BOYS SOCCER: Male Athlete of the Week: Brandon Stuhler's scoring helps Greencastle-Antrim to more success

As reigning regular season champions of the Mid Penn Colonial Conference, Greencastle-Antrim's boys soccer team is continuing its good play this season, with sophomore starter Brandon Stuhler leading the pack.

The forward leads the team with nine goals this season – three times more than the Blue Devils' next leading scorer.

Stuhler scored his first career hat trick in Greencastle's 3-1 win over Big Spring last week, then just 24 hours later nearly netted another, scoring two goals in a 5-1 victory over Shippensburg.

Stuhler is the Public Opinion Male Athlete of the Week.

Greencastle coach Scott Gelsinger said he knew there was something special about Stuhler last season when he made the varsity roster as a freshman.

"When he's playing he competes all the time," Gelsinger said. "He hates to lose and that's one thing we saw from him coming in as a freshman – the boy just works hard all the time."

Stuhler began his tenure as a go-to scorer by scoring a game-tying goal against Boiling Springs last October, which led the Blue Devils to a victory to clinch the Colonial Division regular season championship.

"Because I didn't play varsity that whole entire season, scoring that goal was just big because I felt accepted as a varsity player," Stuhler said. "It gave me a lot of confidence knowing that I could do what I did."

That confidence has transferred to 2015 based on his stat sheet (9 goals, 3 assists), but Stuhler said his success this season is just from being in the right place at the right time.

"I've gotten lucky a couple of times," he said, "being right in front of the goal and finishing touches to the ball that anybody could finish; I was just there."

Gelsinger, however, said Stuhler's humility is another one of the attributes which made him a varsity contender from the start, saying the forward doesn't "showboat," he just plays.

He has been playing soccer since he was 5, and began playing basketball at age 8. His grandfather also played soccer and basketball, and his mother was a three-sport athlete in high school.

Sport: Boys soccer

Position: Forward

Grade: Sophomore

Size: 5-foot-10, 140

Parents: Gary and Jerri Stuhler

Interests: Besides soccer and basketball, he is a member of Young Life, a Christian Youth Group.

Favorite team: FC Barcelona

Pro athletes most admired: Michael Jordan, Lionel Messi

Three people he'd like to have dinner with: Michael Jordan, Abraham Lincoln and Kevin Hart

Statistics: Stuhler netted 5 goals in 2 games this weekend, including his first-ever hat trick, and Greencastle's only goals in Wednesday's 3-1 victory over Big Spring.