Bridgewater-Raritan's Demcak is CN Boys Soccer Player of Year

All it took was a simple soccer net to get Bridgewater-Raritan's Dominick Demcak involved in the sport. 

When Demcack was six years old, his family moved to a new house that had a soccer goal in the backyard, and according to Demcak, "that’s when it all started, it sparked my love of the sport."

Demcak has played soccer ever since, and has been a part of the Bridgewater-Raritan High School boys soccer team for the past three years. His sophomore year he dealt with an injury, but he's started the past two seasons.

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"He’s a very smooth player, he has good speed but a very quick acceleration, he has a great first step to get by people," Bridgewater-Raritan coach Rick Szeles said. "He has unbelievable foot skills, his passing is incredibly accurate, he’s the consummate team player, he’s given up the opportunity to shoot for himself to pass to teammates. We scored 50 goals this season, he was in on 22 of them."

This season, Demcak produced 10 goals and 11 assists as the Panthers went 18-1-2, won the Skyland Conference Delaware Division crown, finished as Somerset County Tournament co-champions with Pingry, won the NJSIAA North 2 Group IV title and finished as Group IV semifinalists. 

For his efforts, Demcak is the 2017 Courier News Boys Soccer Player of the Year. 

"The seniors are such a big part of the program, he was one of the captains, and they really helped run the practices," Szeles said. "He never took a day off from practice and worked hard while he was there, the bottom line is he’s a great kid, a great leader. He’s got good skills and what I liked the most is he never got down on any of the other kids, he was a team-type player, he encouraged the other kids to get better and worked hard himself in practice to get better, he’s just a good kid."

Soccer appealed to Demcak because it can be a mental game, "you have to use your head so you don’t always have to rely on skill," he said.

On the field, as a captain, Demcak said he did his best to pick his teammates up and pushed everyone to do better. That held true in the Somerset County Tournament, as the Panthers didn't allow a goal and ended up tying Pingry 0-0 in the final after 100 minutes. 

A co-championship wasn't what Bridgewater-Raritan was looking for, but Demcak said him and his teammates used it as motivation moving forward in the state tournament. 

After falling short in the sectional final last year, the Panthers managed to get past Newark East Side to win the North 2 Group IV crown and earn a spot in the Group IV semifinals. Unfortunately, Bridgewater-Raritan fell to Kearny 5-4 in penalty kicks. 

"What an experience it was," Demcak said. "A lot of people came out to support and it was great, we hadn’t gotten that far in a while so it was great to represent the high school."

Despite not getting to play for a Group title, Demcak is proud of what the Panthers accomplished this season, and gave credit to the parents for instilling the value of hard work in his teammates.

"I definitely think it’s the parents and how they raise their kids," Demcak said. "Everyone on the team is so humble and dedicated, and I think it reflects on the parents."

Demcak hasn't decided on where he's going to college just yet, but one thing he's sure of is the legacy he wants to leave behind at Bridgewater-Raritan. 

"I want to set the bar, and then I want them to pass it as a team," he said.

Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com; on Twitter: @laurenknego

ALL-SOMERSET COUNTY

FIRST TEAM

Dominick Demcak (Bridgewater-Raritan); Scott Byrouty (Somerville); Sean Masur (Bridgewater-Raritan); Nico Arce Arza (Bernards); Bailey Gano (Gill St. Bernard's); Brandon Jimenez (Bridgewater-Raritan); Vineil Reddy (Pingry); Mitchel Flugstad-Clark (Pingry); Kendall Davis (Immaculata); Charlie Rodgers (Montgomery); August Boland (Gill St. Bernard's); James Cummins (Immaculata); Dan Conforti (Somerville); Alexy Alin-Hvidsten (Pingry); Trent Kettelkamp (Montgomery); Anthony Ivanov (Immaculata); Calum Erlenborn (Bridgewater-Raritan). 

SECOND TEAM

Anthony Cabrera (Bridgewater-Raritan); John Baber (Gill St. Bernard's); Brady Regan (Bridgewater-Raritan); Matthew Borja (Bound Brook); AJ Quade (Somerville); Jordan Canica (Gill St. Bernard's); Kavan Shah (Bridgewater-Raritan); Frankie Dox (North Plainfield); Will Luik (Bernards); Christopher Antunes (Bound Brook); Aldair Franco (Somerville); Jeremy Barnes-Bey (Immaculata); Mark Tattoli (Montgomery); Gabe Jefferies (Ridge); Jack Sandstedt (Rutgers Prep); Andres Lezme (Bernards); Owen Wolfson (Pingry).