Free State High senior Andrew Heck heads the ball in this file photo from a game against Lawrence High earlier this season. Heck recently was honored by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America for his athletic and academic performances.

Although he doesn’t play the most glamorous position on the soccer pitch, Andrew Heck repeatedly has been recognized during the last two years for his play.

All-league, all-state, all-region – you name it, the Free State High midfielder was on it.

Now he can add a national recognition to that list.

A senior who finished his Firebirds soccer career in the fall, Heck was recently named to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America/Adidas 2007 Boys High School Scholar All-America Team.

“It’s a great honor, and I’m thankful to my coach, who nominated me,” Heck said of FSHS coach Jason Pendleton.

Heck was one of 35 prep soccer players nationally to make the team and be recognized for prowess on the field and in the classroom.

Pendleton said it was a great achievement for the model Firebird, who personified what Pendleton was looking for from his players on and off the field.

“I think it’s an amazingly important accomplishment for Andrew to get recognized by the preeminent soccer organization in the United States,” Pendleton said of the player he first noticed during a summer camp for junior high players.

Back then, Heck already was dominating, and the FSHS coach, who ran the camp, took notice and asked the youngster to stick around and play with the more experienced kids at the high school session.

“He took the challenge,” Pendleton recalled. “Even though he was incredibly small and tiny, right away he was able to compete and showed that he was going to be a pretty special player.”

Eventually, Heck blossomed into a three-year starter for the Firebirds, and Pendleton said the central midfielder became one of the top four players he has coached in his nine seasons as FSHS coach, even though that is a difficult position from which to dominate.

“Central midfielder is essentially the point guard – and more of an old-school point guard, not the kind of point guards that jack up shots every time down the court – but the sort of point guard like Jacque Vaughn-style,” Pendleton said, comparing Heck to the former Kansas University guard. “If you look at the stat sheet at the end of the game, you’re probably not going to be amazingly impressed a lot of nights. But he controls the tempo and creates opportunities, and he runs the flow of the game.”

Heck served as an extension of his coach on the pitch and tallied eight assists and five goals in his senior year, but his most impressive numbers might be those associated with his grade-point average, which is 3.9. Heck is a true student-athlete, and he said academics are important to him. He’s still contemplating what his major will be in college, but he’s thinking about business with coursework in a foreign language, likely German.

He’ll be doing that and playing soccer next year at Benedictine College, which he recently orally committed to after finishing up his semester finals. And if what Pendleton said is true, he’ll likely make a ton of new friends in the process.

“I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like Andrew,” Pendleton said. “He’s just an incredibly nice guy.”

Pendleton said Heck, who is admittedly laid-back, is the kind of player everyone else enjoys being around.

But Heck said some of that came from his time with the other Firebirds.

“It definitely kind of rubs off from my high school team, too, because a lot of those guys are laid-back,” he said.

Heck enjoyed his final season for FSHS, even though the 11-6-1 team lost in the regional final.

“This was definitely my favorite year and, I think, the best group of guys we could’ve had,” Heck said.

When he looks back on his prep career years from now, that camaraderie might be remembered more fondly than all of the accolades.

“It’s definitely a good feeling to have all these honors, but it was definitely fun playing (at FSHS) with those guys and working with them every day is really what helped,” Heck said.