By Mike London
Salisbury Post
GRANITE QUARRY — He coaches boys soccer at a baseball school, so life isn’t a piece of cake for Nermin Hodzic.
But he’s feeling good. There’s a spring in his step. His guys have paid their dues and put in the work, and he believes the Mustangs have a serious chance to be a playoff team this season.
That would make headlines — not just on the sports page, but on page 1 of the A Section of the Post. East has made the playoffs only three times in program history and hasn’t been involved in a playoff match since 2011.
East has played twice this season. There was a 2-0 grinder against North Rowan — North edged East last year — and an 8-0 walk in the park against North Stanly. Patrick Sanchez scored four goals in that romp against the Comets.
“North Rowan is better than people realize and they have an outstanding goalkeeper,” Hodzic said. “I do think the North Rowan game was a very positive result for us, and I do think we’re going to be a good team. We’ve had weather issues that forced us to practice quite a bit inside, and it’s very hard to simulate the intensity of a soccer match in a gym, but our guys have been accountable. We have changed the culture here. Guys come to practice every day and they come on time. They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do, so they are in position to have a strong season.”
East is young , but does have three three seniors — Noah Dillon, Matthew Avalos and Byron Garcia. Avalos and Dillon are guys counted on to score goals, while Garcia is more of a defensive anchor.
“East soccer was 1-21 when those three were freshmen,” Hodzic said. “They could’ve quit. They could’ve gone somewhere else. But they’re still here. They’re very good players, they’re standouts, they’re leaders, and it’s my hope that they are going to see East Rowan soccer experience serious success before they graduate.”
East has more potential standouts in juniors Gates Brady (six assists in 2024), Darrell Shrewsbury, Caden Mesimer and Sanchez.
Sophomore keeper George Nunez led the SPC in saves as a freshman, and Hodzic has seen more improvement from him. Sophomores Donovan Carter and Ivan Cervantes are up-and-coming players.
“Cervantes is a little guy, but he’s technically sound,” Hodzic said.
East may have as many technically sound players as it’s ever had. Hodzic said the team has 11 or 12 club players, which is probably a record for the program.
East does not have great depth, so good health is going to be paramount if East is going to accomplish its goals.
East was 6-14-1 in Hodzic’s first season in 2023 and 5-14-3 in 2024. That record doesn’t look impressive, but Hodzic saw a lot of steps forward.
Robinson finished second in the South Piedmont Conference in 2024, and the Mustangs beat Robinson once. East earned a tie at third-place Northwest Cabarrus. East also battled to a road draw at Lake Norman Charter.
East finished eighth in the final standings with a 2-11-3 SPC mark, but the Mustangs weren’t overmatched very often. They usually had a chance.
“We didn’t get the number of wins we wanted, but we were competitive, highly competitive just about every time we went out there,” Hodzic said.
Hodzic said fan support is excellent. Fans have appreciated the effort and the strides that have been made with the program during the last three years.
“Sometimes we go on the road and we’ll have more fans than the home team,” Hodzic said.
Wednesday’s non-conference home matchup with Oak Grove will offer the Mustangs a good measuring stick of exactly where they stand, but the focus for the team is the reclassified 4A/5A SPC, which has added perennial Rowan County power Salisbury to the mix, while saying goodbye to Central Cabarrus and Lake Norman Charter. Returning to the league as East’s adversaries are Carson, West Rowan, South Rowan, Northwest Cabarrus, Robinson and Concord.
East will be one of the state’s smallest 5A schools, but the Mustangs expect to hold their own.
“The main goal is the state playoffs, and we’re not going to hide from that goal,” Hodzic said. “I think Concord has to be the SPC favorite, based on a lot of good returning players, but finishing in the top three or four, finishing in the top tier of a good league, that’s a realistic goal for our guys.”
