KILL DEVIL HILLS — The First Flight High School (FFHS) men’s varsity soccer team on Saturday won the North Carolina 3A championship game with a score of 3-0 against Hickory High School—the team that was last year’s state champion.
The FFHS men finished their season undefeated, with an overall record of 22-0-1. Their only tie came after a game against fellow Dare County team, Manteo High School.
Seniors Curren Breiholz and Cam Summerton and sophomore Marvin Hernandez each scored goals in the championship game on Nov. 18, and all 23 team players got to play.
“I thought it was important for them to get playtime,” FFHS Head Coach Juan Ramirez said. “In addition to being part of the team, these are memories the kids will have for the rest of their lives.”
He added of the matchup, “I think we were in better shape. We really dominated the game.”
The North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) named Colin Rhodes, FFHS goalkeeper, as the championship game’s MVP.
William “Burke” Powers of FFHS and Will Moore of Hickory each won a NCHSAA Sportsmanship Award.
Academy Sports, the game’s lead sponsor, named Curren Breiholz Player of the Game.
Breiholz, Summerton and Kai Reece were the team captains.
With the win, the FFHS men became the second Dare County high school soccer team to earn a state championship title this year.
The Manteo High School women’s soccer team ended its spring season undefeated with a 25-0-2 record, becoming the 2A women’s state champions this June.
The NCHSAA division classifications are based on school sizes, with 1A being the smallest schools and 4A the largest.
The FFHS men’s varsity soccer team last won the state title in 2016, then as a 2A school.
The FFHS women’s soccer team won the 2A state title in both 2008 and 2018.
This marks the third state title win for Ramirez. He has been head coach at the school for 18 years, but he did not coach the women’s team in 2008.
“It’s always a great feeling, especially for the kids, because we do this for the kids,” Ramirez said of championships.
Both Ramirez and FFHS Assistant Coach Jason Breiholz, Curren Breiholz’s father, said on Monday that they were still recovering their voices from being vocal at the game.
“It was an awesome experience,” Jason Breiholz said. “All the kids are still pumped. I’m still pumped.”
The win, and his son’s leadership on the field, came as an especially emotional full-circle moment for him. As a freshman in 1988, Jason Breiholz was a member of the first high school soccer team ever formed in Dare County at Manteo High School.
Both coaches said the win reflected the team’s dedication and work both on and off the field, during the season and the offseason.
“They reaped all the benefits of working hard and working together,” Ramirez said. “They really believed that they could do it, and we have worked hard even from offseason to make sure this could happen.”
Jason Breiholz called the title win “well-deserved.” He said players spent time in the weight room on weekends in addition to practicing regularly.
Both coaches also noted the efforts of all three coaches, including Billy Folkes, the other assistant coach.
For his part, Breiholz has coached most of the players regularly since they were 6 or 7 years old, as many in the group have been friends with and on various sports teams with his son.
By the time they reached ages 10 and 11, he said he thought—and told them—that if they stuck together, they’d “have a shot at being the next state champs.”
“They’re all very close,” he said. “They have just been together so long, they knew they could certainly do it.”
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Community support
On Friday afternoon, the FFHS men’s varsity soccer team departed Kill Devil Hills for the championship game—held in Greensboro, on the western side of the state—with much fanfare.
Riding in a double-decker tour bus instead of on a school activity bus, the team drove parade-style around the First Flight elementary, middle and high school campuses. All three schools are in close proximity. Cheering fans from the schools and community were outside to see them off.
“It was phenomenal,” Ramirez said. “It felt…[like] Smalltown, USA, and we felt we were just such a big part of the community.”
This year, many of the high school soccer players are tutoring elementary students in reading and math at the end of the elementary school day, in a partnership that both the older and younger students enjoy, Ramirez noted.
When the players saw their mentees lined up outside the elementary school with banners wishing them good luck, “it was pretty awesome,” he said.
Then, a police and firetruck escort accompanied the team across the county, over two bridges and past Manns Harbor. Police blocked intersections and allowed the bus carrying the team to continue driving, even if the light was red.
Making it out of town without having to stop for a single red light “is an impossibility on the Outer Banks,” Breiholz said. “That was really cool. The kids were stoked on that.”
The Town of Kill Devil Hills sent two police cars, one firetruck and one fire support vehicle to assist with the community sendoff, according to Rachel Tackett, town spokesperson.
This was the first time the town had participated in such a sendoff, but she noted that the town “is extremely proud of all students in our community, whether it be for their sports or academic achievements,” and will provide support as long as resources are available.
At the border with the Town of Nags Head, the Kill Devil Hills police cars “pulled off and Nags Head picked us up,” Breiholz said.
After Nags Head, Dare County Sheriff’s Office vehicles picked up the procession, Ramirez said. Both coaches said they’d never experienced a team getting such an escort before.
Local businesses changed their signs to wish the team success, which the players appreciated on their way out of town, the coaches said.
On the bus, Ramirez received text messages of advice and best wishes from many of his former players on the 2016 men’s winning team, the 2018 women’s winning team and other teams throughout the years. He read the messages aloud and said that “positive energy from the alumni” boosted the team members’ spirits.
Several Outer Banks restaurants livestreamed the game Saturday morning so patrons could watch without driving nearly 5 hours each way to Greensboro. Ramirez said he received videos from several people at the restaurants that showed the crowds cheering for the team.
Also, despite the distance to the game, many family members, friends, former players and community members showed up in Greensboro in person to cheer the team on.
“It’s an experience that they will remember for the rest of their lives, to have all the fans travel that far,” Ramirez noted.
Soccer has in recent years become the most visibly successful team sport in Dare County on every level, from local travel teams’ winning streaks to high school championship titles.
“It definitely puts a stamp on being the premier scholastic sport in Dare County,” Breiholz said of this championship win.
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