West Team wins first ECNL Boys National Selection Game of 2025 in Florida

LAKEWOOD RANCH, FL – Saturday night, the stars of the ECNL Boys were out at Premier Sports Campus in Lakewood Ranch, Florida for the first Continental Tire ECNL National Selection Game of 2025.

The East struck first in the 28th minute of the match when Landon Petz (NCFC Youth Academy) dribbled through the West defense and slotted a shot in the corner to put the East up 1-0.

The West nearly responded moments later, but Ryan Collins (Concorde Fire Platinum) made a number of tremendous saves throughout the first half to keep the West off the board.

Just before halftime though the West got the breakthrough goal when Carson Banham (Tulsa SC) got the rebound of his initial shot and scored a tap-in goal to tie the game up before the half.

Early in the second half the East put the pressure on the West, highlighted by a long distance strike that nearly found the upper corner, but instead ricocheted off the post, keeping the game knotted at 1-1.

In the 57th minute, the West grabbed the lead from a great free kick that was redirected in by Timothy Ratokhin (Atlanta Fire United) to make it 2-1.

The East pushed for an equalizer throughout the second half, but behind a strong defensive effort led by Grant Brokaw (Ohio Premier), the West held onto their 2-1 lead.

After the game, Brokaw was named the Man of the Match for his performance, and said someone had to step up and help be a leader for the team.

“It’s always fun to come out and try your hardest and be a leader among leaders,” Brokaw said. “We were all chosen in this game for a reason and someone had to step up. That was me today.”

When the West went down 1-0 in the first half, Brokaw said the team didn’t get rattled, helping them battle back to earn the win.

“So what? We’re having fun out here. Let’s get another, play for it, and we got it. Then we got another right after. We stayed disciplined the whole game and stuck it out to get the victory.”

Brokaw said coming to the ECNL has helped develop him greatly as a player and having the support of his teammates at Ohio Premier, coming out and watching him play tonight, meant a great deal to him.

“They came out to support me today, which meant a lot to me,” Brokaw said. “They’ve furthered me a lot as a player. I never thought I’d be here, but I stuck it out and I’m really happy I joined this league.”