Final 2016 Boys’ Soccer Power Rankings

It’s time to close the book on the 2016 high school boys soccer’ season with our final power rankings of the fall.

As always, these rankings are based on dominance by Class, not head-to-head.

Overall record and Class are listed in parenthesis.

1. Monett (19-7-1, C2) – Monett’s potent attack wasn’t figured out until the Class 2 title game. John Burroughs’ 3-0 victory marked Monett’s lone shutout of the season. The Cubs’ offense was one of the best in the Ozarks and in Class 2 overall – 105 total goals for an average of 3.8 per game. The defense improved as the season progressed. Home victories in the state playoffs against Fatima and Boonville vaulted Monett to state for the first time in program history. Sophomore Jason Puente (43 goals, 7 assists) has two more years to terrorize defenses. Monett graduates seven seniors, including four starters in Cameron Cody (GK), Juan Salas (D), Fernando Belloso (MF) and Carlos Izaguirre (F; 16 goals, 11 assists). Key returnees include Puente, Jose Cecenas (D), Bailey Austin (D), Adrian Moncivaiz (MF), Freddy Ramirez (MF), Pablo Grimaldo (D) and Eric Young (D). Monett will need a new guy to team with Puente, likely it’s Moncivaiz, but has much of its back line returning plus some strong classes coming up to the high school ranks.

2. Carthage (23-5, C3) – It got away from the Tigers in the second half, but Carthage was within 1-0 of Rockwood Summit at halftime of the Class 3 title game before conceding five second-half goals. Carthage now has a trio of second-place finishes at state over the past five seasons. The Tigers prevailed in hard-fought playoff matches against Carl Junction (2-1) and Rolla (2-1) to make it to Fenton. Carthage, and particularly its defense, came along way from the start of the season – when it gave up four goals to Monett its season opener. An 11-player senior class exits, which includes starters Juan Garcia, Ethan Dahl, Luis Reyes, Jorge Guevara, David Ortiz and Rudy Gonzalez. Graduation particularly hits Carthage hard in its midfield and defensive back four. Carthage does return two of the better players at their respective positions in the area in Mauricio Gonzalez (D) and Elder Reyes (F) as the Tigers seek a 10th straight district title in 2017.

3. Rolla (18-6-3, C3) – If not for Carthage winning at home in the quarterfinal round, we likely would have seen Rolla playing for a state championship last weekend. The Bulldogs topped Helias Catholic for a district title and avenged a regular season loss to Glendale to set up a winner-take-all quarterfinals match with Carthage for a trip to state. Carthage took a 1-0 lead midway through the first half, but Rolla scored the equalizer 90 seconds before halftime. Carthage scored the eventual game-winner in the 65^th minute, denying Rolla again in the quarterfinals like in 2012. Rolla graduates a strong 10-player senior class, one that coach Mike Howard has enjoyed coaching. Like Carthage, Rolla will have some gaps to fill at defender and midfield. Nick Janke (D) and Drew Blair (GK) will be key pieces to Rolla’s team next season.

4. Greenwood (16-6-1, C1) – The best season in over a decade for Greenwood soccer ended with a 2-2 tie with Sacred Heart for 3^rd place in Class 1, less than 24 hours after a disappointing 5-1 loss St. Paul Lutheran (Concordia) in the semifinals. Greenwood beat College Heights Christian 3-2 in its district title game, then Crocker 4-0 in the quarterfinals to reach state for the first time since 2005. Greenwood was able blend a mix of speed/athleticism (Ty Dupree), skill (Don Han) and size (Julius Walker) well. You don’t know see many 6’5” guys with athleticism like Walker play soccer, and Greenwood was never shy about exploiting his size mismatch on crosses or set pieces. Dupree and Walker are part of a seven-player senior class that departs, along with starters Garett Nau, Junwon Park, Shaun Kim and Noah Shuler. Greenwood has some returning midfield prospects (Garrett Litherland, Joseph Rollinson) that played a lot at state and could team with Han next year, and brings back Aidan McQueary (GK), Joseph Brock (D) and sweeper extraordinaire Jared Henry to its defense.

5. Glendale (17-9, C3) – As mentioned above… If not for Rolla beating Glendale in the sectional round, we could have seen the Falcons in the state finals for the second time in three seasons. Glendale beat Carthage – who they would’ve faced in the quarterfinals – twice in the regular season, so a title-game scenario was definitely in play for the Falcons. Instead, Glendale gave up the game-winning goal early in the second half of the sectional loss to Rolla. Glendale graduates eight seniors and will enter 2017 needing some new leaders to step up. Guys like Josh Call, Sean Perryman and Aaron Guilliams were the face of the program the last couple of seasons.

6. Kickapoo (19-8, C4) – Despite the loss to Ozark in sectionals, I still like the Chiefs as our best Class 4 team this year. Kickapoo had the best overall body of work and no other local team played a tougher schedule. If we’re going off aggregate, Kickapoo holds a 4-2 edge over Ozark thanks to the Chiefs’ 3-0 victory in the regular season. Kickapoo beat Central 2-1 to earn its third district title since 2012. The Chiefs graduate an eight-player senior class that includes varsity stalwarts like Zach Peters, Cole Johnson and Ian Hansen. They have a really good group returning next year, though. The program’s in good hands with the likes of Josh Scheiderer, Deuce Vandaveer, Jacob Holman, Jaxon Riddle, Aidan Bilbao and Cole Peebles back for 2017.

7. Catholic (14-9, C2) – Unfortunately, we never got to see a Catholic-Monett sectionals rematch, due to the Irish’s 4-3 double-overtime loss to Fatima in the Class 2 District 11 finals. Catholic jumped out to an early 2-0 lead against Fatima, but couldn’t close out the victory. Like Monett, I’d expect the Irish to be strong again – if not better overall – next season. Catholic graduates a six-player senior class that includes Keegan Randell (MF) and Michael Sallee (GK) but they’ll return two of their top three goal scorers in seniors-to-be Zac Straus and Kaueh Huttenlocher, who were both all-region, as well as several sophomores and freshmen in the offensive positions that saw a lot of varsity action.

8. Nixa (16-5, C4) – Injuries finally caught up to Nixa, which was on fire after losing likely all-stater Parker Crawford to a season-ending injury on Sept. 20. Nixa went 9-2 leading up to districts minus Parker, with the two losses coming to Class 4 state-ranked Marquette and Blue Valley Northwest (Kan.). Nixa graduates some significant talent – guys like Crawford, Jon Dasal, Andrew Koban, Ross Lindeman, Payton Wissig and Mitchell Dent were instrumental in the program’s rise over the past two seasons – but the cupboard is not bare. Jakob Price, Jacob Romero, Brady Harrison will lead the senior class next season and underclassmen like Hunter Daniels and Andrew Anello figure to step into more prominent roles. Coach Evan Palmer will look to fill in the gaps with a JV squad that went 18-0 this season, marking the first time Nixa’s had an undefeated JV team.

9. Ozark (18-6-1, C4) – The best season in Ozark boys’ soccer history ended with a 3-0 loss to Columbia Rock Bridge in the Class 4 quarterfinals. The Tigers claimed the program’s first district title in 15 years, and second overall, with a 3-0 win over Joplin in the Class 4 District 10 finals. Ozark didn’t settle on that achievement, pulling off a rather surprising upset of Kickapoo, 2-1, in the Class 4 sectional round. I’m not sure what changed for Ozark since that 7-0 beat-down loss at the hands of Nixa on Sept. 20 – but the Tigers turned their season around in a way you rarely see. Ozark reeled off a 14-1-1 streak after that loss to Nixa, the only defeat coming to state-ranked Vianney. Ozark graduates a 10-player senior class and will particularly take a hit in the midfield area with the loss of James Pottberg and Keaton Amstutz. Lawson Spence, who earned all-region honors as a sophomore, emerged as a dangerous threat at forward this season.

10. Republic (13-7, C3) – Like Nixa, I don’t want to let one game overshadow what was otherwise a really good overall season for Republic. Willard proved to be a thorn in Republic’s side that Republic couldn’t overcome, as the Black and White Tigers prevailed 4-3 in overtime in the Class 3 District 11 semifinals. Willard also beat Republic 1-0 in PKs at the Willard Tournament, while Republic won the official COC-Large meeting convincingly, 5-0. Junior Dylan Brown had a breakout season, finishing with 41 goals plus 14 assists. Julio Quezada (17 goals, 14 assists) leaves as the program’s all-time leader in goals, but Republic returns a good offensive nucleus with Brown, Drew Flippin (7G, 5A) and Armando Hurtado (5G, 3A).

Knocking on the door: Central (17-6, C4), College Heights Christian (13-13, C1), Laquey (14-8, C1), Crocker (15-4, C1), Carl Junction (14-11-1, C3), Willard (14-9-2, C3)