Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Jay Spivey

For the Clemmons Courier

CLEMMONS — Home is where the heart is.  

That might be just the case for senior Omar Brahim of the West Forsyth boys soccer team.  

After all, Brahim started his playing career as a freshman on the JV team at West Forsyth. However, he chose not to play his sophomore season. He then transferred to Reynolds just before school started last August and played on the varsity team there before electing to transfer back to West Forsyth where he is playing on the varsity for West Forsyth, which before Monday night’s Central Piedmont 4-A game at Davie County, was 18-0-1 overall and 10-0 in the conference with four games remaining in the regular season.  

“I know when I’m at school and at practice, back on the field, West as a school has changed a lot since the time I was there,” Brahim said. “I enjoy West.” 

Having Brahim back at West Forsyth is good for first-year Coach John Blake, who previously coached at Ledford and replaced Jeffrey Williams, and the other nine seniors on the team.  

“I think he just wanted to be around his friends,” Blake said of Brahim. “He missed his buddies and sometimes kids, as they mature and get older will leave for whatever reasons. But I think he’s a mature kid. He’s really grown as a person, and I think that says a lot about him.” 

Knowing the team had a big group of seniors, a new coach, and a chance of winning the NCHSAA Class 4-A state championship were reasons Brahim gave for transferring back to West Forsyth.  

“The captain, Haegen Paschold, he was the main reason to be quite honest,” Brahim said. “I went to a few girls soccer games, the West Forsyth girls (this past spring), and Haegen was there, and he was like, ‘We’re going to be good next year. It’s going to be worth it. We can win a state ‘ship. Like, it’s a possibility.’ 

“And I was like, even if I wanted to my parents won’t let me. And I talked to my parents about it and they were like, ‘Is this the right choice?’ Like we live in Clemmons, so the process to go back isn’t going to be – my home school is West – the process to go back wasn’t going to be hard. And so far, it 100 percent ended up being the right position.” 

Despite being back, his early years at West Forsyth taught Brahim some lessons. He played on the JV team his freshman year, didn’t make the varsity team at West Forsyth his sophomore year, but he chose not to play electing to play club soccer Piedmont Triad Football Club in Kernersville with Coach Cory Speed.  

“When you don’t play soccer for like three months or whatever it was from August to November, like obviously, you’re going to get a little worse,” Brahim said. “(Speed) helped me so much. I played there the last two years. So, I played there last year and the sophomore year.” 

Brahim then elected to transfer to Reynolds, which is also in the Central Piedmont 4-A with West Forsyth, for what he termed a “better opportunity” with Coach Tony Sabio. He helped Reynolds go 14-7-3 overall last year and 9-4-1 in the Central Piedmont 4-A. 

“It was good,” Brahim said of Reynolds. “I actually enjoyed it. I enjoyed it a lot. And all my friends go there. And so, it was pretty easy. I didn’t really have to make friends. I knew a lot of people there.” 

While at Reynolds, he took some ribbing from his old school in its two meetings last season. The first meeting was at the Bolton Soccer Complex, Reynolds’ home stadium on Sept. 25 of last year. West Forsyth won that game 2-1 in double overtime. 

“We lost, but seeing them, it was nice seeing them,” Brahim said of playing against his former Titans’ teammates.  

They played again last Oct. 25 in Clemmons on Senior Night at Durwood Pack Stadium at West Forsyth. West Forsyth finished last season 20-1-2 overall and 14-0 in the conference, not losing until Charlotte Independence defeated the Titans it 3-1 in the second round of the NCHSAA Class 4-A playoffs. 

“It was West’s Senior Night, so it was a pretty big game,” Brahim said. “They packed the stands on Senior Night.” 

According to Brahim, the original plan was for him to stay at Reynolds for his senior season. 

“It was hard,” Brahim said. “It was really hard. I didn’t know if I was supposed to feel bad or was supposed to feel sad for (Sabio) because he like, he had plans for the year and they all revolved around me. It was hard to tell him, ‘Hey, I’m going back to West.’ 

“And it was just hard…(Sabio) started me (my) junior year. I was all-conference. It was a lot.” 

It went full circle when Brahim came back to play with the Titans for this season, his final at the school. 

“West lost two of the center backs last year, which is the position I play,” Brahim said.  

It went even deeper than that. 

“When they knew I was coming back, I thought they were going to be like, ‘Oh, my gosh, why is he here?’ They were open to like hands wide-open for me, heart, being really kind to me,” Brahim said. “And I really appreciated that because I thought it was going to be hard to come back. They made it really easy for me and I really appreciate the guys for that.” 

Blake had never seen him play before this season, but Brahim has opened his eyes. 

“I think he’s a great leader,” Blake said. “He plays center back for us. He’s one of the best defenders in the state. I think him and Ryan (Penaloza) are fantastic back in the back for us. But I think his personality, he’s very likable. Just a good kid overall. That rubs off on the team.” 

Also, before Monday’s game at Davie County, Brahim had five goals, according to MaxPreps.com. 

“His skill set is phenomenal,” Blake said. “He’s great with the ball. He has a real good foot. He’s a defensive stopper. He can really stop most teams’ best player. Just really valuable on the back line for us and kind of keeps us together back there.” 

As for the season, it’s been a magic carpet ride for West Forsyth.  

“I mean, we go into every game having respect for every team we play,” Brahim said. “And Coach Blake tells us, like, ‘Really, we’re not that good until – like don’t get cocky and think we’re the best and don’t have to give 100 percent.’ But every team wants to beat us and that’s what we want.” 

In addition to this past Monday’s game at Davie County, West Forsyth was also scheduled to have played at Reynolds on Wednesday, the second meeting between the two schools this season. West Forsyth won the first meeting 3-2 in Clemmons.  

“I didn’t know how to feel to be honest,” Brahim said. “…It was at West and it was at 5 o’clock. They changed the game time because it was raining, So, there was no like fans, so there was nothing you had to worry about, really. So, I didn’t anyone was going to talk to me. 

“Nothing happened. Sabio, after the game, he pulled me aside, he was like, “You know, I still love you.’” 

It’s hard to keep maintaining an undefeated season because the Titans have a target on their backs. 

“The experiences these kids have gained, specifically Omar and Haegen and Ryan, the seniors, they’ve been through the ups-and-downs of the last few seasons, so they learned, I guessed they’ve had some failures that they’ve learned from. But they also understand how to go through the grind.” 

They went through that grind last Wednesday, edging Reagan 5-4. 

“And we’re going through that grind, catching everybody’s best shot, and understanding we don’t have to be perfect,” Blake said. “We just have to play to our best standard.” 

Brahim and other seniors are scheduled to have senior night on Monday against East Forsyth. Two days later, West Forsyth is scheduled to close the regular season at Mount Tabor. 

“We play East that night, and I’m excited,” Brahim said of senior night. “…We play a pretty solid team in East. And I’m excited. I don’t know if I’d rather have senior night at Reynolds or West. I think I’d rather have it at West because how they brought me in this year, Coach Blake.” 

His circuitous route has paid dividends for Brahim. 

“Last year, I had doubts of coming back because I’m going to two schools in two years. I’m like, ‘It set me for who I am,’” Brahim said. “…But Blake’s a magnificent coach. I love that guy. He just got to me, and I’ve been playing good under him.” 

West Forsyth is trying to win the conference championship. The seeding for the NCHSAA Class 4-A tournament is Nov. 7 and the first round of Nov. 10.  After last year’s disappointment in losing in the playoffs, it has been motivated to exorcise those demons.  

The state championship is scheduled for either Nov. 22 or 23. 

“Anytime you can win a trophy is big,” Blake said. “We’re hoping we can just continue to stay healthy and continue to follow the process and chase trophies.” 

As for Brahim, he’ll graduated in June and hopes to play in college. He said he’s received looks from Lees-McRae and Catawba. If he doesn’t play in college, he wants to play club soccer at North Carolina and eventually become a dentist. 

“Soccer means the world to me,” he said. “And sometimes it means the world to me too much…”