Dylan Toscano is two-for-two for his senior year.
Last fall, Toscano was honored with his second straight Western Athletic Conference Most Valuable Player award in soccer.
At last Wednesday’s exceptional seniors game, the Mayfield High School senior received his second MVP award, the WAC North’s Division’s Most Valuable Player for the 2012-13 basketball season.
“Being named MVP in two sports I would say is pretty impressive,” Toscano said. “But I was just working hard and that helped out a lot.”
Toscano finished the season with 298 points for the Panthers, but his presence on the team was more than just what was put in the scorebook.
“I can’t say enough about how much he has meant to our program,” Mayfield varsity basketball coach Brian VanNostrand said. “He has helped me and the team out immensely in my first two years of coaching. Not only with his natural athletic abilities, but also with his ability to score and get to the basket to create offense for us. There are games where if you look at the box scores, players like Ryan Hennessy will have a big game or has more points, but Dylan was always a threat and someone you had to watch. He might have had an off shooting night, but when we needed a big basket, he would come through in the clutch. He brings so much more with his ability to pass and create offense for other players.”
Although named MVP in basketball, Toscano admits it is his second sport.
“Soccer is my main sport,” he said.
The three-year varsity starter netted 31 of his 67 career goals in his senior season to go with 10 assists. He had at least a goal or an assist in every game of his senior year.
“He was the focal point of our offense for three years,” Mayfield soccer coach Jon Caraco said. “He is just one of the most naturally gifted athletes I have ever coached. He is very underrated as a passer. There were a few times when other teams would double and triple team him and he would get it done with his passing.”
Toscano, who had five game winning goals and two game winning assists in 2012, was named league MVP as a junior and a senior and was selected All New York State, fourth team and Section 2, Class C player of the year.
“The most remarkable thing about Dylan as a soccer player and in basketball is his composure,” Caraco said. “He just doesn’t panic. I know it is a sports cliche, but he has ice water in his veins. In front of the goal in the middle of a tight game, he has the same execution over the ball as he does in practice in the middle of August.”
VanNostrand echoed Caraco’s statement adding, “He was always impressing me in practice or in games with his athletic ability alone,” VanNostrand said. “There were times in a practice or in a game where I would look at my assistant coaches and say ‘how did that shot go in?’ or ‘how did he get to the basket out of that trap?’ or with three guys on him.”
Toscano’s versatility as an athlete is allowing him to switch sports this spring. He will move from being a starter on the Panthers’ baseball team to running track.
“I just have been playing sports pretty much every day of my life,” Toscano said of his ability to excel in several different sports. “I played in youth leagues like Fulton United but I did not do AAU in basketball. That just came naturally.”
Toscano, who is looking to attend and play soccer for St. John Fisher, Nazareth or SUNY Brockport in the fall, offered advice to young athletes.
“Work hard at it and that is about it,” he said. “If you are going to do something, do it at your best.”
