Junior Varsity Boy's Soccer Season Preview: Stalnaker's Guidance Leads Knights

By Ben Spector
Winning After MidKnight

 

When a high school sports program wins a state championship there is plenty of credit that can be sprinkled around to various areas who are more than deserving of some of the credit for helping the team get to that point.

Besides the usual suspects who receive the credit (the coaches, the players, the fans) there are plenty of people who can bask in the fact that in some way they helped the team get to the promised land that is hoisting state championship hardware.

This is the case with the Middletown High School Knights Boy’s Soccer program as when Varsity head coach Jeff Colsh lifted the title over his head at the Loyola University of Maryland in November of 2015 there were plenty of people who had a hand, even in the smallest of ways, of getting the Knights to that momentous point.

One of the main cogs in getting the Knights to that point and one who is not the first person people think to give credit to is Knights Junior Varsity Boy’s Soccer Coach Paul Stalnaker.

Over the years, Stalnaker has been tasked with leading the JV team and during the state championship run it was evident that the seeds he had planted during his time as head coach of the JV team had bloomed into flowers that broke through the pavement on that cold November evening on the outskirts of Baltimore.

Almost all of the players on that state championship team had spent some amount of time learning from Stalnaker in the lower ranks and when Clay Smith scored his wonder goal in the state final game or when Eric Reichelt would dive with full extension to make a key save it, Stalnaker had some hand in it.

Now, to clarify this was the kids themselves who made the plays, saved the shots, scored the goals, and helped the Knights win it all. But, behind the scenes the mild-mannered Stalnaker had dropped little hints or lessons here and there helping them develop their skills and continue to grow as players until the unit was good enough that a state championship was a real thing.

Through the teaching of Stalnaker, Middletown has managed to develop a solid pipeline from the JV ranks to the Varsity ranks with the development of the JV players being a boon for Varsity because it has allowed the Knights to develop talent in a protected atmosphere and it also has helped the Knights not just develop stars but also develop depth something that has helped Middletown tremendously as they made inroads deep into the playoffs.

Middletown features many players who have had success at the JV level including sophomore goalkeeper David Anderson, senior midfielder Danny Bertoni, junior midfielder Logan Doing, and many others who had spent time under Stalnaker. Some played big roles, some played small roles but all of them had the benefit of playing under Stalnaker.

The 2016-2017 campaign will look to operate in the same way as Stalnaker has been gifted with multiple players who he can import his wisdom on to help get them ready for Varsity where everything is faster, bigger, and stronger than at JV.

Some of the Knights talent that Stalnaker will have a hand in getting Varsity-ready will include midfielders Graham Brown, Owen Ledder, and Eric McMunn. The talent just isn’t in the midfield as Stalnaker also has a breadth of talent in defense and up front as the Knights feature a team that is well rounded and are solid in most aspects, position wise.

Benefitting the Knights will be their schedule which includes all the Frederick County teams (with Frederick County being considered one of the top soccer counties in the state) and out-of-league match-ups against tough opponents such as Eastern Tech.

Middletown looks to be in great shape to succeed this season and with Stalnaker leading the charge, in a spot to deliver another load of talent to Varsity next year.