Dorchester 4 Superintendent Jeff Beckwith Embraces Coaching Boys’ Soccer At Woodland High As Core Mission Of His Job To Serve Young People
By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
Dorchester—It is not every day that a school Superintendent is also a head soccer coach at the high school where he serves, but Dorchester 4 Superintendent Jeff Beckwith is starting his second season as the head boys’ soccer coach at Woodland High.
Back in the day, “Coach” Beckwith played college soccer at Chowan College and he is very passionate about the sport. On a recent Friday afternoon, the HSSR caught him working out the junior varsity team, on the turf field of the football stadium shared with the football and track teams.
“Our two captains are junior fullback Jamie McCarthy and junior mid-fielder Brayan Vivas-Sanchez,” said Coach Beckwith. “We are a young team in general with a lot of freshmen and sophomores on the team, with a lot of juniors also.
“Brayan and Jamie are juniors on our team, who are present every day, and they work hard every day and they model expectations as both good students, in the class room, and on the field,” said Coach Beckwith. “They always give 100 per cent effort and they always do what they need to do to help the team get better.
“They were easy picks to be our captains this season and we are pleased to know that they will be back again with us next season as well,” said Coach Beckwith. ”We are excited about that.”
The team has made steady progress over the past two seasons. This season the Wolverines have victories over Timberland (4-0), Barnwell (9-3) and Andrews (4-1).
“It is great to have some success and we have had a real heavy schedule this season,” said Coach Beckwith. “We have played the number one team in the state in 4-A, and two other top teams in both 5-A and 4-A, and we still have 8 games left in the regular season. We have played teams like Cane Bay, Goose Creek, Stall, and Berkeley along with several quality teams from the mid-lands area of the state as well.
“In addition, our region has two of the top teams in the state for AA,” said Coach Beckwith. “This schedule presents challenges for a young team like we are. This team has got better as the season has moved along.”
The team’s leading scorer is freshman mid-fielder Gibson Kepley. The all-important starting goalie is junior Giovanni Hernandez.
“Giovannii does a good job and he is a pretty raw and talented kid,” said Coach Beckwith. “We are working on him becoming a better leader everyday and how to lead from the back. He is getting better with every practice and every game.”
Additional starters for the team include senior mid-fielder Kevona Britt, freshman forward James Moorer, junior marking back Jaiden Dunning, sophomore forward Dylan Shuler, senior marking back Jonthan Morales-Alcantara, junior marking back Brice Howard, and senior marking back Sideek Neals.
Other hard-working members of the team include: Senior Jackson Sharp, junior Daryl Fink, senior Quantez White, senior Keyshon Westbury, freshman Noah Tome, senior Landon Tyner, junior Brayan Puentes, junior Jorge Garcia, junior Ismael Silva, and senior Logan Miller.
Coach Beckwith is hopeful that the Wolverines will earn a spot in the upcoming soccer play-offs. “I still think that we will make the play-offs and we still have some business to take care over these remaining 8 games,” said Coach Beckwith. “Next week (April 14-16) we are in a tournament in Columbia and we will compete against Hamond, Ben Lippen and Blythewood.”
After the tournament in Columbia the Wolverines will compete at Timberland (4-24), host Hampton County (4-28), host Andrews (4-49) and they conclude the regular season with an away match with Goose Creek (May,1).
In conclusion, how does a busy Superintendent of a school district, find the time to be a very dedicated and caring head soccer coach? “It is important to stay connected to the kids and the well-being of the kids is the reason we do our jobs in the first place,” said Coach Beckwith. “Sometimes as a Superintendent I feel like being out here allows me to be true to that focus, and that purpose, and by being out here it also keeps me engaged with our real work which is being involved with our kids.
“I am also fortunate to have an awesome team at the district level that allows me to get out here and work with the kids we serve,” said Coach Beckwith. “I enjoy coaching soccer very much. I feel like this team will finish strong.”
Coach Beckwith is assisted by Sydney Carreria.
