Published: May 08, 2008 09:34 pm            

Always undersized, never outplayed

Somerset’s Chip Dalton signs with University of the Cumberlands

Somerset — At the heart of the Somerset soccer team was probably the smallest, yet fastest player on the field — Chip Dalton.

While other players scored the goals and made the saves at goal. It was Chip Dalton — at center midfield — who started the Jumper offense and pressured opposing teams’ offenses.

Dalton was rewarded for his strong midfield play by earning a soccer scholarship to the University of the Cumberlands.

And while Dalton was not the biggest player on the Jumper High School team, he is sure to be dwarfed by his college competitors. But Dalton had a simple explanation why size in soccer didn’t really matter.

“Soccer is played mostly on the ground, so physical attributes don’t make that much difference,” Dalton reasoned. “I am used to playing against people that are a lot bigger than me, but you just go out there and try your hardest. I am quicker than most people and I use that to my advantage.”

‘Quick and tenacious’ could best describe Dalton’s relentless style of play on the soccer field.

“The trend in college soccer is to recruit bigger guys, but Chip brings tenacity and wonderful foot skills,” Somerset coach Brian Blankenship said. “He likes to take on people one-on-one. He never stops and, in soccer, people don’t like be pressured and they like to have time to move the ball and look upfield. Chip Dalton didn’t give you that chance.”

“If you put ten Chip Daltons on the field with a goalie, your always going to have a chance to win,” Blankenship stated.

First-year Jumper coach Blankenship explained how Dalton’s play in the middle of the field made his job as a new coach that much easier.

“Chip was one of the team captains this year and being a central midfielder it was important that he controlled the game and he always tried to support the team in any way possible,” Blankenship said. “His role offensively was to spark the attack because he is so aggressive and his tenacity is unmatched. He was vital to our team having a successful season.”

“Chip and Jonathon Reeves clogged up the middle of the field, which is what I needed them to do and they worked so well together,” Blankenship added. “Those two had played together for so long. Coming in here as a new coach it made my job much easier with those two in the middle of the field.”

Beyond Dalton’s talents on the soccer field, Blankenship depended on him for his team leadership on and off the field.

“The best thing about Chip, he was always supportive of other players on the field and you never heard him reprimand other players and he was always positive,” Blankenship explained. “He was a big help for me in practice because he was a role model for the other kids showing them how important it was to practice hard and go at it hard everyday, but he always kept it positive.”

“As a new coach coming to Somerset High School, I can’t think of a better player than Chip Dalton to be a senior leader and role model,” Blankenship vaunted.

For the University of the Cumberlands soccer coach Paulo Neto, Dalton’s skills on the soccer field had been of great interest to the collegiate coach for several years.

“We have followed Chip’s progress and development as a a soccer player for about three years,” Neto stated. “He is technically solid and the biggest thing for me is to determine if a player can play. Chip can play the game and we know that he will develop physically in our system.”

“He follows the movement of the ball and he understands the game well,” Neto continued. “He is very intense and that is one of the things you have got to have to play college soccer.”

As interested as Cumberland was of Dalton, the Somerset soccer standout felt the Patriots’ school and soccer style was a good fit for him too.

“Cumberland is a small school just like Somerset and I can get in the flow of playing soccer there,” Dalton explained. “(Cumberland) plays more of a Brazilian style of soccer, which will help me because that is a more aggressive style of play.”

        

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