The Mount Airy soccer program has reached new heights during Will Hurley’s tenure as head coach.
Hurley coached at Midway High School up until nine years ago. He took over the Mount Airy girls program in the spring of 2011 and the boy’s in the fall of 2012.
In that time, Hurley’s boys and girls’ teams have set school records in goals scored, both as a team and individually, as well as wins in a single season.
Hurley didn’t even notice that he reached a career milestone during the girl’s season. It was revealed by Mount Airy Athletics’ Twitter account (@GraniteBears) on Sunday that Hurley had won his 250th match with Mount Airy before the girls season was suspended due to COVID-19.
He set the milestone on March 6 thanks to a 9-0 win over Salem Baptist Christian.
“I found out when everybody else did,” Hurley said.
If it seems like Hurley just recorded a win milestone, that’s because it wasn’t that long ago. The News published an article on Aug. 24, 2017, honoring Hurley’s 200th career win (when including his time at Midway).
At that time, Hurley had a combined 159 wins at Mount Airy and 41 at Midway. He was able to reach the 250 mark with the Granite Bears so quickly thanks to the historic seasons by both the boys and girls teams in the past three years.
Hurley’s 91 wins from August 2017 to March 6 of this year were accompanied by just 24 losses and two ties (77.8% wins). His boys record in that span was 61-7-1 and his girls’ was 30-17-1.
2017 turning point
The girls, who never finished a season above .500 until 2014, set a school-record of 15 wins in 2017. This came in a year when two Northwest 1A Conference teams, East Surry and Bishop McGuinness, went on to reach the West Regional semifinals. Hurley’s girls went on to set the school record for single-season win percentage (65.2%) in 2019 by finishing 15-7-1.
The boys set the school record for single-season wins with 23 in 2017, which included the program’s first Final Four appearance. The boys tied that record in 2019 with another appearance in the West Regional Final. The boys were eliminated by private schools in both instances. In fact, Hurley’s boys haven’t lost a match to a traditional 1A school since 2016.
Hurley mentioned that a game-changing moment for the program was when he and his coaching staff, consisting of sons Holden and Wes, started going to Mount Airy Middle School to generate interest in the sport.
“I think in the past some people didn’t really consider playing until we got to soccer season,” Hurley said. “It was considered more of a social event. We talked to them about how you have got to work in the offseason for this to happen. No one is going to give you wins. Thankfully, the kids bought in.”
He also mentioned former Mount Airy principal Sandy George as someone that helped the programs grow, saying Mrs. George allowed him to speak at Mount Airy’s freshman orientation.
“Obviously I’d love to have everyone play soccer, but we told them that whatever sport they want to do they should go at it,” Hurley said. “Whether that’s football, tennis, volleyball, golf, whatever. Give it all and the results will follow.”
This year will be the first time since 2016 that the Hurley’s weren’t able to visit middle schoolers in April due to COVID-19.
The other part of strengthening the programs was a strong bond between the players and coaches, of which Hurley has spoken passionately over the last few years.
“The biggest thing overall was transforming it into a family. I’ve had kids in the past that lose and honestly couldn’t have cared less. You know, I don’t like for kids to cry, but when they do, you realize it meant something to them. You’re coaching kids that want to win and want to play for something. They’re invested in one another and don’t want to let anyone down.”
The 2019 boys team started the season 20-0 and only gave up one goal in that span. Hurley mentioned how proud he was of his family in each post-game interview. He said he saw that kind of bond forming with the girls in the spring of 2020, but the season was cut short.
“We’ve had some really, really good players in the past, but as a whole, this was the best girl’s team I’d ever had,” Hurley said. “A good overall group that really wanted to get better.”
In his first few years with Mount Airy, Hurley said there were times that the team had to recruit their friends to make sure the team had enough subs. This is no longer the case as Mount Airy formed its first-ever JV girls team this spring.
“That’s something that a lot of people considered unthinkable,” Hurley said. “I want to thank our athletic directors and administration for allowing us to do that. It was a really great thing for the program even if we don’t get to finish.”
He made sure to stress the ‘if’ in that sentence. Hurley still has hope that his three seniors, Olivia Malone, Kamya Rose and Samantha Stewart, will be able to have one last ride in their final season.
“I would give up every win I’ve ever had to see my three senior girls finish the season.”
Hurley said he’s been calling coaches around the state to see if there’s anything they can do to let the girls play again in some form. A number of different ideas have been thrown out, including forming multiple teams to complete in the Powerade state games.
However, none of the ideas can escape the brainstorming phase until the pandemic has been controlled.
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Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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