VANCOUVER, Wash. (KOIN) -– Evergreen High School junior soccer standout Killian Burris was practically raised on the pitch.
“He’s coached me on the field, you know, Dad at home; Dad on the field so that’s fun,” he said. “The coaching … you know, sometimes it’s positive [and] sometimes it’s not so positive. The wins leak over into the house when it’s good, and then the losses leak over sometimes, too.
“We haven’t been back to the [Washington] state 16, and he got us back to the 16 last year,” Keenan Burris, who’s the Evergreen High School head varsity boys soccer coach and athletic director, said. “You know, him and a group of 22 guys just did a great job.”
Killian, who’s the team captain, carries a 3.4 GPA and takes time out of his schedule to work as one of the soccer coaches on his cousin’s team.
“He’s pretty little. He played U6 this year so it was fun coaching him with my Dad.”
Coaching soccer definitely runs in the Burris family.
“Actually my grandma coached here a while back,” said Killian. “I know she coached JV; I don’t know if she did coach the varsity, but she did coach for a while here. And then my Dad obviously played here, and all of his brothers played here.”
And here’s something very special: Killian was there when Dad earned victory No. 200 at Evergreen High School.
“You have pictures in my office with him as just a little guy, you know, hanging out with some of our great players that have went on to Concordia and stuff,” said Keenan.
Keenan played soccer at Concordia University in Portland, Ore., and every now and then will break out the old videos for Killian from the soccer days.
“We’ve got some highlight videos. They’re on the old VHS. Things are grainy and [hard to see]. They kind of laugh. You know, obviously shorts are a little bit shorter [back in the college soccer days],” said Keenan.
This father and son are hoping that Evergreen can accomplish its biggest goal this season.
“I’d like to hoist a state championship,” said Keenan. “That would be a great opportunity.”
“It would be fun. It would be pretty cool,” said Killian. “You know, it would be quite the story.”
It’s a story that’s still being written.