Southern Stampede: Nacarlo’s Hat Trick Carries Southern to 2nd Straight Soccer Sectional Title
CHERRY HILL — As a member of Southern Regional’s attack in 2024, Brody Nacarlo knew where most of Southern’s offensive potential was. He and his teammates knew the objective was to feed the 30-goal scorer up top and ride him to the team’s first ever Group IV championship.
On Friday night and throughout the 2025 NJSIAA South Jersey Group IV Playoffs, it has been Nacarlo’s turn to eat at the championship table.
Nacarlo turned a scoreless South Group IV championship game at Cherry Hill East into a rout with three goals in a span of 10 minutes and an assist less than three minutes later as fifth-seeded Southern overwhelmed No. 3 Cherry Hill East, 5-1, behind a huge second-half performance sparked by Nacarlo.
Last year, it was Aiden Donnelly’s nine goals in six games that carried Southern to its first ever NJSIAA Group IV championship. This season, Southern has been equally potent on the attack while leaning on a three-headed scoring monster that includes Nacarlo. In the four sectional wins, Southern scored 17 goals, including five goals in three of the four games. For the second straight year, Southern scored a combined 10 goals in the final two rounds of the sectional tournament, which this year included a thrilling 5-4, overtime win over top-seeded Washington Township in the semifinal round on Tuesday.
“No one expected us to make a run like this,” Nacarlo said. “We knew we were the better team, we knew we were playing good. We just had to find the back of the net.
“The energy level from these boys all year, everything we did together, all the running, all the team work, I can’t explain how much I love these kids and how great this bond is to put an exclamation point on a game like that.”
Nacarlo opened the tournament with back-to-back braces in the first two rounds, included both goals in a 2-0 win at No. 4 Egg Harbor. He did not score a goal in the overtime win at Washington Township, but assisted two of the five and saved plenty of fireworks for Friday night’s championship game.
The two teams played to a scoreless stalemate through the first 40 minutes and it took fewer than three minutes of second-half action for Nacarlo to ignite the flame. On a 28-yard direct kick, Nacarlo knuckled a strike inside the upper near corner of the goal to give Southern the game’s first goal.
“He far over to the left,” Nacarlo said of Cherry Hill East goalkeeper Hunter Sobas. “So I decided I was just going to knuckle it right near post.”
Five minutes later, Nacarlo struck again, this time by poking in a back-heel flick from sophomore Juan Victoria in the 48th minute. Nacarlo completed his 10-minute hat trick by running onto a well-paced through-ball from Victoria on the right side and slipping the ball to the far left corner of the goal for a 3-0 lead in the 53rd minute.
In the 56th, Nacarlo returned the favor by finding Victoria’s head in the box. Nacarlo tracked down the ball after striking a direct kick into the Cherry Hill East wall, then crossed the ball from the left corner into the box, where Victoria headed in Southern’s fourth goal in the first 25 minutes of the first half.
Cherry Hill East broke up the shutout in the 60th, when Mason Fowler made a far-post run and poked in a cross from Cruz Candray.
Southern withstood a Cougars push for a second goal, then buried the dagger in the 68th minute, with senior Nick Leiriao running down a pass from junior Jaxson Simon, cutting back past a defender and striking a left-footed shot just under the crossbar for a 5-1 Southern lead.
Nick Leiriao makes it 5-1 Southern in the 68th. pic.twitter.com/eR0GaXBmQ7
— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) November 15, 2025
Although Southern controlled the majority of possession in the first half, the Rams could not piece together a scoring combination. On the other end, junior goalkeeper Kyle Sininsky bailed his defense out with a quick-reaction save off a scrum following a free kick in the 30th minute.
“We have a tendency when a team plays direct out of the back, we start the game playing direct,” first-year Southern head coach John Nacarlo said. “The message at halftime was that we are at our best when we play soccer. I told my backs to get a little more involved in the attack. We just had to find a little more width in the middle third and I just thought they executed it perfectly.”
In the final minutes of the half, Southern lost senior starting center back Kyle Schoepfer for the game after he collided with Sinisky as four players converged on a ball inside the Rams 18-yard box.
Ironically, Southern’s offensive breakout on Friday night came after John Nacarlo shifted senior Caden Schweigart from the top of the formation to center fullback following the injury to Schoepfer. It was the move of Schweigart from center back to forward that unlocked Southern’s offense in the middle of the season following a 3-3-1 start to the season.
“When Kyle got hurt and we moved Schweigart back, we knew we were going to have to find different ways to score,” Nacarlo said. “The movement off the ball in the attacking third really helped us and working together really helped.”
Schweigart, Nacarlo and Leiriao have been the steady scorers during the postseason, with the trio combining for 15 of Southern’s 17 goals during the South Jersey Group IV Playoffs. Leiriao and Nacarlo have each scored in three of the four games and all three have at least one multi-goal game: Nacarlo with three, Leiriao with two and Schweigart with one.
“It was definitely a concern of mine,” John Nacarlo said of moving Schweigart to the back line. “But the way that Leiriao, Tyler Houghton and Brody were playing, they had the confidence that we could do it. Obviously, we were upset the Kyle went out; he has stepped up for us huge at center back.”
In each of the last two wins, another scorer has stepped up with a crucial contribution and after senior Tyler Houghton’s go-ahead header proved to be crucial Tuesday at Washington Township, Victoria was the player who stepped up on Friday. Coming off the bench, Victoria had the most impactful game of his first year of varsity soccer, finishing with a goal and two assists.
“If someone got hurt, I knew I was going to have to be ready,” Victoria said. “Once we moved Caden up, we really took off. When (Schoepfer) got hurt and Caden moved back, knew it was time to step up. We make good runs and we know how to control the ball.”
With Friday’s win, John Nacarlo has now coached three different soccer programs — the Holmdel boys, the Holmdel girls and now Southern — to NJSIAA sectional championships for a grand total of nine sectional titles as a head coach. His son also now has back-to-back championships as a starter for Southern, along with Schweigart, Leiriao and senior Jon Mandell.
“He is a great coach with a great history,” Brody Nacarlo said of playing for his father in high-school ball. “It gives me mixed emotions sometimes with some of the things he does and says, but I buy into it, I trust him and he did great bringing us here.”
Southern will now try to continue its season by earning a second straight trip to the Group IV championship game, which the Rams can do by holding serve at home Tuesday against Central Jersey Group IV champion North Brunswick. The Raiders are sectional champions for the first time since 2008 after completing an impressive championship run as a No. 9 seed, which included wins over a 15-win Montgomery squad, Marlboro, No. 1 seed Monroe and No. 2 Hunterdon Central — all on the road.
After winning its first five 2024 state tournament games at home, Southern has also been a road warrior this season, with consecutive road wins over Egg Harbor, Washington and Cherry Hill East. On Tuesday, the Rams return home looking to make it to the last day of the boys soccer season for the second straight year.
“Losing Aiden, a lot of people didn’t think we’d be able to score goals this year,” Brody Nacarlo said. “No one ever thought we’d be this good this year, but we proved that wrong with dedication and hard work over the summer and a lot of kids stepping up in the big position.”
