Division II's most productive attackers come in two kinds this fall, the stars of deep, unbeaten sides and the scorers their teams lean on.
Scoring in Division II this fall has followed two very different patterns. Some of the most productive attackers on this list play for deep sides who can find goals from almost anywhere in the lineup. Others play for teams that have built their attack around one or two players, and so far those teams have had little reason to change the plan.
No one fits the first pattern better than Marcel Nsizoa Ndi. A year ago, he was a useful part of Sonoma Academy's attack at 2.4 points per game. This fall he is the reason it looks the way it does. The junior has 18 goals and seven assists in seven games, 6.1 points per game, for a side that are 9-0-0 and have yet to drop a point in the North Central League II.
Numbers like that are easy to wave away if they all come in lopsided games, and some of his have. But he has done it against good oppositions as well as weak. He scored five goals and set up two more against Point Arena on Sept. 9, a 16-0 win, but he also had three goals and an assist at Mendocino on Aug. 28, a 6-2 win, and has five goals in three games against Mendocino, Calistoga and Credo, three of the strongest sides Sonoma Academy have faced. That balance is what makes his jump from last season more than a product of the schedule.
Yet the Coyotes are anything but a one-man team, and that may be the more worrying thought for the rest of the league. Ten different players have scored at least twice, and much of the supporting cast is young. Ben McCauley, a sophomore, has seven goals and seven assists, nearly triple the 1.1 points per game he produced as a freshman, and he had four goals and two assists in that Point Arena game. Fabian Pardo, another sophomore, has supplied eight assists, and sophomore Reed Cellitioci has climbed from 0.5 points per game to 1.9. With that many options, opponents cannot simply build a game plan around stopping one player.
Calistoga, who share the North Central League II with Sonoma Academy, have a different shape. Their attack runs through Leo Ramos. The senior has 20 goals, the most on this list, and six assists for a side that are 6-1-3. He has been involved in 46 percent of their recorded goals, and after a junior season with no recorded assists, he is setting goals up as well as scoring them. That added dimension makes him harder to defend, because a back line that crowds him now risks leaving a teammate free.
Around him, the younger players are starting to share the load. Freshman Alex Sarabio has nine goals and sophomore Ulises Navarette six, a promising sign for a program that will have to replace Ramos after this season. The two league rivals have already met once, and it was the tightest game of Sonoma Academy's season: a 2-1 Coyotes win at Calistoga on Sept. 11.
At Clear Lake, the goals come from Levi Ewing. The senior has 19 of them, 46 percent of the Cardinals' recorded total, and two have been game-winners for a side that are 9-2-3 in all competitions and play in the North Central League I. Five came against Cloverdale on Sept. 22, a 7-4 win. Every finisher needs a supplier, though, and Bairo Carmona, also a senior, has 11 assists, which makes him the creator to Ewing's finisher.
Quarry Lane, of the Bay Counties League, lean on two juniors, and both have taken a clear step forward since last fall. Kaiyi Yang has scored in three straight games, eight goals in all, nearly doubling last season's 2.3 points per game to 4.5. Jesse Wu, a scorer as a sophomore, has become a playmaker, with seven assists in the last three games and a hand in 52 percent of the Cougars' recorded goals. The partnership has changed shape over one offseason, with one player finishing moves and the other increasingly starting them.
Cristo Rey De La Salle, of the Bay Area Independent Athletic League, has found goals at both ends of the age range. Freshman David Duenas has nine goals in four games and has scored in all four for a side that are 4-1-0. Senior Omar Alvarez has matched that run, with eight goals and a goal in four straight. A first-year player and a senior scoring side by side gives the Mustangs something to build on now and in the seasons ahead.
Elsewhere, several seniors are making the most of their final fall. Jewish Community senior Sinai Bierman has 10 goals for a team that are 7-2-0, up from 1.7 points per game last season to 2.6. His classmate Hoshaya Cohen has added seven assists, and in goal Ahron Schweig has kept four clean sheets, giving the Bay Counties League Central side a spine of seniors from front to back.
At Mendocino, senior Leo Donley has scored in three straight games, five goals in that run, and Gavin Evans has nine goals and six assists. Together they give the North Central League III side two different ways to hurt opponents.
The rest of the season will test both models. As league play deepens, the question for Clear Lake is whether Ewing can keep carrying them. Sonoma Academy, with goals spread across 10 players, have not yet had to answer it.