Eastern NC Conference Best Performers: Part 2

Eastern NC continues to deliver excellent talent, especially near Wilmington. Though there are many players who could've easily repeated from previous articles, plenty of players deserve their spot in the highlights. The following four are the next group of players who caught my eye.    Ari is a fantastic striker who makes his presence in the box felt. His positioning is phenomenal, especially when he's receiving the ball from a teammate. A notable aspect of his game is his effectiveness inside the 6-yard box under pressure. With the keeper and defenders closing in on him, he puts the ball in the back of the net with ease. This ease is not only in these plays, though. When he has to create his own chances, he'll press intensely to then score as if he received the ball from a teammate. In the air, he's unreal. His ability to anticipate the defenders is already fantastic, but his heading is a class apart. The power he gets on them feels surreal to watch, and the accuracy is perfect.     Oscar is a great midfielder who, for his school, plays behind the attack but also has the quality to be a box-to-box. His presence in the midfield helps his team move quickly. With simple yet intelligent passes, he opens up spaces for his team to exploit. Defensively, he helps out massively. He drops back when his team is pushed back, often sticking his leg in to win the ball back. In attack, he shines brightest. His runs into space are perfect, going unnoticed since he comes in from deep. In the box, his reactions are quick enough to get a shot off before he gets closed down.     Tre is a tremendous talent with extraordinary potential that allows him to play wherever across the attack. He combines intelligence with hunger, which mentally puts him above defenders. In this combination of talents, he also combines technicality with physicality. He'll bully defenders off the ball or off him to then dribble past them excellently. Balls played into space allow him to fly past the nearest defenders thanks to his blistering pace. His eye for goal makes him a goal machine. Whether it be in the box or out it, he makes the keeper put in extra work. His chance creation also makes him an assister. The number of chances he creates and the quality he demonstrates when creating them are unreal.     Landon is a phenomenal talent who can play either as a winger or an attacking midfielder. Trying to figure out which foot is his "weak foot" is an impossible task, which sets the tone for the rest of his attributes. He dribbles with the confidence that he'll beat his marker, because he does. Watching him dribble is mesmerizing, especially considering that he's a tall player. He loves to invert to create and finish chances. This doesn't mean he can't open up spaces out wide as he dribbles past his fullback to create central spaces. His crosses and lobbed passes are fantastic. The weight and placement on them is perfect, creating chaos in the box constantly.

Eastern NC continues to deliver excellent talent, especially near Wilmington. Though there are many players who could've easily repeated from previous articles, plenty of players deserve their spot in the highlights. The following four are the next group of players who caught my eye.