By David Shaw

For Salisbury Post

SALISBURY — The best place to discover a hidden treasure isn’t necessarily where they tell you to look.

But for Salisbury’s Yatti Avilez, the county’s boys soccer Player of the Year, it was right there.

“Word of mouth, from people who knew him,” recalled Matt Parrish, the revered coach who helped mold Avilez into a Division I college prospect. “When you have older Hispanic males talking high praise about a younger Hispanic male, that means he’s good. If they’re saying this kid can really go, you take their word for it.”

It’s been four years since Parrish and the Hornets found out just how valuable Avilez could be. As a 5-foot-4, 135-pound senior this autumn, the undersized center back anchored a stingy Salisbury defense that weighed heavy on its 23-1-2 season — one that stretched into the 2A state quarterfinals, where SHS suffered its only loss to a superior Community School of Davidson side. He contributed one goal, seven assists and helped Salisbury post 16 shutouts, including a mid-season span that saw the Central Carolina Conference champion keep 12 of 13 opponents off the tally sheet. He’s now a three-time all-conference honoree and was named the league’s defensive player of the year for the second straight year. What’s more, he’s been selected All-State and is nominated to play in next July’s East-West all-star game in Greensboro.

“That’s a lot,” Avilez agreed during a recent sit-down. “But it still comes as kind of a shock. I mean, of all the players in Rowan County, I’m the Player of the Year? If it makes my family and coaches proud of me, then I’m happy.”

Family pride has an important role in everything Avilez does — whether it’s working at a local Food Lion, driving his black Alfa Romeo or playing China Wall defense for the Hornets. He comes from a winning pedigree, following 23-year old brother Irving and 19-year old sibling Brayan, best remembered as ‘Polio.” Irving bypassed Salisbury and enrolled at Lenoir-Rhyne University as an early college entrant and second-string defender for the soccer team. Brayan thrilled audiences county-wide as a playmaking midfielder before graduating in 2022.

“Irving’s been my mentor since I was really, really young,” Avilez said. “He’d come watch me at practice and tell me what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong. He kept pushing me to be better. But most important, he taught me how to react to mistakes. Say I lost a ball or something, he taught me to fight to get it back.”

As for Polio, Avilez says he “wouldn’t be here without him.”

It’s that ingrained competitiveness, coupled with a brainy understanding of his position, that make Avilez stand alone.

“It’s his head,” said Parrish, who just put a 13th season on his coaching odometer. “He is as cerebral a player as I’ve ever had. He reads the game beautifully. He knows when to step up and when not to. He’s a leader without having to speak.”

Perhaps in that way, Avilez differs from the average 17-year-old. He rolls up his sleeves and gets to work — quietly, modestly, operating with Clemente’s eagle-like esteem. “He’s not the rah-rah type,” Parrish explained. “He’s very unassuming. There are a lot of guys in our era today that are like, ‘Put me on camera. Take a picture of me. Get me a quote in the paper.’ That’s not Yatti. He doesn’t crave the spotlight. He lets his play do the talking.”

His air-tight tackling and jackrabbit speed helped Parrish transform an underachieving team that went 12-9 and placed third in the conference standings last year into a bona fide state contender in 2023. Unbeaten through 25 matches, Salisbury outdistanced runner-up North Rowan by three-and-a-half games, captured its ninth conference championship and ranked fifth in the state’s final 2A West poll. Backboned by Avilez — and fellow defenders Mario Perez, Robert Moulton, Mohammed Jabateh and sophomore keeper Finn Avery — the Hornets allowed only 14 goals all season.

“From the start of the season, we knew this wasn’t last year,” Avilez said with an assertive hand gesture. “We had to do better if we wanted to go far in the playoffs. Last year we played a lot of kick-and-chase and didn’t connect on a lot of passes. We even had some in-fighting on the team, so something had to change. Parrish made it clear that wasn’t happening this year. We came out, started communicating better and started passing like a team. Parrish, he made us a better team.”

So did Avilez. Now comes a distinction he’ll always carry in his back pocket.

“I’m proud of our season,” he made it known. “But my main goal was to get a ring for my brothers and make my family proud. Before I left for each game, my mom would tell me to work hard and come home with a win. She wanted us to go all the way. That motivated me to do everything I could not to lose. But hey, I wanted to win right from the start.”

Not to worry. The Rowan County Player of the Year will surely be remembered as a winner.