Patrick Cates

and danny too

Byron from dreher is a great player also and Mike Blomdahl from wacama. "Whoah17" Adam Wolf is a good solid player that made all state last year, i think he goes to wilson.

arse Adam wolf plays for Blythewood High school and is a very talented player no matter who is around him up top.

i would not agree with u....i know Mike Blomdahl is good player but 2A and 4A is different... and i saw Mike Blomdahl's video and he scores many goals.. against WEAK teams(looks like those kids never played soccer before)

blomdahls first name is justin. they(waccamaw) are in probably one of the weakest regions in the state. which is something they have no control over. their out of conf. schedule this year is strong. as far as player of the year goes. don't forget about justin watson of socastee. he and enzo will probably battle it out for total points in goals and assits this year. he may be the fastest in the state with or without the ball. he may also run some home track events that don't interfere with soccer games, so we will get a good idea of his speed. he has the ability to run track and play soccer at the next level.

Justin Watson is indeed a great player.

I want to add Parker Arnold and Sean Flynn to my list as well. They are quality players and will be scoring tons of goals this year.

Post deleted by Kyle Heise

Post deleted by Kyle Heise

from the upper state has to be miguel teos

Well put marcus.

Reel is not a top player in the state, period.

Sean Flynn, are you serious? And why not reel. I'd put him as on of the top forwards behind enzo

Sharpe from blythwood is a top quality defender. He held RNE to only 2 goals and shut down clover only allowing 1.

not the most popular picks, but what about michael essman from dorman? as well as dormans andrew autenzio? that orlando guy from socastee is good as well. sebastian from greenville is a must

Supasta its really getting old... does anyone know where NW is going for there tourney they have a few players i wanna see

They are playing in the Lake Murray Challenge next weekend.

woah17, from experience watching and playing Reel he plays lazy and the only thing he's really got going for him is his size and athleticism, definitely a good player, not close to Enzo. Andrew Autenzio is better than Reel in my opinion.

Zack Houghton.....Baller

project pat, i'm pretty sure you've never watched any of the players you are talking about.

Greg De Mare - Chapin
Haze Weinspach- Chapin
Tyler Williams- Chapin
David Slaughter- Chapin
David Stone - Chapin
Zack Houghton- SV
Sean Flynn- SV
Parker Arnold- SV
Thomas Clements- SV
Kris Hartvigson-SV
Thomas (holland kid)- SV
Manuel "Fez" Leon- RNE
Tyler Dunmeyer- West Florence
Adam Crysel- Wilson
Gray Johnson- Greenwood
Matt Firmin- Greenwood
Joseph Taylor - Emerald
Stiles Harper- Hammond
Jordan Troyer- Hammond

Why don't you just say CUFC 89? And as for this Sharpe guy, quality defender only letting in two? Yeah I guess thats good. I perfer not letting any in but on my better games i do sometimes let two in.

thats just the CUFC premier team

yes i know it was a joke ....

That team, although good, did not even make it to the finals. Lex and CESA did. Should we go ahead and list all those players as well? Let's not water things down too much shall we?

yes please do ....but make sure the rosters arent wet..god forbid that happens

Actually those rosters are good and those teams were more succesful, but the CUFC team had the most talent. U will probably disagree cornerflag and it would be INCONCEIVABLE for u not to, so im going to go get a few towels to clean up the mess u are fixing to make!!!!!

Don't be hatin ??? Your teammates are good and maybe that team had more talent, but if alll the players are listed for that team, CESA 89, 90, Lex 89, Bridge 90, and Discoveries 90 could do the same? How many of the CUFC players are going to play at Lander anyway?

??? are you serious about CUFC having more talent than Lexington United? Wow, love to see you back that statement up.

Lexington is so much more talented than CUFC, Jugal, Reel, Czulinski, Cates.... Disgusting.

What about the kid from Greenville. Wasn't their big forward only a sophomore last year?

Not to mention Lynch Byron and almost all the other kids are almost just as good. Along with two great goalies

I put a dirty 5 dollar bill on Danny Cates as the best player in the state. Can play any position, fast, strong,etc. He's been playing like he's already at the next level for the past 3 years.

cates is def not the best player in the state. accolades mean nothing. watch him play. all american status is so political its ridiculous. a 'best in the state' player to me, is a player who makes me go 'wow' in awe at their abilities. not necessarily ball skills, but overall abilites. like an enzo. thats 'wow' status. the forward from greenville, thats 'wow' status. secondly, his attitude sucks on the field. who berates their team mates when ur up by 12? honestly people. i personally witnessed cates, on a 4-1 counterattack, with his team down, attempt to CHIP the remaining defender, to get the ball to his team mate. and he failed miserably. an all american either beats the player, or passes it off in a give and go. i give you the fast, strong attribute. but hes nowhere near enzo. i mean NOWHERE near enzo.

and no im not a danny cates hater by the way. i just think its disgusting the hype he gets. get me results first, then ill crown the guy. not this 'well down in disney, nobody could score on him' garbage. um folks, last time i checked soccer is a team game. without his other defenders, he'd be nothing. he wasnt even the best defender on his club team. daniel lynch is far superior in a defensive role. and dont play the 'every game, he got either a goal or an assist' card either. if we want to think like little kids, then lets also say that kyle paradise from white knoll last year, was one of the states best player. he also had a goal or an assist almost every game.

thats what i thought.

First of all Kyle Paradise is terrible. He's playing down in Junior College and had one goal in about 20 games so yeah lets not even mention him any more. And as for danny why do you need a wow player? Any guy could do things that can make you say wow, I'd rather have a player who gets the job done. And whats wrong with yelling at people. I've played with him and almost everytime he yells its usually advice and its usually the right thing. Plus he is one of the most competitive people I know which is why hes out there "shouting" advice. And who cares if he made one bad pass when they're up 12 to 0. He probably had 8 goals without making a mistake to get it to that lead.

Thats what i Think

Woah... im pretty sure he said he team was down, not winning by 12... the difference in scenarios makes a big difference

Danny is a quality player but not the best in the state. I believe he is definately good enough to play at USC but I dont understand why he gets all this national attention. Hes good but not that good but i guess once your in, your in.

Dear God never mention Kyle Paradise again.

Ok so i read it wrong. And even so when has he been on a team that has been down 4-1 please tell me that. And as for Daniel Lynch, quality player but not nearly on danny's level.

And i agree with you on that supasta

Dutch Fork has lost the bad before. Didn't they lose to NW that bad a couple years ago?

woah17, i didnt say anything about them being down 4-1. i def said '4-1 counterattack.' but i digress. as for everyone else, i also agree about paradise. i didnt mean to compare those players' abilities. god no. i was just trying to make a point that stats arent everything.

and yea dutch fork has lost that bad before. and if things dont improve from what ive heard, im seeing bad things for them when they play irmo. forget that its a usually close contested rivalry game

i dont know how u can say that cufc is the most talented out of them lex and cesa in the 89 group. of course they are very good, but their results havent said as much they have never beat lex and since their creation lex and cesa have won the state championships, not cufc. with these facts in line i dont kow how u can say that they are definalty more the most talented team in the 89 group

Cates in a very high quality player. He has proven he is a good player by being selected for the ESP program, Region team and the national team.

He is def. in the top 5 best players in the state.
Paradise was a good player, best in state.. Not there, but he was great to play with

Here is my best players in State:

Enzo Martinez
Danny Cates
Daniel Lynch
Justin Watson
Joey Demare
Antwan Pariss
Austin Savage
Alex Martinez
Byron Quintonia

Anyone else??

All very quality players. This season is new, which means new nail bitter games and new best players. Can't Wait!

ehs,

the notion that cufc is as talented or has been as successful as other clubs is out there - despite the results, statistics, etc. they truly believe this.

one state championship in the past year, one premier league team having success, lexington having more or as much success, means nothing to them. and don't hand me that crap about the 18s doing well in the premier league. there were 6 teams and the best teams in that age group were in the academy, not premier league. heck, discoveries won as many state cups and they are a one horse show.

how do you explain this self confidence/"closing the gap" when the younger players put jv soccer over club?

truly believe what? i never said they werent talented. I was refuting the statement tha thier 18 team had the most talent out out of the cufc, lex, cesa u-18 trio. like previously someone posted the entire cufc player roster. Might as well post both the lex and cesa u-18 rosters. This is a best playe in the state forum, not a team selection. i was just arguing the fact that the entire roster was posted i wasnt arguing that they care about that becasue i dont really care about that

ok ok ok, CUFC is made up of 18 very good players...their subs are just as good as their starters and everyone plays the same amount of the time. In the case of Lexington...they have many excellent players but their bench is not nearly as strong as CUFC's.So even though Lexington has some very good players, they also have some very weak players. And in the case of CUFC, there are no weaknesses. I dont play for either of these teams so i feel that i have an unbias and fair opinion

i agree ??? cufc definetly has the edge in the total team. lexington owns the advantage in standouts. having seen both in action, i think lexington has better team chemistry. having played against cesa premier i can honestly say that theyre not far behind either. obviously, with them winning state, we can argue that they are the better team

back to the discussion topic. i think enzo certaintly is the best player in the state, but with the departure of kropp, the gap has noticeably lessened. northwestern is too one dimensional this year. a contender for sure, but no runaway.

i dont know if anyones noticed, but i think enzos bread and butter are his distributing talents, and his mental edge. this kid is an example of a leader on the field, and one who exemplifies the team concept. i'd say hes sorta like the magic johnson of the high school soccer field.

I believe there is a separate forum for you clubbers.

Yeah u are right, but in all honesty, we need to just shut up and play. You know???

I'll throw my 2 cents in here. From an out of state perspective. I have no dog in the fight, so I will try to be objective. From the people that I have talked to up here, many of the good coaches, and I am talking about the Sockers, Magic, Eclipse and the Region II ODP coaches, they know more about Enzo than Danny Cates. They are more impressed by Enzo than Danny, etc... I would have to say that if you are getting recognition in Illinois, a well known soccer state, you are probably pretty darned good!

How is everything up there?

Yeah, its been fun here. I love attending NIU and then have people go off on a shooting rampage. At least I am student teaching this semester, so I am primarily off campus this semester. I did have a buddy that saw a couple of the injured people that made it to the book store, and he said it was surreal to see blood on the floor in the student center. At least everyone that I know were fine. There are a lot of people that are shaken up, and I can understand that. Classes for those on campus don't resume until the 25th, I will be back student teaching on Tuesday. Other than that, just been having fun in the snow and it is going to be a whopping -1 on Tuesday morning.

Soccerboy,

You have Enzo as #1 and Cates as #1A.....not bad.

Are you coming back down here to teach after graduation?

how about Joseph Taylor?...he absolutely dominates 2A at Emerald High ....he was the reason they made it to the final last year and i bet you he will lead them there again this season! wayyyyyy under-rated

Hurst,

You would be correct with the assumption that I have Enzo as #1 and Cates as #1A. You all know that it is very subjective to talk about payers that play two different positions. It all depends on what they are able to contribute to the team. Anybody in their right mind would want to have either one of these excellent players on their team. It's just splitting hairs to figure out which one is better. But when it comes down to it, it is the player that has the biggest impact on the teams that they play on.

As for me moving back after I am done with school, I wish. My wife is not too keen on moving 900 miles away from her family. She is a teacher,a nd is actually working on her masters at the moment. As everyone that is married knows, the wife usually gets her way when it comes to where they want to live. I would prefer to be in a warmer climate, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

what about all the strong 4a schools, any strong players coming out of them, does cat still play for spring valley?

Dutch Fork partner!!!

Salinas and the new exchange students could be top players this year.. i don't know about best players.. but very good!

Rudy Hellberger

Enzo is my opinion a good bit better than Cates.

What i dont understand is how you can compare a forward to a centerback and figure out who is better

You do not, you base it on the player's impact in the game.

Enzo obviously impacts the attacking game and the couple of times I saw him play midfield was OK

Cates impacts the defensive game a lot more and can play any position on the field.

So If you were picking a team and both these players were available you would pick both one to play offense, one to play defense. If you could only pick one then it would depend on the rest of your team.

I pick Cates first to shore up the defensive unit and win balls. Enzo's skill would mean nothing if you cannot get him the ball.

sG, I would be serious. Until you can figure out a way to compare apples to oranges, we are just stuck to figure out which one is better. They are both awesome athletes, but how do you compare? I don't have an association to either school, so I would have a somewhat unbiased opinion. Although I am not a fan of the Cates dad...he is rather arrogant.

I don't think I've ever seen Enzo play defense. I've always seen him attacking.

Did Enzo score in the state championship game last year??

No he did not score in the state championship. He had 8 total goals in the playoffs though.

And saying "you can't compare players who play different positions" is true in a lot of sports with but everyone does it anyways!

guys why are we even comparing cates to enzo? it sounds like we're admitting that danny is the second best player in the state, which hes not. how about sebastian to enzo or something.?

its like this. against dutch fork last year, danny wasnt even the player who stood out the most. all that man does is shield the ball, and play a long ball down the line for his forwards. like literally. on the field, i was way more inclined to say that ryan martin was a more dangerous player and contributor.

enzo is the best player. why is this discussion still occurring? seriously?

brian pryzbela from sumter high graduated in 05. he was the nastiest defender ive ever played against. hes one of the best players ive ever played against. he was FAR superior to danny cates in a defensive role. and like cates, could play all over the field. even goalie a few games i heard. he got recruited by usc, but got a DUI and his scholarship revoked. but moving on, he would own cates. my point here is that as far as im aware, brian wasnt an all american, or on the national team or anything. he was on the state team that played the nc high school state team at the end of the season, which was very well deserved, and scored a goal in that game. from defense. think about that. it wasnt a pk or set play. the man went down the entire field and scored.

anyways, hes better than danny. way better. enzo is one of the only players id put ahead of brian. and thats because of a mental edge.

Mr Jackson, Enzo is a tenacious defender. He started out in Uruguay playing sweeper but when he got here coaches made the switch to forward. Would have been interesting to see how good of a defender he would of been if it was his first calling...haha

enzo still comes back and plays defense. i don't know if they still play a 4-3-3 but in years past he has done a good job of coming back and helping the midfield defend from the forward position. coach wren has also put him in the midfield at times where he defends well.

Yes Enzo did play defense in Uruguay before being moved to forward in the United States. sG, you must know Enzo personally as well!

So which one is more likely to succeed at the next level beyond college?? I'm thinking neither if they stay in the US!!

Cates isnt goin anywhere overseas anytime soon if at all. good player but thats a whole different class over there

Jeff Wilkins - James Island.

Justin Watson - Socastee

Why is everyone saying lexington has the best talent? They didn't even win state and they did well in a premier league that was missing its best teams from the previous year. Cates is a good defender but no where close to being the best player in the state

Kaka for AC milan

Messi for Barcalona

Did you write that yourself, Jeff?

There are a lot of different opinions that people have about the Best Player in the State, but if you think about and break it down there are plenty of ways to look at it.My view is there are too many SAWB's that can play soccer. A lot of people can play soccer but what separate's that player from all the other players. I think if you break it down, it should be the player who stands out and plays at the highest level.

Best Goal Scorer- Enzo Martinez(NW), Andrew Antenzio(Dorman)
Best Midfielder- Bobby Belair(Soc)
Best Defender-Daniel Lynch(Irmo), Tyler Williams(Chapin)
Best All Around- Danny Cates(DF)
Honorable Mention- Justin Watson(Soc), Alex Martinez(NW), Antawn Parris(SV), Sean Flynn(SV)


Take your pick. This is how I've seen it. The argument came go on forever.

This discussion ALWAYS gets dominated by 3A and 4A players. There is no doubt that those classes are much better than the other classes but there are some very good players in 1A and 2A. BE, Walhalla, Emerald,Waccamaw, Academic Magnet, Christ Church...etc. And a side note, Mr. Jackson i disagree with a couple of your picks. Alex is a good player but he lives off his brothers name. And Antwon Parris isnt even top five on his high school team. Granted Samuel, u may have been boozed up on Natural Light when u made that post so i will give u a break there. And Daniel Lynch no doubt has the best pony tail in the state but i dont know about him being the best defender.

that must be a joke because jugal for irmo and byron at dreher are better than belair. And zach houghton is a better defender than daniel lynch, my opinion though

You must not be familiar with the Spring Valley team, or with Antoine Parris. He's easily the most dangerous player (scoring threat) on the team, and is certainly one of the top 10 forwards in the state. I'll put Enzo in a class by himself, but Antoine is right there with the next tier.

what about the martinez kid from fort mill, hes talented player and im pretty sure on the u-18 national team

Eric Martinez is an excellent player and I believe made the National Pool this year. However, he plays for Charlotte Soccer Club(rising u-18) and also attends private school in North Carolina.

Im pretty familiar happydaddy...1-5 for that team in no order is sean flynn, zack houghton, mike cluzinski, Chris harviksten, parker arnold....antoine is a good player but he isnt one of "the best" and besides, he is young

Jugal is not better than Belair, you should have seen Eric Fielden for FM shut him down completely in last year's playoffs.

s gerrard for liverpool

I respect your opinion fake henry but is it necessary to copy and paste my whole post. It doesnt really bother me but that just wasnt necessary. Anyways, i have played against both brothers and after one game i saw enzo putting on Alex's diaper for him...so u explain that one Henry

All the players you named are fine players, though each with very different strengths. I'm pretty sure that if you were to ask them, they'd tell you that Antoine is their most dangerous player. You might want to ask a college coach or two as well.

??? i though parker got kicked out of school? and how can you say alex lives of his brother's name when Alex made the region team and played well with them?

Antoine is only a sophomore with a fantastic combination of athletic ability, game sense and technical skill. Anyone who underestimates his abilities will without a doubt pay the price as he has the ability to strike very quickly. Very talented at midfield and forward. He'll be a great player to watch over the next few seasons.

hey question marks(???), get a life...henry quoted u if u didnt know that you can find the definition of quote at dictionary.com. alex is legit so shove it mate. if he can make the region team i guaruntee he is better than you so get a life.

Even if I knew, which I don't, I wouldn't comment on Parker's situation at school. Sometimes I think we forget that we're talking about kids and their lives here. I do know that Parker is not playing for SV this year.

I am no expert, but many people who are say that Alex Martinez is at least the equal of Enzo in ability and potential and may in fact be the better player of two. That is a scary thought.

Regarding Antoine Parris, Manchester summed it up nicely. Anyone who doesn't believe that he is a special talent is silly. I doubt that there is a sophomore in the state that is getting more collegiate interest than Antoine, with the possible exception of Alex Martinez.

Joey DeMare is a Sophomore isnt he and he is in Spain right now. He is probably getting a lot of interest from college coaches already too.

HappyDaddy, you said it best, you are not an expert, Alex is in fact a GREAT player (terrible attitude though) but he is definitely not better than Enzo, c'mon now...

Alex Martinez probably has the absolute worst on field attitude in the state. Which is a shame because he is a great talent.

Do doubt Manchester, that Antoine is a good sophomore and a good player. And Alex is obviously good if he is on the region team. But, they are competing against 15 and 16 year olds(who are still good regardless of their age). Now, in high school there are 4 grades, and u arent just competing against just your age group. So if the topic of this forum was BEST SOPHOMORE(which many of u have said a thousand times), i would agree that these are 2 of the best. But in the grand scheme of things, they arent. That is the last thing im gonna say about these guys because they are good players and i am tired of making negative posts about them, even though wat i have said is right.

Why does it bother you that I copy your whole post? Haha sorry I offended you lad.

And ??? you are right and always will be right. Thank you for enlightening me with your brilliance.

Facundo Arbues #8 F
Sir Charles Davis GK
Westside High
Def. 2 of the top players in the state.

When FM played SV last year, Antoine was the one player that stood out. The soph is a talent and will only get better. Solid team player to boot.

Manuel Leon, Paris, Flyn, Enzo so many great one's to choose from.

i guess all the lower state players got left out for some odd reason????

yeah manofcavaliers....fez is good

yes Manuel "Fez" Leon is nasty... straight up G

Gaurang Patel

alex martinez, antoine parris, zack acree

Do people not pay attention to lower state soccer. It should not be over looked. Some Teams in the lower state division are as good as the team in upper state. Dont get me wrong now. Upper State has more competition but hey lets not over look lower state teams

TP you are right. There is competition in the Upper State but there is also competition in the Lower State.

goalkeepers anyone???

Robert Beebe..

Jafet Vera from Dillon...had 46 goals last year and netted two shutouts in goal. I'm a little biased as I am his coach, but, the kid can play.

Where does this young man play his club soccer and what age group?

no club soccer...that's part of the problem and he's a senior. jafet has tallied 64 goals in two seasons. We only played 13 matches in his first year.