Edward Little boys soccer coach Max Thompson has one word to sum up Mohamed Adow’s season.

Unstoppable.

The senior striker scored 24 goals and tallied nine assists, and he has been chosen as the 2022 Sun Journal All-Region Boys Soccer Player of the Year.

Adow said his teammates were important to his success this season.

“Alhamdulillah,” Adow said, which means “praise be to God” in Arabic. He added: “I’m really grateful to be awarded player of the year. It’s a great accomplishment, and I know I can’t do it without my teammates. So, clearly, it’s just a huge thing, thanks to them, and we had a great season. We had a fun season and even though we ended (up coming up short), it was still to have fun with those guys. It was a remarkable season that I enjoyed. So I want to give them (a shout out).”

Adow helped lead the Red Eddies to a 14-1-1 record this season. He scored in 12 of the 16 games and had five hat tricks.

Thompson said he realized Adow was going to have a special year the third game of the season, against Brunswick on Sept. 10.

“He scored in the biggest games for us,” Thompson said. “I think he had all three goals when we beat Brunswick 3-2 earlier in the season and really in every big game he was counted on to score, and he did it. He was also unselfish, racking up, I think, somewhere around nine assists or something like that. So he accounted for on his own somewhere around 33 goals.”

The hat trick against the Dragons was Adow’s second of the season — his first came in the first game, in a 4-1 victory over Mt. Blue.

Adow said scoring against Brunswick inspired him to play aggressive and smart.

“I think that motivated me to just keep going and try to score as (many) goals as I can, always being in the right positions, my teammates finding me, it was always working,” Adow said. “We just kept finding the back of the net, which was great for us (at) the beginning of the season. I think that helped us. And then a lot of players started contributing to the team.”

Adow focused on his finishing skills in the offseason, knowing he’d likely be one of the Red Eddies’ go-to players offensively. He worked on one-touch and two-touch finishing moves, and on headers.

The work Adow put in showed in the fall.

“I think that his efficiency was a lot better this year,” Thompson said. “I think that in years past, he got a lot of chances. He put himself in a lot of good spots, and to see his success rate going up was my biggest observation as a coach … just seeing him really just taking advantage of the opportunities that he had. I think that some of that comes from maturity.

“But I also think that was kind of a focal point for the team, in general, was just not to waste opportunities and to make sure that you know they were focused. I think Mohamed was the best example of that. He just put opportunities that he got in the back of the net. It was obvious to me that he just had a sense of focus and purpose with the way that he played that we hadn’t seen beforehand. So it was impressive.”

Adow wants to continue to play soccer after high school, but he’s still looking at his options.

“I think my goal is to play at the college level, if I get the chance,” Adow said. “I just have to communicate to college coaches and see if I can get offers.”

Though Edward Little’s season came to an end earlier than it hoped, a 1-0 loss to rival Lewiston in the Class A North regional semifinals, Adow there were a lot of good times with his teammates during the season that he will always remember.

“I’m gonna have to say the away bus rides and the team dinners,” Adow said. “I think those are the memory that will always be with me because of how fun they were. Even after (a loss), on the bus home, it was just great.”

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