High school boys soccer: Hornets earning the right to swagger
Published 12:00 am Saturday, September 30, 2023
Salisbury's Abdul Eliwa 2 scored 3 of Salisbury's goals in the game. photo by Wayne Hinshaw, for the Salisbury Post
Salisbury's Carlos Henriquez 16 reacts to scoring on a long penaly kick for the 4th goal. Salisbury's Mohammed Jabateh 3 on the left. photo by Wayne Hinshaw, for the Salisbury Post
Salisbury's Robert Moulton 11 and Yatti Avilez 6 both attempt to head the ball. photo by Wayne Hinshaw, for the Salisbury Post
Salisbury's Hines Busby 7. photo by Wayne Hinshaw , for the Salisbury Post
Salisbury Coach Matt Parrish. photo by Wayne Hinshaw, for the Salisbury Post
Salisbury's Leonardo Fragoso 18 and North's Kevin Alvarado 4. photo by Wayne Hinshaw, for the Salisbury Post
Salisbury's David Austin 8 and North's Salim Shamman 11. photo by Wayne Hinshaw, for the Salisbury Post
By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — Matt Parrish has guided the Salisbury boys soccer program to three 2A state titles, so he is secure in his knowledge of the game and his ability to teach the game.
He has been a Hall of Fame coach and a Hall of Fame teacher and a Hall of Fame ambassador for soccer for a very long time.
No one, except maybe Parrish’s mentor, Tom Sexton, has done more for the game locally. No one cares more about soccer being played the right way. No one cares more about the guys who play it getting a little recognition in a world that lives, eats and breathes football at this time of year.
But there were nights in 2022 when Parrish wondered if he could still relate to his players. Was his message getting through to anyone? Was he getting too old for this stuff?
The Hornets only occasionally resembled the Hornets in 2022. They looked like 11 guys who had just met for the first time on the bus, 11 guys going in 11 different directions.
There were skilled young players, but talent isn’t enough. The cohesion, the camaraderie, the joy in making a play for a teammate that were trademarks of the Hornets for decades, had drifted away somewhere.
There was a time when a Hornet celebrated getting an assist with at least as much gusto as scoring a goal, but those days appeared to be gone.
The Hornets tumbled from conference champs in 2021 to 12-9. They might throw a parade for 12-9 at some places, but this is Salisbury we’re talking about. At Salisbury, 12-9 is a borderline disaster. The Hornets lost to programs they rarely lose to and to programs they never lose to. They finished third behind East Davidson and West Davidson in their own league.
“It definitely was a negative season,” Parrish said. “It wasn’t a lot of fun for me, and I think any of our guys would tell you it wasn’t much fun for them. Any adversity we faced brought bickering. It brought finger-pointing. Mistakes were made, but no one wanted to accept responsibility for a mistake. It was someone else’s fault.”
The world spins and the seasons change, The Hornets have changed. It’s nearly October, and they are still undefeated. They are 13-0-1.
“We still have that doughnut in the middle of our record,” Parrish said proudly.
Parrish pulled off the road late Thursday, so he could watch that night’s victory celebration on his phone and smile. He saw his young assistant coach sprinting in celebration with his players. He saw Hornets jumping around and hugging each other and enjoying that tight-knit feeling everyone gets when the chemistry is right.
All four of Salisbury’s All-CCC players returned from 2022. That quartet of special players includes prolific scorer Abdul Eliwa, Carlos Henriquez, David Austin and Yatti Avilez, who was the CCC Defensive Player of the Year,
So most of the key names haven’t changed, but that elusive, intangible known as chemistry has returned to Ludwig Stadium.
So what’s happened in a year’s time?
“It’s maturity, it’s being a year older, it’s buying in, having the right attitude,” Parrish said. “It had to start with me being a better coach, and I’ve demanded more discipline this year. Our guys have learned it’s a lot more fun when they work together and stick together. Look, when you put on that Salisbury jersey there’s a certain amount of swagger that comes with it because of what this program did under Coach Sexton and because of the success this program has continued to have. But these guys hadn’t earned anything yet and they had to learn the hard way that opponents weren’t going to walk off the field just because they were Salisbury. There’s a long way to go, but right now we’re playing like a team that is going to earn that swagger. We are playing like a team that can add something to the legacy of Salisbury soccer.”
Defensively, Salisbury has been a brick wall. The Hornets have scored 56 goals while allowing seven.
They have made their first tour of the seven-team CCC. They allowed one goal during those six victories.
Freshman Mohammed Jabateh has been a huge addition. He has solidified the back line. When teams do manage to get shots against the Hornets, sophomore keeper Finnegan Avery has been able to handle most of them.
Competitive practices have helped the team get sharper.
“I used to keep 18 players, but then a couple of guys get hurt and a couple can’t make it to practice and you can’t go as hard in practice as you want to,” Parrish said. “This year we got 24 brand new uniforms and I kept 30 guys. It’s been competitive and we’ve had the best possible dynamic, with the older guys helping to teach the young guys.”
Parrish gives much credit for the great start to this season to assistant coach Landon Goodman, a two-time CCC Player of the Year and a young man who scored 113 goals in his high school days, including 66 — yes, 66 — when the Hornets rolled to the 2015 state championship.
“I think all the guys know I’ve got rings and they know about the banners,” Parrish said. “But Landon has a certain amount of credibility with our players. He bridges the gap between the players and me. They know he played not that long ago. When Landon tells them this is what we did the year we won state, well, they’re going to listen.”
Salisbury just came through a grueling week. The Hornets went to West Stanly, a long haul on Monday, and won 3-0. Parrish checked off one more box on his team’s redemption tour. Salisbury lost to the Colts last year.
On Wednesday, a vastly improved North Rowan came to Ludwig Stadium hyped up and ready to tangle with the Hornets. North had not lost in the CCC, but the Hornets handled the challenge, 4-0. Eliwa registered a hat trick.
“Eliwa is very crafty in space and unless you’re waiting in front of him, you’re beat,” Parrish said. “If you’re running beside him, you’re beat.”
Parrish was impressed with the new-look Cavaliers.
“North is feisty, aggressive, tough,” Parrish said. “We scored four goals against them, but one was a PK and one was off a set piece and took a perfect shot by Henriquez. North can be a real problem in the 1A playoffs.”
Salisbury also had a late addition to the schedule. That was the Ledford game that was played on Thursday.
“Ledford had a game canceled and they called us and said they would come to us,” Parrish said. “Ledford’s record isn’t that impressive, but they’re 3A, they’ve played a lot of good teams and they just got a stud player back from injury. We accepted the game. We needed it to help with our RPI.”
Instead of help, the Hornets almost got their first loss. They were down 1-0 most of the match, but they took control the last 20 minutes and won 2-1. A Ledford player was red-carded and the Hornets took advantage. Eliwa scored one goal and assisted Austin on the other.
“There was plenty of adversity against Ledford, every opportunity to fold, but we didn’t,” Parrish said. “I told our guys that this was a game that we would have lost 4-0 last year because we would have fallen apart when things didn’t roll our way. But this is a different team and a different year.”
If Parrish needed any confirmation, the Ledford game let him know he can still get through to the young players. They’ll still listen to his message. Both of Salisbury’s goals came because the Hornets implemented Parrish’s halftime adjustments. He’d preached to the Hornets to stop trying to beat Ledford via the air and to look to make solid plays on the ground.
Eliwa came up to Parrish after the match, grinned and said. “On the carpet, Coach. Both of our goals started on the carpet.”
Parrish smiled. Soccer is fun again.
The Hornets have scored often on the carpet over the years.
Sexton’s Hornet teams were 351-107-28, with 13 conference championships and four trips to regional finals.
Parrish took the reins of the boys program in 2011 and is 237-47-15 with those three state rings and eight more conference banners.
Between Sexton and Parrish, that’s 588 wins, 154 losses and 43 ties. Those are dynastic numbers.
Those are staggering, swaggering numbers.
And now there’s a new group of Hornets that have learned some hard lessons. Now they are determined to earn the right to swagger.
