Southern celebrates the first of two goals by senior Brody Nacarlo (third from left). (Image: Matt Manley)

Southern Boys Soccer Eyes Postseason Success After Clinching SCT Bye

Matt Manley|October 7, 2025|Last Updated October 15, 2025

LONG BRANCH — It took the 2024 Southern Regional boys soccer team a month and a half to turn itself from a talented-but-underachieving team into one that would go on to win an NJSIAA Group IV championship.

With less experience and proven scoring production this season, plus its third head coach in two years, it has taken half as much time for the Rams to round into form. After Monday’s performance at Long Branch in Shore Conference Tournament group play, now Southern will find out if this year’s team has even more tournament magic.

Southern fell behind in the opening minutes Monday before senior Brody Nacarlo scored two first-half goals, setting the stage for a dominant second half that polished off a 3-1 win over Long Branch that earns the Rams a first-round bye in the SCT by virtue of finishing at the top of SCT Group 8.

Nacarlo is the top returning scorer from last year’s Group IV title team after he posted five goals and seven assists as a junior. In addition to bearing increased leadership responsibilities in 2025, he had to deal with a knee injury in the opening weeks of the season that compromised his preseason preparation, as well as his effectiveness on the field during the start of Southern’s regular season.

“The season started off a little rough,” Nacarlo said. “We came together more and more: a lot of pasta parties and team-bonding stuff off the field that helped us grow closer as a team and the results have kept coming. The energy and the intensity keeps getting better and we play as a family now. We work for each other.”

With Nacarlo’s slow start and his teammates adjusting to new roles in the wake of losing seven starters from last year’s team, Southern started the season 3-3-1 through Sept. 22, including back-to-back losses to Class A South rivals Central and Lacey. Since then, the Rams are 5-1, with the lone loss coming on the road at Lenape, 1-0, on Saturday.

“Everyone that sat the bench or played jayvee last year, we knew we had to bring them up into our spirit and show them what it’s like to be part of the varsity family and play together as a team,” Nacarlo said. “I think we motivated them very well, and they worked really hard during the preseason and gave great effort. They haven’t had their varsity chance before this year, and they are showing what they can do. Everyone knew we were going to have a target on our backs going into this season, and they have stepped up big time.”

After seeing its four-game winning streak — which included handing Toms River East its first loss of the season on Sept. 27 after a 9-0 start for the Raiders — snapped on Saturday, Southern got off to a rough start on Monday. Long Branch senior Chris De Oliveira Santos struck for the game’s first goal off a cross from junior Matheus Lopez.

Spotting the opposition an early goal was just about the only thing that went wrong for Southern in Monday’s match. In the 15th minute, Long Branch was whistled for a high kick just outside the edge of the 18-yard box at a slight angle on the left side of the field. The Rams set up a designed play that saw senior Nick Leiriao touch the ball in play, followed by a low strike by Nacarlo that he buried inside the near left post for an equalizer.

Nacarlo created the second Southern goal with his pressure on Long Branch senior goalkeeper Gerardo Rodas. In the 29th minute, Nacarlo jumped in front of an attempted pass by Rodas, dribbled at the Green Wave goalkeeper and slipped a shot past him for a 2-1 Southern lead — one the Rams would take into halftime.

After the break, Southern mounted an intense offensive against the Long Branch goal, with Rodas leaving his feet for two saves, and Leiraio hitting a close-range volley just wide of the right post. In the 56th minute, Leiriao blasted a long ball that senior Caden Schweigart tracked down and slammed past Rodas for the game’s final goal.

Long Branch played with 10 players on the field for the final 14:37 after a red card for denying a goal-scoring opportunity with the last defender and did not generate a dangerous chance in the second half against Southern junior goalkeeper Kyle Sininsky. The last close call for the Green Wave was a rocket off the near post by De Oliveira Santos in the 34th minute with his team still trailing, 2-1.

The goal by Schweigart matched him with Nacarlo for a team-high eight goals on the season — seven of which have come since head coach John Nacarlo moved him from center fullback to striker in hopes of making the Rams a more dangerous attack. Southern played its first seven games with Schweigart as a defender who scored one goal, and since moving him forward, Schweigart has scored seven goals and the Rams are 5-1.

“With his speed and his technical ability up top driving through the center back, we knew he was going to be dangerous,” said Brody Nacarlo, who leads Southern with eight goals and six assists. “I play club with him and he is one of my best friends, so I knew the connection up top with him would be special. With him up top the chances are coming a lot more, and we’re scoring a lot of goals.”

Schweigart was a starting outside back a season ago for Southern and pushed forward for two goals and three assists during the course of his junior season. Senior Jon Mandell also started at outside back as a junior and, like Nacarlo, is playing in the same role this season as he did in 2024.

Leiriao has been the other returning starter in a new role for Southern. As a junior, Leiriao mixed into the midfield before ultimately settling in as a center back for the championship run. Now, Leiriao is back in the midfield as one of Southern’s top offensive threats. After assisting two more goals on Monday, the senior boasts seven goals and five assists.

“He has stepped up as a leader,” Brody Nacarlo said of Leiriao. “We knew what he had to do with him: we put him in the middle because he works hard, he is good in the air, he makes good passing plays.”

Conditioning has also been a point of emphasis for Nacarlo — who is Brody’s father, as well as a four-time state championship-winning coach as both a boys and girls coach at Holmdel — in his first season as the head coach at Southern. The Rams played only 12 players on Monday but were the superior team on 50-50 balls throughout the game and have leaned on their collective fitness during this current six-game stretch.

“We knew we would be a top team in the Shore,” Brody Nacarlo said. “We lost some key players from last year, so we knew guys were going to have to step up, and with my dad coming in to be the coach, there were going to be some changes. We did a lot of running in the preseason to make sure we’re ready for this part of the season, and it really bonded us together.”

Monday’s win guarantees Southern a first-round bye in the SCT and no worse than the No. 8 seed in the field, which will officially be seeded Saturday morning. With a current run of five wins in six games and recent wins over Toms River East and Long Branch, the Rams have a strong case to avoid the No. 8 seed. That standing will be tested on Friday, when the Rams travel to play Manalapan — one of the other teams to clinch first place in their group.

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