While there were plenty of great matches over the weekend in the USSF Development Academy, things couldn’t have been more thrilling than the U18 matchup between Miami FC Kendall and Concord Fire on Sunday.

Jonathan Bidegain scored in the 86th minute to give Miami the hard-fought victory, its first of the season. As busy as any club thus far, Miami entered the match with an 0-2-1 record following a loss to Concorde Fire on Saturday. It was a nice bounce back for a team that certainly needed one.

In other U18 action, Bobby McDonnell, of the Richmond Strikers put up two goals in his team’s 3-1 win over the Richmond Kickers – the season opener for both teams.

Texas SC DTH’s Mark Wagih Gendi provided the game-winner in a 1-0 victory over Solar SC, and the SC DTH U16s used a similar clutch effort in their win over Solar.

After Solar’s Murphy Short tied the contest 1-1 in the 74th minute, Leobardo Vazquez came right back with the clincher in the 79th minute as his club broke a set of Texas Solar hearts in one weekend.

Other impressive individual efforts on the U16s side included Jesse Caron, whose two goals lifted the Clearwater Chargers to a 2-2 tie with the Atlanta Fire United.  Haakon Taylor scored a couple of goals in an easy Northwest Division win for Crossfire Premier against Santa Cruz County.

Two Texas squads anticipating a duel were Andromeda and the Dallas Texans, but the action was rained out and will likely be made up this weekend.

One disappointed party was U16 Texans coach Hassan Nazari, who was looking forward to getting the new campaign started. In a lot of ways Dallas feels like they’re ripe for success.  Both of the club’s teams made the Academy National Finals and came up short. But this year the Texans feel they’re better equipped to take the next step forward.

“Last year we were playing a little under-aged and both of our teams really got some great experience,” Nazari said. “This year we have everyone on the right level and I feel like we should do some things.”

At the top level for the Texans, it starts with midfielder Zach Barnes along with strikers Connor Doyle and Blake Wise.

Barnes is the perfect ball controller who moves forward well without ever compromising the defense, while Doyle and Wise bring firepower in distinctly different packages – Doyle as a tall versatile player and Wise as a strong and sturdy speedster with a dangerous right foot.

The U16s are headlined by defender Aaron Simmons, goalkeeper Kevin Wright, midfielder Andre Reyes.

Reyes is a good attacking midfield player, and a hard worker who can cover a lot of territory while Simmons and Wright can help to keep the defense grounded.

The Texans are known for being one of the top clubs in the country and this year will do little to refute that reputation.