Jack Holt spent a Cape Cod vacation with his toes stuffed into shooting boots rather than the sand.

The Belchertown senior broke his scapula during the summer soccer season and returned just in time for a family beach trip. He and his younger brother Colin Holt rose early every morning and headed to the Nauset High School pitch, not the shore.

Jack is a striker and Colin a goalie, so they prepared each other for the impending fall season. The Orioles graduated much of their lauded midfield that keyed the 2021 state final run. Jack Holt’s supply lines wouldn’t be as efficient.

“I knew I’d get less chances than I did last year,” he said. “I was focused on making those chances count, putting the ball into the back of the net every time I was asked to.”

The Daily Hampshire Gazette Boys Soccer Player of the Year tucked away a modern-era school record 31 goals with three assists. He had five hat tricks and scored in 19 of Belchertown’s  23 games, as the Orioles won their fourth straight Western Massachusetts championship and reached the Division 3 state semifinals.

“In my 10 years there’s never been anyone quite the scorer like Jack is, especially in that Smith League,” Belchertown coach Zach Siano said. “Statistics aside, just watching how hard he works, how much he plays, you can tell at times this is kind of his playground. Jack is a great teammate, great student, but this is where you see his true character and see the true embodiment of who he is and how hard he works come to fruition. He’s put all that together, put the team on his back in countless spots.”

Holt received All-New England honors after his sterling season. He improved from 17 goals as a junior after dedicating the hours over the offseason and on the practice field.

“I knew how elite and elusive Jack could be in the final third of the field. He certainly put the prerequisite effort to transform his body and style of play to be relied upon more as that sole [number] nine up front,” Siano said. “I knew he could finish, but he became that much more dynamic a threat by adding a little more pace to his game and adding a little more size to himself and being able to be more of a hold up player instead of someone who can find the ball and find the back of the net. He created a lot more this year than I’ve ever seen in the last three [years].”

Belchertown relied on Holt more than it wanted to. He scored 57.4 percent of the Orioles goals. No one else had more than six, and only four other players found the net more than once.

“I feel like he felt if he didn’t score in games he was letting the team down, and that shouldn’t be the case at all,” said Siano, the Massachusetts High School Soccer Coaches Association small school boys coach of the year. “That shows how much of a competitor he is, how hard he works, how much soccer means to him. It encompasses so much of his being. It was unfair at times how much pressure he would put on himself, but he was certainly up to the task.”

His teammates sometimes saw frustration during games when he didn’t score the goals he felt he should have. Or if he only scored once. That extended to the training ground when he wasn’t executing in drills the way he was supposed to.

“He always wanted to be better,” Belchertown captain Kaden Houle said. “He knew he could be better.”

That drive comes from a love born and nurtured in a soccer family. Jack’s dad C.J. Holt has coached soccer in Western Massachusetts for decades, recently at Northampton and for more than a decade at Hopkins Academy before that.

C.J. is one of Jack’s most incisive critics but also his most ardent supporter. He was first through the gate to hug his son following the Orioles’ state semifinal loss. Then they immediately began breaking down the tactics and refereeing decisions in the match.

“He tries to watch as many of my games as he can, which is great because he keeps pushing me and telling me what I need to work on. I can definitely trust him and his opinion,” Jack Holt said. “It means a lot to me since I know he’s very busy with his own team.”

Holt is the right kind of coach’s kid. He’s not entitled and never got away with bad habits.

“Coaching coaches’ kids is sometimes a mixed bag,” Siano said. “Jack is every sense of a leader. He embodies the positive aspects of a coach’s kid. He knows what’s expected of him, more is expected out of him because of his pedigree and how he was raised and the spots that we put him in.”

Houle, a center back, sees those spots develop from behind the play. He used to compete with Holt for playing time and touches up top before moving to the back line as a senior. His view beats the one from the stands.

“Seeing him do what he could do 1-on-1 in the final 18, the PK box, the free kicks, it was really cool to see,” Houle said. “It was a special thing.”

FIRST TEAM ALL-STARS

Charlie Anischik, senor, South Hadley

Matt Bacis, senior, Easthampton

Ryan Belina, senior, Smith Academy

Brady Burch, senior, Frontier

Teddy Cyr, freshman, Hopkins Academy

Patrick Fitzgibbons, senior, Hopkins Academy

Logan Graves, senior, Smith Academy

Jack Holt, senior, Belchertown

Kaden Houle, senior, Belchertown

Riley Intrator, senior, Smith Academy

Robert L’Abbee, senior Granby

Ethan Marowitz, senior, Easthampton

Aidan Miklasiewicz, junior, Hampshire

Devin Niles, junior, Frontier

Finn Norsen, junior, Northampton

Nate Oldenburg, senior, Belchertown

Roscoe Palmer, junior, Smith Vocational

Charlie Por, senior, Hampshire

Colin Quinn, senior, South Hadley

Jonathan Santiago, senior, Granby

John Senn-McNally, senior, Northampton

Matt Sicard, senior, Frontier

Ayden St. Martin, sophomore, Hampshire

Eddie Wykowski, senior, South Hadley

SECOND TEAM ALL-STARS

Nick Adzima, senior, Belchertown

Jack Belcher-Timme, senior, Easthampton

Nate Carillion, senior, South Hadley

Shane Cooper, senior, Gateway

Carlos David, sophomore, South Hadley

Nico Fasulo, junior, Frontier

Ben Foley, senior, South Hadley

Finn Garvey, sophomore, Easthampton

Daniel Gauvin, senior, Granby

Ben Hudzik, junior, Smith Academy

Joe Kurkolonis, senior, Smith Vocational

Tanner Lockwood, junior, Belchertown

Aidan Moynahan, junior, Hampshire

Mateo Navarro, senior, Easthampton

Emile Roth, senior, Northampton

Alvin Silva, junior, Holyoke

Chanhee Son, junior, Frontier

Patrick Staudenmayer, junior, Amherst

Brendan Stevenson, sophomore, Hampshire

Liam Stewart, junior, Amherst

Aidan Valderamma, junior, Frontier

Trevor Weiss, junior, Belchertown

Carter White, senior, Granby

HONORABLE MENTION

Dom Aloisi, junior, Hopkins Academy

Owen Babb, sophomore, Frontier

Cameron Ball, freshman, Smith Vocational

Benjamin Berger, junior, Granby

Yahsiel Devi Dalomba, senior, Amherst

Josh Gigras, senior, Smith Academy

Moki Kovacs, sophomore, South Hadley

Elias Marques, senior, Belchertown

Dan Martin, sophomore, Hampshire

Alex Martin-Romero, senior, South Hadley

Jamie Park, senior, Amherst

Casimir Pierre, sophomore, Holyoke

Gabe Rapoza, senior, Easthampton

Jayden Santiago-Lopez, senior, Gateway

Teddy Scott, sophomore, PVCICS

Owen Tuttle, junior, PVCICS

Connor Stiles, senior, Northampton

Jake Young, senior, Northampton

]]>