Detroit Rock City: Dylan Halm comes to Revere soccer from Michigan and Minutemen roll
RICHFIELD — Revere boys soccer fans, take a bow.
Because of you, one of the best players in the state has been a big reason the Minutemen are ranked No. 1 in the Division II state coaches poll this season.
His name is Dylan Halm, and the forward scored a hat trick Tuesday in a 5-0 Suburban League American Conference victory over Copley. The win gave Revere its third straight league title.
Halm, who has interest from Wake Forest, Ohio State, College of Charleston, American and Chatham University, took the club route his first three years of high school, but wanted something more.
“When I played club, it was always in front of parents and I never got the experience of people cheering and the students chanting,” Halm said. “I just wanted to see what it was like, so that’s why I played my senior year.
“My goal is to play in college and games in high school are similar to college. You’re always with your teammates and you always have team meals. We’re always together in school and we’re always connected. We’re always a team. That’s an experience you can’t get in club. It was a great decision and opened my eyes. It’s given me a different point of view.”
Dylan Halm comes back to Ohio and sets Revere soccer world on fire
Halm knew all about the club scene when he lived in Detroit and played for MLS Next Michigan Wolves SC.
He moved back to Ohio on July 23, 2022 — he originally lived in Copley — and decided to play for the Cleveland Force as a junior.
That was then and this now.
“We focus a lot on moving the ball, passing the ball and working together as a team,” Revere midfielder AJ Catlett said. “We came into the season knowing that last year we were very good as a team moving it. We didn't have someone like the year before when Trevor Rorabaugh scored almost every goal.
“We were kind of missing something like that this year. [Halm is] a huge help. He's averaging a hat trick a game or something like that. You play him through and he’s scoring almost every time.”
It’s not quite a hat trick per game, but it’s not that far off. He has 20 goals and six assists in just nine games.
By the way, Catlett has six goals and 16 assists.
Dylan Halm's presence has made everyone better
“Honestly, AJ could have been the goal scorer, but AJ dropped back a layer and now you can see the other side of AJ,” Revere coach Nick DePompei said. “He’s so intelligent and can play people into space. To know I have that kid up top who is moving 10 steps to the left because he wants to go right. AJ already knows that and plays Dylan into spaces other people wouldn’t even see. The two of them together, that chemistry unlocks a lot of things.”
It’s something Copley coach Dave Antal saw when he coached Halm for the Copley Cosmos as a youngster.
Fast forward almost a decade later and Antal felt what it was like to be on the other side of playing against Halm.
“He was a rec-specks-wearing kid full of energy and a great young man,” Antal said. “I heard about a kid coming back to Revere that was supposed to be pretty special. I followed him the whole time he was in Detroit because we’re friends with the family on Facebook. Finding out it was Dylan Halm, I didn’t think it would be these heights, but he’s a special kid.
“He’s shifty and quick and makes a normal Revere team, who is shifty and quick, even better. AJ sits in the middle and feeds him the ball and he’s able to create space, get on top of balls and finish. He’s not just the kid who scores goals. He scores big-time goals.”
Contact Brad Bournival at bbournival@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @bbournival.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Twenty-goal star comes to Revere soccer, Minutemen can't stop scoring
