Meet the 2022 All-Livingston County boys soccer team
Connor Allan
► School: Brighton
► Class: Senior
► Position: Defender
► Accomplishments: Allan is a two-time first-team all-county selection after making the second team as a sophomore. Despite playing a defensive role as an outside back, Allan was Brighton’s second-leading scorer with five goals and four assists. His free kick gave Brighton a 1-1 tie with Hartland in the teams’ first meeting.
► Coach Mark Howell: “He offered a lot of consistency and reliability being almost a four-year starter for us. He was pulled up his freshman year and started down the stretch and every year since. He knew the rigors of playing varsity soccer and how to be competitive. He saw a lot of our prior success and what it took. He was able to translate that into his leadership style and push teammates to get the most out of them.”
Christian Beres
► School: Hartland
► Class: Senior
► Position: Defender
► Accomplishments: Beres moves up to the first team after making second-team all-county as a sophomore and junior. As a center back, Beres played a large role in Hartland’s ability to hold opponents to one goal or less in 15 of 20 games while playing in the tough KLAA West. He will play for Russell Sage College in New York.
► Coach Andrew Kartsounes: “He was definitely our leader back on ‘D’ and in the center of the defense. He really brought a lot of control and intensity to what we did back there. He’s a great communicator, just somebody we could count on as a leader to keep us all together and keep us moving in the right direction.”
Connor Blood
► School: Brighton
► Class: Senior
► Position: Forward
► Accomplishments: Blood was a second-team all-county pick each of the last two years. He scored five goals and added two assists while also making strong contributions on the defensive end of the field. Blood has signed with Olivet College.
► Coach Mark Howell: “His game has really evolved over three years on varsity. This year he was a real two-way player. He’s super fit, so it allows us to put him in positions where he has to play goal line to goal line. Depending on what shape we ran determined what his role was. He’s a great set-up guy, great playmaking guy.”
Seth Campbell
► School: Charyl Stockwell
► Class: Senior
► Position: Midfielder
► Accomplishments: Campbell made first-team all-county three times, leading Livingston County in goals with 20 as a sophomore and 22 as a senior. He also had 10 assists this season, earning MIAC Red Player of the Year. He finished his career with 66 goals and 29 assists.
► Coach Chris Greene: “Putting in 66 goals, that's no small feat. Those aren't breakaway goals, sitting up top waiting for the ball to come to him. Those were hard-work goals, dribbling through defenses, working with his teammates. That's a little more difficult to do. He is probably irreplaceable."
Reese Elmy
► School: Pinckney
► Class: Senior
► Position: Defender
► Accomplishments: Elmy is a repeat first-team selection who controlled the back end for a Pinckney team that allowed only 16 goals in 17 games. At 6-foot-6 and with experience playing forward in travel soccer, he can use his size to dominate the front of the net on either end of the field. He had eight goals and 12 assists, setting up many on free kicks into the box.
► Coach Sean Grace: “All attributes combined, he is by far the highest-ceiling player I’ve ever coached as far as his skill level, height, strength, speed, everything. If you’re a college coach, you’ve got to be drooling over a guy like that. He held everything together. He was probably the most dominant defender we had seen all year, and we played some pretty good D1 schools.”
Owen Keene
► School: Pinckney
► Class: Senior
► Position: Midfielder
► Accomplishments: Keene led Livingston County in points with 55 on 20 goals and 15 assists. He received Division 2 all-state honorable mention, made all-region and is a two-time first-team all-county pick. Keene was dangerous in the box heading in free kicks and corner kicks.
► Coach Sean Grace: “Owen’s got it all. He was kind of the backbone of the team. He sees the field exceptionally well. He filled that holding mid role perfectly to where he could drop back and defend if we needed him to and could push forward and make runs and score or assist. He was special this year. Everything he did was great.”
Brady Lipke
► School: Hartland
► Class: Senior
► Position: Forward
► Accomplishments: Lipke was Hartland’s leading goal scorer with seven, also contributing two assists, even though his primary sport is lacrosse. His goal with 4:52 remaining gave the Eagles a 1-0 victory over Grand Ledge in the district semifinals. Lipke also scored Hartland’s lone goal in a 1-1 tie with rival Brighton.
► Coach Andrew Kartsounes: “He’s just a really hard worker for us on the outside, somebody we could count on to get involved in the offense. He was always just up and down that entire side. We counted on him to put in that work rate.”
Devlin McGinnis
► School: Brighton
► Class: Sophomore
► Position: Midfielder
► Accomplishments: McGinnis led Brighton in goal scoring with nine and in assists with six, earning all-state honorable mention. He scored a hat trick in a first-round district victory over Howell. He scored the game’s only goal in two 1-0 victories. McGinnis made second-team all-county as a freshman when he had three goals and four assists.
► Coach Mark Howell: “We put a lot of pressure on him as a team and as a staff. He grew a lot and matured a lot as a player and learned how to shoulder some of that responsibility. Watching how far he grew from freshman to sophomore year, he’s definitely one of those guys for the final two seasons who will be one of the top guys in the state.”
Chris Newman
► School: Pinckney
► Class: Senior
► Position: Forward
► Accomplishments: Despite a nagging season-long hamstring injury, Newman had 15 goals and 19 assists in his fourth varsity season. He finished his career with 53 goals and made first-team all-county three times. He received Division 2 all-state honorable mention and was named all-region. Newman set up two goals and scored the other in a 3-0 victory over Tecumseh in the district semifinals.
► Coach Sean Grace: “Without the injury, he would have had 20-20 kind of production. He’ll be a center-mid in college. If I was a college coach, I’d just have him control the game and distribute and take shots when needed. He’s special. All the opposing coaches game-planned for him. In the district final, they game-planned for him. He’s the guy everybody needs to stop.”
Matt Preiss
► School: Hartland
► Class: Senior
► Position: Goalkeeper
► Accomplishments: Preiss became Hartland’s starting goalie midway through his freshman season. He went on to make the all-county second team as a sophomore and the first team his final two years. Preiss had three shutouts and a 1.4 goals against average this season.
► Coach Andrew Kartsounes: “He’s been four years on varsity, which is pretty rare, especially at the goalkeeper position. Every year, he got better and matured and really was strong. He was a very vocal leader who kept everybody moving and had a tremendous season for us.”
Blain Smilowski
► School: Hartland
► Class: Senior
► Position: Midfielder
► Accomplishments: Smilowski earned all-state honorable mention, one of only two Livingston County players to be honored in Division 1. He was a second-team all-county selection last season. He had one goal and three assists, but his contributions couldn’t be quantified numerically.
► Coach Andrew Kartsounes: “He really was our engine in our midfield. He’s a very skilled player who could drop back when we needed him defensively. We also looked to get him forward and play it through to guys in the middle. He controlled our midfield for us and really played both ways.”
Chris Vernon
► School: Brighton
► Class: Senior
► Position: Defender
► Accomplishments: Vernon is a three-time first-team all-county selection whose strength and toughness made him difficult to play against on the defensive end. He was a big reason why Brighton allowed more than one goal just six times in 20 games.
► Coach Mark Howell: “He has a motor unlike anything I’ve ever seen as a player or a coach. His work ethic in practice, in games is always 140%. He just gives everything he has. He’s a model player. If you could have 11 Chris Vernons, every team would hate to play you. He’s a tough kid mentally and physically. He just does things the right way. He’s going to be missed.”
SECOND TEAM
Tyler Beckwith, Pinckney, MF, Sr.
Owen Buckley, Brighton, F, Soph.
Tristan Frazzini, Pinckney, GK, Sr.
Hunter Haglund, Brighton, D, Jr.
Ian Hartke, Fowlerville, MF, Jr.
Ryan Hemphill, Brighton, D, Jr.
Trent Johnson, Pinckney, MF, Sr.
Zach Krause, Hartland, D, Sr.
Ethan Matties, Hartland, D, Jr.
Erik Pecaj, Hartland, MF, Jr.
Owen White, Brighton, F, Sr.
HONORABLE MENTION
Brighton: Andrew Bowman (Soph.), Silas Carriere (Sr.), Will Evans (Sr.), Jimmie Johnson (Jr.), Anthony Klebba (Jr.), Caleb Laho (Sr.), Reece Meyer (Fr.). Charyl Stockwell: Jaden Denkhaus (Sr.), AJ Emmerich (Fr.), Adam Surowiec (Sr.), Joe Vance (Sr.), Mitchell Vaske (Sr.), David Wilson (Jr.). Fowlerville: Rogelio Rodriguez (Jr.), Owen Smith (Soph.). Hartland: Lewie Austin (Sr.). Howell: Adolfo Garcia Bonilla (Sr.), Julio Landero (Sr.), Aiden Niemiec (Sr.), Luke Stolz (Sr.). Pinckney: Ethan Bloom (Sr.), Parker Hays (Jr.), Andrew Otberg (Sr.), Jake Prince (Sr.), Connor Regan (Sr.), James Uphouse (Fr.).
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Meet the 2022 All-Livingston County boys soccer team
