Photo by Heather Belcher
By Dave Morrison
West Virginia Sports Writers Association
He wasn’t the state’s most prolific goal scorer, but it is hard to argue that any one player was more key to his team’s success than Woodrow Wilson’s Coby Dillon.
It was Dillon’s steeled determination and talent that paved the path through the postseason en route to three straight one-goal victories — in the Region 3 championship win against long-time nemesis George Washington (1-0) and in the state tournament with wins over Wheeling Park (3-2) and Hurricane (2-1) — and helped Woodrow win its first state title since 2010.
The Flying Eagles avenged their only two losses of the season with their two state tournament victories.
In five postseason games, Dillon scored six goals (14 shots) and he scored the first goal in all five games, including the only goal in the Flying Eagles’ Region 3 victory.
It was that kind of success that helped Dillon win the State Player of the Year Award, presented by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.
“I’m kind of shocked by it, but it is something that makes me very happy,” Dillon said Tuesday afternoon. “I didn’t even know about (the award). Any time you play, whether it’s in your city, the state, the country, wherever it is, you strive to be the best. So, winning an honor like this is incredible, but I owe it all to my teammates. They deserve it as much as I do.”
“He definitely earned it and he definitely deserves it,” said his coach, Steve Laraba. “Coby is a very good forward but as good as he is, he is even a better teammate. He is super positive; he supports everyone and even though he is quite a prolific goal scorer he will do the dirty work. Whatever it takes to win, he is going to do it.”
Laraba said the greatness of Dillon is often found when he doesn’t possess the ball.
Like in the waning seconds against Hurricane, when Hagen Hall scored with three seconds left to give Woodrow the 2-1 state title win.
“He scored a lot of goals, but his (defining) play in the last seconds of the state championship game against Hurricane might be the best,” Laraba said. “He was making a run down the right side and AJ (Bishop) played it in to Jackson Schroder. Coby was smart enough to know if he could draw one or two (defenders), it was going to leave a hole out there. Hurricane didn’t want him out there running free, he drew two guys and AJ (who got the ball back from Schroder) found Hagen open running at the goal. If those two guys don’t follow Coby, that doesn’t happen. That says a lot about Coby and the impact he can make on a game even when he doesn’t have the ball.”
Dillon recalled the moment.
“I’ve played soccer practically my whole life and I’ve never seen that,” Dillon said of the winning goal. “I knew if I could draw (defenders away) from where Bishop was there was going to be an opening and it just so happened to be the winning goal. Honestly, from where AJ was and the way that pass was perfectly placed, Hagen would have had a chance to score anyway.”
In those final three tournament games, Dillon scored four goals (on eight shots on goal), including the first goal against those three soccer titans to conclude the championship season (18-2-2). He scored the first goal in all five Woodrow postseason games and scored in the final six games overall.
His propensity for finding the goal early, and often in terms of the postseason, was a huge key to the state championship.
“He’s a player who has a knack for the goal, and a player who works very hard on the ball and off the ball,” Laraba said. “Not only does he capitalize on opportunities presented to him, he also has ability to create chances for himself.
“Getting the first goal is always important and as the season progressed and we got settled into our formations an tactics, Coby did an excellent job capitalizing on early opportunities, If you’re a good team, opponents will play to control the damage as long as they can and try to nick a goal on a counter attack, but if you can score against that team, it has to change what they’re doing because sitting back isn’t going to get it and having somebody like Coby as a good finisher is so important.”
“Getting off to a quick start is important in all sports, but especially soccer where you get in big games and you know there is probably not going to be a lot of scoring,” said Dillon, a three-year starter on the school’s basketball team. “It’s demoralizing to an opponent and that was what we tried to do.”
Dillon has been playing soccer since he was 4 years old and was on the first Legacy travel team back in 2013.
“I’ve been going out to the YMCA (Paul Cline Memorial Soccer Complex, site of the state tournament) as long as I can remember, me and Abby (his sister, a multiple sports all-state athlete in her own right) both,” Dillon said. “We started the Legacy travel program back then, me and Vince Umberger, Tyler Radford, Jackson Schroder, Jackson Gray and Ali Farghaly. It started there and we ended up winning a state championship there. That’s pretty cool.”
Dillon is the first Woodrow Wilson soccer player to win the sportswriters Player of the Year award. He is the second soccer player of the year, joining Chase DeWese, the Gatorade State Player of the Year in 2004.
Dillon will receive his player of the year award at the 78th annual Victory Awards Dinner Sunday, May 4, at 4 p.m. at the Bridgeport Conference Center.
Tickets are $35 and can be purchased from any member of the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.
