York-Adams League coaches honor top boys' soccer players from 2018 season

• South Western's Casey Slater is the York-Adams Division I Boys' Soccer Player of the Year.
• West York's Jake Altimore is the York-Adams Division II Boys' Soccer Player of the Year.
• York Catholic's Nick DeMarco is the York-Adams Division III Boys' Soccer Player of the Year.

The 2018 boys’ soccer season was memorable one for West York junior Jake Altimore.

In more ways than one.

Altimore was one of the big reasons behind his team’s success. The junior midfielder scored nine goals while contributing four assists to help the Bulldogs go further into the district playoffs than ever before.

For his efforts, Altimore was named the York-Adams Division II Player of the Year by the coaches this season. The Division I Player of the Year was Casey Slater of South Western and the Division III Player of the Year was Nick DeMarco of York Catholic.

“Jake is an absolutely terrific kid,” West York coach Ben Reiber said. “He was a big part of the program. A strong player, not just physically, but also mentally. And that’s a reason why he’s been a captain now ever since he was a sophomore.”

The Bulldogs (17-5-2) shared both the York-Adams League Division II and league playoff crowns with rival Susquehannock (17-3-2) before claiming a thrilling triumph over the Warriors in the District 3 3-A quarterfinals.

Altimore figured that one of his teammates, or one of the Susquehannock players, were going to win the award. He just wasn’t sure which one.

To his surprise, it was him.

“To me, this is really more a team award,” he said. “I really couldn’t have asked for anything more from the boys. They worked so hard throughout the entire season and the postseason, when legs get tired and it just becomes a big mental game. And they didn’t back down.”

It wasn’t all roses for Altimore, however. Just before the half in the district quarterfinal, Altimore was battling Susquehannock’s Greyson Murray for a ball near midfield. While the junior standout doesn’t remember everything from the play, he suffered a head injury that put him on the bench for the rest of the evening as well as the semifinal loss the following week against Lower Dauphin.

“Playing without him has a big impact, obviously,” said Reiber, who was named the Division II Coach of the Year by his peers. “Against Lower Dauphin it was a struggle in the middle, and if Jake were playing he would have helped a lot.”

DeMarco gets D-III award: DeMarco had a similar moment this season while helping the Irish (15-6) advance to the District 3 1-A final. The senior midfielder missed his team’s first contest against Biglerville, a 2-1 loss in double overtime.

With DeMarco on the field for the rematch, however, the Irish were able to hold the Canners scoreless in a 3-0 victory.

When YC coach Joe Nattans broke the news to his squad about DeMarco's honor before the District 3 playoffs, the squad was beyond happy.

“Our coach got us together before we started district play,” DeMarco said. “It was right after practice, so it was great to be around my whole team. They were all cheering.”

Like Altimore, DeMarco (10 goals, six assists) was not expecting it.

“Not at all,” he said. “Honestly, they should have given it to both of (DeMarco’s teammates, Ben and Bryan Bullen). Because they played out of their minds this year. It’s great that I got it, but it was even better that (four) of my teammates were honored for the all-stars too.”

Y-A boys' soccer players reflect on 2018 season

Nattans recalled that during the coaches meeting called after the season to decide on the all-star teams that he didn’t even have to say a word before DeMarco’s name was discussed.

“The other coaches from the division nominated him,” Nattans said. “I didn’t even have to nominate him, not that I wouldn’t have, but there were two or three coaches that, when they were asked who they thought should be player of the year, that Nick was the first name they mentioned.”

Soccer wasn’t the only sport in which DeMarco earned accolades from the coaches. The senior was also named as the top punter and kicker in Division III for the unbeaten York Catholic football team that won the District 3 2-A title.

Slater honored in D-I: Slater’s honor was certainly a long time coming for the South Western senior standout, whose team finished with an 11-4-4 mark and a second-place finish in Division I behind Red Lion (11-5-1).

It was only a little more than a year ago that the Mustang standout’s season was ended after suffering an injury in a contest against Central York.

“I was just really happy,” Slater said. “Because last year I was going through everything and it was just really hard. So I came back even harder this year.”

Slater broke his tibia and fibula on the play, but was cleared to resume playing shortly before tryouts began in August. It was anything but a cakewalk for him to just be able to play competitive on the field.

“I worked my butt of just to get to this point,” said Slater, who tallied 11 goals and 15 assists for the season. “I only was able to start practicing about six months ago, but it has just all paid off.”

Red Lion's Mike Watt was the Coach of the Year in D-I, while Biglerville's Jebb Nelson was honored in D-II. Red Lion won the D-I regular-season title at 10-1-1. Biglerville was 16-5-1 overall and won the D-III championship at 13-1.

Reach Ryan Vandersloot at sports@yorkdispatch.com.

YORK-ADAMS BOYS' SOCCER ALL-STAR TEAMS

Division I

Player of the Year: Casey Slater, South Western

Coach of the Year: Mike Watt, Red Lion

First team

Michael Nelson, Central York

Leo Garcia, Dallastown

Bennett Pitzer, Dallastown

Gabe Wunderlich, Dallastown

Issac Farmer, New Oxford

Noah Hartzfeld, Northeastern

Antonio Damian, Northeastern

Josh Sanderson, Northeastern

Brody Patmore, Red Lion

Eli Storck, Red Lion

Ethan Stough, Red Lion

Sean Quinn, South Western

Second team

Ryan Balanda, Central York

Carmen Ridolfi, Dallastown

Alex Afata, Northeastern

Branden Ebersole, Red Lion

Michael Moffitt, Red Lion

Dean Haynes, Red Lion

Johnny Hill, Spring Grove

Zach Speranzella, Spring Grove

Sam Piatt, South Western

Spencer Wells, South Western

Joe Stephenson, South Western

Division II

Player of the Year: Jake Altimore, West York

Coach of the Year: Ben Reiber, West York

First team

Luis Herazo, Dover

Gavin Donnelly, Eastern York

Cade Wilhelm, Gettysburg

Kevin Avalos, Kennard-Dale

Griffin Kaifer, Susquehannock

Ben Wilson, Susquehannock

Nolan Holloway, Susquehannock

Aidan Clark, West York

Alex McClellan, West York

Parker Lando, York Suburban

Second team

Devin Crone, Dover

Isaac Barrow, Eastern York

Hunter Martin, Gettysburg

Logan Carbaugh, Gettysburg

Logan Coomes, Kennard-Dale

Greyson Murray, Susquehannock

Nathan Weldon, Susquehannock

Jack Langstaff, West York

Noah Murray, West York

Liam Waterbury, York Suburban

Cody Willaghby, York Suburban

Division III

Player of the Year: Nick DeMarco, York Catholic

Coach of the Year: Jebb Nelson, Biglerville

First team

Cole King, Bermudian Springs

Jhonatan Hernandez, Bermudian Springs

Noah Mattson, Biglerville

Carlos Castillo, Biglerville

Jorge Cervantes, Biglerville

Lazaro Salazar, Biglerville

Patrick Prury, Fairfield

Ethan Higgins, York Catholic

Bryan Bullen, York Catholic

Ben Bullen, York Catholic

Second team

Maverick Knowles, Bermudian Springs

Tyler Kuykendall, Bermudian Springs

Danny Chavarrio, Biglerville

Noah Roeder, Delone Catholic

Brian Sanchez, Hanover

Eric Ball, Fairfield

Nate Snyder, Fairfield

Lucca Abate, Littlestown

Cooper Browning, Littlestown

Sean Lavallee, York Catholic

Yair Rodriguez, York High