NORTH PENN BOYS’ SOCCER PREVIEW
Head coach - Chris DePeppe - first year (9 years as assistant)
Associate coach - Paul Duddy (former head coach)
Last year’s record: 25-1 overall
2019 Suburban One Conference Champions
2019 District One Champions
2019 PIAA 4A State Champions
Returning players:
Josh Jones (6 goals, team-high 14 assists) – Midfielder
Roman Ilovski – Midfielder
Sawyer Meade (11 shutouts) - GK
Hunter Stites – Defender
Ryan Mindick - Defender
Notable losses:
All-American & PA State Player of the Year Carter Houlihan – 30 goals scored in 2019!
Carter graduated and is attending Lafayette – no D1 season, he will play next year.
Jamie Stewart – defender
Ryan Stewart - forward
Mike Chaffee – forward
Jack Durkin – Defender
Associate coach Paul Duddy says: “North Penn Boys Soccer is fortunate to have such a great, experienced coach, to take over our program. Chris has been with us for ten years and is an integral part of our ongoing success. The transition has been seamless; the players love and respect his knowledge and passion for the game and our team.”
Coach Chris DePeppe says: “We scored 87 goals through 26 games last year and 63 of those goals graduated with four players, so we have a lot of questions that need to be answered going to goal. We will be strong defensively with Sawyer Meade as a senior leading a talented back line of juniors with big game experience from the Knights 2019 treble-winning campaign.
“The star of the Knights, though, is clearly the big blonde in the middle, Josh jones. A four-year NP starter, Jones is ‘a thoroughbred.’ Josh is as technically clean as any player I’ve coached. His first touch is class, and he is a dominating ball-winner with off-the-charts athleticism. He is also a very smart and instinctive player – a difference maker at any area on the field. Jones is already committed to Louisville University to play soccer for the nationally-ranked Cardinals.
“We will do everything we can to let Josh use his ability (and his flexibility) to control games – whether he carries it out of the back, posts up top as a target man, or roams the pitch as a playmaker. He cannot do it alone, but he is a matchup nightmare for most teams so the players around him have to take advantage when teams focus their attention on Josh.”
Other players to watch: “We have a senior forward playing his first season for us, Dominik Gedek – he plays for an academy team year-round and was not able to play high school soccer, thanks to US Soccer’s rules about development academies. So Gedek immediately could be one of the best attacking players in our conference.
“Sean Flatley (junior) and senior Ryan McCann will play key attacking roles and junior Alex Stewart brings strong tackling and intelligent passing to the defensive midfield. Wissahickon junior transfer Jovani Gonzalez is also new to the program, but he gives us a different option going forward.
“The Knights won games with goals by Houlihan, Chaffee or a Stewart brother throughout 2019 and while this 2020 team is very talented and Jones is a deserving preseason All-American candidate, it remains to be seen if they have the players to get those timely goals in tight games.”
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