1. Marcel Nsizoa Ndi (Sonoma Academy), 28 goals
Nsizoa Ndi was third on our last list. He is now first. "Our talisman," Sonoma Academy coach Roy Vega calls him. "Clinical in front of the goal and a true leader." He is one of four captains for the Coyotes. As a sophomore he scored 12 goals in 14 games; as a junior he has 28 in 14, with 12 assists, and his 4.9 points per game is more than double the 2.4 he managed a year ago. He had five goals and two assists against Point Arena on Sept. 9, a 16-0 win, three goals and three assists at Anderson Valley on Sept. 22, and two more at Credo on Oct. 12, a 3-1 win. Calistoga knows how hard he is to keep quiet: he hit the post twice in the 2-1 win there in September, and their keeper, Mateo Gonzalez Saucedo, needed several saves to stop him. Sonoma Academy are 16-0-0 in the North Central League II, with 12 players on two or more goals.
2. Leo Ramos (Calistoga), 27 goals
Ramos has already passed last fall's total. As a junior he scored 21 goals in 11 games; as a senior he has 27 in 13, and he has 10 assists to go with them, up from none a year ago. His game is about more than finishing. In the first meeting with Sonoma Academy, he was the player who kept his head under their press and helped Calistoga play through it, and his through ball set up a goal that was ruled out for offside. He had five goals and two assists against Technology on Oct. 7, an 8-2 win. His 4.9 points per game is level with Nsizoa Ndi's, up from 3.8, and he has been involved in 51 percent of the recorded goals for a Calistoga side that are 13-2-2 in the North Central League II. Both of their defeats have come against Sonoma Academy, each by one goal.
3. Levi Ewing (Clear Lake), 22 goals
Ewing has scored in five straight games, with three goals in Clear Lake's last three. The senior had five against Cloverdale on Sept. 22, a 7-4 win, and four at Upper Lake on Aug. 25, an 8-0 win, and two of his 22 have been game-winners. He has scored 47 percent of the recorded goals for a Clear Lake side that are 10-5-4 in the North Central League I, and teammate Bairo Carmona has set up 13.
4. Kaiyi Yang (Quarry Lane), 19 goals
No one on this list arrives in better form. Yang has scored in seven straight games and has seven goals and two assists in his last three. At Fremont Christian on Oct. 9 he scored all four in a 4-0 win, and he showed most of his range doing it: a finish inside the area, a contested header from freshman Chuanhe Yang's cross, a penalty, and a fourth after that. In between he beat a defender on the dribble and was only stopped by the keeper. A year ago the sophomore scored 14 goals in 13 games; as a junior he has 19 in eight, and his 5.3 points per game is the best rate on this list, up from 2.3. He has been involved in 55 percent of Quarry Lane's recorded goals, for a side that are 7-2-0, and junior Jesse Wu has set up 11.
5. Omar Alvarez (Cristo Rey De La Salle), 15 goals
Alvarez has moved up from a share of seventh. The senior has been on the team since his freshman year, and he is now a captain and the team's leading scorer, with 15 goals in six games, 5.0 points per game. His numbers come with an unusual backdrop. Cristo Rey De La Salle's work study program takes each class out of school on its own workday, so coach Julio Orozco only has his full team on Fridays. "Most games are next man up," Orozco said, in what he called a rebuilding year after nine seniors graduated. It has worked: Cristo Rey De La Salle are 8-1-0, and 13 players have scored two or more.
6. Sinai Bierman (Jewish Community), 14 goals
Bierman has 14 goals and three assists in 14 games and has been involved in 47 percent of Jewish Community's recorded goals. His goals have mattered. He scored in a 2-1 win at Bentley on Sept. 29, and two days later his was the only goal against San Francisco Waldorf, set up by Avery Sezak. Teammate Hoshaya Cohen has added seven assists, for a side that are 9-4-1 in the Bay Counties League - Central.
7. David Duenas (Cristo Rey De La Salle), 12 goals
Duenas is a freshman and already a captain. "A very talented player who stepped in early in the season in a big role," Coach Orozco said of him, and he named Duenas as someone to look out for. He has 12 goals in six games, 4.0 points per game, in his first varsity season, and between them he and Alvarez have 27. On a team where a different class is missing every weekday, Duenas is one of the younger players his coach has asked to step into a bigger role.
T8. Alex Sarabio (Calistoga), 11 goals
Sarabio is the second freshman in the top ten. He has 11 goals and three assists in 12 games in his first varsity season, and he has become a second regular source of goals alongside Ramos. With sophomore Ulises Navarette on eight goals and senior Mateo Medina on 10 assists, Calistoga have more than one way to score.
T8. Ben McCauley (Sonoma Academy), 11 goals
McCauley has already passed last fall's numbers. As a freshman he had seven goals and three assists in 15 games; as a sophomore he has 11 goals and 10 assists in 14, and his 2.3 points per game is up from 1.1. He had four goals and two assists against Point Arena on Sept. 9 and scored the third goal at Credo on Oct. 12. Vega named his whole sophomore class as the prospects to watch, "a talented, hardworking group," and McCauley is the highest scorer in it.
T10. Koji Green (Bentley Upper School), 10 goals
Green is new to the top ten. A year ago he had five goals and three assists in 15 games; as a junior he has 10 goals in 10, and his 2.0 points per game, up from 0.9, has come against one of the tougher schedules among these teams. He scored three in an 8-0 win over Saint Joseph Notre Dame on Oct. 1, and he has 34 percent of the recorded goals for a Bentley Upper School side that are 5-4-3 in the Bay Counties League - East.
T10. Leo Donley (Mendocino), 10 goals
Donley has three goals in Mendocino's last three games, two of them in a 4-1 win over Anderson Valley on Oct. 13. The senior has 10 goals and two assists in 11, and his 2.0 points per game has come against one of the tougher schedules among these teams.
T10. Teo Foehl (Sonoma Academy), 10 goals
Foehl is as likely to set a goal up as to score one. The senior has 10 goals and nine assists in 12 games, 2.4 points per game, and he set up two of the three at Credo on Oct. 12. Vega, who counts him among his four captains, describes him as "mature, smart, and unselfish," a player who "makes everyone around him better." He is the third Sonoma Academy player in the top ten.
T10. Gavin Evans (Mendocino), 10 goals
Evans makes it two Mendocino players in the top ten. The senior scored in the 2-1 win over Credo on Oct. 7, against a side that had beaten Mendocino 9-0 in September. He has 10 goals and six assists in 15 games and has been involved in 39 percent of Mendocino's recorded goals, for a side that are 9-7-0 in the North Central League III.
Editor's note: Inside The Ninety wants to tell more stories like this one. Records and results only go so far, and the best stories come from the people closest to the game. We thank Coach Vega of Sonoma Academy and Coach Orozco of Cristo Rey De La Salle for sharing their thoughts on their players.
If you coach a team with a story worth telling, we want to hear from you. There might be a breakout player, a season that turned around, or a group doing more with less. Email us at insidetheninety@gmail.com or send us a DM.