Dustin King was a soccer coach’s dream this season, denying goals while leading the back line and then scoring them when the Panthers needed him on the other end.

The Oswego junior has been named the 2025 Kendall County Record Boys Soccer Player of the Year as he guided the Panthers to a 15-8 season that included victories against Oswego East, Yorkville and Marmion, among a dozen others.

“Dustin was a key player to our team’s success this season,” Panthers coach Gaspar Arias said. “He demonstrates maturity, strong work ethic and commitment to team success. Not only was he a great defender, but he was also able to play striker when we needed him to. He scored some key goals to give us wins in some challenging games. We could always count on him to get the job done.”

King scored 14 goals and added 11 assists despite serving in such a dual role. He received numerous accolades, including being named all-sectional, all-conference and Team MVP all while serving as a team captain. He was also the school’s Athlete of the Week, Sept. 7-13.

“I really took great pride in being named as Oswego’s varsity captain which led me to push my leadership role as much as I could,” King said. “I put the team first in everything I did. No complaining. I just do whatever the coaches want. I guess my teammates recognized that and voted me for Team MVP which is a great honor.”

No team saw King and the Panthers as often this season as Naperville Central. The Panthers defeated the Redhawks, 3-1, when they first met on Aug. 30 but the Redhawks bounced back to beat them 6-2, just a week later.

Then, as luck would have it, the teams would square off with the Class 3A Naperville Central Regional title on the line. The Panthers’ season would be cut short after a 2-1 loss.

Naperville Central coach Troy Adams called King the best of the Southwest Prairie Conference players the Redhawks saw this year other than Plainfield North goalkeeper Marshall DeGraff, a Bowling Green commit.

“He was a very composed and versatile player,” Adams said. “When we played him the first time he moved from center forward (striker) and center back, showing his versatility.”

Whatever was best for the team was what King was willing to do for the Panthers.

“If they need me to play striker, I’ll play striker,” he said. “If they need me in the back, I’ll move back. As I normally play center back I take pride in my coach believing in me and believing in our defense to be able to move me up and hopefully I get a goal.”

The opportunity to play both positions helped King grow as a soccer player.

“The center back position caused me to be more vocal and smart to know when to step or when to drop,” King said. “It also helped with how I see the field. I see a lot more runs and open spaces which helped when I got moved to striker. Striker really helped grow my technical style, and finishing. When I was moved up top I started to take notes of how the defenders guarded me which I soon added to my defensive game.”

The Panthers only allowed 25 goals over 23 games and truly got stingier as the season wore on, allowing just six goals in their final 11 games.

“He is a disciplined, physical and very smart center defender,” Arias said. “He is great on 1v1 challenges and great on anticipating play. He has one of the stronger tackling abilities, is a great leader and has a great presence on the backline. He was able to shut down the top strikers in the conference and in the state. He gave us that security in the back.”

In addition to his ability and willingness to take on multiple roles on the pitch this fall, King also found a way to balance his time and talents to play football.

“Playing two sports in the same season caused me to develop my communication and time management and balance it all,” King said. “My coaches made it very easy understanding that I play two sports in the season. Every Sunday night I would sit down with my mother with both football and soccer schedules for the week and I would make an email telling my coaches when I will be at practice or if I have to miss a practice for games. Then, I would send that email to both so that everyone was on the same page. Playing both sports really developed me as a person, not just an athlete.”