The Pine Belt is home to stacked soccer teams and quality players, but Sumrall’s Caragan Childs and Oak Grove’s Elean Fajardo stand out the most.
While there are many deserving names in the area, the two have been selected as the PineBeltSPORTS Soccer Players of the Year for the 2018-19 season. For Childs, her 51 goals led the state, while Fajardo scored 39 to earn the honor for the second straight season.
They’re both juniors, too, so another year of dominance is on the horizon.
Entering this season, Childs had two objectives in mind – help her team advance in the playoffs and try to get as close as she could to the state record for goals scored. While her or Sumrall coach Todd Siders couldn’t find an actual record, her scoring as many goals as possible was going to allow her and her teammates to see success.
According to Maxpreps, her 51 goals led the state, though.
“I really wanted to break the state record,” Childs said. “We weren’t really sure what it was. I knew I had to be a leader and step up, but there were some games that I’d rather have my teammates score. I didn’t want to go into a game and score 10 goals; I’d rather get the goals I needed then allow everyone else to score.”
The junior scored in every game but two this season, and she added 14 games with multiple goals. She even had six games with at least four goals or more, which was highlighted by her five-score performance against Forrest County AHS in November.
It doesn’t matter who it is, it’s hard to remember 51 goals.
“You can’t remember them all,” she said. “There are certain ones where I’m like, ‘I’ll never forget that (goal).’ Very close games and scoring the winning goal, I’m like, ‘I can’t believe I just did that.’”
Her most memorable goal game in a 1-1 draw, too. Against Franklin County in December, the Lady Bulldogs scored an early goal on Sumrall. In poor field conditions, Childs found the equalizer in the final seconds of the game.
Throughout the entire season, Siders hasn’t been shy about yelling at Childs on the field to take a game over. “You’re the best player of the field, take the game over,” he’ll say.
“I definitely know when it’s my turn to turn it on and make sure I control the game,” Childs said. “My teammates know that, too, and sometimes I have to do it.”
However, her 14 assists might be her proudest accomplishment.
“I love all my teammates, and I want them to have just as much of an opportunity as me,” Childs said. “If I’m helping them, then that brings them further and it helps their abilities to where they can be like me.”
Fajardo didn’t tell anybody last year, but he scored his 24 goals while playing injured. His accomplishments were still good enough to claim Player of the Year honors in 2018, and his 39 goals against the best of the best in 6A soccer allowed him to receive the recognition once again.
“I worked harder this year,” Fajardo said. “I went through an injury that didn’t allow me to score as many goals, but I worked harder in practice and started working toward scoring more goals. I set a goal to score 40 goals, but yeah, one short.”
The junior scored in nearly every game this season, too, and he had more multi-goal games than single goal games. He scored at least two goals in 13 of the team’s 23 games, including eight games with at least three goals.
While his goal was to find the back of the net 40 times this season, he wasn’t going to accomplish that feat by disrespecting opponents.
“When we played teams that weren’t capable of competing against us, I tried to score three goals then coach would sub me out,” Fajardo said. “I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful or anything.”
While dealing with his injury as a sophomore, teams started marking Fajardo more. Combining the two situations, it was hard for him to score more goals. As a junior, again, teams wanted to stop the speedy forward. He scored nearly half of the team’s goals this season, so the Warriors went as far as Fajardo took them.
Even though opponents did whatever they could to distract Fajardo, whether it was verbally or physically, he still scored in every game but two. After all, when players on the opposing team tried to get Fajardo out of his rhythm, that made him lock in even more.
“I like the pressure, because obviously, I like the feeling of scoring,” he said. “I feel like sometimes it’s too much, but I like it.”
Heading into his senior season, Fajardo wants a ring on his finger. Oak Grove lost to Gulfport in the second round, a game he scored twice in, and he’s ready to put in the work to help get this team into the 6A State Championship.
“Every season, I learn something new,” Fajardo said. “I just have to work harder and harder, and never give up. Next year, I really want to get a ring on my finger. I have my last ride next year, so we have to make it worth it.”
