SoutheasternOhioPreps.com

I am really looking forward to soccer this season who are gonna be the big name players this year? I do know that Burg returns some scoring in Kyle Brooks and Dillan Lewis who was 2nd team all state as a sophomore. Who are some others?

Watch for Kennedy Roseberry a sophomore at Waverly. He started at forward last year with an experienced WHS team.

Steven Russell from New Boston could possibly make a run at being the best player in Southern Ohio if he stays out of trouble and keeps his head and straight and plays to the best of his ability.

Hank Leslie The goalie for Northwest played pretty well yesterday

Now that the season is half through, who has stepped up and is standing out on everyone's teams?

keepers for both northwest and ironton st joe have done a good job this season. leslie has the size and ability to be a good player at the next level. st joe keeper does great job and has good skill set.

Junior Jon Valentine for Clay has scored 20 goals so far this year on a team that doesn't score a lot, he also has about as many assist. Should be one to watch as a senior. Clay will be a senior loaded team this year with none on the squad this year and 8 jrs.
A.J. Keaton will also be a great defensive player as a senior for Clay next year. He covers a lot of ground and has a perfected great slide tackle.

for clay...hard work, motivation and dedication in the off-season equals quality wins and surprising "upsets" next season. how is clay's keeper situation?

Holly Hempill had been their keep since middle school and though some thought she was too short, she did a great job in goal. The goalie this year was a new student who had never played soccer in his life, but is about 6'-4" tall. He is going to play basketball for Clay and the boys talked him into playing soccer. He joined the day before previews and got about 15 mintues of instruction. He is a work in progress and has made great improvements. Anything above his knees and he is on it. Low rollers give him problems and he gets out of position, usually due to indecissiveness on whether to come out or not and getting caught in the middle. Clays 4 wins could easily be 10 if not for some easy goals that slipped by, but that is part of his learning process. I hope he sticks with it and watches and learns over the summer. Clay is a lot better team than their record shows and they could surprise a team in the tournament. They also lost two starting jrs to grades who I hope after grades come out will be available to play again soon.

all those problems with the keeper are correctible. so that's good for clay. it is easy to see their improvement on the field. i hope those jrs. can play as well.

With the Season at end who are your all conference picks as well as player of the year and coach of the year in both SOC divisions?

i know they didn't win their division...but i like valley's coach. he did a tremendous job with those kids and really changed the outlook of valley for other teams in the area. you know that valley is going to give you a well-played hard effort. i know that belongs to the kids as well as the coaching, but good job at valley this year.

Even though St.Joe is not in the SOC, I agree that Joe Unger is a good keeper. He has started since he was a Freshman and has improved every year, and has recieved all district honors. Additionally Payton Blair is a player to watch. He too has started since he was a freshman and is in his junior year. He was named to the Second team All-Ohio last year. Both Joe and Payton are team leaders and have a love of the game. And on the girls side Sunni Clyse will be moving on to play college soccer next year. Good Luck to all.

sj keeper very solid. saw him several times this year. made some great stops 1 on 1. good feet and hands and punts ball fairly well. sj club has good coaching. best of luck in tourney.

hackworth has had a good season. glad to see a senior do well. getting a little time at football too. glad to see football teams take adv of soccer kickers. good luck with both.

For coach I agree with preps_fan valleys coach has done a great job and holding waverly to a tie was quite an acomplishment for him. Minfords coach also deserves consideration, last year her team was expected to do well with all the experienced seniors on board. This year was thought to be a rebuilding year by many (including me) but apparently she didn't see it that way as is apparent from thier success. For player Hackworth seems like the logical pick, great team leader who can play any part of the field. Others to consider are Jordan from minford who most would consider the best goalie in southern ohio he makes great saves and has the best punts and goal kicks I have seen. Brooks from burg is a great team leader plays very smart and physical and there is not an ounce of quit in him. I like the play of Scott from webster for those same reasons. There are other standout players but these are the ones I see as team leaders makeing the biggest difference for thier squads.

My picks would be Minford and SW for coaches of the year and Lewis and Scott for Players of the year.

socman I agree Scott was IMHO the best player on his team had right at the same number of goals as he did assists the Webster offense ran through him. However Webster in the past has given bigger awards to Seniors so Braden Ruth probably gets SOC 1 POY. And as for the SOC 2 probably between Lewis, and Hackworth. Lewis, not sure exactly how many goals and assists but high 20's in goals and around 12 or more assists. The Hackworth kid from minford is a darn good player as well not sure about his stats either.

i think lewis has close to 25 goals...not sure on his assist, but i think that is his strong point as far as team contribution goes. burg's lucky to have him. he shows good leadership as well.

who to watch is who shows up and plays the games that matter. this view begins to narrow the field. poy are players that have big games in big games. not always goals but makes plays. i think there are some keepers that deserve consideration. who can pull you through the tough games? the players you are thinking of are the ones who deserve "players to be watched".