Buoyed By Freshmen, Gladiators Enter Playoffs With Optimism

Last season, Clarke Central’s boys’ soccer success was primarily on the backs of seniors Adam Erickson and Braxton Hudson.

But they graduated, and in came a slew of freshmen that Coach Sam Hicks never expected. Seven freshmen, including a couple who start regularly, have helped the Gladiators to a second place finish in Region 8-AAAA and a 12-4-2 overall record. On Wednesday, Clarke will open the playoffs and play host to Dunwoody, which finished third in Region 6.

“Last year it was Adam and Braxton,” senior captain and midfielder Ridwan Bhuiyan said, “and this year it’s everyone.”

That delighted Hicks, who was able to adjust his alignment to a 3-5-2 attack in part because of the influx of freshmen.

“I didn’t know half of these freshmen were coming,” Hicks said. “I hadn’t heard buzz about them, and then a kid steps on the field. And then another. And then you starting doing the math, and wait a minute.”

Those freshmen have talent, too. But freshmen aside, none of the players on the roster have experienced a season like this, because Clarke hasn’t had more than 10 wins in each of the last three seasons.

“It’s because of the skill level and experience,” Bhuiyan said. “Most of our players have played at the club level, together or separately, and when we came here our personalities were the glue to create that type of chemistry.”

Even without Erickson and Hudson, the Glads didn’t have trouble finding leadership, which helped them to winning streaks of six and five games. They also overcame nagging injuries thanks to added depth.

“We have good talent at every position, I think that’s the main thing,” junior defender Dylan Reeves said. “For every position, we have at least two starter-quality players on the bench.”

And with two weeks between the team’s final region game and the playoffs, the team has had enough time to heal those injuries. In the meantime, Clarke used tuneup games against Hephzibah and Brookwood. Before his team played Brookwood, a 2-0 loss, Hicks said the final regular season game could be a barometer.

“If we can hang with the No. 5 team in AAAAA,” he said. “We should do well in the playoffs.”

Those tuneup games allowed Clarke to reset itself following frustrating region losses to region champion Habersham Central and Loganville, which didn’t make the playoffs.

“We’re not happy about that Loganville loss, we let that one get away from us, they out-hustled us,” Hicks said. “It was a good lesson to take, because we’re not going let anyone outhustle us, we’ve been working hard.”