NORTH CROSS BOYS’ SOCCER RANKED No. 13 IN COUNTRY BY MAXPREPS

The Raiders receive Army National Guard national ranking trophy for rank, state championship

North Cross School was presented with the Army National Guard national ranking trophy during a pep rally on Thursday morning. The honor is part of the inaugural MaxPreps Tour of Champions for Boys’ Soccer presented by the Army National Guard and North Cross is one of just ten schools being honored.

The Raiders finished ranked No. 13 in the country by MaxPreps, a California-based company that ranks more than 14,000 high school boys’ soccer teams.

“MaxPreps is thrilled to work with the Army National Guard to honor America’s finest high school boys’ soccer teams with the prestigious Army National Guard national ranking trophy,” said President and Founder, Andy Beal. “Coach Brown and the North Cross Raiders have proven on the pitch that they are among the nation’s truly elite high school soccer teams. We are happy to add boys’ soccer to this year’s tour and salute the coach, the young men on the team and North Cross School for a job well done.”

North Cross defeated Carlisle 1-0 to win the Virginia Independent Conference Division II state championship. This is the second title for the Raiders, who also won in 2007. North Cross finished the season undefeated at 24-0-0.

“It is a tremendous honor to be recognized by MaxPreps and the Army National Guard,” said North Cross head coach James Brown. “When I found out what it was all about and how few teams receive the award, I was flabbergasted. I am very excited for our guys to be part of something like this.”

The 2012 season was very special for Coach Brown and the North Cross Raiders. The young men put in a lot of hard work and effort on and off the field and it paid off. They played many close games, but battled back to win them all, finishing undefeated for the season.

Junior mid/forward Ezra Zigarwi was North Cross’s leading goal scorer.

He had 21 goals and 5 assists on the season. Midfielder Christopher Pollock, also a junior, was a spark plug in the center of the field and he led the team in points with 60 (16 goals, 28 assists). Joining Pollock in the midfield was junior Jonte Chimbera, a dangerous threat on attack.

Senior sweeper Tyler Quinn led the Raiders’ defense along with junior goalie Bennett Holley. 6’ 7” Holley only allowed 9 goals all season and recorded 16 shut outs while stopping 122 shots.

Sergeant First Class Jeffrey Morris of the Virginia Army National Guard presented Coach Brown and the Raiders with the Army National Guard national ranking trophy during a pep rally on Thursday.

“For the first time, Army National Guard representatives will present the Army National Guard national ranking trophy to nationally ranked boys soccer teams,” said LTC Christian J. Johnson of the Army National Guard. “We take great pride in doing so because the trophy symbolizes the indomitable spirit common to high school athletes and the U.S. Soldier. It is our honor to share this symbol with the team, coaches, parents, and school. It is an award for the entire community and is much deserved.”

MaxPreps uses an intricate computer program to determine team rank – known as the “MaxPreps Freeman Rankings.” Prior season history, school size, and comments on message boards are not considered in the MaxPreps rankings. The computer-based system utilizes the huge number of game results stored in the MaxPreps database. Generally, the more a team wins the higher the ranking, but the system also takes into account quality wins (against other highly ranked opponents) and strength of schedule. For example, a team’s ranking is hurt more by losing to a team that is ranked below them than to a team ranked ahead. Boys’ soccer rankings are updated once a week.

ABOUT MAXPREPS

MaxPreps.com is the leading online high school sports destination, offering the most comprehensive high school sports coverage, with the latest news, analysis, rankings, and streaming content. A CBSSports.com site, MaxPreps.com aspires to cover every high school team, game, and player by partnering with nearly 35,000 varsity coaches throughout the country. Founded in August 2002, MaxPreps.com is headquartered in Cameron Park, California and is a unit of CBS Interactive. For more information about MaxPreps.com and for the latest high school sports news, scores, and expert analysis, please visit maxpreps.com. Follow MaxPreps.com on Twitter: twitter.com/maxpreps and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/maxpreps More information about CBS and its businesses is available at www.cbscorporation.com.

ABOUT NATIONAL GUARD

With more than 375 years of service, the Army National Guard is the largest reserve component, as well as the oldest branch of the U.S. military. In the National Guard, you get the training from us, serve in your own community, and enhance your marketability for the higher paying jobs. We provide our members with money for college and offer attractive benefits on top of paid career training in one of 200 fields. The National Guard has career opportunities in every State, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, more than 3,600 training locations, and more than 350,000 members. Visit the National Guard Web site at www.NATIONALGUARD.com.

Submitted by Whitney Campbell