The NPSL Lone Star Conference has blossomed into one of the toughest conferences in the entire league, chock-full of teams bursting with talent and owners dedicated to taking them to the next level. It’s one of the most competitive conferences in the NPSL, with four different regular season champions in the last four years. This year’s champion is a first-time regular season conference winner, West Texas FC.

“It was really really tough.” Ethan Stevenson is one of the key drivers of West Texas success and talked with Protagonist Soccer about the regular season conference title for his club. “The Lone Star is one of the toughest conferences in all of the NPSL. With all the travel, we got off to a rough start and then brought it home with the last four games at home. We won all of those to win the conference.”

*Photo credit: Isabella Bravo/West Texas FC*

Playing soccer in Midland, Texas isn’t an easy ask, given your closest opponent is almost 2 hours away. Stevenson talked about one of the worst word trips of the season. “It was brutal. We drove 10 hours to Brownsville, spent the night, played the game the next day, and then we drove three hours to Laredo. We played them and then that night drove the seven hours back to Midland. It was so tough on our bodies.”

Stevenson has done his part this year for West Texas, putting in 5 goals in the regular season. The South Carolina-native has been a key part of the club’s success this season in the NPSL.

Thanks to their number one seed in conference, West Texas are guaranteed at least one home playoff match against Laredo Heat. That kicks off this evening at 7:30CT. “Coming off a five game winning streak, finishing first in the conference, we’re going to be favorites, but we’ve got a tough opponent in Laredo,” said Stevenson when asked about their chances tonight. “We only played them once and they beat us at their place, so we’re looking to return the favor!”

- Dan Vaughn