Put aside his talent, his 6-foot-3 frame, his knowledge of the game and his incredible work ethic.

All those things have made Jonathan Blaine a great soccer player. But what stands out the most is a quality that is essential to being a great central defender.

While Blaine could have been successful at any position on the soccer field, he chose one that gets little recognition. He anchored the Tiger defense for three years. He had few opportunities to score goals or get his name in the boxscore. But that wasn’t his goal. Team wins were the first and only objective.

It was that unselfishness that made Blaine the best player in the Colonial League this season and one of the top players in the state. After leading Northwestern to two deep runs in the PIAA tournament, Blaine ends his high school career as the fourth straight Northwestern player to be named the Times News Boys Soccer Player of the Year.

“The team success is No. 1 most fun thing about playing soccer for me,” Blaine said. “I love playing defense because there are big plays you can make in the back that will rejuvenate the team and get people going. The cliché that offense wins games and defense wins championships, it’s not just the back line, it’s team defense. To be a part of that is something I treasure.”

Blaine, who will play at Lehigh next year, has been a starter for four seasons, including the past three years as the team’s central defender.

This season the Tigers allowed just 10 goals while going 24-1-1 and reaching the state title game. They posted 20 shut outs in those 26 games with Blaine and four-year starting goal keeper Kyle Bellhorn (55 career shut outs) leading the defense.

“Kyle and I were both vocal leaders,” said Blaine. “It was great to have him back there pumping me up and I would do the same. We’ve been playing together for so long.

“Our midfield three of Brad (Shafer), Noah (Seng-DeLong) and Dominic (Mertz) worked well together. I’d know the runs they would be making and they knew the runs our forwards would be making.”

Blaine and his classmates led Northwestern to new heights two straight years. They won the program’s first state playoff game in 2015 then topped that with three PIAA wins en route to this year’s title game appearance.

He considers his individual accolades just another part of the team’s success.

“While it is an individual award, it really reflects well on the team,” said Blaine. “I think it’s the fourth straight year we’ve had a Times News Player of the Year. The team success really helps propel our players to have this opportunity. I’m just really proud.”

Blaine follows in the footsteps of JD Haaf (2015), Brandon Herb (2014) and Kyle Willis (2013), who are just the most recent of the eight Northwestern players who have been named boys soccer player of the year by the Times News since 1992.

Blaine played many sports growing up but settled in on soccer and basketball by high school. After his first season of high school basketball, the freshman gave up hoops to focus on soccer full-time, year-round.

Since eighth grade Blaine has played for Lehigh Valley United in the club season. He played some forward in his first season with LVU, but before long he was back in his favorite part of the field.

“It was a temporary thing,” said Blaine, who scored eight goals this fall. “I always knew I was best in the back than anywhere else. I transitioned to defense and stayed there ever since.”

Blaine, who carries a 3.96 grade point average and plans to major in international business with a minor in Spanish, was a perfect fit for the position of central defender.

“Jonathan possesses a great work ethic and an amazing skill set,” said Northwestern head coach Nate Hunsicker. “He is a very talented young man and has a lot of natural ability, but he’s also worked very hard to be where he is today.”

Blaine enjoyed the leadership role and embraced it from his sophomore season, when he was voted a captain by his teammates.

He was part of a league title as a freshman in 2013. After going 14-5 in his sophomore season, the Tigers went on a two-year run that few players get to experience.

In 2015 they posted a 24-2 record with 17 shut outs while allowing just 10 goals and reaching the state semifinal. They became the first Northwestern boys soccer team to win league and district titles in the same season. They successfully defended titles both this fall.

“Before we came in we hadn’t won a league title in a while,” said Blaine. “Freshman year we got one, and that’s a credit to that year’s seniors. It was their championship.

“We won the first double gold in my junior year, winning our first state playoff game that year.

“It was so unifying for the community, which is maybe the thing we’re proudest about. To see what we could do for New Tripoli and the Lehigh Valley in general was just so special.”