Melchionni stood out as a wing player on face-offs with his quickness to get to the X and then his knack for finding the ball out of the scrums. He does a good job of communicating with his FOGO to be an outlet between the legs if needed and when in a defensive set. He shows good speed at the LSM position and has the ability to match speed with his opponent when being dodged on and the strength to lay hard checks to the gloves and times his checks well to dislodge the ball. Another outstanding quality that the Bernardsville (N.J.) native shows is his effort and hustle to the end lines to run out shots and fight for possessions in the ground ball battles which cannot be taught.

The younger brother of former New Balance Senior Game MVP and current Villanova All-American LSM Jake Melchionni, Max shows plenty of big bro’s influence in his game, which is quite unfortunate for anyone on Leading Edge’s schedule. Simply put, he’s a menace all over the field. Fleet of foot and blessed with elite hands, Melchionni made a living out of putting the ball on the ground in spectacular fashion, cleanly corralling the ball off the turf on the first try, and sparking plays off the wing and transition that changed the course of every game. His reel from the weekend was a thing of beauty, and I’d imagine we’ll be hearing a lot from Melchionni over the next few years.