Luke Chatten undoubtedly has a bright future ahead of him at the University of Delaware, the school he officially signed with on Wednesday morning.
But the memories he’s made at Haddon Township will last a lifetime, and Wednesday night was an opportunity to create one more at a home field that has meant so much to him.
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Chatten scored a hat trick, seemingly won every ball in the air and turned in a dominant performance in the midfield to lead Haddon Township to a 6-3 win over Shore Regional in the NJSIAA/Wawa Group 1 boys soccer state semifinals.
The Hawks improved to 20-2-1 and advanced to the state final for the second straight season, where they will get a rematch with Waldwick, the team that handed them a 2-0 loss in last year’s final.
“It doesn’t matter to us who we play, we just want to win it all this year,” Chatten said. “We definitely have to be more organized; last year we were a little flustered and we didn’t know how to deal with a team that was just solid. We had faced (strong competition) before, but in the playoffs we had a lot of easy teams being in Group 1. Waldwick was a nice wakeup call, but we’ll be ready this year.”
The final will take place on Sunday at 10 a.m. at Franklin, so Wednesday was the last chance for Chatten and his fellow seniors to play in front of a large home crowd at Recchino Field.
“I did not think about that personally, but right before the game our assistant coach said, ‘Seniors, this is your last game here, make it special,’” Chatten said. “I’ve played a lot of games and I have a lot of history here. This place means a lot and I’m going to miss it.”
Chatten has been part of an outstanding era for Haddon Township soccer, first with his older brother Jacob as a teammate and now with his younger brother Gabe sharing the field. He has been a force throughout his final season and now has 28 goals to go with 22 assists.
“In my opinion … he’s been the best player in South Jersey this year,” Haddon Township coach Jim Bonder said. “As good as he is on the field, he’s that much better of a leader for this team. At practice, he expects the best out of himself and every player, and part of our success is because his drive is through the roof. He’s been so fun to coach and in my opinion he’s the top player around.”
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