Soccer, Basketball
Favorite athlete: My favorite athlete growing up has always been Landon Donovan. Looking up to him and what he has accomplished really motivated me to try to be the best soccer player and person that I could possibly be. We also share the same birthday – March 4.
Favorite team: Every Philadelphia sports team has always been my favorite. The Flyers, Phillies, Eagles, Sixers and Union are all teams that I love cheering for, and I will always be a Philadelphia sports fan.
Favorite memory competing in sports: When I ran a 4:53 mile in eighth grade to break my middle school’s mile record, which I still hold.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: In a travel basketball game a few years ago, one of my teammates took the ball and scored in the wrong basket. The two points were given to the other team, and we ended up losing by one point.
Music on your iPod: I listen to all different kinds of music. I enjoy Hip-Hop, Rock, Country, and many others, but before games, I usually listen to Rock because it gets me pumped up and focused.
Future plans: I hope to play soccer for a Division I school and study business while I am there. I want to graduate from college with a good education and become a soccer coach.
Favorite motto of words to live by: “Everything happens for a reason.” In recent years, this quote has really proved itself to me, and I’ve learned that even if things aren’t going your way, they are happening for a reason, so you must move on because better things will come.
One goal before turning 30: Get married and start a family of my own.
One thing people don’t know about me: No matter how much pain I’m in, I usually never show it and always do my best to hide it.
By Mary Jane Souder
Johnny Ciarlante epitomizes what coaches are looking for in their players.
The William Tennent senior, who leads by both his words and actions, embraced his role as veteran leader on a young and inexperienced squad this year.
“Last year we graduated 13 seniors and we probably started eight of them,” coach Luke Gibson said. “He was in that mix as one of our key guys last year.
“The word rebuilding and down year – those things get thrown at you, and I know he took it very personal. He never let our young guys buy into that – ‘hey, there’s the next two years for you guys’ when there were five sophomores on the field. He held them to a high standard. I think that’s definitely a compliment to him.”
Talk to Ciarlante, and it’s clear he can’t imagine any other approach to the season.
“I knew we lost a lot of seniors from the past year, and not saying they weren’t good, but I knew all the younger guys coming up, and there wasn’t a point of saying, ‘next year for you guys,’” Ciarlante said. “I always thought ‘this year.’
“I knew they were good enough to play this year and do good stuff this year. I just made sure I got my point across that I’m not here my senior year to help you guys for next year. I want to do something good this year, so you guys can build off it for next year.”
The players bought into Ciarlante’s philosophy.
The Panthers have locked up fourth place in the tough National Conference standings, their best finish since Ciarlante joined the team as a freshman.
“Winning has been his fundamental purpose this year,” Gibson said. “Early in the season, we had a rough go for a game or so, and we talked about moving him back to center back where he plays club ball.
“You have that conversation with a kid who scored 15 goals the year before and had high hopes to have that number, and his answer just showed his character. He said, ‘I just want to win. If you want me to play center back, I’ll play center back,’ and that’s really been contagious throughout our unit.”
Ciarlante is a rare four-year varsity starter in the tough SOL National Conference, and Gibson, who came on board when Ciarlante was a freshman, knew immediately he had inherited a special talent.
“I was just learning names, faces and grades,” Gibson said. “The first impression that I and the coaching staff had was – I can’t believe this kid is a freshman, and I can’t believe I have this kid for three more years.
“As a freshman, he played center back, and we had some very, very good forwards in the league, and he held his own.
From the outset, Ciarlante has been defined by his work ethic.
“He’s a soccer fanatic, and he trains all year,” Gibson said. “Every year he came back better.
“We challenged him and said, ‘You need to get faster.’ He came back and he was faster. We said, ‘You need to work on becoming more two-footed.’ He came back, and he was two-footed. He’s a leader on our team. He leads vocally, but he also leads just by pure work ethic.”
An immediate impact player, Ciarlante has played everywhere on the field for the Panthers. He started in his natural position – center back, but the last three years he’s played attacking mid.
“He has a really, really high soccer IQ,” Gibson said. “Really, the last three years he’s been a goal scorer for us.
“He’ll finish his high school career with something around 30-40 goals. In some of those small districts in the middle of Pennsylvania, a kid will go to college and say he had 75 goals. Thirty goals in our league for a career is kind of equivalent to that.”
Ciarlante, according to his coach, is a complete player.
“He’ll end up at a Division I school playing center back or holding mid or somewhere in the back line,” Gibson said. “The fact that he can transition in the high school season to a goal scorer demonstrates his quality as a soccer player.
“Coaches around the league know this – he’s the best person I have ever coached in the air, ever seen win head balls, period, at the high school level. Guys that are three inches taller that are marking him – he just consistently wins balls. He’s just phenomenal.”
Ciarlante has been playing soccer since he was five. He says he’s tried every sport, and he still holds the record for the mile at Klinger Middle School. Soccer, however, has been his passion.
“In my first year, soccer wasn’t my favorite or anything, but my second year when I started to do better and get more committed to it – ever since then, I’ve loved it,” he said.
He’s also excelled and has gone on to play at the elite club level with Yardley-Makefield Soccer. His commitment to soccer has not prevented him from getting involved in other sports.
This fall his is the kicker for the Tennent football team, and he is a fierce competitive there as well. In a recent game against Pennsbury, he lost his footing on a kickoff on the wet field but ended up making the tackle on the same play.
Not surprisingly, he is a fan favorite.
“It’s hard, but it’s fun,” he said. “Playing on Friday nights – that’s the best part, playing in front of all my friends.”
This winter he will play point guard for the basketball team, and three nights a week, he will leave basketball practice and head straight to practice for his YMS soccer squad.
Ciarlante has a promising future in soccer and will continue his career at the collegiate level. His top two colleges right now are Temple and La Salle where he plans to major in business.
He’s also involved in as many school activities at Tennent as his full schedule will permit. He’s coaching the special teams of his school’s powder puff squad, and coaching figures to be part of his future.
“I work at SMG SportsPlex,” he said. “I run parties with kids and camps. I’m always trying to help little kids. I could definitely see myself coaching someday when I done with soccer.”
All signs suggest he’d be a good one.
“He’s definitely a generous kid,” Gibson said. “As a senior and our best player – a lot of times younger players are intimidated, but he has that quality to just makes you feel comfortable with the situation.
“He’s definitely a leader, but he leads in the right way. He loves his school, he loves to be involved in school. He’s just a really terrific kid. He really is.”
