BARCO — It doesn’t matter whether Greg Farr is wearing a red-and-white uniform for Currituck or for the Beach FC Red club team.

He’s pretty special in either one.

Today, Farr, a senior center midfielder, is being named the Daily Advance Boys Soccer Player of the Year after leading Currituck to a second-place finish in the Northeastern Coastal Conference and into the third round of the 3A state playoffs.

A week ago, Farr was one of 11 players named to an all-star team at the Atlantic Soccer League Bethesda showcase tourney that included 20 Under-18 and Under-19 club teams from seven states.

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Both Mark Chappell, his coach at Currituck, and Eric Blackmore, his coach with the Virginia Beach-based Beach FC Red, rave about Farr.

“He’s a great player,” Chappell said. “I’ve seen him do a lot of spectacular things with the ball. Guys have actually watched him in amazement and say, ‘Did you see that?’ “

“Combined with his technical ability, his competitive spirit and athleticism make him almost every team’s best player,” Blackmore said. “I’ve had the pleasure of coaching Greg for the past three years and he is certainly a player I can identify as one of the most talented and naturally gifted players I have ever coached.”

Farr, who has committed to accept a scholarship at Division I Longwood University next season, is humbled by the praise.

“The reason I’m as good as I am is because I’ve been taught a lot, I’ve had great coaching, especially at Beach FC,” he said. “I’ve progressed with them since I started playing on their U10 team.”

There’s no question Farr’s club background has helped him excel at Currituck, where he started as a freshman and sophomore before missing his entire junior season with a fractured skull and two broken wrists suffered in a 
non-soccer incident.

“The competition is a lot tougher with the club team,” Farr said. “You have to play harder, work harder and be smarter. Most of the guys you are playing against have been playing as long as you have and have the same competitiveness and intensity.”

Four All-Area volleyball players at Northeastern will tell you the same thing. They cite their experience playing with the Coastal Virginia club team as a key factor in their helping the Lady Eagles to back-to-back state 2A title games.

It’s not like Farr looks down his nose at high school soccer. He loves playing for the Knights. To him, a soccer game is a soccer game, no matter where it is being played.

“I think I work hard inevery game and play with a lot of intensity,” he said. “High school soccer helps boost my confidence and my skill level. It’s a little slower, so you have more time on the ball.”

Giving Farr more time on the ball can be fatal to opponents. The 5-10, 145-pound dynamo scored 18 goals in 15 games at Currituck, including a hat trick in a second-round 3A 5-4 overtime win and the eventual winning goal in a first-round 3-1 victory.

Farr missed three Knights games due to conflicts with his club schedule. Combine those with the five games that Currituck lost to weather and he surely would have approached the area-best 29 goals scored in 23 games by Bronson Watts of Camden, the runnerup to Farr for the honor of being the area’s best player.

“With Beach FC, my role is more to give the other players the opportunity to score,” he said. “But still, I like to take players on and I like to score.”

Chappell has a favorite Farr goal.

“In our 5-4 overtime win in the playoffs, Greg got the fourth goal when he headed the ball past the goalie, then went around him to knock the ball in,” he said.

“He’s just got a great understanding of the game and is very fluid. When he gets touches, he doesn’t squander them. He always knows where the ball is going and he doesn’t lose it. He has great placement on his shots.”

Blackmore considers Farr a threat as both playmaker and scorer.

“Greg’s field vision and his excellent touch on the ball allow him to be a dangerous distributor of the ball to his teammates,” he said. “And he can make an opponent pay by shooting from distance or taking on players one versus one.”

While both coaches say he is a smart, savvy player, Farr is at a loss to explain how he managed to hurt himself so badly two summers ago.

“It wasn’t the smartest choice I ever made,” he said, shaking his head. “I was riding on the back of a car and fell off. The doctors told me I was lucky, it could have been a lot worse. I’m definitely not going to try anything like that again.”

Chappell is sure the incident had to set back Farr’s development.

“You’ve got to wonder how good Greg would be now if he hadn’t missed that whole year,” he said.

Joining Farr on the All-Area team are Currituck teammates Tyler Lumsden, Ricky Hill and Faustin Pierre; Bronson Watts, Forrest Byers and Tyler Sprouse of Camden; Tanner Brusko, Josh Laverty and Rob Bunch of Edenton; Joel Abbitt of Northeastern and Tyler Whedbee of Pasquotank.

Lumsden and Whedbee, both senior goalies, shared the Northeastern Coastal Conference Defensive Player of the Year award. Lumsden, the only All-Area repeater, registered nine shutouts and allowed just seven goals in 10 conference games. Whedbee, playing on the area’s least-experienced team, regularly faced more than 25 shots a game and made over 300 saves.

Hill, a senior forward who missed the two previous seasons with knee injuries, rebounded to score nine goals.

Pierre, a sophomore sweeper, was a key player in the Currituck defense but was also an offensive threat with his long throw-ins. He also scord five goals.

Watts, a sophomore striker, set a school record with his 29 goals, had five assists and was the Player of the Year in the Four Rivers Conference.

Byers, a senior, was a standout stopper who often shifted to forward when Camden needed goals. He had 13 goals and 10 assists.

Sprouse, a sophomore, who played forward and stopper, scored 10 goals and had three assists.

Brusko, a senior forward, and Bunch, a junior midfielder, were the key performers on the Edenton offense while Laverty, a senior sweeper, headed up the Aces’ defense.

Abbitt, a senior center defender, added managed eight goals and playedstrong defense for a rebuilding Northeastern team.

Honorable mention went to Lorenz Zeller, Cody Aareastad and Kevin Cosnahan of Currituck; Cameron Horn and Paul Stephen of Northeastern; Corey Aydlett, Garrett Dunn, Brendan Robertson and Adam Lannon of Camden; Jesse Miller of Pasquotank and Mark Montgomery of Edenton.