As the warm summer days slowly turn into brisk fall nights, school bells ring, and soccer season is in a full swing for R.J. Reynolds High School. Beingbknown as one the top soccer teams in Forsyth County, RJR is known for their elite players, as well as their skillfulness on the pitch.

In past years, Men’s Soccer at Reynolds has been reasonably successful;winning numerous conference championships, and in 2019, even having a shot in state championships. Antonio Sabio having been the Men’s Soccer Coach since 2016, Coach Sabio is determined to keep the status of soccer at Reynolds alive.

“This year though, you know, right now we’re in a little bit of a drought, but hopefully that will end.” Sabio said.

So far, this season the team hasn’t been as successful in games as they’d hoped for. The team is still in the process of generating their skills as a cohesive unit.

“We did lose a lot of seniors,” Sabio said. “Though I think that we gained a lot of new talent as well. We had a lot of young guys that are stepping up this year, But, I think that the difference is we were able to finish a little bit better and score a few more goals”.

Other players on the team have also been feeling the difference in the team this year.

“This year, we have some areas we can improve on and have been having our ups and downs compared to last year, but we definitely are getting there.” junior Didumo Met said.

Despite the change of course from last year, players still are pushing through.

“From last year, we were doing really well, and this year isn’t the same, but we are still doing pretty good and keeping our reputation.” senior Ryan Kidder said.

The main resolution for this issue, as the boys and Sabio have noticed in this team, compared to last year, is simply just to become more connected as a team.

“We need to get everybody to cooperate as a family in a sense, to hopefully become better over all, ” Sabio said.

New player this year, junior Omar Brahm transferred in from West Forsyth with the hope of getting a better opportunity to play soccer at Reynolds based on the soccer success rate in recent years.

“ Compared to West Forsyth, I’ve been able to have more freedom on the field and fostered more strong relationships on and off the field, ” said Brahm.

New players from club soccer organization: Fusion, senior Owen Kuhnerare joining in an attempt to help guide this soccer season to success.

“I’ve only played for a club team as long as I can remember,” Khuner said. “. I didn’t play high school because we were never allowed. [However],my senior year I wanted to play high school and play with all my friends

In all, for the rest of the season, there is still ambition from the players to finish off strong.

“Our biggest competitors at the moment are East Forsyth and West, but we really hope to win the conference and have a good run there,” Kidder said.

As for Coach Sabio himself, he has hopes, and encouragement for the team with the continuing the rest of the remainder of the season are for the team to take care of business.

“[We are still] able to win the conference and then make a deep run in the playoffs.” Sabio said.

Though there have been some rocky patches, men’s soccer at RJR is still on the rise and is focused on not giving up on finishing another successful season.