2010 All-Area Boys Soccer: This talented group has all the accolades to prove worth

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

Time and time again schools throughout Oakland County have produced plenty of fine talent when it comes to the sport of boys soccer. The pipeline is so deep that is goes back more than 30 years and it never seems to waver.

Just in the coverage area of www.northoaklandsports.com, there were 22 all-state players this year and several more than did not make the cut due to top-heavy districts in terms of talented teams. Plus, there are several local stars from programs in the Michigan Association of Christian Schools, including MACS Division I state champion Troy Bethany Christian and MACS Division II state champion Clarkston Springfield Christian who were not eligible for all-state accolades.

There was a pair of local players named to the All-State Dream Team, Troy’s Sean Cunningham and Auburn Hills Oakland Christian’s Caleb Stanko, who both entered the season as Mr. Soccer candidates. There are also several members of Vardar’s 2010 national championship academy team and the Michigan Wolves’ 2010 national tournament qualifying squad on this list.

There are dozens of local players that have committed or are being recruited by colleges of various sizes.

Team-wise, Auburn Hills Oakland Christian, Troy, Troy Bethany Christian and Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest all won conference titles, while Oakland Christian, Troy and Rochester Adams won district championships. Troy was ranked in the top -10 virtually the whole year and Oakland Christian was ranked Nol. 1 in Division 4 the whole season until being upset in the regional round. The aforementioned teams from Bethany Christian and Springfield Christian also won state titles, the second straight for Springfield Christian.

All of this just backs up just how much talent there is in an area that covers about one-third of Oakland County.

Many of these talented players from these quality teams are found on the 2010 All-Area Boys Soccer Team list, either on the first-team, second-team or honorable mention. The squad is picked by NOS staff in conjunction with area coaches.

Below are the profiles of the 16 players honored on the first team:

Forwards

BLAKE SKAMIERA, Lake Orion: Despite playing with a nagging leg injury the whole season, this four-year starter and three-time all-state performer ended his senior year on the All-State First Team in Division 1. He finished the year with 11 goals and 18 assists. Skamiera was a starter on the Vardar U-18 Academy team that won a national title in July. He has committed to Michigan State.

“He was the No. 1 player in our district and he was still hurt most of the year. I can’t imagine the type of year he would have had, or we would have had, if he was completely healthy,” said coach Matt Paukovits. “He’s a three-time all-state player and a good leader on the field. He had a great high school career here at Lake Orion.”

JUSTIN KANE, Rochester Adams: After Adams graduated 13 players from its Final Four team in 2009, this senior had an exceptional breakout year where he led the Highlanders in scoring and to a district championship. He finished with 16 goals and earned All-State Third Team honors in Division 1.

CALEB STANKO, Auburn Hills Oakland Christian: Despite beginning his career as a sweeper, the midfielder/forward still ranks in the top-10 on the Lancers’ al-time scoring list. This season, the MIAC Blue Division MVP was named the state’s top Division 4 player and he earned a spot on the 11-member Dream Team. His resume is impeccable as it included 34 goals and 22 assists his senior year, a national championship with his club team Vardar this past summer, he is a four-time all-state, all-league and all-district performer and has a scholarship awaiting him at  the University of Michigan. He also ranks in the top-10 all-time in the state for career assists.

“He’s a great kid and just a great soccer player,” said coach Caleb Combs. “His understanding of the game and his skill level is unbelievable. He’s going to be missed.”

RYAN WILLIAMS, Auburn Hills Avondale: A two-year starter and three-year varsity veteran, Williams ended up on the All-State Second Team for Division 2. This year he had seven goals and 13 assists rotating between forward and the midfield and picked up 24 assists the past two years to showcase his playmaking abilities. Saginaw Valley State and Albion are two of the colleges seeking his services next season.

“He’s our field general out there,” said coach Dave Muczynski. “He’s very unselfish and is very good of setting up players with chances. He also came through with some key goals for us. He’s just a good all-around player.”

Midfielders

SEAN CUNNINGHAM, Troy: This versatile senior, who plays multiple positions on the pitch, toyed with the idea of training overseas with a professional club team instead of staying at Troy for his senior year, but the University of Michigan-bound standout opted to remain with the Colts. Despite only being one of two returning starters at Troy, he led the Colts to another OAA Red Division championship and a berth in the regional finals for the second time in three years. The four-year varsity veteran, who plays club with the Michigan Wolves, made the All-State First Team in Division 1 and the All-State Dream Team the past two years. He had six goals and six assists and helped his team record 15 shutouts and reach the regional finals.

“He’s one of the best in the state and I think that is (reflected) on him being on the Dream Team for two years in a row,” said coach Dave Hicklin. “He is so tactically and technically sound. He can play in the back, in the midfield and we could even put him up top if we needed to. I can say that he’s one of the best players I’ve coached in high school and club.”

TRAVIS WOODHAM, Troy Bethany Christian: Named Player of the Year in the Michigan Association of Christian Schools and MVP of the Fundamental Baptist Athletic Conference Red Division, where he led his team to its fifth straight league title, Woodham had as good of a year as anybody in the area. An all-conference player in soccer, basketball and baseball, soccer is Woodham’s best sport. Being recruited by multiple small schools, Woodham was the complete player directing an offense that scored 101 goals. He set a single-season school record with 37 goals and added 20 assists for 94 points from his center midfield position in leading the 19-2-1 Bruins to the MACS Division I state championship. The two-year captain was also 3.5-year starter.

“Travis had a great year in leading us to the state championship. He was the player that made our team go,” said coach Phillip Fougere. “His intensity, his awareness on the field and his ability to score and find the open man on the field are his strengths and his numbers show what he is capable of. He’s such a gifted athlete that I think is going to surprise some people when he gets to college. Because he plays three sports, he doesn’t have all of that club soccer experience, but you wouldn’t know it by watching him play soccer.”

AARON HEBDEN, Rochester Stoney Creek: On a team dominated by sophomores, Hebden was a steadying force for the Cougars, who reached the Division 1 district finals before falling to Utica Eisenhower and one of the few teams to beat Troy. Also a member of the Michigan Wolves Academy squad, Hebden finished his senior season at the high school level with eight goals and eight assists from his center midfield position. Named to the All-State Second Team in Division 1, Hebden is being courted by several colleges of various sizes.

“Aaron is a special player,” said coach Adam Bican. “He’s one of the better players I’ve coached. He was a four-year varsity player, captain and the next in line of the great players to come through Stoney Creek. He is very skillful but very unselfish. His presence was felt all over the field. We played a ton of ranked teams and Aaron held his own against a lot of great players on those teams.”

DYLAN KNOTT, Rochester Adams: The engine that made the Highlanders go, Knott led his team in assists and was the fuel behind a third-place finish in the OAA Red Division and a berth in the regional semifinals. A junior in his third season of varsity play, Knott was named to the All-State Second Team in Division 1. He is also a member of the Michigan Wolves Academy team and is considered a top-50 prospect in terms of juniors in the state.

JESUS GINEZ, Lake Orion: Headed for the University of Detroit-Mercy, Ginez had a fine season anchoring the midfield for the Dragons, who finished 10-7-2 and reached the district finals. A four-year varsity performer and three-year starter, Ginez picked up 17 goals and 15 assists for 51 points to lead his team in scoring. He was named All-State Honorable Mention in Division 1.

“I think Jesus got better each year and he was a leader for us this season,” said Paukovits. “He’s got great technical ability, he’s very athletic and he’s very valuable on the attack because he can finish and find the open (teammate).”

Defensemen

JARRETT KERSTEN, Clarkston: This four-year starter and three-time all-state honoree had to sacrifice offensive numbers to spend most of the season in the Wolves’ backfield holding down the fort at sweeper. Headed for Western Michigan, Kersten still finished with eight goals and 10 assists, many off restarts, and earned All-State First Team honors in Division 1. He was also a member of Vardar’s U18 national championship team in 2010 and a starter in 2007 when Clarkston finished as the state runner-up in D-1.

MATT SZILARD, Rochester Adams: A senior and three-year starter, Szilard was a stalwart on the defensive side of the ball for the Highlanders, who finished 13-4-5. He was selected as All-State Honorable Mention.

RYAN FINSTAD, Rochester Stoney Creek: This was a transitional year at Stoney Creek, with a new coach and a team with few seniors and numerous sophomores and juniors. Finstad, a three-year starter in the backfield, was a steady defender drawing the assignment of marking the other’s teams top offensive threats. An all-league and all-district honoree, Finstad faced plenty of top-level weapons, as the 9-9-7 Cougars played six of the eight teams that reached the Final Four in Division 1 and Division 2 and more than a dozen state-ranked teams.

“Ryan’s just a really steady player. He’s very aggressive and doesn’t make many mistakes,” said Bican. “We needed him to step up this season because we were so young and I thought he did a great job being a leader in the back for us. We played as tough of a schedule as anyone in the state and I thought Ryan was one of the best defensive players around.”

At-Large

JEFF BUMBALES, Troy: Moving into the starting lineup, Bumbales had a fine season as a senior playing in the midfield or forward for the Colts. He led Troy with 16 goals and 12 assists for 44 points. Named all-league and all-district, Bumbales scored multiple game winners, including the deciding goals in the district semifinals and district finals.

“Last year he came off the bench for us and this year he was our leading goal-scorer,” said Hicklin. “He had a lot of big goals. He scored a couple game-winners in the districts. We needed a goal scorer this year because we lost so many players and Jeff stepped up and became that player.”

TYLER CHANNELL, Troy Athens: A multi-sport athlete, Channell also kicks for the football team and a starting guard on the Red Hawks’ basketball squad. On the soccer field, he was one of Athens’ top all-around players. Channell finished with 10 goals and three assists for 23 points, second on the team in scoring, and earned all-league and all-district accolades. The three-year varsity veteran also led Athens in scoring as a sophomore and junior and helped his squad to a 10-7-1 record this season. He is exploring college options.

“Tyler was one of our go-to players on offense the past three years,” said coach Tim Storch, whose team lost in the first round, 2-1, to eventual state runner-up Sterling Heights Stevenson. “He’s a very athletic kid, technically sound player who came through with some big goals for us in his career.”

Goalkeepers

CHRIS STEWART, Rochester: Despite being omitted from the all-state team as a senior, Stewart still had a fine season and career where he impressed coaches throughout the area and state. This season the four-year starter finished with three shutouts and 10 one-goal games for a youthful team that finished 6-8-6. He also posted a save percentage of over .800 and had multiple games where he had over 10 saves. The four-time all-district and three-time All-OAA Red Division honoree played in 19.5 games, surrendering just 19 goals for a 0.98 goals-against-average. His season and career numbers rank among the top five in school history in numerous categories.

“I honestly think he’s one of best in the state,” said Chris Purgatori, Rochester’s coach and a former all-state goalkeeper at Rochester himself. “Experience always takes over every situation and he’s confident, he’s athletic, and he’s very smart in goal, so he comes up with a lot of big saves. He takes away the (shooter’s) angles, understands angles 20-30 yards away and puts himself in position to make the save. We are going to miss him big-time next season. He makes the routine saves and he kept us in games during his career that we had no business being in.”

MATT SMOLINSKI, Troy: Just a sophomore, Smolinski has started almost every game in goal for the Colts the past two years and is already starting to generate plenty of interest from Division I college programs. With a new defense in front of him, Smolinski recorded 15 shutouts this season to earn All-State Second Team honors in Division 1. The 6-foot-3, 175-pound goalkeeper also gave up just 12 goals in 20 games of action, as he did not play in two contests. He has 27 shutouts in two years and is well on his way to setting numerous school records at Troy. He plays club ball with the Vardar Academy.

“Matt is very athletic and he can get to a lot of balls some goalkeepers can’t get to,” said Hicklin. “He controls the 18-yard box as good as anybody. He’s going to be a big-time goalkeeper by the time he reaches college and he is still only a sophomore with two more years left. I think he’s only going to get better.”

CO-COACH OF THE YEAR

DAVE HICKLIN, Troy: Not too many teams can graduate 15 players, including nine starters, and come back and repeat as a league champion, especially in the talent-laden OAA Red Division. Hicklin guided this team to such great heights despite having only five players and two starters back from the previous season. The Colts broke into the Division 1 top-10 early in the season and reached as high as No. 2 before dropping a pair of games late in the regular season. This year’s team finished 18-3-1, including 9-1 in league play, and outscored the opposition in the conference 20-5. They also picked up 15 shutouts, best in Oakland County, and only gave up 14 goals the entire season. The season ended with as 3-1 loss to Grand Blanc in the regional finals, the second time in three years the Colts have reached that point under Hicklin.

“We only had five players back, so we had to replace a lot of guys,” said Hicklin. “I knew we had a really good JV team last season, so a lot off those players stepped in and did a great job. I figured with Sean Cunningham and Matt Smolinski back, we would have two great players to build around. But we had a lot of guys that really stepped up as players and made us a quality team.”

PHILLIP FOUGERE, Troy Bethany Christian: When Fougere took over the varsity at Bethany Christian six years ago, he quickly molded his program into a power in the Michigan Association of Christian Schools ranks. This season he took a well-balanced team to a 19-2-1 record, including 8-0-0 in the FBAC Red Division, where the Bruins won their fifth straight conference title. The Bruins, who outscored the opposition 101-17 and collected 10 shutouts, also captured their first MACS Division I state title since 1986. Bethany Christian’s only losses were to a national champion home school program and a Class B-sized Christian school from Indiana, both early in the season.

“I can’t say enough about this group of guys. They just bought in to what I was trying to teach them and they believed in each other,” said Fougere. “Last year we lost in the (State) semifinals in a shootout and we had most of our team coming back, so I knew it was possible. But we had everybody step up and play their roles, we had some very good senior leaders, and we accomplished our goals as state champions.”

2010 ALL-AREA BOYS SOCCER TEAM

FIRST TEAM

Forwards

Blake Skamiera          Lake Orion

Caleb Stanko               A.H. Oakland Christian

Justin Kane                 Rochester Adams

Ryan Williams           A.H. Avondale

Midfielders

Sean Cunningham    Troy

Travis Woodham      Troy Bethany Christian

Aaron Hedben          Rochester Stoney Creek

Dylan Knott                Rochester Adams

Jesus Ginez                 Lake Orion

Defensemen

Jarrett Kersten          Clarkston

Matt Szilard                 Rochester Adams

Ryan Finstad               Roch. Stoney Creek

At-Large

Jeff Bumbales            Troy

Tyler Channell           Troy Athens

Goalkeepers

Matt Smolinski          Troy

Chris Stewart             Rochester

CO-COACH OF THE YEAR

Dave Hicklin               Troy

Phillip Fougere          Troy Bethany Christian

SECOND TEAM

Forwards: Kevin Bettinger, Clarkston Springfield Christian sr.; Alex Serwatka, Troy Athens jr.

Midfielders: Cody Savoie, Troy sr.; Jacob Sims, Lake Orion jr. M; Nick Sobczynski, Rochester Stoney Creek jr.; Nate Chapman, Auburn Hills Avondale jr.; Connor Hall, Clarkston sr.; Louis Tillessen, Auburn Hills Oakland Christian sr.

Defensemen: Miles Dale, Rochester soph.; Drew Perrin, Auburn Hills Oakland Christian jr.; Dan Peck, Oxford sr.

At-Large: Jeff Jaworski, Troy Athens sr. D; Joel Heins, Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest sr. D/F.

Goalkeepers: Alec Bezerra, Troy Athens sr.; Tyler Koontz, Auburn Hills Avondale jr.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Auburn Hills Avondale: Joe Davison, jr. F; Jacob Bittinger, sr. D; Auburn Hills Oakland Christian: Dylan Andersen, sr. M; Felix Fiekmann, jr. F; Ben Lashar, sr. G; Clarkston: Ryne Jones, jr. M; Alex Wilson, Clarkston sr. F; Garret Gotaas, jr. M; Clarkston Everest Collegiate Academy / Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes Unified: Robert Nalpea, jr. M; Sam Bellestri, jr. M; Clarkston Springfield Christian: Nathan Penley, jr. D; Alex Trull, sr. M; Lake Orion: Alex Shubitowski, sr. D; Angel Herrera, jr. D; Yohei Kanehara, jr. M/F; Lake Orion Baptist: Nathan Shefyck sr. D; Connor Welby, sr. M; Oxford: Alex Juntti, jr. M; Mike Kitchner, jr. D; Matt Frisch, sr. G; Rochester: Joey Franchini, sr. D/M; Spiro Pilakos, fr. M; Michael Boyer, jr. M; Rochester Adams: Lucas Luna, sr. F; Joey Censoni, sr. D/M; Ryan Dzierzawski, sr. G; Cameron Casey, sr. M; Rochester Stoney Creek: Nick Marn, soph. F/M; Francisco Kulyckyj, soph. S; Sheldon Medici, sr. G; Rochester Hills Christian: D.J Szydlowski, sr. G; Jesse Montgomery soph. M/F; Nick Patton, sr. M; Jon Becker, sr. D/M; Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest: Michael Miller, sr. M; Nathan Sircy, sr. D; Joe Klausmeier, sr. M; Christian Woodfin, jr. F; Chris Tunis, jr. G; Troy: Jason Leslie, jr. D; Dave Eicher, jr. D; Anthony D’Amico, sr. D; Zach Doepke, soph. D; Troy Athens: John Borgen, sr. D; Sandy Mouch, jr. M; Evan Carpenter, sr. D; Nick Kroppe, sr. D; Sunny Shettigar, jr. F; Troy Bethany Christian: Noah Francis, soph. F; Jono Grono, sr. D; Ryan Woodham, soph. M.

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Category: All Area Teams, Auburn Hills Avondale, Auburn Hills Christian Acadamy, Auburn Hills Oakland Christian, Clarkston, Clarkston Everest Catholic, Clarkston Springfield Christian, Lake Orion, Lake Orion Baptist, Lake Orion Shalom Baptist, Oxford, Prep Wraps, Rochester, Rochester Adams, Rochester Hills Christian, Rochester Hills Lutheran NW, Rochester Stoney Creek, Troy, Troy Athens, Troy Bethany Christian, Troy Christian Leadership Acadamy