Jake McAllister named back-to-back Player of the Year

Outlaws junior standout Jake McAllister earned top league honors as the Sky-Em Player of the Year for boys' soccer for a second year in a row. It was a unanimous decision from all the coaches in the league.

McAllister, who played at midfield for the Outlaws, was also a first-team all-league pick, and led the team with 18 goals and five assists.

"Jake was by far the best player in the league and likely the best player in the state," said Coach Rob Jensen. "He does a great job of making everyone around him rise to his level of play. Jake is a great athlete and soccer player with the ability to score from anywhere on the field. This year he did a better job of getting the easy goals."

Evan Rickards (junior) and Nicky Blumm (senior) also earned first-team all-league honors.

Rickards played at forward and scored 10 goals over the course of the season. Evan, along with Eli Boettner, led the team with seven assists.

"Evan is a speedster on the outside and showed an improved capacity to score goals this season," stated Jensen. "Evan's footwork and ball skills have improved steadily. Evan was the second in votes, just behind Jake."

Blumm, as a defender, scored one goal and posted one assist.

"Nicky showed great poise and leadership while dominating the center of the field on defense for us," said Jensen. "He controlled the ball and was able to build up the field by finding open teammates on the offensive third. He also had relentless energy in pursuit of the ball and never gave up on anything."

Second-team all-league honors went to seniors Cody Lane, Ryan Pollard, Drew Corrigan, sophomore Justin Harrer and freshman Colton Mannhalter.

Lane, a defender, scored one goal and had one assist during league play.

"Cody was tenacious," stated Jensen. "He defended the best player on the other team every game. He shut down the returning Class 4A Player of the Year when we played Molalla, and he did a commendable job on other great players. He was also able to contribute offensively and was an energetic sparkplug for our team."

Pollard played at midfield and defense and scored two goals and recorded three assists from the defensive position.

"Ryan played left defense for us and really made an impact," said Jensen. "He dominated his opponents and then did a great job of finding open teammates and pushing up to put pressure on goal. His crosses set up many other scoring opportunities."

Corrigan was the Outlaws' keeper. Drew recorded 10 shutouts in 15 appearances and only had one goal scored on him in league.

"Drew was an enormous presence for us in keep this year," said Jensen. "Drew played big in big games and had great leadership for us. He would have likely been first-team again this year, but he was not tested very often in league and therefore had fewer stats than the Junction City keeper."

Harrer, a defender, tallied two goals and posted three assists.

Of Harrer, Jensen said, "Justin controlled the middle as our sweeper. He did a great job winning balls out of the air for us and then passing the ball up the field to open teammates. Justin kicked many of our long direct kicks, including off-sides, goal kicks and fouls. His ability to kick accurately and with great velocity and distance led to many opportunities for our offense."

Mannhalter, at midfield, put in five goals and tallied four assists in league play.

"As a freshman, Colton stepped in big for us," stated Jensen. "His understanding of the game and his ability to control the ball and make plays for teammates were a big reason for our success. The fact is, Colton makes everyone around him better, and he makes plays for teammates."

Gabe Rietmann and Eli Boettner were both honorable mention. Rietmann scored seven goals (third highest on the team) and dished out six assists. Boettner scored five goals and recorded seven assists.

"These players (Rietmann and Boettner) scored more goals than the best players on other teams," said Jensen. "Gabe had relentless energy and made big plays when they counted. Gabe is a coachable young man and a positive presence on our team. Eli did a great job of making plays for us. He is fast down the sideline and crossed the ball effectively."

Jensen stated, "The big thing was that we had a team approach to the season. We had 15 players score goals this year. We were third in the state for goals scored (65) and third fewest in goals allowed. We only gave up six goals in 4A competition and only one goal in league. We dominated league and outscored our opponents 38-1 and shut out 10 teams on the year."

Of being named Coach of the Year, Jensen said, "Working with these student athletes made my job easy. I would have to say that coaching this group has been a joy this year. We had a team GPA of 3.71, which was first in state. The guys understood that they were students first. They dominated their opponents, while demonstrating class, sportsmanship and poise under pressure. This team exemplified what it means to be an Outlaw."