Submitted photo Canaan Johnson, seated center, signed a commitment to attend and play soccer at Walsh University in Canton.

Canaan Johnson has been one of the most decorated boys soccer players the Mahoning Valley has seen in many years.

The 6-foot, 160-pound South Range senior was named to the United Soccer Coaches All-America Team, an honor given to more than 130 boys and girls around the country — one of 26 from Ohio.

Some of the boys on the team were from traditional powerhouses like Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, Medina, St. Ignatius and Bay.

Johnson had 22 goals and 27 assists last season, while accumulating 56 goals and 60 assists during his Raiders career. South Range (19-3) finished ranked third in the state according to the final Ohio Scholastic Soccer Coaches Association state poll and lost to Bluffton in double overtime in a Division III state semifinal.

Johnson was named “Mr. Youngstown” by the Youngstown District Scholastic Soccer Coaches Association — given to the best boys soccer player in the area regardless of division.

He’s continuing his college career at Walsh University. Cavaliers assistant men’s soccer coach Andrew Baloun was Johnson’s coach at Canton United, his club team, the main reason the South Range senior is heading to Walsh.

Johnson plans to be an accounting major.

“I like to better myself on and off the field,” he said. “That’s something Andrew said I could do there. I also want to focus on academics. They have a good tutor program. It will allow me not only to focus on soccer, but also on the schooling.

“Personally, I want to become better in the air, on the ball, get faster, bigger, stronger, just whatever it will take for me to be able to compete at a high level and hopefully allow me to do some great things at Walsh as well.”

Johnson was a center attacking midfielder in high school and an outside midfielder for Canton United.

Doing what’s best for his teammates is what Johnson has done throughout his career.

“The biggest thing with Canaan is he’s going to do whatever is asked of him for his team to succeed,” South Range coach Mike Bailey said. “That’s how he was in high school. That’s been his mindset and approach all along. You’re talking about a kid who could’ve scored a lot more goals than he did this season. He wanted to get his teammates involved. He wanted to play the game correctly and do things right. He’s going to succeed because Canaan doesn’t know how to do anything but succeed at the game of soccer.”

It’s never been about Johnson scoring in mass quantities. He did not find the opportunities to go down the middle of defenses, the way he did early in his Raiders career.

“They would try to force me outside,” Johnson said. “I would take what they would give me and go down the sideline and give it to our strikers and our forwards, or whoever is in the box to finish. It really doesn’t matter who is scoring, as long as we’re scoring as a team. That’s what we did.”

It’s going to be hard to replace Johnson next season. His skill set, but more his leadership qualities.

“I’m sure Canaan will be the first guy to tell you, we’ll not only miss him, but that group of seniors from this year which helped make that run,” Bailey said. “It’s going to be a bit of a rebuilding year for us, but we still expect to be strong. We still have a lot of talented players coming back.

“As far as missing his leadership and just the mentality he brought on a daily basis, how can I get better and how can I make my team better, that will be, by far, the biggest thing we’ll miss from him, without a doubt.”

Johnson is going to miss playing with that band of brothers which got to this year’s Division III state semifinal, being one of eight seniors to make the journey.

“We were like a family,” Johnson said. “This team, it was different. I’ve played on many different teams growing up. The connection we had was different than any other team, especially my senior year. Those guys, we were all so close. I think we’ll all stay in touch.

“It won’t be the same, not being able to play with them on the field, do the trips, the practice, work for each other. That’s what I’ll miss the most.”