Another regular season has come and gone for the North Atlanta Boys Soccer team and this year’s was arguably the best of all time. After an impressive 13-2-2 record demanding first place in the region for the first time since the class of 2024 players were freshman, the Warriors cemented their place in the state tournament. As the 8th ranked program in 6A and 22nd in all of Georgia, the consensus in the building is that it’s championship or bust for this 23-24 team. North Atlanta can’t get too far ahead of themselves though as they look forward to Lee County in the opening round and many more challenging opponents to go through if they prevail.
Set to host Lee County on Friday, May 19th to open their journey through to what they hope to be a title push, NAHS looks forward to what should be a good game. The 21st ranked team in 6A Lee County is a respectable opponent for the Warriors who are ranked 6 in their own right while also being the 48th best team in the nation. While the numbers certainly indicate that NAHS has the upper hand in this matchup in both records, stats, and a home field advantage that has the Trojans driving around 4 hours, anything is possible in soccer. With that being said, the Warriors have their eyes on the prize and know that if they go in feeling like Goliath, they’ll fall like him too. The truly great teams in any sport operate by putting one foot in front of the other and not getting ahead of themselves. “This is a team game and if we play the way we have been then we can go the distance,” said Junior Hassan Jasseh.
Aside from the obvious desire to excel and bring playoff success back to Northside Drive, this is the class of 24’s last chance at leaving their legacy as the first team to ever win a state championship on the soccer pitch for NAHS. Many people in the building believe they can make this happen as there is more star power on this squad than potentially any group in history. Led by the 2023 6A player of the year/2024 region 4 6A player of the year Lathan Johnson, stellar sophomore Miles Glover, 4-year starter Owen Patton, and other phenomenal players, there might not be a roster in the state with a higher ceiling. 2 of the aforementioned standouts are not even seniors (Johnson- Jr. and Glover So.) showing just how much potential this line up has not only for this season but the future as well. With that being said it’s important to stay focused and just put one foot in front of the other. “We don’t want to be just another team, we want to be the best team in school history,” said senior midfielder McClendon May.
The campaign is far from over for North Atlanta soccer and with crunch time on the horizon now is the time to lock in. It’s been a long hard journey to get to this point after two straight seasons of underachieving relative to the standard set by prior years but as they say hard seas make good sailors. It truly is incredible how the squad has developed and begun to mesh over the course of this campaign to get to the point they are now. All that’s left to do is put the hay in the barn and do what everyone across Georgia knows North Atlanta is capable of- and that’s to win.
