CHICAGO (June 6, 2019) — In its 34th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company today announced Deric Hall of Brophy College Prep as its 2018-19 Gatorade Arizona Boys Soccer Player of the Year. Hall is the fifth Gatorade Arizona Boys Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from Brophy College Prep.

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Hall as Arizona’s best high school boys soccer player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year award to be announced in June, Hall joins an elite alumni association of past state soccer award-winners, including Alexi Lalas (1987-88, Cranbrook High School, Mich.), Steve Cherundolo (1996-97, Mt. Carmel High School, Calif.), Abby Wambach (1997-98, Our Lady of Mercy School of Young Women, N.Y.), Heather O’Reilly (2001-02, 2002-03, East Brunswick High School, N.J.), Matt Besler (2004-04, Blue Valley West High School, Kans.), Jack Harrison (2013- 14, Berkshire High School, Mass.) and Mallory Pugh (2014-15, Mountain Vista High School, Colo.).

The 6-foot, 185-pound senior led the Broncos to a 19-3-2 record and the Conference 6A state championship this past season. Hall anchored a defense that recorded 10 shutouts, and he chipped in offensively with 10 goals and 12 assists. Hall was the Premier Region Player of the Year and is a four-time All-Region selection.

A member of the Brophy Prep student council, Hall has volunteered locally as a tutor for underprivileged children. “Deric was a threat in the back and up top, too,” said Sasha Hunter, head coach of Chandler High. “His finesse was smooth and he would wreck most players if they tried to run by him.”

Hall has maintained a weighted 4.06 GPA in the classroom. He has made a verbal commitment to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he will play soccer, beginning this fall.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. From the 12 national winners, one male and one female athlete are each named Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year. In all, 607 athletes are honored each year.

Hall joins recent Gatorade Arizona Boys Soccer Players of the Year Carter Clemmensen (2017-18, Brophy College Prep), Danny Baca (2016-17, Gilbert High School), Josh Drack (2015-16, Hamilton High School), Musa Morris (2014-15, Sandra Day O'Connor High School) and Adam Mosharrafa (2013-14, Brophy College Preparatory) among the state’s list of former award winners.

As a part of Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Hall also has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of his choosing. He is also eligible to submit an essay to win one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants for the organization of choice, which will be announced throughout the year.

Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming coaches, business owners and educators.

To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate studentathletes, visit www.Gatorade.com/POY, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GatoradePOY or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Gatorade.