Fineboy, 16 – who pronounces his full name CHEE-uh FINE-boy – will likely have a lot to say about both. In fact, he already does.

"I have confidence that if we can win the [Public League] championship last night, then I know for sure we can win the state championship," Fineboy said during a break from homework yesterday. "We have trust in everybody on our team. It doesn't matter if you start or sit on the bench."

His comments may sound naive considering Washington fell hard last year to North Catholic, 3-0, in the city championship and then was dismantled, 6-0, by eventual state champion Downingtown West in the first round of states.

But Fineboy wasn't there for Washington's late 2008 disappointment. He was playing premier club soccer at St. Croix Soccer Club in Stillwater, Minn.

"He's an instinctual player, and his instincts are pretty darn good," said Marc Baumbach, Fineboy's coach for three years at St. Croix and who is in his first year as head coach of Division III Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa.

"He's really keyed into doing well all the time. He had a work rate that to me is unparalleled. . . . He always wants to do well."

In three years with St. Croix, Fineboy was the leading goal scorer for his under-15 team and scored in double digits for both the under-16 and under-17 teams in his final two years. The club won the Minnesota state championship at the under-16 level and then was promoted to the premier Midwest regional division the following season, in which Fineboy and his team advanced all the way to the state final.

Fineboy also advanced to the Minnesota state quarterfinal with his Fridley high school team as a freshman.

Baumbach said top-tier Division I programs have expressed interest in Fineboy, including Northern Illinois of the Mid-American Conference and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay of the Horizon League, which sits just outside the top 25 in the latest NSCAA/Adidas Division I rankings.

Washington's only two losses this season were to Northeast and Bartram, when Fineboy was suspended by the school for four straight games midseason for acting out in the classroom.

"He got into a little bit of trouble at school, did some things he shouldn't have, talked to the teachers, apologized to the teachers and the team," Washington first-year coach Chris Reid said. "So that was a little learning moment there."

Fineboy has rebounded to become Washington's second-leading scorer with 10 goals and five assists, behind senior Guy Sipka's 13 goals and five assists.

He scored the first goal in Washington's semifinal victory over Lincoln, meaning he has heated up with three of his team's four goals in its last two games as the pressure has mounted.

"He brings an element of ball control and speed that other teams, in my opinion, haven't seen before," Reid said. "He brings the skill not only of passing and playing the game, but then he also just runs. His change of pace is unprecedented."

"My goal is to make it to the professional level," Fineboy said.

And he has family support by his side. Sister Sankie, 15, is a sophomore at Washington, and his father, Samuel, is a retired former professional soccer player now working in the Philadelphia area.

So Fineboy, known as "Chi-Chi" during his days at St. Croix, said his success in the last week is only going to increase as Washington gets deeper into this year's postseason.

"If we're on the soccer field, I could be afraid sometimes," Fineboy said, respecting the opposition, "but if I score, that's different."

He chuckled. "I get excited to score more goals."