Fort Payne’s Cristian Barrientos has been named 2023 Gatorade Alabama Boys Soccer Player of the Year.

The 5-foot-10, 155-pound junior spent time at forward, midfield and defense this past season for the Wildcats (28-2-2) and led them to the 6A state championship.

Barrientos finished with 40 goals and seven assists and was named MVP of the 6A state championship game. He netted all four of his team’s goals in a 4-3 win over Montgomery Academy.

“Cristian has excellent foot skills on the ball, moves well with the ball at his feet and plays very quickly,” Hartselle High School head coach Dan Bennich said in a Gatorade release. “He has excellent field vision and switches the ball very well.”

Barrientos is Fort Payne’s first boys soccer player of the year.

He joins recent Gatorade Alabama Boys Soccer Players of the Year Jack Heaps (2021-22, Mountain Brook High School), Jackson Nabors (2020-21, Indian Springs School), Tony Shaw (2019-20, Vestavia Hills High School) and Logan Frost (2018-19, Briarwood Christian School) among the state’s list of former award winners.