While the Colonial Valley Conference’s Robbinsville High squad dominated headlines as it raced to its third state final in the last four years, there were plenty of impressive performances from The Trentonian-area’s prep school and suburban boys’ soccer teams in 2025.
Leading the list was the Pennington School. Head coach Chad Bridges’ powerhouse struggled a little at the start of the season after graduating 12 seniors from a year ago. The Red Hawks found themselves 2-3 heading into the last full week of September, but then things clicked. They went 11-0-1 the rest of the way to win the Mid-Atlantic Prep League and New Jersey Independent Schools Athletic Association Prep A Tournament behind All-Prep standouts like goalkeeper Colin Harkleroad, fullbacks Kyle Harvey and Taejun “Daniel” Youn, midfielders Matthew Addai, Gus Shapiro and Joey Riley, plus sophomore forward Kelvin Kwarteng among others.
Harkleroad led the preps with nine shutouts and helped his team hold its last 12 opponents to five total goals. Addai spearheaded Pennington’s offense, scoring 22 goals and adding eight assists to lead the preps with 52 points. Their combined efforts helped Harkleroad and Addai share The Trentonian’s All-Prep Player of the Year award.
In its first season under head coach John Dineen, the Lawrenceville School went 11-10 and put up good efforts against Pennington on the road in two games, including the Prep A Final.
First-team players like fullback Holden Pettinelli, midfielders Joao Guilherme Abrahao and Chris Yang, as well as forwards Ayodele Joa-Griffith and Mohamed Mohamed spearheaded the Big Red’s efforts, while Dineen’s leadership earned him The Trentonian’s All-Prep Coach of the Year honor.
A coaching change at the Peddie School led the Falcons to an 11-6 finish as George Nazario took the reins and helped a growing club go 3-3 in the MAPL behind the leadership of All-Prep standouts like fullback John Giblin, midfielder Christian Tharney and forward Tommy Kim.
The Hun School battled through a .500 season with the leadership of All-Prep stars like fullback Chris Meehan, midfielders Gonzalo Perez Nuñez and Luca Choi, plus forward Oleksandr “Sasha” Mykhalchuk.
In the Burlington County Scholastic League, Bordentown changed its head coach as Mike Brennan returned to the helm after nine years. The time away did not change things as Brennan led the Scotties on a 16-4-2 campaign in which they won the Patriot Division and reached the semifinals of the Central Jersey Group II Tournament.
By doing so, Brennan earned The Trentonian’s All-Area Coach of the Year honors with the help of All-Area standouts like fullback Preston Louis, midfielders Everett Hosszu-Barrett and Anthony Crisostomo, forward Tyler Kunkel and goalkeeper Liam Mellor.
Northern Burlington struggled at the start of the season, then went 12-3 the rest of the way to finish 14-6-1 in the semifinals of the Central Jersey Group III Tournament. Leading the way for head coach Justin Faust’s Greyhounds were junior All-Area picks Elijah Font, Monroe Castor and Gino Santise.
Florence showed tremendous growth for head coach Kyle Ballay. Behind the production of senior forward Jordan Borota and junior midfielder Matteo Trezza, the Flashes went from 2-5-2 at the end of September to 9-8-3, reaching the Central Jersey Group I Tournament semifinals.
Thrive Charter earned a share of the BCSL Independence Division title with a 9-8-2 finish for head coach Ruben Morales behind the high scoring of senior forward Adolphus Temeh (49 points this season).
Temeh earned first team All-Area status by leading the Titans with 23 tallies to give him 78 goals for his four-year career, breaking the Mercer County record of 73 set by his cousin, Emmanuel, back in 2010 and 2011 when it was Trenton Catholic Academy. In doing so, Adolphus Temeh is The Trentonian’s All-Area Player of the Year.
ALL-PREP BOYS SOCCER
FIRST TEAM
Position Player School Year
Goalie Colin Harkleroad Pennington Sr.
Back John Giblin Peddie Sr.
Back Taejun “Daniel” Youn Pennington Jr.
Back Holden Pettinelli Lawrenceville Sr.
Back Kyle Harvey Pennington Sr.
Back Chris Meehan Hun Sr.
Midfield Joey Riley Pennington Jr.
Midfield Lucas Choi Hun Jr.
Midfield Gus Shapiro Pennington Jr.
Midfield Gonzalo Perez Nuñez Hun Sr.
Midfield Joao Guilherme Abrahao Lawrenceville Sr.
Midfield Christian Tharney Peddie Jr.
Midfield Chris Yang Lawrenceville So.
Midfield Matthew Addai Pennington Jr.
Forward Sasha Mykhalchuk Hun Sr.
Forward Tommy Kim Peddie Jr.
Forward Ayodele Joa-Griffith Lawrenceville Sr.
Forward Kelvin Kwarteng Pennington So.
Forward Mohamed Mohamed Lawrenceville Sr.
CO-PLAYERS OF THE YEAR — Colin Harkleroad (Pennington) & Matthew Addai (Pennington)
COACH OF THE YEAR — John Dineen (Lawrenceville)
Honorable Mention
Chad Barrett, Zachary Vallee, Armaan Grewal, Caleb Willner, Donovan Hayes (Hun); David Holland, Gavin Hamilton, Nelson Liu, Austin Amissah, Toler Wreaks, George Cavanna (Lawrenceville); Luca Romanelli, Pote Sophonsiri, Juan Salame, Quinn Wachtveitl, Rayyaan Mohiuddin, Blake Romanelli (Peddie); Finn Garner, Alexandre Ben Amou, Hugo Gonzalez, Sandro Cunningham (Pennington).
ALL-AREA BOYS SOCCER
FIRST TEAM
Position Player School Year
Goalie Colin Harkleroad Pennington Sr.
Back Chase Hamerschlag Princeton Sr.
Back Jayce Palumbo Notre Dame Sr.
Back Justin Schreyer Robbinsville Sr.
Back John Giblin Peddie Sr.
Back Kyle Harvey Pennington Sr.
Back Preston Louis Bordentown Sr.
Midfield Nick Angiolino Notre Dame Sr.
Midfield Max Goldberg Robbinsville Sr.
Midfield Aaron Thyrum Princeton Sr.
Midfield Everett Hosszu-Barrett Bordentown Jr.
Midfield Aaron Merlin Trenton Sr.
Midfield Raul Sepulveda Lawrence Sr.
Midfield Matthew Addai Pennington Jr.
Forward Landon Hoenisch Notre Dame Sr.
Forward Chris DiMarco Steinert Sr.
Forward Luca Ercolano Notre Dame Sr.
Forward Nico Mathews Robbinsville Sr.
Forward Elijah Font Northern Burlington Jr.
Forward Adolphus Temeh Thrive Charter Sr.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR — Adolphus Temeh (Thrive Charter)
COACH OF THE YEAR — Mike Brennan (Bordentown)
SECOND TEAM
Position Player School Year
Goalie Anthony Merluse Notre Dame Jr.
Back Holden Pettinelli Lawrenceville Sr.
Back Taejun “Daniel” Youn Pennington Jr.
Back Ryan Checkowski Steinert Sr.
Back Gino Santise Northern Burlington Jr.
Back Aiden Phillips Lawrence Jr.
Back Chris Meehan Hun Sr.
Midfield Joey Riley Pennington Jr.
Midfield Anthony Crisostomo Bordentown Jr.
Midfield Joao Guilherme Abrahao Lawrenceville Sr.
Midfield Gus Shapiro Pennington Jr.
Midfield Christian Tharney Peddie Jr.
Midfield Chris Yang Lawrenceville So.
Midfield David de los Santos Trenton Sr.
Forward Tyler Kunkel Bordentown Sr.
Forward Kelvin Kwarteng Pennington So.
Forward Mohamed Mohamed Lawrenceville Sr.
Forward Tommy Kim Peddie Jr.
Forward Sasha Mykhalchuk Hun Sr.
Forward Monroe Castor Northern Burlington Jr.
Forward Tyler Javick Notre Dame Sr.
THIRD TEAM
Position Player School Year
Goalie Liam Mellor Bordentown So.
Goalie Ari Rosenblum Princeton So.
Back Brent Zoaduah Thrive Charter Sr.
Back Krzysztof Zaluska Lawrence Sr.
Back Angel Morales-Rivera Princeton Sr.
Back Riley Miracola Notre Dame Sr.
Back Jose Esteban Trenton Sr.
Back Rushil Sakrikar WW-P South Sr.
Midfield Zach Barton Steinert Sr.
Midfield Matt Laurinaitis Allentown So.
Midfield Lucas Choi Hun Jr.
Midfield Matteo Trezza Florence Jr.
Midfield Archie Seas Hopewell Valley Jr.
Midfield Victor Maldonada Silva Hightstown Sr.
Midfield Gonzalo Perez Nuñez Hun Sr.
Forward Herbie Addo Nottingham Sr.
Forward Jordan Borota Florence Sr.
Forward Joe Barber Allentown Sr.
Forward Chris Lewis Robbinsville Jr.
Forward Keegan Fullman PDS Jr.
Forward Isaiah de la Espriella Princeton Sr.
Forward Ayodele Joa-Griffith Lawrenceville Sr.
