The Virginia High School League has announced its 2026 Class 4 all-state boys soccer team. Blacksburg senior midfielder Craig Huxtable is the Class 4 Player of the Year, and Blacksburg head coach Shelley Blumenthal is the Class 4 Coach of the Year.
Huxtable, the ultra-talented attacking midfielder for the Bruins, finished his senior season with 31 goals and 9 assists and finished with 72 career goals and 35 career assists. The Roanoke College signee produced big moments for the Bruins in their run-in to the state title. It was Huxtable’s game-winning goal in the region quarterfinal, along with his goal in the region championship, that earned the Bruins a place in the state quarterfinals.
On the biggest stage, he scored 3 goals and an assist in the state quarterfinal, scored the winning goal and assisted in the state semifinal, and got the first goal in the state championship game. Additionally, Huxtable earned three first-team all-region selections, was twice named All-River Ridge District Player of the Year, and two first-team all-state selections. He captained Blacksburg as a junior and senior.
Blacksburg head coach Shelley Blumenthal guided his Bruins to a 25-0 record and the program’s 13th state title with a 4-1 win over Loudoun County in the Class 4 finals following a runner-up finish in 2025. During his 33 years leading the Blacksburg program, the Virginia High School League Hall of Famer (HOF Class of 2008) produced a career record of 637 victories, 56 losses, and 25 ties.
Additionally, Blumenthal’s teams finished as state runners-up 10 times and went unbeaten in 87 matches before losing in the 2001 state final, including a 64-match winning streak from 1998-2001. He also served as the assistant men’s soccer coach at Roanoke College from 2007 to 2023-2026. He was the assistant women’s coach at Roanoke College from 2001 to 2003.
Huxtable was joined on the first-team by teammates, Keanon Kopp, Ethan Eschenmann and goalie Nathan Pratt.
Huxtable and Blumenthal, also received similar awards for Region 4D.
Huxtable was named to the first-team All-Region 4D, along with teammates, Eschenmann, Pratt, Andrew Linden and Estaban Caravajal.
