Maybe it's a byproduct of coaching at an athletic power such as St. Michael's High School, but Merritt Brown turned philosophical when asked a common question — where does he expect his Horsemen boys soccer team to finish in District 2A-AAA?

"Although it's never a given, and the word 'expect' may be too arrogant a word to use," Brown wrote in an e-mail to The New Mexican. "St. Michael's soccer demands of itself to compete for the district title."

Brown, entering his sixth season as the St. Michael's head coach, italicized "demands."

That's fitting because, just like last season, the Horsemen have increased demands if they are to continue their reign over the district. The district not only added a team — East Mountain — after statewide realignment, but also should be deeper than it has been traditionally. Perhaps no league in Class A-AAA will be as tightly contested.

Santa Fe Preparatory returns an astonishing 14 players that saw significant field time last year, including 11 seniors. Chief among those returners are Kevin Lowe, an all-state defender, Graham Sides, an all-district forward, his brother McCall Sides, a forward too, and defender Brian Lewis.

This mass of experience fills Griffins head coach Hersch Wilson with hope, even more than usual for a coach at the dawn of a new season.

"We have five or six guys that have played high school and club together since they were kids," he said. "They're soccer maniacs. ... Our defensive back four have been together since they were sophomores."

Santa Fe Prep, a team accustomed to finishing second, was painfully close to the league title last season, but lost its chance after falling to Monte del Sol in a match that Wilson says he will remember for the rest of his life.

If Wilson's team doesn't start games "underwater," as he says, the Blue Griffins should have another shot to take down St. Michael's.

That's if Monte del Sol or Desert Academy doesn't sneak in and swipe the spot from them.

The Dragons might be hardest pressed to duplicate last season's success. Second-year coach Mazatl Galindo has just four returning players with significant experience, including defender Dakota Lopez and Matt McChesney. Galindo also has to replace keeper Ryan Keffer, who was key in that win over Santa Fe Prep.

But Galindo, who grew up in futbol-crazed Mexico, has spread his soccer passion throughout the program. He knows the Dragons face challenges, and he expects they will counter that with improved technical skills and better finesse.

"Hopefully we can be more offensive," Galindo said.

Meanwhile, Desert Academy also hopes to continue its emergence on the soccer field, where scoring wasn't a problem last season.

Behind midfielder David Schmidtheisler, who ranked fourth in points in AAA last year, Desert Academy was one of the league's strongest offensive teams.

Schmidtheisler was a German exchange student and returned home. However, there are eight key returning players, so the Wildcats have experience. They just might look a bit different this year.

"We should be quite an attacking team," said Desert Academy coach Rob Lochner. "But we should play better possession ball, with more patience. We're trying not to force it so much."

Desert Academy competes in Class A in every other sport. Last season, it was the only such team in the A-AAA state tournament in 2009. Key players back from that team are Ram Rattan-Khalsa, Nathan Sheridan, Nick Gerber and Alex Kokesh, all seniors.

"We've exceeded everybody's expectations," Lochner said. "It puts a little weight on us this year."

St. Michael's is used to this pressure. And, again, the Horsemen have the balanced and talented roster to deal with those and other hurdles.

Goalkeeper Arthur Dejarnette returns, along with defender Travis Ish, midfielders Patrick Rodriguez and Dominic Medina, and forward Alex Cloud-Russell. The Horsemen will also benefit from the return of defender Leland Pascual, who missed last year with a broken leg.

Brown's team isn't big physically, but he thinks it can make up for that with mental toughness.

Wrote Brown: "We have some great team chemistry brewing right now."

It should allow them to deal with all the demands of district this season.

District 2AAAA

District 2AAAA gained a little heat in the offseason.

When the New Mexico Activities Association redrew districts, it added Santa Fe High to the City Different-centered league. Sure, the geographic tightening should save money, but more enticing is the fact that some local rivalries will gain some importance, as they now will occur in district play.

"It makes it exciting," Santa Fe head coach A.J. Herrera says.

But it probably won't change much.

Explained Capital head coach Eugene Doyle: "It's always Los Alamos, and we're just trying to take them down."

The Hilltoppers, coming off a second-place finish at state, return seven key players, including district player of the year Graham Delano and all-state midfielder Andy Thoma.

Los Alamos coach Evan Gartz says chemistry and communication just need to catch up to the talent his team has.

Capital seems to be growing. The Jaguars have a JV team for the first time in their history and 12 returning players. With Doug Membreno and Nick Olivas leading the way, Doyle expects his team to a more controlled and defensively stout team than last year.

For Santa Fe High, stepping down to Class AAAA should help the program develop. No more do the Demons have to compete with Class AAAAA Albuquerque powers La Cueva and Sandia.

"On paper it looks good," said Herrera, whose team was 4-15 last year. "We still have to play the games and perform. ... We have to prove to everybody that we can compete with best of the quad-A schools. There are areas in every part of our game that need work."

He is pleased with what he has seen of the Demons attitude and work ethic.