Submitted Aaron Willis
This past Sunday, December 10, Section 2 held its annual soccer dinner banquet to award soccer players across the capital region who were chosen as 1st and 2nd team all-stars this past fall season. The Berlin Mountaineers were well represented as Anthony Santon, Conner Douglas, Tyler Kellar, and Ryan Willis were voted as 1st team WASAREN league all-stars and Willis was named the WASAREN Battenkill Division MVP.
Along with those awards, the Section 2 Boys Soccer Committee also nominates and chooses its Player, Keeper, and Coach of the year among each school class, D, C, B, A and AA. Berlin’s Ryan Willis was chosen as the Class C player of the year, along with Maple Hills Bryan Kern. This marks the first time a Berlin male has ever won the Player Of The Year award (Ryan’s older brother Shawn Willis won Keeper of the Year in ‘09 and Jackson Burhans won Keeper of the Year in ‘15).
Photo courtesy of Aaron Willis
To make things even sweeter for the Mountaineers, long time Head Coach Art Schmich was chosen as the Class C Coach Of The Year, his first ever after being nominated numerous times throughout his 30 plus years of coaching. Coach Schmich helped guide the Mountaineers through their first WASAREN league season, finishing in 2nd place in the Battenkill division and then into sectionals as a #9 seed where they upset 3 straight higher seeds, including the #1 seed Mayfield. The Mountaineers ended up bringing home a Class C Finalist plaque after falling just short in the championship game.
The last awards of the night were the prestigious All-State team selections. Only the top 1% of all NYS boys soccer players get chosen for an All- State team, making it one of the highest honors bestowed upon a player. Ryan Willis of Berlin was chosen as an All- State performer, making him the first male to ever accom- plish this amazing feat.
Ryan scored 31 goals with 9 assists this fall and ends his fantastic varsity soccer career as the school’s 2nd all- time top scorer for boys with 95 career goals in 4 seasons. Congratulations to these amazing players, coaches and the entire Berlin soccer com- munity for an excellent fall season!