Transformations typically don’t happen overnight.
But Columbus High School boys soccer coach Ben Moore has watched this season as a team that won one game in 2010-11 has won six this season and has accomplished something no other boys soccer team at the school has in a long time: Make the playoffs.
More than a decade in the making, Columbus (6-8-2) will return to the playoffs at 6 tonight against Northwest Rankin in the opening round of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A North State playoffs in Brandon.
Moore admits that he and assistant coach Aaron Lee have stressed positive reinforcement and encouragement to the Falcons. But he quickly shifts credit for the program’s maturation to captains Landon Williams, Preston Taylor, Ricky Hackler, and Clay Harmon.
“They kept telling the guys this year was going to be great,” Moore said. “We realized last year we did not have any experience. We also realized we had almost every starter returning. The boys understood that and knew that and got excited about the game.”
Moore said the players invested in themselves in the offseason, thanks in part to the encouragement of Williams, a senior fullback, who was always working to get his teammates to come out and play pickup games. The efforts of Hackler and Demarcus Hairston, who play with a Select team in Tupelo, and other team members who are involved with the Columbus United club squad helped the players carve a niche that they took pride in and wanted to grow.
On Saturday, Moore told the players they had won the runner-up spot in the district over Grenada, which helped fuel a 4-0 victory against Louisville in the regular-season finale.
“It is validation,” Moore said. “I don’t know if the kids realize it is validation. I think the excitement they have going to the playoffs is a phenomenal thing for them to experience.”
Moore wouldn’t have blamed the players from not getting behind a rebuilding effort after last season’s showing. He said several key injuries early this season could have fueled that attitude, but he said the team preferred to come together. That sentiment came through the strongest in a road loss at Greenville Weston. The Falcons had just 12 players for that match and showed they were going to do their best to overcome the odds to do something special the rest of the season.
“At that point I knew no matter how many goals we get down we were going to continue to fight,” Moore said. “If we were on the pitch, we were going to give every bit of effort. We were really able to instill in the kids the mentality that if something was not going your way you till give it everything you have got. At that point the kids really understood that mentality of relentless and 100-percent effort.”
Moore credits the captains for maintaining the team chemistry and positive mind-set. He said the growth of players like Harmon, who he said last season wouldn’t say a word and has transformed into someone with a “spark under him,” has been a joy to watch and is something he hopes the program can build on in the years to come.
“Clay has really progressed as a player and as a leader, and Landon is the same way,” Moore said. “I can really say that about every boy on the field. We just have a great bunch of boys.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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