CARY — Soccer season never really stops for Mount Airy soccer coach Will Hurley.
Hurley and his assistant coach/son Holden started coaching boys soccer in January. The season lasted through mid-March, which overlapped with the girls soccer season. Then, the girls played through April.
There were only a few weeks available for rest as the tryouts for the BODYARMOR State Games, previously the Powerade State Games, took place in May with the actual competition being held in June.
Despite the quick turnaround and lower participation than previous years, Hurley and the South team had a successful run in the boys soccer competition.
The South team took home a silver medal after losing the gold medal match in penalty kicks.
“This was a great experience once again, even with the quick turnaround,” said Hurley, who has coached in the state games every year since 2012. “I always like doing this because it’s really rewarding and a lot fun for the kids.”
Hurley’s teams in the State Games have reached the gold medal match the last three tournaments. After six years of bronze medals, Hurley’s teams finally got over the hump with a silver medal in 2018, a gold medal in 2019 and then the silver medal in 2021.
This year’s games were an uphill battle from the start. Just as Hurley was still coaching at Mount Airy through April, student-athletes were still in school for most of May. Those participating in spring sports through their respective schools still had games through June as well.
This took away from the total number of players trying out, and also meant some of the players that did make the team would be limited for practices and games. Hurley said the team only got one real practice together before the tournament began on June 19.
Hurley and Holden were assisted by Northern Guilford’s Aaron King.
The coaches were tasked with forming a roster from a tryout that featured players from the following counties: Surry, Stokes, Rockingham, Caswell, Yadkin, Forsyth, Guilford, Alamance, Davie, Davidson, Randolph, Rowan, Cabarrus, Stanly, Montgomery, Union, Anson and Richmond.
Due to the 2020 games being postponed, members of the class of 2021 were eligible to try out this year. The tryouts are usually reserved for rising sophomores, juniors and seniors.
Six Surry county players were selected for the team.
“Our Surry County kids really played their butts off,” Hurley said.
Mount Airy led the way with four selections: Carlos Salmeron (‘21), William Ortiz-Luna (‘21), Noah Hart (‘22) and Pablo Salmeron (‘23).
All four Granite Bears were named to the Northwest 1A All-Conference team this past season, and Carlos Salmeron was named Defensive Player of the Year.
East Surry’s lone selection was Nick Lowery (‘22), who earned All-Conference Honors in the NW1A as well.
Elkin keeper Thomas McComb (‘22) rounded out the six local players. He received All-Conference Honors in the Mountain Valley Athletic Conference in 2021.
The remainder of the South roster was: Christ the King’s Trey Ranaletta and Marcos Frias; Forbush’s Alexander Salgado; Lexington Senior’s Djovany Worley; Grimsley’s Aiden Bradshaw, Zack Davis and John Johnson; Gray Stone Day’s Quentin Hippert; Western Alamance’s Ian Bacchus, Gael Villegas-Duran and Jose Lopez; Richmond Senior’s Alex Medina; Northern Guilford’s William Murphy.
The tournament began with group play on Saturday, June 19, at Cary’s WakeMed Soccer Park.
The South began the weekend with a 2-1 win over the West. Later that afternoon, the South fell to the North 3-2.
Hurley said the South was missing five of its players on Saturday due to the Regional Track and Field Championships taking place the same day. When those players returned on Sunday, the South was without two of its players that suffered injuries Saturday.
Mount Airy’s Hart was hurt and unable to play Sunday, and another South player broke his wrist in a game on Saturday.
The South team was back in action early on Sunday morning against the team from the East. Hurley’s team put up goal after goal to win 7-3. The North and South finished first and second, respectively, and met for the championship Sunday afternoon.
The championship game was a tough battle by both teams. Another injury, this time a broken collarbone, took another player from the South.
“None of the injuries looked intentional or came from dirty plays,” Hurley said. “It was just unfortunate to see. They were playing a really high level of soccer and some unlucky things just happened.”
The North and South were closely matched and were tied at the end of regulation. The South had a penalty kick in the overtime period, but put it off frame.
The game was tied at the end of overtime and had to be decided by penalty kicks. The North missed its first PK but didn’t miss again. The South missed its third attempt and its fifth.
“I told them after the match to hold their heads up because this was one of the greatest silver medals I ever got,” Hurley said. “It was such a hard-fought battle. Given everything going on, it was amazing just to get into the medal match. I was really proud of them; it was a really good group of kids.
“It was a good learning experience in the fact that, and I told the kids this, if you want something bad enough you have to go out there and give everything. Even then, sometimes you don’t get it, but we fought our hardest and really did overcome a lot.”
The returning athletes are set to begin official practices for their respective schools on August 2.
The BODYARMOR State Games of North Carolina are the largest multi-sport festival in the state and one of the largest State Games programs in the United States. The BODYARMOR State Games is an annual event and features 30 sports, 12,000 athletes and 600 teams each year. Visit ncsports.org/state-games/ for more information.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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