UPSL soccer returns to Sanford through Brick City FC

Formerly San Lee FC, city’s new semi-pro team has better facilities and a team hungry to play soccer at a higher level

By Billy Liggett

It was a day designed to not only celebrate the return of semi-professional soccer to Sanford, but do so in a still-new athletic park that helped make this return possible.

And while heavy rain may have kept the fans away, it didn’t wash away the excitement of Media Day for Brick City FC, the city’s and Sanford Area Soccer League’s first United Premiere Soccer League club since SanLee FC disbanded in 2023. That evening, the roughly 30 young (and young-ish) men who make up the squad waited out the downpour and stuck around for a spirited intra-squad scrimmage.

“This sport means a lot to all of us,” said Osvaldo “Ozzie” Alvarez, one of two team captains on the squad. “I think about how long I’ve been playing and to still be doing it, it’s about passion and a passion for winning.”

Brick City’s official return to the eight-team UPSL Division I Mid-Atlantic South Division was a joyous one, with the Lions — the mascot chosen to honor the local Lions Club, which has supported SASL for several years — topping Gastonia City FC near Charlotte, 2-1, in the season opener on March 21. Alvarez and Hector Velazco knocked in the two goals in the program’s return.

The team will make its home debut at Lee County Athletic Park this Saturday at 7 p.m. against Wilmington-based ILM Football Club. Boys and girls who take part in Sanford Area Soccer League’s Classic, Academy and Recreation leagues get free admission by wearing their jersey to the game (admission otherwise is $5).

Those kids are another big reason why semi-pro soccer is returning to Sanford, said Ryan Patterson, executive director of SASL.

“There’s a reason this team’s uniforms look like the uniforms kids are wearing in SASL — we want the younger players to feel like this is their team, too,” he said. “Toward the end of San Lee FC, we felt like there was a disconnect between that team and the youth leagues, and we’re trying to work on that.”

Patterson credits Tim Blodgett, the general manager, owner and founder of the San Lee squad that competed in the UPSL from 2018 to 2023, for making semi-pro soccer in Sanford a reality. Blodgett, who is also a coach at Grace Christian Academy and a member of USA Soccer’s Men’s Over-40 National Team, created San Lee FC to grow the sport locally and provide an outlet for former high school players who didn’t have the opportunity to play at the collegiate level. He found a home in the UPSL, the nation’s largest pro development soccer league that is home to 400 clubs split into a premier division and a secondary Division 1 (where Sanford currently competes).

According to Patterson, lack of facilities was among the reasons the team folded in 2023. The Sanford team was paying hundreds a night to practice and play games in Apex. Lee County Athletic Park, which opened last fall, provides a more stable home for Brick City FC (though should the team advance to the Premier division, it would still need upgrades such as a scoreboard and locker room).

Another reason the game is back at this level is talent. Patterson says Sanford is stocked with talented players, many of whom have had to travel north to Raleigh or south to Fayetteville in the past few years to play competitively.

“I’d say probably 90 percent of them grew up playing SASL recreation or travel ball at some point,” he says. “Even in their later years, if they moved on to another club, there’s still this fondness toward SASL. They get to come back and play with their friends, the guys they grew up with. And for some of these guys, playing soccer keeps them busy … even keeps some of them out of trouble.”

J.R. Hughes, formerly SASL’s director of coaching for travel soccer with 44 years of experience both playing and coaching the game at a high level, is head coach of the new Brick City FC team, and even before the squad’s 2-1 opening win, he said he saw a lot of potential in his new team. As a Division I program in the UPSL, he says the ultimate goal is to work toward the Premier Division, which has teams in Raleigh (Wake FC, North Carolina FC among them), Charlotte, Asheville and Winston-Salem, among other cities.

“You get through the first division, the Premier division and then if we do well a couple of seasons in Premier, we look to do the USL [United Soccer League] track,” Hughes says. “What I like about all this is for SASL, from the grassroots up, it gives our kids a true professional pathway. That’s something the club has been missing the past few years.

“I think most of the guys in this program right now could have played somewhere after high school, but for whatever reason didn’t. Some have played in similar leagues. But they all seem pretty thankful that this has returned to Sanford.”

Assistant coach Gabriel Chavez says he thinks the team will be able to compete with any team at the Division I level.

“It’s just about finding that chemistry, finding the initial 18 guys who are going to be on the roster consistently, and then just being able to continue working together and build that chemistry. And they’ll definitely be able to compete,” he says.

Brick City FC has roughly 40 young men on the roster. UPSL requires at least a roster of 25, Hughes says, and they stacked this roster to cover some of the work-life balance the majority of the players have to juggle.

Alvarez, for example, is a professional automotive detailer with his own company. A former Southern Lee High School star (who scored 22 goals in his final season with the team), he’s played in Raleigh and Charlotte over the last few years, but Brick City FC gives him an opportunity to play closer to home.

“You get to a certain age where, and you think you might not have an opportunity to keep playing … and then we get an opportunity like this. It just feels amazing,” says Alvarez. “It just feels amazing. It makes you want to push yourself harder, especially with us getting older.”

Fernando Luna DePaz played college ball at Columbia International University in South Carolina after graduating from Grace Christian School. After college, he returned to SASL to coach travel ball and become a private trainer. He also coached at Southern Lee High School. He was a member of Blodgett’s San Lee teams in 2018 and 2019.

“Tim did a lot of great things for the soccer community in Sanford,” DePaz says. “He saw the potential for all the kids here, and Sanford’s big enough and has enough people who love soccer to support something like this.”

At 30, DePaz is one of the oldest (if not the oldest) players on Brick City FC. He says he’s earned the nickname “Unc” from the younger players, but as one of the team’s captains (along with Alvarez), he says he still “has it.”

“I try to take care of myself, because recovery is definitely the most important part of the game, I think,” he says. “These young guys, they’ll figure it out soon enough that recovery is way more important than training — and every day being out here, practicing, getting touches on the ball, that is key, too. But without recovery, you’re not going to be able to move as smoothly as you want to.”

The average age of the Brick City roster is between 20 and 24. DePaz calls the UPSL a competitive league stocked with former college players and even a few ex pros. Success for Brick City FC will be about building the program and bringing up athletes currently playing at the middle and high school levels one day.

And doing all of it at the new Lee County Athletic Park makes it even more enjoyable.

“This is amazing for the kids here, for the community of Sanford. It’s been a long time coming. I know teams from out of town weren’t fans of playing on our former fields,” DePaz says. “I’m very grateful for this complex, and I’m glad the kids are able to use it.”

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