Prep resurgence highlights picks
Pennington's Rafa Ponce de Leon Prep POY; Florence Kevin Krall Area POY
Prep school boys’ soccer returned with a vengeance this fall as all five Mercer County squads ended up in The Trentonian‘s Top 15 before the season’s end.
Pennington was once again the cream of the crop.
Despite only playing three games a year ago as teams began to return from the coronavirus pandemic, Pennington were back in top form in 2021, going 15-2-2 for 12th-year head coach Chad Bridges, taking their sixth consecutive Mercer County Tournament by way of a 4-2 penalty-kick shootout over Notre Dame after the teams played 100 minutes to a 0-0 tie.
Pennington also reached the New Jersey Independent Schools Athletics Association Prep A Tournament final, before falling to St. Benedict’s, 2-1.
With Villanova University-bound senior goalkeeper Rafa Ponce de Leon, The Trentonian‘s All-Prep Player of the Year, and Xavier University-bound senior back Lukas Gessner spearheading the defense, the Red Raiders posted an area-best 13 shutouts and held opponents to eight goals in 19 games.
Bridges and Hun School 14th-year head coach Patrick Quirk were chosen as The Trentonian‘s All-Prep Coaches of the Year after the Raiders showed tremendous improvement going 108, even taking Pennington to overtime in one of their clashes.
Hun shared a three-way tie in the Mid-Atlantic Prep League with Peddie (9-4-2) and Hill, all of whom had 4-1 league records.
Princeton Day School used its first season with dual membership in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletics Association to make a run to the NonPublic B South final before finishing 12-12. Lawrenceville returned to competition this fall and went 9-9-2.
Bridges and Notre Dame head coach Bryan Fisher were named as The Trentonian‘s All-Area Coaches of the Year, while Florence High senior forward Kevin Krall was chosen as The Trentonian‘s All-Area Player of the Year after leading the local scene in scoring with 32 goals. He added 13 assists to also lead the area in points with 77.
Krall led fourth-year head coach Kyle Ballay’s Flashes to the Central Jersey Group I title as part of a 17-5-2 campaign in which they also tied Palmyra for the Burlington County Scholastic League
Freedom Division title.
Krall’s point total was 10 more than his next nearest competition, Notre Dame senior forward Aiden Hoenisch.
Hoenisch, who began his career at Bordentown High, led the area with 21 assists this year, to go along with a Colonial Valley Conferenceleading 23 goals.