New prep school league features elite boys programs

A new powerhouse boys soccer conference is being launched to provide structure and exposure to a growing, highly competitive, school-based, year-round soccer space that has been the Wild West in recent years.

This fall the Prep Premier League debuts with eight programs that includes two of the nation's most successful prep school coaches — Owen Finberg and Jon Moodey. 

The eight inaugural programs in the PPL are High Mowing Academy (N.H.), Hoosac School (N.Y.), Immaculate Heart Central (N.Y.), Kiski School (Pa.), Northwood School (N.Y.), Phelps School (Pa.), Western Reserve Academy (Ohio) and Woodstock Academy (Conn.).

Finberg, now at Woodstock Academy, guided South Kent School to six Prep Top 10 national titles between 2011 and 2022. Moodey, meanwhile, coached Berkshire School (Mass.) to four Prep Top 10 No. 1 titles, including three in a row between 2012-2014, before launching the residential program at Northwood School.

“[The goal] was to get the best teams that run year-round prep school programs to play each other,” said Finberg, who serves as the Prep Premier League president. “We wanted to have each other on the schedule to raise the level of competition and increase exposure of those teams and the players that will come from that level of competition.”

While many of the school names are not familiar to the casual soccer fan, the programs — and their coaches — annually make a significant impact on the collegiate and professional levels. 

Finberg's teams routinely place double-digit players each year into NCAA programs and that trend should continue at Woodstock Academy. One of his former players, Joshua Bolma, was selected fourth overall in the recent MLS Draft and is playing for the New England Revolution. Moodey had success at Berkshire with players such as current Leeds United forward Jack Harrison and Houston Dynamo forward Ifunanyachi Achara, among others. Since starting the Northwood program, Moodey's teams have accounted for nearly one-third of all New York players who have participated in the annual High School All-American Game. Former MLS signee and NCAA All-American David Egbo prepped at Kiski School. Last year, Phelps School had a breakout season led by Collins Oduro, currently a freshman at Indiana University. And that is merely a sampling of the talent that routinely comes through those programs.

The primary reasons these schools are overlooked by the soccer public, in large, is tied to the prep school/post-grad nature of the programs and the high number of international players on the roster. These teams have never been eligible for any of the traditional high school national rankings nor have their players been eligible for high school honors by most national organizations.

PrepSoccer.com, however, plans on expanded coverage of this league and the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council this year since the PPL and top NEPSAC programs produce a high number of college commitments who actually play for their school teams.

The PPL will be divided into East and West divisions. High Mowing, Hoosac, Northwood and Woodstock comprise the East division. Immaculate Heart Central, Kiski, Phelps and Western Reserve are in the West. The first match of the new league takes place Sept. 15 when Immaculate Heart Academy visits Phelps School in Malvern, Pa. There will be league showcase events where teams will gather at one location for competition. Those events take place at Northwood on Oct. 7-8, Western Reserve on Oct. 21-22 and Woodstock on Nov. 4-5. Overall, the teams will play each other once for the league standings with the top two teams in each division advancing to the league semifinals Nov. 17 at the Capelli Sports Complex in New Jersey. The final will be played the next day at the same venue.

Creation of the Prep Premier League gives structure in a space where there's been very little. Even as the number of year-round, school-based residential soccer opportunities have increased, scheduling matches remained difficult. In many cases, these programs have been dodged by traditional prep school teams and thus have turned to club opponents and even college junior varsity or B-teams for enough contests to fill out a schedule.

Finberg said the league could have launched with more teams but it was more important to gain solid footing by including programs that have at least two or three years experience in the year-round soccer space. Finberg said there is the possibility of league expansion in the future once other year-round programs get established.