Published: November 16, 2008 02:39 am            

Park’s Aderholt leads Class AAA all-state

East’s Harvath, Fairmont Senior’s Nucilli on first team

WHEELING — What makes great players great?

It’s their ability to use their talent to the maximum. It’s the ability to push everyone around them to be the best. It’s the ability to lead their team to victory.

Wheeling Park’s Zach Aderholt did just that this season.

His uncanny ability to find the open man and his leadership qualities made Aderholt an easy choice as the West Virginia Player of the Year and the Class AAA All-State First Team captain, as selected by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.

“I am very humbled,” Aderholt said. “I do a lot of extra training in the season and in the offseason. I’m always working a half-hour before practice and a half-hour after practice trying to improve what I do.”

In addition to Aderholt, Marion County had two representatives named to the all-state first team.

East Fairmont’s Nolan Harvath and Fairmont Senior’s Brooks Nucilli, both leaders of their respective teams, were honored.

Harvath led the Bees to the North Central Athletic Conference regular season title, before breaking his leg and missing the playoffs.

Nucilli finished with 20-plus goals and helped the Polar Bears advance to the Region I title game.

Nucilli had the lone goal in his team’s marathon win over North Marion in the sectional semi-finals, doing it with a broken nose.

Aderholt is the consummate team leader and has put his team ahead of himself throughout his Wheeling Park career.

He finished his senior season with 17 goals and 17 assists and led Wheeling Park to a perfect regular season before losing to Parkersburg 2-0 in the Class AAA championship game last Saturday in Beckley.

“It was disappointing because we are such a close group and that was our goal from the beginning of the season,” Aderholt said. “I knew that some of our guys had matured and our standards were going to be set higher.

“This award is just as much (my teammates) because they made my job easier. They brought out a better player in me.”

His talent and leadership made Wheeling Park coach Mario Julian’s job one of the easiest in the state.

“I can set up a drill and it gets run at a very high level,” Julian said. “He is encouraging and is always pushing the kids. On the field, he is a field general and everything he does he runs so smooth.

“Some of the things he does is going to be entrenched in my coaching philosophies in future seasons. The hard work and the way he motivates his teammates. Captains in the future are going to need to have the same qualities he possessed because Zach really kept the Wheeling Park tradition alive.”

Aderholt’s specialty was on corner kicks and free kicks. His knack for putting the ball in a perfect place led to many Wheeling Park goals, including the game-winner to beat Linsly in the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Cup Final when the senior scored off an indirect kick from just outside the penalty kick.

Along with Fernando Olea Comas, the duo formed one of the top midfields in the state.

“Zach has his own personal drive,” Julian said. “He enjoys being successful and making others successful. His combination of fitness and desire makes him an extraordinary athlete.

“He is the definition of what a Most Valuable Player and a Player of the Year should be. For him to lead us to an undefeated season until the last game exemplifies that.”

Many of those assists from Aderholt went to Park’s next potential superstar, Josh Henderson. Henderson was named to the first team after a breakout season in which the sophomore scored 24 goals.

The Wheeling Park defense was led by senior sweeper Stephen Knight and goalie Dakota Cintron (10 shutouts, .61 goals against average), both first-team selections.

Parkersburg, the only team to figure out the Patriots this season, was represented on the first team by midfielder Derik Craft and defender Zach Higgenbotham. Big Reds goalkeeper Spencer Griffey was a second-team selection.

Joining Aderholt and Craft in the midfield is Martinsburg’s Aaron Anderson, East Fairmont’s Harvath, and Woodrow Wilson’s Jared Morgan.

The forwards are Henderson, Fairmont Senior’s Nucilli, Cabell Midland’s Alex Molina, and Nitro’s Alex Ross.

Knight and Higgenbotham share first-team defensive honors with Martinsburg’s Ian Franke, Hurricane’s Ryan Gdula, and George Washington’s Kurt Suter.

Connell Green of George Washington and Cintron are the first-team goalies.

        

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