Despite a tough season-ending loss in district play, the Warrenton boys soccer team’s 2025 season was nothing short of significant. 

The Warriors finished at 14-9, their second straight winning season and their best record since 2009, when they finished 15-9. 

Warrenton’s season ended on Nov. 4 with a 2-1 loss to Lutheran St. Charles in a Class 3, District 4 quarterfinal match. The third-seeded Cougars scored a golden goal in overtime play to knock off the sixth-seeded Warriors.

“We played a tremendous game. They’re a really good team and we knew we needed to be tough, and I thought we definitely outplayed them in the second half and had better scoring chances,” Warrenton coach John Schulte said. “That’s one of the things that hurts the most because we played so well and we just couldn’t get the ball in the net and they ended up getting that goal right at the end.”

The loss ended the high school soccer careers of seven seniors.

“The senior class – that’s a legacy,” Warrenton coach John Schulte said. “Hopefully they’ll be talking about it for years with the amount of goals they scored, how well they played, the intensity and focus they had and just the hard work.”

One of the seniors, Isaac Wagner, broke school records for single season goals (45), assists (16) and points (106).

“With (Wagner) scoring all those goals and having 106 points, that’s going to be hard to replace,” Schulte said. 

Other seniors were Evan and Nolan Donovan, Hudson Kieffer and Teegan Williams. The seven of them had been playing together for quite some time. 

“When they came in as freshman, you knew they had a lot of talent and they were willing to work at it. They spent so much time over the summer getting together, kicking the ball around and scrimmaging,” Schulte said. “They’re leaders and I hope they leave that legacy that if you come out and work hard, great things can happen for you.” 

Last year, the Warriors won 13 matches. Schulte credits this year’s success to his team’s work ethic. 

“They love to play and they like to be out there. Anytime you get a group of kids that want to play, you’re going to get really good things,” he said. 

Warrenton also finished third in the GAC North Conference, earning the Warriors a spot in the GAC Divisional Cup and they were crowned champions of the Wright City Shootout Tournament for the third consecutive year. 

“Overall this year, we were passing and moving the ball, staying within our offensive scheme of what we wanted to do, not lowering our standards and always playing at a really high tempo. I’m really proud of them,” Schulte said. 

The Warriors dealt with a few injuries during the season, but Schulte was happy to see both of his senior centerbacks, Brayden Brown and Caleb Hackmann, return from injuries. 

“It was tremendous to have that defensive and senior leader presence back there again and having (Hackmann) be able to finish out his season,” Schulte said. “For (Brown) it was still hard for him to full out sprint, but he was able to really control the ball, pass and distribute it up top. It was just great having him there.” 

Warrenton also had valuable contributions from its freshman class. 

“Caden Baum did an awesome job for us in the midfield and Oscar Bynum did a great job coming in defensively and helping out,” Schulte said. We also had to overcome some adversity with injuries and we started using Cooper Irwin back on defense and he did a fabulous job.” Schulte said he is optimistic his team will continue to be successful despite losing seven players to graduation. 

“It’s always hard to fill spots when seven seniors are leaving, but I think with hard work they can do it and be really successful,” Schulte said.