(Editor's note: Gatorade award release)
CHICAGO, Ill. — In its 37th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade announced Marcus Anderson of Hellgate High School is the 2021-22 Gatorade Montana Boys Soccer Player of the Year.
Anderson is the fifth Gatorade Montana Boys Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from Hellgate High School. 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 Anderson as Montana’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, Anderson joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, 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 (2004-05, 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 5-foot-8, 165-pound senior midfielder and forward led the Knights to a 16-0-2 record and a third-straight Class AA state championship this past season.
Anderson tallied 13 goals and 23 assists, including the lone goal in overtime as Hellgate beat Glacier High, 1-0, in the state title game.
The Montana High School Association State Player of the Year, Anderson also had a goal and assist in Hellgate’s 2-1 victory over Billings Senior High in the state quarterfinals and he recorded the assist on the game-winner in his team’s 1-0 win over Billings West High in the semifinals. He concluded his prep soccer career with 49 goals and a state-record 79 assists. Anderson has volunteered locally as a youth math tutor and has also donated his time as a youth soccer coach and mentor.
“Marcus was the one opponent we had to make sure didn’t hurt us, which of course he invariably did,” said Gary Stein, former coach of Sentinel High School. “Marcus always stands out and he has the singular ability to turn a match.”
Anderson has maintained a 3.90 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to play soccer on scholarship at Fort Lewis College in Colorado this fall.
Anderson joins recent Gatorade Montana Boys Soccer Players of the Year Beckett Arthur (2020-21, Hellgate High School), Zach Springer (2019-20, Bozeman High School), Ted Scott (2018-19, Bozeman High School), and Matt Baldridge (2017-18, Hellgate High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
