Journal News all-stars and all-county announced
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- December
- 12
Hey all, before I get into the all-star stuff, I just want to apologize to anyone who asked me about when the all-star section was being published. I’ve been telling people it was coming out Sunday, Dec. 14. Anyone who looked at today’s paper knows that’s incorrect. The all-star section, to my knowledge, has always come out as a special section in the Sunday paper. Until now. Which I would have been aware of had I been around the office the last couple of weeks. Instead I’ve been on vacation, so the pre-all-star buzz has been lost on me. Anyway, run out and pick up today’s paper if you haven’t already.
The three all-star (Westchester and Putnam)/all-county (Rockland) sections that we put out every year represent some of our most lavish work. Hundreds of hours of work go into them. They’re designed to celebrate the best athletes from the last season, in this case the fall season.
Each beat writer, along with the coaches in his or her sport, picks a first and second team, a coach of the year, and a player of the year. Then we in the office pool all those players of the year and debate which had the best year and should be Athlete of the Season. There’s one for Westchester/Putnam and one for Rockland.
I’m proud to say I won the debate for Westchester/Putnam this fall. Brian Rogers, Bronxville’s striker extraordinaire and my player of the year, gets the cover of the all-star section as Athlete of the Season. If you check out the all-star page here, you can see he’s got the big photo on top. I cracked up when I saw that his hair was all over the place again. Every photo we got of him all season had his hair flying around like a Chinese fan. Then he shows up for his all-star photo shoot with a new haircut, and I was like, “Aw, it’s too bad you won’t have interesting hair like usual.” Then somehow the photographer still manages to get him with his hair sticking up in the back. I don’t know how Brian does it.
To see all of the Westchester/Putnam boys soccer all-stars, scroll down a touch and click Brian’s smaller photo to go to the boys soccer page. That will give you the first team. Below the last photo you’ll see a link that says “Other Accolades.” Click that and you’ll find the second team and honorable mention. To read the full story on what made him so great, click the story title below his photo.
You can find the girls all-stars by clicking Lia Bellizzi’s picture on the main page. Jeff’s story on her is also below her big photo on the girls soccer page.
To find the Rockland all-county players follow this link. Below the giant pic of Nyack football player Anthony Davis you’ll see shots of Nanuet’s Lauren Kahn and Suffern’s Charlie Pirc, the players of the year for girls and boys, respectively. Clicking those pics will take you to the full all-county teams. Pirc, i just want to note, is a two-time honoree as player of the year.
There’s a lot of info on these all-star/all-county pages, especially if you follow more than one sport. Take your time and explore the best athletes the Lower Hudson Valley has to offer.
Congrats to all who made the publication.
This entry was posted
on Friday, December 12th, 2008 at 3:03 pm by Jake Thomases. 
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Jake,
Just read the article and I have to tell you that although Rogers is a good player, he is nothing special. To say that he is going to be a “more than likely” starter at Harvard is preposterous. He isn’t even considered a Top 100 recruit, and with Andre Akpan returning for his senior season and having lost some top attacking players to graduation, you can bet that Harvard will be dropping their system to a 4-5-1. But more importantly, do you know who else they are bringing in? They often are able to take a top Massachusetts forward who, I promise you, is in the mold of Michael Fucito, Akpan’s three year strike partner. I’m not saying he can’t start but your choice of words really is discouraging to the soccer aficionado.
If the small schools state player of the year, all-American, U18 National team player is “nothing special,” I’d hate to see what it takes to be special.
OC – how about a little bit more information on what you don’t like about Rogers’ game. It would help those of us who haven’t seen him play…also, are you going by topdrawersoccer’s top 100 list? A lot of that is politics. The fact that Duke and Harvard were fighting over Rogers has to say something about his ability, right?
And this would say something too, I’d think:
http://ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_7897089.html
OK Let’s see. Who is a better a pitcher the guy who wins 20 games on a team that scores 100 runs and wins 100 games or a pitcher who wins 20 games on a team that wins 60 games and scores 75 runs. No questions right?
Byram Hills—71 goals scored ina 18-0-2 record
North Salem 61 goals in a 17-3-3 record
Edgemont 55 goals in a 10-7-2 record
Now look at the positions played and the scoring both goals and assists for their highest scoring player. If there was free agency no doubt who gets the highest price!
Byram Hills Shaheen 19 goals 8 assists as a forward
North Salem Span 17 goals 8 assists as a forward/mid
Edgemont Orden
Sorry—-Orden 21 goals 12 assists
Wanna really know what the people who count think? College Coaches across the US rate players. Click here for rankings and star ratings, site includes top 100 recruits for 2009 and 2010 graduates—-
http://topdrawersoccer.com/component/option,com_topdrawer/Itemid,262/
Oops let’s look at the coaches voting for the All Stars. Byram Hills? Yup. North Salem? Yup. Bronxville? Yup. Other leaders coaches? NOPE!
Ur system is corrupt and patently unfair.
Jake why did’nt ana all-state selection not even make the honorable mention list that yoi put out. PJ FLYNN Valhalla
All section and all state, but not good enough for the Thomases allstar team
Vikings United
Since when Rodgers been on the U-18 team?
Oftentimes solid players are left off of all star teams. There were about 10 participants in the selection process and they discussed, analyzed and evaluated the players in Westchester/Putnam. We can hopefully agree that soccer in Section 1 is excellent and quite possibly the top section in the state, especially for class A and AA. For example, White Plains, New Ro and Scarsdale had many outstanding players, yet they weren’t al o the list. The players who made the all star teams were deserving of the awards. The only small school players who are able to compete on the 1st 2 all star teams were honored; Rogers and Span. If a player wasn’t on the list accept it and move forward rather than sound like a whining parent Valhalla.
“The only small school players who are able to compete on the 1st 2 all star teams were honored; Rogers and Span. If a player wasn’t on the list accept it and move forward rather than sound like a whining parent Valhalla”
I TOTALLY AGREE—-NOT. All the national scouts and college coaches ranking the top 100 recruits and their star value 1-5 at top drawer soccer are just plain wrong. High School gym teachers/coaches and local writers know far more.
Topdrawer,
What are you talking about? Who actually knows the local talent best? Span and Rogers can play at the next level and it has been recognized by local people. What player are you talking about?
There are only a few high school players here that can play at the top level. Those competing in the elite USSF Development Academy with top clubs, i.e. FC Westchester, BW Gottschee, Albertson, are such players and little (if anything) seperates Academy players from national team players. As for any high school coach rankings- college players are never recruited at high school games, and quality players are lucky to survive the hackfest that is high school soccer, also known as ” Lacrosse without sticks”
XXX I suggest you read zip-it. He obviously knows. The topdrawer evaluations of talent comes from coaches throughout the nation at the college and national team level who watch players in real games at the elite level in the Developmental academy and national camp events. At the last event in CA more than 300 college coaches wathced the national elite players. Span and Rogers are indeed quality players. I am simply saying that the evaluations of HS coaches often versed only in the joke of HS soccer and the writers at this paper who have never been to an academy game or showcase have no idea what real elite soccer is. That is why you will NEVER see a college coah at a HS game. Top drawer evaluators evaluate players over the course of more than 30 games each year with the best players in the Country. Span and Rogers are both deservedly 3 star players, no more, no less. Go locally and watch an FC Westchester Academy game, or travel to Met Oval, Albertson, Gottschee, Red Bull etc. They are the real deal. There are at least 50 players as good or better than either on these teams. Check out the top 100 players in the US on top drawer. If your kid plays and wants to play in college ask him if he/she could care less about anything your child did in HS. You will find it enlightening.
So we agree the USSF development academy is the top competition and Rogers was the only section 1 player to make the U18 Northeast Conference all-star team last year. That is voted on by national team scouts and coaches. Top Drawer rankings mean nothing.
Top Drawer Soccer is a subscription, for-fee based website with questionable rankings and ratings.
USSF has leapfrogged over the traditional top college scouting showcases i.e.; Disney, Dallas Cup, Surf Cup, etc…
“So we agree the USSF development academy is the top competition and Rogers was the only section 1 player to make the U18 Northeast Conference all-star team last year. That is voted on by national team scouts and coaches. Top Drawer rankings mean nothing.”
Agreed. Rogers is the real deal although in college his lack of speed may be telling. But these local awards voted on by a few select HS coaches and no nothing journalists are just ego feeders and are otherwise meaningless.
What all of you guys are saying is absolutely true. If you look at all the best players in our area, you will find that all of them are playing academy soccer. For example, Brian Rogers who plays for Albertson, Span who plays for FC Westchester, Greg Shaheen who plays for FC Westchester, Arturo Barajas and JP Arenas also play for FC Westchester, Justin Orden whose playing for Gotschee, Hiroki Kobayashi-FC Westchester, Bucky Illingworth-FC Westchester
All of these players skill wise are probably the top players around which shows that all the better players are playing on the academy level.
TO ALL,
I see all this talk about Span and Rogers as some of the best forwards. Well theirs one missing. Any guesses? Well its Arturo Barajas who also plays on fc westchester. He is an exelent foward.
Well high school level can not be compared to the USSF development academy. i.e. Greg Shaheen scored 19 goals in high school. However, on fc westchester he plays defense. This shows us how in high school soccer even defenders can be high scorers. Also there are great players who have been left out of all these talks. i.e Arturo Barajas. Well people have underestimated him because of his high school stats. Well in the USSF he has 6 goals in 5 games. This is against top teams in the country.
He is one of the best forwards in the Country.
First of all this chain it seems to me goes back to making any of these selections at all. Why are the coaches involved in the selection process limited to a select few, many many of whom have never seen many of the players ever play-so they select their own-
witness Shaheen, Span and Rogers. (Although Rogers would make it under any selection process, the point is still the same, and there are more than a couple of players who could easily be considered better, much better, than either. Span scored all his goals and assists on what this paper repeatedly called a powerhouse team in the “D” division. Shaheen and Rogers played for virtually undefeated teams in the “B”. Big deal. Wonder how they would do in the “AA” division where the competition is a lot tougher. What games and which players have the writers ever seen and if any, how many times. The whole selection process is a joke. Take a look at the All County selections from Rockland. At least one kid got cut from his Academy Tesm because he was not good enough to play at an elite level. Another finally made an Academy team this year but basically rides the bench—and these are the All County Starters? BTW it gets worse the All reion team was selected by County Administrators, not coaches, who have never seen any of the kids play. The whole thing is a political game for the well connected and established HS coaches to push their own kids, whether with the Journal News or with the Administrators. In the end it will all come down to College Coaches actually watching players play at the Showcases and evaluating players themselves, regardless of some meaningless HS award.Let’s remember what The Journal News awards are. They reward those who had the best high school seasons, not who the best players are. If Wayne Rooney played in Section 1 and jogged listlessly around the field for 80 minutes, he would not make The Journal News all-star team. Outraged observers would cite 1,000 sources that show he’s one of the best players in the world; how dare he not be an all-star.
I don’t claim that the all-star teams are a perfect ranking of talent. They’re just an attempt to acknowledge whose high school seasons were the best, regardless of what you think about high school vs club soccer.
to D1 coach:
Rogers, Span, and Shaheen all start on their academy teams so they have to be really good players. Don’t take that away from them just because of the size school they go to.
and fyi, shaheen plays for an “a” school and i think playing on the academy level is much better than playing against class aa in high school
I say again Flynn made all-state and could not even garner an honorable mention form the Journal News. And speaking of having the best season he played on a sectional finalist and was the MVP of the Mt. Pleasant Cup. And XXX I am not a whining Valhalla parent. I’m sure the Flynn was not the only athlete that was short sighted.
To “what” Where are the All State selections listed?
Rogers is a good player, we know that, but something special is senior Mike Grella of Duke (3 time all-American, semi-finalist for the Herman Trophy), Mike Fucito of Harvard, senior (2nd team all-American two years running, 3 years all-Region 1st team). What is the link between these two and Brian Rogers you ask? THESE ARE THE TWO PLAYERS THAT ROGERS HAS BEEN RECRUITED TO REPLACE! Is he THAT good? That is what a special player is. Now, if any of you have been part of a major D-1 program’s recruiting practices you would know this, to replace a stud player you RECRUIT 5. Of them, 1 for sure is already a shoe in for starter on next years team. Duke is a national powerhouse who already had u-18 national team players lined up after Grella. Harvard is becoming a powerhouse, attracting top talent across the nation and beyond, players like Fucito who can carry an entire team on his back when Akpan (junior captain, part of the u-20 world cup team in Canada, 2 time all-american 1st and 2nd team, 3 time all-Region) is marked out of a match. What many people forget to realize is that there are players beyond Westchester/Rockland, talented players, players from the likes of Texas, California, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Maryland, Illinois, Ohio, etc. On top of that, colleges are more and more often recruiting internationally (for instance, Steve Zukani, favorite for the Herman Trophy is from England and a sophomore.)
No. Rogers is not on the national team.
Jake, I was commenting on your opinion that he is “more than likely to start” because it is a really absurd thing to say when you factor in the other aspects of college soccer.
SoccerFan,
Rogers has to learn more about systems. He is a free-wheeling forward right now. It takes time, and intelligence (something he DEFINITELY has) to learn to play in a system. A forward is also the first line of defense, and having seen Rogers play for Albertson, he can do more on that side of the ball. Back to attacking play. As well, he needs to learn how to hold the ball up for his oncoming players not for a 1-2, but to slow down the attack, not just go go go. A good attacking team has a build-up that is patient, precise, directed, not just going 100mph to goal at all times. That is the difference between the cream of the crop and the rest of the top 10%. Rogers falls into that 10%, but in my opinion, that does not certify next level, which to me, is playing in the professional ranks. Any good player can make a D-1 roster, Rogers is a good player, he’ll make the side, but to play and then make the jump, that is what distinguishes the special from the good. Right now there are tons of players out there, both of Rogers age and younger who sit above him because they understand the elements of the game that he does not. He will learn them, but my biggest fear is that it will be too late for him because another class will come in and if one of those special players is there who is equal to Rogers, that player already has more potential so will play over him. Collegiate football, especially at a good team like Harvard, is cut-throat. If you don’t make the grade you are a reserve. It is extremely rare to see a player make his way into the team if he hasn’t played significant time in his first two years because you know what is coming behind him. For Rogers, he has all the attributes, just not the knowledge of the game, the movements of the forward, the understanding between the position and the team as of yet for that next level. We’ll see what happens and I do wish him the best of luck. I was more disappointed by Jake’s statement than anything else.
OC10…You seem to have a good grasp of this stuff so I’ll cede to your superior judgement. When I did the story on Rogers’ college commitment I asked him about what the coach had told him about his chances to play and start. He said that while of course he’d have to play his way into anything, the coach suggested that he was looking at Rogers and Akpan as a dynamic duo up front in his first year. And Coach Clark, although he was limited by NCAA regulations, was unequivocal in his praise of Rogers when I talked to him. What does all that guarantee? Nada. But unless Clark was being intentionally misleading, it certainly felt like Rogers has a very good chance in Clark’s mind.
Rogers is good but he is just flat out tooooooooooo slow. That will be the biggest factor holding him back. His foot skills and great right shot keep him at the top in HS. Not enough in college.
It happen last year too with Will Ogden. When someone does so well people find the littlest thing and attack them on it. Brian Rogers has done something that not many people have done in a while. Why can’t people just be happy for the kid?
OC10 – I really appreciate your in depth comments and insights. Like I said, I haven’t seen Rogers play, but I have seen Akpan, Grella, Fucito, and Jamie Clark (at UNC, Stanford, and the MLS), and I’d agree that it would be very difficult to guarantee that Rogers or any HS senior could step in and fill those shoes, particularly as a freshman. I look forward to seeing how he competes on the next level, and if he can learn from Clark and Akpan.
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Do scripts work
Ok, everyone hold on for one second, topdrawer you need to get your eyes checked. You think Rogers is too slow, you must be out of his mind. I saw Rogers play every single varsity game this past season, including the state championship, so you don’t know what your talking about. Jake Thomases wherever you are back me up on this, Rogers is one of the fastest forwards you will ever meet, half the time he scored goals, the speed he has was the deciding factor. In terms of club play and rankings Rogers is one of the top players in the nation at this moment. Starts for Albertson and was given the honorable prize of being called an All American. You can’t be an All American in this sport if you don’t have speed, I think its time you switch to a sport a little slower topdrawer, I think golf would be your best option.
Mistake at the beginning, Topdrawer you must be out of your mind
Futbol8…I got your back. Rogers had amazing speed. He wasn’t the absolute fastest guy in the state but he was faster than 95 percent of the kids he played against. Combine that with the moves and he could elude basically any defender. Like you said, you can’t be an All-American striker if you’re not fast.
hello bros
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just needed to share with you people.
thnx fellas.
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