Matt Derrington takes his goalkeeping seriously. Very seriously.
When the Trinity High senior is between the pipes - regardless of whether it's a game or a practice - he is ready to wage a personal war against the soccer ball. If it tickles the twine, then he is the exact opposite of tickled.
"When I practice against another goalkeeper, I'm motivated to be better than him," he said. "If he makes a good save, I'm motivated to make a better one."
It's that attitude that helped Derrington become the Goalkeeper of the Year in the Archdiocesan Athletic Association as well as in Class 2 last fall. It's also that approach that has landed him a scholarship with the University of Memphis. Derrington recently signed his letter of intent binding him to the Tigers, which pleased him immensely because he loves his craft.
"I was pretty happy about it," he said. "I visited there four times and they came and watched me four times."
The Memphis coaching staff didn't have as big a body of work to evaluate as they might normally have on a player. After all, keepers as good as Derrington normally are two- or three-year starters at the least. However, he had a very good player in the one-year older Dan Cimicata ahead of him, so he didn't see a lot of action until this past fall.
"He was very willing to fill the role as a backup," Trinity coach Vince Drake said. "He was a true team player."
Derrington, who hails from Hazelwood and sharpened his skills playing in the Scott Gallagher select program, was a dream backup. He proved that when he stepped into action during the Class 1 state championship game as a sophomore in 2009 when Cimicata was ejected late in the first half with the Titans down 1-0 to John Burroughs.
Derrington defused the Bombers the rest of the game and would have gotten a lot of notoriety if his team had been able to come back and win, but it didn't.
Derrington then backed up Cimicata again as a junior before finally getting a chance to be the leading man this past season. He didn't waste that opportunity. He posted a 12-6 record, had eight shutouts and had an outstanding goals against average of 0.92.
"Last season, Coach Drake made me captain," Derrington said. "It made me feel pretty good after three years being a backup. It was good being made the guy and everybody looking at me for once."
The highlight of his senior year was his near lockdown of SLUH, the area's No. 1 large school team for most of the season, in a 1-0 loss at the Anheuser-Busch Center in the CYC Tournament.
"He stood on his head in the SLUH game," Drake said. "He proved in that game that he was, in my opinion, one of the best goalies around. He kept us in many games. We finished 14-10 and he was a key factor in many of those games - the wins and the losses as well. And we played a big-time schedule."
Thanks a lot to Derrington, Trinity advanced to the sectional round in Class 2 this past fall and nearly knocked off eventual state champion St. Mary's. The Titans led 1-0 at halftime of that game.
"This year, out of my four years, was the best team that played as a team and nobody shined over anybody else," Derrington said.
He now will have a new team, however. He's excited about the opportunity he'll have in Memphis.
"I have a good chance to come in and maybe not start, but get a lot of playing time my freshman year," Derrington said. "They sound really excited to have me and I'm really excited to go there."
Drake has no doubt his pupil will excel down south.
"Matt has studied the game since grade school," Drake said. "He studies film. He follows international soccer. He's a great student of the game. It is his game."
Soccer is lucky to have Derrington as a fan.
