Dark Horses aim to continue winning on the pitch

Clinton’s soccer program, with Brad Spell at the helm, has seen success on the pitch the last few seasons, but they are still hungry for more, says the long-time coach.

For the past three seasons, the Dark Horses have made the playoffs for 2A boys soccer. Last year, they made it to the fourth round, where they were knocked out by Greene Central, 2-1, in double overtime. The year before that, though, they had heartbreak when they made it to the state championship, but lost in an overtime shootout.

On the road to their playoff run last season, Clinton went 22-3-1 overall and 7-0-1 in the SAC-6 Conference. “It’s always good,” said Spell, on how that felt. “We’re blessed to be in a good conference, with the SAC-6. Midway had a fantastic team last year; Coach Russ Warren did a super job with them. They actually came down here and tied us 2-2.”

“It’s always a good thing, when you can win your conference,” he continued, “because it helps get you ready for the playoffs. It gets you a good, high seed in the playoffs.”

Spell is going into his 26th year coaching high school soccer, which he said, with a smile and slight chuckle, he still “has the juice for.”

“We’ve got a hungry group coming back,” the Dark Horse coach said. “And I think that’s the key for us: to be hungry. Sometimes you get a group that comes in, and they think they’re going to duplicate what they did before, automatically. And it doesn’t work that way.”

Spell said he knows of the notoriety that their high levels of play have brought the Dark Horses. “Our motto has always been ‘through darkness, eyes will see’, but the stand-off to that is ‘pressure is a privilege’. We know we’re going to have a target on our back all the time, and we want that.”

The graduating class of ‘24 has left six open spots on the roster for Clinton soccer, but Spell is confident the players stepping into those roles will be successful. “I’ve got a great group coming back, a fun group coming back, a fantastic coaching staff coming back, so I’m excited about the season,” he said.

Part of that confidence, he noted, is the fact that the CHS JV soccer team went undefeated last season, and some of those kids will be moving up to varsity this season. “Like I said, we’ve got a good core of guys that were juniors last year, now they’re going to be seniors, and they’re going to have to take that leadership role … the key is, if they really want it, and they’re hungry, we’ve got an opportunity to do something special here,” he asserted.

One thing that Spell prides himself and his team on is conditioning. “Each and every year, once school gets out, we get them here from about 7 to 8:15; we do all conditioning in the morning. Tuesday and Thursday nights, we do skills and scrimmage. We’ll do that throughout the summer, except that two-week dead period where we can’t touch them. But, we pretty much work them all summer to make sure they are physically in great shape, because when you’re in physically great shape, you’re also in mentally great shape,” said Spell.

“One thing I’ve learned as a coach,” he stressed, regarding who the players are that are going to step up this season, “is that I’ve got some key players in my head, but we’re going to do it as a team. If it’s a senior, a junior, or even if it’s a sophomore, it doesn’t matter — we’re in this together. It doesn’t matter if you get 80 minutes of playing time or if you get five minutes of playing time, it’s about the team. We have some players that we know will step up, but we always push that teamwork.”

With their focus on this season, Spell said they’re trying to continue their winning traditions and culture. “Winning and losing is a habit,” Spell offered. “When I first started coaching here, 20-something years ago, I lost 39 soccer matches in a row. Not only did I lose 39 soccer matches, but we were losing them eight, 10, [to] nothing. So, you get a good feeder program, you get a good middle school team, you get them playing year-round.”

The sentiment about year-round soccer has been shared among many local soccer coaches, something that many say wasn’t around for a long time. Coaches of other sports have highlighted the importance of ‘club’ sports as well, like basketball and volleyball.

Clinton opens their season Aug. 12 with an away game at North Johnston.