Comets Hemmert, Wilson, Meyer seek to defend title

By: 
J. Patrick Eaken

Second team All-Ohioan Aiden Hemmert returns to the pitch for his senior year as Genoa boys soccer seeks to defend its 2020 Northern Buckeye Conference championship.

Hemmert, the Alan Miller Jewelers All-Press and NBC Player of the Year, was first team all-league and all-district after scoring 25 goals with 26 assists. The Genoa forward led the Comets to a 14-4-1 season and district semifinal appearance, where they lost to eventual state final four qualifier Ottawa Hills, 6-0.

Hemmert led the NBC with 76 points and he already has two goals and five assists this year, giving him a career 138 points on 48 goals and 42 assists. He was the only player from the eastern Maumee Bay community to earn all-state recognition last year. 

“Aiden had a remarkable season scoring a very balanced 25 goals and registering 26 assists,” Genoa coach Tim Memmer said. “He was difficult to defend with his movement off the ball and ability to attack defenders on the dribble with speed. He is dangerous from either side of the goal.  

“He is a great finisher with either foot and powerful in the air. His control of the long throw-ins are more effective than most free kicks that put extensive pressure on the opposition.  He provided consistent performance all season, scoring in every one of his games during the regular season, and actually he never scored more than three goals in any game,” Memmer continued.

“Obviously, he’s very unselfish with 26 assists. Aiden is very versatile — he has played holding-mid and center back when needed to close out close games.”

This year, the Comets are 2-0, earning an 8-1 road win over Pettisville and downing visiting Edison, 4-0. Memmer has 14 lettermen returning with one goal in mind — defend the league title, and then work on a putting together a tournament run.

“This is a very hard working dedicated group of guys that have been preparing all off season with the goal of repeating as NBC champs,” Memmer said. “Their fitness curve has surpassed that of last year.  On defense, we have added significantly improved speed and tenacity. We are returning all of our attacking players, who as a group, led the league in goals scored and assists.”

That includes senior forward Ethan Wilson, junior forward Griffin Meyer, senior midfielder Evan Hoeft, junior midfielder Mike Lickert, senior defender Ben Ford and junior defender Curtis Otto.

Wilson scored 23 goals with 16 assists and Meyer had 21 goals and 17 assists as both earned first team All-NBC and all-district honorable mention honors. Hoeft, a first team All-NBC selection, had 10 goals and eight assists. Lickert (three goals, four assists) was second team All-NBC and Ford and Otto were HM all-league.

Already this year Meyer has three goals and an assist, Wilson two goals and two assists, Hoeft two goals and one assist, and Ford, Lickert, and Marcus Gladden have scored one goal apiece.

Tyler Harper, a sophomore who had limited varsity playing time last year with 19 saves, will take over the goalkeeper duties, replacing graduated senior Tyler Welsh.

For Memmer, he has been working on building a program at Genoa for seven years, where his teams have gone 57-43-8. In 18 previous seasons at Bowling Green, his teams went 133-159-26, but last year was his team’s first title. 

The Comets were 9-1 in the NBC last year, securing the title with a 6-2 victory at Lake, a team depleted by injuries. Memmer says he could see it coming from before the season began.

“You can tell how a season is going to go by what goes on in the preseason, and even with everything going on this year, all of these guys were here. They were working every single day on it. I think the only time anybody missed was because they were on vacation,” Memmer said. “The miles they put in, the work they put in, the dedication they put in, and their love for each other in the game paid off.”

Genoa soccer had been strong before, but it took some time for Memmer to incorporate his style of play. 

“The first year I was there it was a whole lot of introduction of new stuff to them. They probably would have done really well had we had another year, but it was a new awakening to them. We started to get where old ideas have left and I have all the guys here are now ones that have been all the way through with me and none of them have had another high school coach. It’s starting to get that way,” Memmer said.

 

 

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