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Peyton Wheeler signs to play soccer at Peninsula College
- Klas Stolpe
- 36 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé senior has 68 goals and counting
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears senior Peyton Wheeler signed a letter of intent Monday in the JDHS commons to attend Peninsula College in Port Angeles, Washington, and play soccer for the Pirates.
“Coach Matt (JDHS head coach Matt Dusenberry) has had players who have been there before,” Wheeler said. “And they are just a really good school, too, with sports and academics. I was influenced by that. Matt has helped me a lot and encouraged me a lot.”
Peninsula plays in the Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC), the largest community college conference in the United States. The Pirates have been nationally ranked for 10 straight years, won 14 consecutive division championships and six NWAC titles.
“I hope I bring competitiveness,” Wheeler said. “I am a team player. I work hard.”
Wheeler has 68 career goals and 36 assists for JDHS, and has three season games and state tournament play remaining. She is “blessed” to be able to bend a corner kick into the net for a scoring goal, or place a corner where she wants. This gives the Crimson Bears a better sense as to where to go when she has the CK, instead of trying to judge the flight of her kicks. She has shown proficiency as a right wing as well, which fits into the Peninsula style of play. Typically the Pirates have three strikers out front who have speed and can hit the ball with power. Wheeler can strike for power with both legs.
“Sometimes a forward that can score that many goals thinks that is their job,” Dusenberry said. “But Peyton certainly does work pretty hard on the other side of the ball, meaning that she will help harass backline or even come pick the pocket of a midfielder. We have video of her doing that…she does it and goes and scores a goal. That is something to look for, someone who won’t quit a play.”
Peninsula ranks high nationally for early childhood education and education majors, neuroscience and health sciences, among others, and scores in the top 50% across multiple research topics. Near Olympic National Park, Peninsula is known for its stunning natural setting, which serves as a massive outdoor classroom, something Wheeler will feel at home with.
“I plan to major in kinesiology,” Wheeler said. “I want to be a physical therapist when I am older. So this is a start there and eventually I will go to a bigger college, and learn more about physical therapy and related topics. I got interested in this from taking human anatomy here at JD. It was just really interesting to me, and it just built up by going to job shadows and things like that I really took an interest in it.”
Pirates head coach Kenyon Anderson is the winningest coach in NWAC women’s soccer history and has been named NWAC coach of the year five times.
“I am impressed with Peyton's combination of speed, grit and skill,” Anderson said. “She has been thoughtful and sincere in our interactions. I expect her to make an immediate impact and to compete for a starting role either on the wing or as a striker. The speed of the game is the hardest adjustment physically. Mentally it can be difficult being surrounded by other, equally talented players, but that is also the best way to grow. Peyton will likely need to improve the quickness of her decision-making.”
Wheeler said she will train through the summer.
“I need to be outside and get my conditioning,” she said. “Just work really hard. I know we (Peninsula) will be going on preseason trips. It is a really competitive school so I have to be ready to just get right into it, and just work really hard, really fast.”
Her youth career has included trips through the United States and abroad with Alaska’s Olympic Development Program (ODP), but started at what local players call “the downtown turf,” a 40-yard, fenced in section between JDHS and Harbor View Elementary School.
“My first memory of her is at the little turf over here,” mother Tessa Wheeler said. “She was doing the Smart Start, maybe three or four years old, and had her little T-shirt that went down to her ankles… It is pretty special to kind of see it come full circle for her. Her dad was a big soccer player, too, so I think he is proud to have a daughter follow in his footsteps a little bit. It is pretty neat to see her just come this far and to get to go pursue something that she loves to do.”
Father Phillip Wheeler played high school soccer with Dusenberry at JDHS, both graduating in 1991, a year before the soccer program became official.
“This is great,” Phillip Wheeler said, growing emotional. “I am really proud of her. I love soccer. I get to go see her play in Washington. I have watched her play since she was a tiny, little kid…It was wonderful. Being all around Juneau for soccer and then traveling to Portugal, Spain and England, and all over the United States playing for different teams. We took her on those trips just because of her enthusiasm for soccer. Just awesome.”
Peyton Wheeler remembers her first times on the pitch.
“I was like three,” she said. “There was like a little soccer camp and we were on the turf out front here. It was really fun. Parks and Rec and then Holiday Cup were the first organized play I had. The first Holiday Cup I was in, I know we won. My dad was coaching and I was with Milina (2025 JDHS graduate Milina Mazon, now playing at Edmonds College). I think we were the ‘Striking Elves’ or something like that.”
Of playing on ODP, Wheeler said, “The experience of getting to play teams and see how they develop players across the world was really cool. And just getting to see so many beautiful places over there.”
JDHS graduates Aubrey Briscoe (2011), Solana Ashe (2012), Mailia Miller (2019) and Blake Plummer (2022) have all played at Peninsula College.
“We love recruiting Matt's players,” Anderson said. “He is an incredibly kind and talented coach. Every Juneau-Douglas player we have had at PC has been great…Our goal is to be the best junior college program in the country without sacrificing the basic values of kindness and selflessness.”
• Contact Klas Stolpe at sports@juneauindependent.com
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