Boulder coach Hardy Kalisher said senior Cameron Gerber will be remembered alongside the best players to have come through the soccer powerhouse. Though, he believes his best days on the pitch are still ahead.
“There’s good high school players, there’s great high school players, but I think Cameron is a player that coaches and spectators who are experienced in the game see as someone who is going to excel at the next level,” Kalisher said of the Daily Camera player of the year. “He’s already playing like he’s at the next level.”
Gerber, a Maryland soccer commit who chose to play at Boulder instead of a year-round club when he was in the eighth grade, concluded his high school career with a Class 5A first-team, all-state selection. He recorded 40 points this fall, the most by a listed midfielder in the classification. He finished his career with 32 goals and 19 assists.
Ask those who saw Gerber in action around town and they’d tell you his game leapt off the page. Almost as if someone went into the skills manager settings and set him faster and more technical than the rest of the field.
On one September night, he left the home fans at Christian Recht Field in awe after recording a hat trick in a span of 187 seconds in a win over Front Range League-foe Fort Collins. It was one of his three hat tricks in high school.
It wasn’t just on nights like that he had spectators, coaches and even opposing players race to offer their respect.
Following the Panthers’ second round playoff exit to Fairview — a game he had a picturesque penalty kick goal — the Knights’ all-state keeper Shane Williams rushed over at the final whistle to congratulate him on a great career.
“I’ve played on club teams with Cam, played against him,” Williams said. “There’s just a lot of respect for him.”
And, as Kalisher pointed out, this may only be the start of Gerber’s legacy on the pitch. “His best days are ahead.”
The Boulder senior was the state’s lone representative at the 2022 All-American Game in Florida last weekend, joining former area standouts Omar Castruita of Boulder and Fairview’s Shane O’Neill.
In the game, he delivered the go-ahead assist to Ohio State commit Zsombor Onodi for the West All-American Team. He also had the clinching goal — using a defender to screen the keeper’s view as he sent home a chance in a 4-2 final.
“I had a blast,” Gerber said. “Everything was being played at a really high tempo and everyone just enjoyed themselves. Overall, it was just a great experience.”
Gerber will head to Philadelphia in January to be recognized as one of two Colorado players chosen for the United Soccer Coaches’ High School Boys All-American team. Only 81 boys in the nation received the honor this year.
For now, Gerber said he is playing club soccer with Boulder County United and will begin training with Maryland in the summer. The Terrapins lost in the NCAA second round back in November.
“I’m also doing a lot of training on my own because,” he cracked, “I don’t know what else to do with my time.”
Gerber is the fifth player from Boulder High School to be named as the Daily Camera (or BoCoPreps.com) boys soccer player of the year over the past decade.
Omar Castruita received the award in 2017, Quinn Liebmann in 2014, Javier Castruita 2013 and Lake Brant 2012.
