Every year, when we’ve done these nominations, as I’ve sat down to write the articles for each club, I’ve had a moment where I second-guessed our choices. Generally, the slate of potential clubs is put together by myself, Joshua Duder, and a couple of the staff writers mid December. During that process, we banter back and forth and pitch our favorites as a way to test the options. Because nothing makes you feel stupider than not nominating a club that fans are sure to bring up once the full selection panel is out. So when I sit down to write, it’s the last moment to think through the options, who did we forget? Who is deserving but got snubbed?

To be clear, there was another club nominated for this spot. It had a ton of success and was very deserving of being on this list. Even this club wasn’t the first snub that I reconsidered. There are several that came to mind, even now, as I write the last nomination for Protagonist Soccer Club of the Year. But I don’t think this list is complete with a nomination for Denton Diablos FC.

I must say upfront, I’m friends with their founder, Damon Gochneaur. We’ve podcasted together and I’d say we are friends (I’d say the same of several front office people from other nominationed clubs, as well). I've watched this club grow from a seed of an idea to its eventual fruition, having almost instant success in its first season in the NPSL. So some might say I’m biased. Fair enough, don’t vote for Denton if they don’t deserve the title. But let me make my case.

This year was a big one for Denton Diablos. Definitely not the one that Damon and company had planned for, of course, when the pandemic snuffed out the NPSL season and left clubs scrambling for solutions in a very unsafe world. As I’ve said with all these nominations, it would have been easy to pull up the covers and sleep off 2020. Instead, DDFC went to work.

The club decided, along with a group of local DFW clubs, to form a brand new league. It was an amazing thing to see clubs from multiple leagues (NPSL, UPSL, NTPSL) come together to create a local solution to a worldwide problem. The league put together protocols and testing and, by all accounts, had an incredibly successful summer season. Then, several months later, the league came back for Roja League Invierno to play a second competition this winter. None of that happens without the aggressive leadership Gochneaur brings to the table. It’s not to say that other clubs didn’t play important roles in getting it done, but DDFC was the driving force that got it done.

On the field, Denton packed a double punch, with the Denton Diablos side accompanied by the U-19 side Estudiantes, both marches through the Roja League schedule and qualified for the playoffs. Before you question the strength of the Roja League, let me highlight the competition: NTX Rayados, Ft. Worth Vaqueros, Irving FC, and Inocentes. These clubs have qualified for league playoffs consistently, not to mention qualified for and competed in the US Open Cup. This was a good table of local talent and yet, when the final was played, both Denton sides were facing each other for the title (Estudiantes won).

Off the field, Denton solidified their partnerships with local sponsors, including those that supported the Roja League. And they joined a very elite number of clubs in the NPSL to create their own physical retail space. It may be cheaper to do similar things online, but having a store in your hometown is a concrete reminder to your fans and non-fans alike that your club is a permanent fixture and going nowhere anytime soon. It’s a gutsy move, completely in line with everything DDFC has done so far.

When I asked Damon what he was most proud of this year, he offered this: “Our resilience. In a year where many clubs struggled to get a chance to play a single game, we were fortunate enough to form a second team, in Estudiantes, to have both compete and ultimately win the Roja summer league, securing the club’s first hardware, win the Chisholm Trail Clasico, and open a team store in the heart of Denton.” That’s a pretty impressive list for any year, let alone 2020.

By Dan Vaughn