Seniors the heart of Knights’ latest championship run
By Paul Durham wilson daily times
Sports Editor
While there were plenty of underclassmen, and even a middle-schooler or two, who played vital roles in Greenfield School’s most recent boys soccer state championship team, the three seniors in the starting lineup were the undeniable heart of the Knights’ 14th championship edition.
But that was to be expected as forward James Wells, midfielder Logan Johnson and goalkeeper Cedric Kirby have been playing together for a long time, even for young men born in the 1990s.
“It feels amazing,” Kirby said after the Knights stopped Wayne Country Day 3-1 in Saturday’s North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 1-A final at Greenfield’s Forbes Field. “Logan and James are my brothers. I’ve been playing with them since we were, like, 7 years old.”
Indeed, a decade ago Wells and Kirby were teammates on the Wilson Youth Soccer Association Explosion Red U10 team while Johnson played for the Explosion Gray. A year later, Johnson joined them on the Red squad that was coached by current Corinth Holders boys soccer head coach and athletic director Brent Walston and counted Hunt senior Cooper Dean, Wilson Christian senior Denning Hudson and North Johnston senior Ian Walston on the roster.
“There’s nobody else I’d want to win a state championship with,” assured Wells of his longtime teammates.
Johnson, Kirby and Wells — who were joined on the Knights’ championship team by fellow senior and backup goalkeeper Ron Patel — were in eighth grade when Greenfield last won a state title in 2012, the 12th under legendary head coach Ben Forbes. However, all three were members of the junior varsity team that season.
Forbes, whose contract wasn’t extended after the 2013-14 school year, noted when he left that group of players was going to win a state title before they were done.
It didn’t come easy though. In Forbes’ final season in 2013, the Knights went 9-14-2 and lost to Hickory Christian in the second round of the NCISAA playoffs.
The next year (2014) in Greenfield’s first season under Forbes’ successor, former Barton College standout Randol Mendoza, the Knights went 12-10 and lost in the state semifinals, again to Hickory Christian.
Last year, Greenfield was certainly in position to end its brief championship drought but the Knights lost a 1-0 heartbreaker at Wayne Country Day in the NCISAA semifinals as the Chargers went on to capture the state title.
Thus, the dye was set for Greenfield to make Forbes’ words ring true. But it took Mendoza and his assistant coaches, former Knights star Russell Stone and Luis Giron, to wring it out of this group of Knights.
Mendoza knew there were high expectations when he took the Greenfield job. After all, he would be following the man who led the Knights to 12 state titles and playing on the field named for him. But the calm, focused Mendoza, whose Barton teammates still call “Chi Chi,” knew his players would cash in on all the hard work they had put in.
“I’m super proud of them,” Mendoza said in the afterglow of Saturday’s victory, his shirt still wet from the water-cooler drenching his exuberant players had given him minutes earlier. “You guys get to see the final package at the end of the day and see the state championship won, but all the preparation behind the scenes, the sacrifices these players make, the practices and the parents traveling to and from games — there’s so much that leads up to this. I’ve coached numerous teams throughout my time here in Wilson and to win it the way we did and then just the support that you receive from the school and the community, it’s something that I haven’t encountered in my time of coaching. It’s nice! It’s nice! We’re happy!”
The senior starters will be missed, particularly the 51 goals and 22 assists that Wells produced this season, along with Johnson’s 17 goals and 17 assists.
“He is so focused on scoring goals and it’s hard to find players who do that,” Mendoza said of Wells. “You don’t come around too many players who can score (51 goals). It’s hard to find a player who can do that and I don’t care if it’s across private or public (schools), when somebody can generate that many goals and create attention, you just want to have him on your team.”
But the future remains bright for the Knights, who may be starting a new dynasty under Mendoza. Sophomore Jackson Stone, who was named to the NCISAA 1-A all-state team along with Wells, Johnson and Kirby; junior Argenis Rodriguez, who scored the first goal Saturday for Greenfield; junior center back Davis Currin and defender junior Kris Castete head a talented returning cast. Castete joined Stone, Johnson, Kirby and Wells on the all-Coastal Plain Independents Conference squad.
“It’s a good feeling,” Johnson said following Saturday’s championship celebration. “I’m graduating and leaving a championship for them to hopefully defend next year.”
By Paul Durham wilson daily times
Sports Editor
While there were plenty of underclassmen, and even a middle-schooler or two, who played vital roles in Greenfield School’s most recent boys soccer state championship team, the three seniors in the starting lineup were the undeniable heart of the Knights’ 14th championship edition.
But that was to be expected as forward James Wells, midfielder Logan Johnson and goalkeeper Cedric Kirby have been playing together for a long time, even for young men born in the 1990s.
“It feels amazing,” Kirby said after the Knights stopped Wayne Country Day 3-1 in Saturday’s North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 1-A final at Greenfield’s Forbes Field. “Logan and James are my brothers. I’ve been playing with them since we were, like, 7 years old.”
Indeed, a decade ago Wells and Kirby were teammates on the Wilson Youth Soccer Association Explosion Red U10 team while Johnson played for the Explosion Gray. A year later, Johnson joined them on the Red squad that was coached by current Corinth Holders boys soccer head coach and athletic director Brent Walston and counted Hunt senior Cooper Dean, Wilson Christian senior Denning Hudson and North Johnston senior Ian Walston on the roster.
“There’s nobody else I’d want to win a state championship with,” assured Wells of his longtime teammates.
Johnson, Kirby and Wells — who were joined on the Knights’ championship team by fellow senior and backup goalkeeper Ron Patel — were in eighth grade when Greenfield last won a state title in 2012, the 12th under legendary head coach Ben Forbes. However, all three were members of the junior varsity team that season.
Forbes, whose contract wasn’t extended after the 2013-14 school year, noted when he left that group of players was going to win a state title before they were done.
It didn’t come easy though. In Forbes’ final season in 2013, the Knights went 9-14-2 and lost to Hickory Christian in the second round of the NCISAA playoffs.
The next year (2014) in Greenfield’s first season under Forbes’ successor, former Barton College standout Randol Mendoza, the Knights went 12-10 and lost in the state semifinals, again to Hickory Christian.
Last year, Greenfield was certainly in position to end its brief championship drought but the Knights lost a 1-0 heartbreaker at Wayne Country Day in the NCISAA semifinals as the Chargers went on to capture the state title.
Thus, the dye was set for Greenfield to make Forbes’ words ring true. But it took Mendoza and his assistant coaches, former Knights star Russell Stone and Luis Giron, to wring it out of this group of Knights.
Mendoza knew there were high expectations when he took the Greenfield job. After all, he would be following the man who led the Knights to 12 state titles and playing on the field named for him. But the calm, focused Mendoza, whose Barton teammates still call “Chi Chi,” knew his players would cash in on all the hard work they had put in.
“I’m super proud of them,” Mendoza said in the afterglow of Saturday’s victory, his shirt still wet from the water-cooler drenching his exuberant players had given him minutes earlier. “You guys get to see the final package at the end of the day and see the state championship won, but all the preparation behind the scenes, the sacrifices these players make, the practices and the parents traveling to and from games — there’s so much that leads up to this. I’ve coached numerous teams throughout my time here in Wilson and to win it the way we did and then just the support that you receive from the school and the community, it’s something that I haven’t encountered in my time of coaching. It’s nice! It’s nice! We’re happy!”
The senior starters will be missed, particularly the 51 goals and 22 assists that Wells produced this season, along with Johnson’s 17 goals and 17 assists.
“He is so focused on scoring goals and it’s hard to find players who do that,” Mendoza said of Wells. “You don’t come around too many players who can score (51 goals). It’s hard to find a player who can do that and I don’t care if it’s across private or public (schools), when somebody can generate that many goals and create attention, you just want to have him on your team.”
But the future remains bright for the Knights, who may be starting a new dynasty under Mendoza. Sophomore Jackson Stone, who was named to the NCISAA 1-A all-state team along with Wells, Johnson and Kirby; junior Argenis Rodriguez, who scored the first goal Saturday for Greenfield; junior center back Davis Currin and defender junior Kris Castete head a talented returning cast. Castete joined Stone, Johnson, Kirby and Wells on the all-Coastal Plain Independents Conference squad.
“It’s a good feeling,” Johnson said following Saturday’s championship celebration. “I’m graduating and leaving a championship for them to hopefully defend next year.”
