For six years it was St. Mark’s. Then, for five of the last six it was Salesianum. The year that it was neither, Tatnall was crowned.
It has been since Glasgow in 1995 – twelve seasons – that a Delaware public school has won a state title in boy’s soccer. But starting this year, with the Charter School of Wilmington on the rise, the reign of the private schools could be in peril.
The Red Clay school, which pulls in academically qualified kids from throughout northern New Castle County, has a talented young squad. Five of its 11 starters are sophomores who started as freshman last year. The youth, combined with the senior leadership of tri-captains Dan Conklin, Ben Dozier and Chad Jackson, allows head coach Jon Gillespie to field what he calls the most skilled team in school history.
“This group has helped us revitalize the program,” Gillespie says. “These guys can help us compete against Sallies this year, and that’s our measuring stick. It’s all about getting to that level.”
Make no mistake: Salesianum has the bulls-eye on its back for a very good reason. Led by senior defenders Justin Kirk and Dominic Skrajewski, the Sals have a slew of returning talent from the team that defeated the Spartans 1-0 in last year’s title game. Ask one of them, and they’ll tell you – anything short of winning the ninth state title in team history will make for a disappointing season.
“It’s always about the state title here,” Kirk said. “It’s always the goal.”
Over at St. Mark’s, senior striker Ross Withrow says essentially the same thing. His Spartans lost nine of 11 starters from last year’s team, yet it has a number of young players he says are good enough to keep the Milltown Catholic school in the mix come tournament time.
“They just reload,” says Concord head coach Scott Smith, who also coaches two-time state champions Padua and sees first-hand the public-private dichotomy. “Every year there are new kids going to these private schools primarily so they can play on their soccer teams. They get good new players every year.”
Smith’s team is another that has the potential for a deep run this season, with nine seniors in the starting lineup – six of which are four year starters.
“This is the way public schools can compete – to sort of luck into a solid senior class,” he said. “But I don’t know if any of the public schools are going to be a perennial power. It’s just hard to sustain.”
Salesianum coach Scott Mosier says he gets at least five players each year who will go on to play at the college level. He says the program’s reputation – and the tradition of the school itself – helps attract quality players, but so does Mosier’s visible role in the state’s youth soccer community.
Mosier is the director of coaching at the Hockessin Soccer Club, where hundreds of youth players play year-round on highly-competitive club teams.
“I’d love for more high school coaches to become more involved in youth soccer,” he said. “If you want to build a program it’s a great way to get involved with kids at an early age.”
Longtime St. Mark’s Coach Tom DeMatteis says success breeds more success, and downplayed the advantage private school’s might have in drawing players, especially in the era of choice in the public schools.
“We’ve been fortunate to do well for a number of years and that draws people to the program,” he said. “Our success speaks for itself and I think players see that and want to be a part of that.”
The perception that private schools are out recruiting players is simply untrue, he says, citing Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association rules prohibiting it.
“It’s a myth,” he said. “We’re never done anything that has even come close to recruiting.”
At McKean, Bill Coughlin is trying to revive a once proud program. Interestingly, he sees Charter and not the St. Mark’s and Salesianum’s of the world as the program that’s impacted the Highlanders most directly.
“A lot of the kids that would have been here 10 years ago are at Charter now,” he said. “It was only a matter of time that they’d emerge as a major player.”
Coughlin said he’s heard other coaches talk about holding separate state tournaments for public and private schools, but says he leans against that change.
“I still think the public schools have a chance,” he said. “It took Charter a long time to build their program and I still think we can do the same thing.”
