Brayden O'Boyle's goal: Bring Commack another county title

Those Commack players weren’t the only ones feeling good at Diamond in the Pines on that late-April night in 2021 when they edged Newfield for the coveted crown in Suffolk AA boys soccer. A masked seventh-grade ball boy for the Cougars from that pandemic era was loving it, too.

“It was definitely like a surreal experience being able to watch them,” Brayden O’Boyle said, flashing back recently to that game in Coram. “A couple of them babysat me when I was a young kid. Being able to watch them and being just a year shy of playing with them was kind of a cool experience.

“There’s a picture of me with them after the game, so that’s kind of like a heartfelt moment.”

That ball boy has become a really good player.

O’Boyle is a senior central attacking midfielder and a D-I prospect. And he has made history now with Commack as the program’s first five-year starter, an achievement that he calls “an honor.”

But what he doesn’t have with this team is a county championship as a player. After stacking up double-digit wins, Commack fell by one goal in the opening round and then by one goal the last three years running in the semis against the eventual champ, first in AA and then in AAA in 2023 and 2024.

So just like his teammates, O’Boyle doesn’t need to fill up on fuel for this season.

“I feel like an extreme amount of motivation going through my blood,” he said. “And I know a lot of other kids on this team, that they want to win. But this is going to be my fifth year, so I feel like I’ve got to get my way with Commack High School [and win] the championship.

“Hopefully, we can do it this year with the kids I’ve been playing with my whole entire life, since I was around 6 years old. Now it’s kind of like a dream come true to be able to play with them one more time, and it’s senior year, and hoping just to bring home another title for Commack.”

The Cougars have a strong and seasoned team, and O’Boyle, a tri-captain who comes in at 5-10 and 155 pounds, brings a strong and seasoned game.

Certainly, it showed during last season’s 15-3 run. He delivered 10 goals and 19 assists and made second-team All-Long Island.

“I would 100% say he’s one of the top three players in Suffolk County, if not the best,” coach Dave Moran said. "He’s one of the top players ever to come through the Commack schools, no doubt.

“Brayden controls the entire pace of every game he’s in. His ability to make everybody else around him better [stands out]. He’s a fantastic passer. He holds himself to a high standard also.”

Indeed, he holds himself accountable.

“He is an absolute coach’s dream,” Moran said. “He is a soccer junkie. He’s always around the game. He plays the game the right way. He’s a terrific kid in the building. He’s got fantastic grades. His teachers love him. Teammates love him.”

Ask Ryan Schalk.

“He’s a great kid, smart, funny, kind, respectful,” the senior striker/wing said.

Schalk, also a captain and a Scranton commit who contributed 10 goals and five assists last season, works rather well out there with O’Boyle.

“He’s helped me in definitely a lot of ways,” Schalk said. “Every chance, he always finds me where I want the ball and gives it to me wherever I ask for it, and he always places it in a perfect spot. Our connection is really, really good. Hopefully, we can just bring that into this season and keep that up.

“He’s one of my best friends, too. So not even just the soccer connection, but the friendship connection, we’re always there for each other.”

O’Boyle also used to play for NYCFC Academy in Queens. He was a part of that program from the time he was 10 to until right before his junior year.

“I think it definitely helped me become an overall better player with learning new styles of play and being able to play with both feet, which I feel like is a strong aspect of mine,” O’Boyle said.

Now he’s being recruited or receiving interest from D-I programs such as Harvard, Princeton, North Carolina State, Stony Brook, Fairfield and Iona, among others.

The winner will be . . . 

“Kind of just whichever college I’m able to connect with the coach on the deepest level and play coming right into college,” O’Boyle said. “The expectation I have is playing D-I right away.”

Then he’s shooting for a professional goal, possibly in Europe.

“Hopefully, that’s my goal at the end of the day, become pro,” O’Boyle said. “I’ve wanted to do it my whole life. That’s like my overall goal.”