Kyle Jones knew this moment was coming.

But that didn’t make it any easier for the Kentlake High soccer coach to announce that this spring will be his final season with the boys team. Jones doubles as the school’s girls coach and announced in the fall that he would not be back with them, either.

“It was a really hard choice to have to make,” explained Jones. “I just got done with (massage therapeutic) school and opened my own business in Olympia. I am basically paying to come up here and coach this year. I knew it would happen eventually. There’s always one more kid or one more class you want to stay for.”

Jones has been an integral part to putting Kentlake soccer on the map. He entered this season with a 15-12-7 overall record and one playoff berth with the Falcons. To get an idea as to how far exactly Kentlake soccer has come in just two years, it’s worth noting that the Falcons won just seven games in the four years combined before Jones stepped onto the field. In addition, Kentlake’s fourth-place finish in the South Puget Sound League North Division standings in 2008, which also garnered a playoff berth, also was the team’s highest finish in the decade.

“Hopefully I will leave a positive mark,” Jones said.

Of course, in a lot of ways he already has, especially on junior goalkeeper Brandon Shipley, an honorable mention selection last spring.

“I’ve loved having him as a coach. He used to be a keeper,” Shipley said. “We worked together during the summer and we had keeper wars.”

Yet, when it comes to his imminent departure, Jones has been pretty quiet.

“He doesn’t want to talk about it,” Shipley said.

The Falcons, however, have designs on sending their coach out on the right note. Despite graduating much of the firepower from last year’s team, including league MVP Drew Landram and Allen Shour while also losing Tyler Wright to track, there’s still reason to believe the Falcons can make a playoff push.

The team’s defense is a big part of that, especially with Shipley back in goal and Colton Jensen, also an honorable mention selection last spring, back on defense. Shipley was among the league leaders last season in shutouts with five.

Now it’s a matter of finding a few guys to replace last year’s offensive standouts. Forward Alexis Ng showed last week he might just be part of the answer, scoring a pair of goals in a 3-0 win over Kent-Meridian.

“Alexis has got blinding speed and a great ability to finish,” Jones said. “Now it’s a matter of building confidence. Goal scorers are confident and a little bit selfish.”

Midfielders Andrew Miccile and Aaron Velasco also should offer some scoring punch. And in a league with no clear-cut frontrunner, but plenty of talent all around, the Falcons will need to get offense anywhere they can find it if they hope to make a playoff push.

“It’s going to take them leaving everything they’ve got out on the practice field and game field,” Jones said.