then notched a hat trick in the team’s 3-0 triumph over Evanston Township in the Sectional title game. Those tallies raised his season total to 29, tying an OPRF record.

“Although this was a pretty successful year for not just me individually but also the program, my sophomore year really stands out,” Bogard said. “It felt magical…It was our first year playing without COVID and showed me what the high school experience was like.”

This season, during an undefeated regular season in which the team reigned as the state’s top-rated squad for over a month, Bogard established a new single-season mark with 33 goals, to bring his career total to 91, or nearly double the previous mark of 50. Meanwhile, he boosted his career assists mark to 45, also the most in school history.

In mid-October, OPRF seemed poised to make a serious run at the Class 3A state championship but got knocked out in the second round on penalty kicks after a scoreless regulation and overtime against Notre Dame College Prep in Niles.

Looking to the future, the 5-foot-9, 155-pound Bogard will continue to play for the Chicago Fire U-19 Academy team. Next year, he plans to enroll at Indiana University, which has won eight national titles—second-most of any school—and is perennially among the top teams in the collegiate ranks. His long-term goal is to become a professional soccer player.