Stanhope Elmore High Soccer Program Continues Building for Future

By Scott Nickerson

Elmore/Autauga News

The Stanhope Elmore High School soccer program will have a few new faces coaching this season, as well as a few familiar ones returning. Long time Head Coach Johanna Angelo stepped down at the end of the 2023 season, completing a 15-year run that saw the Mustangs’ program reach heights not imaginable when the school fielded its first soccer team in 1999 and the team’s only win was against Prattville’s B team. Under Angelo, the Mustangs won the area five consecutive seasons in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, and again in 2021. During that run from 2015-2019, the Mustangs won at least one playoff game each year, even advancing to the Class 6A Quarterfinals in 2016 and 2018.

Angelo will still be helping youth learn the sport, but now she will be guiding and helping her own young kids as they learn and play the game. And despite stepping down as Head Coach, she will still be the sponsor, allowing Richie Beyer the opportunity to lead the program.

Beyer, the former County Engineer for Elmore County, and current Chief Operations Officer for the Elmore County Commission, is a volunteer coach that has worked with Angelo since the 2019-2020 season when he took over as the JV Coach.  Beyer explained his introduction to Angelo, and how their common desire to see the soccer program succeed started.

“While coaching through the YMCA, I had the opportunity to meet Coach Angelo. She was gracious to support the Grandview YMCA’s soccer program through facilitating soccer camps during the summer for younger players and then aiding our teams to play a few home games to end our season at Foshee Henderson Stadium. Through activities like these, she and I began discussions on how I could assist the program. During these conversations she offered me the opportunity to coach the JV Boys soccer team and help with the varsity program. During the last several years, we were able to create an environment where her coaching aptitude was shared with me, and I was able to give her some insight and different perspective on the players entering her varsity ranks. We were also trying to help reinforce the concepts she wanted to deploy at the varsity level by introducing the JV players to those concepts as their basic skills sharpened.”

With his youngest child, Colby, as a junior, Beyer has coached or watched many of the current juniors and seniors on teams for most of their lives, from the beginner level in recreational play to advanced travel team competitions, to Class 6A high school varsity. It’s not just soccer the Elmore County COO has experience with. Coach Beyer and his wife, Kelli, frequently assisted in any activity their children wanted to experience, to include softball, baseball, and cheerleading, in addition to soccer.

“Being involved with the players has been one of the most rewarding things God has blessed us with in our lives,” Beyer said.

But he will now turn his focus on continuing to build the foundation set by Coach Angelo. While he knows a lot about the players on the roster, he hopes to combine that knowledge with what he learned from watching Coach Angelo the previous seasons.

 “She is great at handling the players, managing the moments of the game, and keeping her perspective on what is important. All great traits of a leader and things that I hope have enhanced my outlook on the overarching purpose of being a coach.”

The SEHS soccer program held tryouts in September, and almost 100 students showed up, showing that the world’s most popular sport is expanding in Central Alabama ( to support that claim, per online statistics, 1.5 Billion people watched the 2022 FIFA World Cup Final…compared to 115 Million people that watched the most recent NFL Super Bowl).

For the first time in the history of the program, the school will field a Middle School team, in addition to Junior Varsity and Varsity. The Junior Varsity team will be coached by Justin Damron, the former Sports Director at the Grandview YMCA, who himself has seen many of the kids play in his former role with the Y.

Coaching the Middle School team will be Dillon Thomas. Not many soccer programs in the Central Alabama area will field Middle School teams. Most of the larger programs statewide, particularly in Birmingham and Huntsville, have started with Middle School teams. Coaches and parents realize that it will be a learning process to incorporate a Middle School team, but it is something that could pay dividends years from now when those same 7th and 8th graders are playing as seniors.

The girls’ varsity soccer team will be led by Alex Bolling for the second consecutive season. The most recent girls’ team featured underclassman starting in 8 of the 11 positions on the field most nights, so the hope is that experience will benefit the players that return as they get older and play against competition their own age. Last year’s team saw Ashley Brantley sign a scholarship to play soccer at Faulkner.

Leading the program is a big task, and Beyer is grateful for the opportunity and trust placed in him by those in the position to do so.

“I am thankful for the opportunity to lead the players and honored that Coach Angelo, Coach Fuller and Coach Adams have the faith in us to guide the program moving forward. I am looking forward to coaching alongside our new coaches, Justin Damron who will coach the JV Boys and help me with the Varsity Boys and Dylan Thomas who will head up our Middle School coed team. Great additions to our program and looking forward to the great things these young men can help us accomplish. Coach Bolling returns for his second year, and we are excited to see what year two holds in store for our varsity girls’ team.”