Redemption arc

The culmination of the 2022 soccer season for Clinton saw them lose in overtime penalty kicks to the Owen Warhorses, a game that’s still fresh in many minds, including head coach Brad Spell’s. The Dark Horses didn’t falter, though, and got their revenge in the form of another state championship this season, ending a historic run on the pitch.

Clinton outscored their opponents 138-14 this season, which was good enough for a 28-2 overall record. Their two losses came by a combined four goals; a 1-0 loss to 3A giant Croatan and a 3-1 defeat at the hands of then-reigning state champions Franklin Academy. Along the way, the Dark Horses got revenge on Greene Central twice for knocking them out of the playoffs last season — once in the regular season at home, 2-0, and once more when they hosted their first-ever eastern regional championship, another 2-0 victory at the Dark Horse Soccer Complex that punched their ticket to the state championship against Southwestern Randolph. It was that very round — the eastern regional championship — where Greene Central knocked them out a season ago.

The Dark Horses scored nearly 10 goals for every goal scored against them along the way, which means they averaged a mercy rule in every single contest this season — an unheard of statistic, especially as the game of soccer continues to grow. Clinton landed at the No. 6 team in the state across all divisions this year, and No. 53 in the entire country.

Griffin Williams, who was a member of the ‘22 squad, said this year’s state championship was “something we’ve dreamed of.” Williams had eight points, six assists, and 22 points to his name that year, which was his sophomore season. This year, as a senior, he had 27 goals, 30 assists, and 84 points. His efforts in assists got him the No. 1 spot in the conference, No. 1 in 2A East, No. 7 in the state, and No. 24 nationally. He also ranked No. 3 in 2A East for points and No. 10 in goals. In the conference, he was first in in points and second in goals, but Dark Horses littered the top of the leaderboards across points, goals, and assists. Holden Spell grabbed third in points with 67, third in goals with 23, and second with 21 assists. JJ Najera snagged the third spot at the top of the leaderboard with 15 assists.

The Dark Horses have a signature style to their game, which many would say is how they won a lot of their games — a strong offensive attack at first, coupled with a blanketing defense that is seemingly unrelenting. This was key to their success, especially against tougher opponents late in the season and in the playoffs. Williams attributed this to their defense, saying that it “mostly goes to the back line.”

“Before the season started, we were like, ‘We want to break all these records,’ and we were trying to. We just did not want to concede at all. We didn’t want to lose a game,” said Williams on the attitude and tenacity involved. “So, it was just always in our mind, like, don’t let them score; outscore the other team.”

The defensive pressure from Clinton doesn’t let up throughout the game, either. They continue to pester and bother opponents, protecting their own goal while having an onslaught offensively. Their ability to do that throughout the game, all the way until the final whistle, is credited to their conditioning program, many of the players and coaches said.

“Everything,” Williams said, regarding the worst part of Clinton’s ‘Hell Week’ of conditioning just before the season starts.

“It starts in May,” assistant coach Adam Smith said. “We meet up in May and start doing Monday through Thursday — Tuesday and Thursday are sometimes running 5Ks, sometimes we’ll have a little fun and do volley soccer or some sand soccer. We always mix it up so they have to come. They don’t know if it’s going to be fun. It’s really the boys — they show up and put the work in, and that’s the reason why we’re fit.”

“It’s not just 10 boys showing up, it’s 30. It helps, when you have the competition to make everybody better,” said assistant coach Jonathan Jacobs, echoing Smith’s sentiment. “We do six practices a week (during summer) — we do four practices in the mornings, Monday through Thursday, and two in the afternoons on Tuesday and Thursday, where we actually touch the ball.”

While some members of this year’s team were on the one from 2022, this was a first-time experience for much of the squad. “It was really light. Most of us just hung out, like early in the morning to get our minds right. We got breakfast as a team and we just hung around each other the whole day before making our way over there,” David Paz said, on his preparations for his first trip to a state championship game. “We prayed, and we put it on God. That’s all God’s work,” he said.

Part of the preparation for a title bout, though, involves a North Carolina fast food staple as a tradition, said Paz. “I find it rather funny, but we go eat at Bojangles a lot every time before a game,” he said.

Two members of this year’s team — Holden Spell and Oskar Adasiak — had older brothers on the previous team that made it to the state finals, which created a talking point around both of their Thanksgivings, they said.

“I’ve dreamed of this my whole life,” said Holden, the son of head coach Brad Spell, and brother of Walker Spell. “I’ve seen my dad win the first one, and I was just like, ‘I want this to be me one day.’ At the Thanksgiving table, it was just happiness. Everybody’s saying congratulations, you did good.”

“Oh yeah, all the time,” the younger Spell said, when asked if he was going to brag to his older brother about his championship hardware. “I’m gonna start doing that all the time — oh yeah.”

“I mean, it’s so relieving,” Adasiak said, on how the state championship felt this year. “My brother, was on that team as well and he was like, a big player on that team. So, watching him lose it kind of motivated me to go and do it all for him this year.”

“Oh, yeah,” he responded, to the same little-sibling question that was asked of Spell.

While Clinton went on a historic run this season, many of the players noted that the team had a ‘one game at a time’ mentality, focusing on their next game, rather than looking too far ahead.

“The vibes during the playoffs were kind of more focused on just one game at a time,” said defender Ryan Freeman. “(We were) really trying not to look forward, like too far ahead, and be like, ‘Oh yeah, we can do this, or if we win this, we play them and them and them, and so on.’ It’s more of just one game at a time.”

Brad Spell, who just completed his 26th season as a soccer coach, has now coached the children of players he coached in the past. Beyond that, two of his former players are currently on his staff, signifying the program that Spell has built. Adam Smith, who graduated in 2009, and Jonathan Jacobs, who graduated in 2010, were both assistant coaches under Spell this season. This was Jacobs’ second-straight state championship game, as he coached the Hobbton Wildcats to their state championship appearance last season, before returning to what he referred to as “home” with the Dark Horses this year.

“Your goal in high school is to win a state championship,” said Jacobs. “We didn’t get the chance to do that in our four years. I think at that point, soccer in Sampson County was in its early stages, and it was the stepping stone to get where we are now. I think we were a part of the first travel team in Sampson County. But, it feels good.”

“Clinton’s small,” he continued. “There’s not much to do in Clinton, but I love it, because it’s home. And I’ve always wanted to come back and be able to give back to the community. Hobbton, I know is right down the road, but it’s not home. I love Hobbton, but Clinton’s home. I’m glad this opportunity came and I was able to be a part of this program, because I played under it.”

“Good answer, J(onathan),” Smith said, which elicited laughter from the entire room. “It (coaching soccer) was something I always wanted to do. I went off to school, and I knew immediately that I wanted to come back here, I wanted to be a P.E. teacher, and I wanted to coach soccer. Could I make more money other places? Absolutely. But my Achilles heel is that I always want to coach. First Flight put me out my senior year, and I was able to pay them back a couple times.”

This was Clinton’s second state championship in soccer.