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Farmington High's boys soccer team huddles before its game at Davis High on Friday, April 14, 2023.

Patrick Carr, Standard-Examiner

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Farmington High's boys soccer warmup t-shirts read "Play 4 Clay" on them, a tribute to the team's former assistant coach, Clay Holbrook, who died in January 2023. Farmington's team is dedicating the 2023 season to Holbrook.

Patrick Carr, Standard-Examiner

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Approaching the end of Farmington High School’s fifth school year in existence, Phoenix sports teams have won 27 region championships and five state titles in time as a member of 5A Region 5 and, currently, 6A Region 1.

The girls and boys cross country teams have combined for nine of those region titles; boys golf has four.

Boys soccer isn’t on that list but, with a strong team returning in 2023 after last year’s run to the state semifinals, Farmington appears to be one of the top teams competing in Region 1 this season.

The driving force for the Phoenix’s season isn’t about who’s on the field or the bench but who’s not there anymore.

Farmington’s players are dedicating this season to Clay Holbrook, a former assistant coach for the team who died in January at the age of 45.

“Play for Clay” is the team’s rallying call this season. The phrase is on the back of players’ warmup T-shirts and is part of the team’s conversations before games.

“Every time we say a team prayer, we ask that Clay can be with us and watch over us. We know that he would want us to go out there, have fun, obviously try and win it,” FHS senior midfielder Coleman Stettler said.

Holbrook coached club soccer in Davis County for many years and started coaching at Farmington after his two sons graduated from the school.

“He was a great asset as a coach, as just a guy to have in the program. Kids liked him, looked up to him, respected him,” head coach Aaron Soelberg said. “He was really down to Earth with them, very cool, got them to laugh when he needed to, razzed them when he needed to, just all around was a great guy and I loved having him as an assistant coach.”

Holbrook’s death in January came as a shock to the team. Soelberg passed the news to the players during a meeting the day after Holbrook died; the team was devastated.

Instead of thinking about the upcoming season, who might play what position and what the team’s prospects were, all the players could think about was the beloved assistant coach they’d seen just a few days earlier.

“I think we were all just stunned. It didn’t seem real, still doesn’t seem real. It was just kind of out of nowhere,” FHS senior Boston Petersen said.

Holbrook’s memorial service came about a week after his death and Farmington soccer players, plus kids who played on his club soccer teams, lined the hallway of the church as Holbrook’s casket was brought out and loaded into the hearse.

Petersen started playing on one of Holbrook’s club teams at the age of 5; Stettler said he was around 10 when he first had Holbrook as a coach. The team rallied around dedicating the season to Holbrook pretty instantaneously, and players still quote some of Holbrook’s more common sayings.

“He was a big father figure, someone I could look up to and go to for advice other than soccer. And then he helped me turn into a classy player, if that makes sense, if we were talking back to someone he’d say quit it,” Petersen said. “I would chirp (during games) a lot, but he would always get on my case and be like, ‘Hey we’re going to be classy players,’ like a standup guy.”

On every game day, the team captains take a flower and a note about Holbrook — how he impacted them, a memory of him, how much they miss him — to Andrea Holbrook, who was married to Clay and who is a counselor at Farmington High.

Soelberg said the FHS boys soccer program’s annual alumni game/get-together event will be renamed after Clay Holbrook. Entry fees will then be used to create a scholarship in Clay’s name, Soelberg said.

At this coming Monday’s home game against Weber, the team will hang a banner that says “Play for Clay” and hang it for every home game. Each of the players signed their name on the banner.

Those three words — “Play for Clay” — carry a lot of weight.

“He always wanted to make it to (the state championship game),” Stettler said. “My sophomore year, we made it to quarterfinals. Last year, we made it to the semis,so it’s like, this year, it feels weird because he passed away, and I feel like now there’s just something pushing us to get to the final this year.”

Also pushing the team is the fact that it’s 5-1 overall, 4-1 in Region 1 and is one of the few area teams with a shot at winning its respective region or state title.

Stettler at holding midfielder, defenders Jaden Petersen, Kenyon Mackintosh, Austin Judd and Kolson Helquist, plus goalkeeper Davis Wadsworth, make up a defensive group that is the strong point of the team and that also resembles past Region 1 champions.

Nineteen of the last 21 Region 1 champions, including the last eight, were the team with the best overall per-game defensive stats in the region. Through six total games — seven games remain until the playoffs — Farmington has allowed five goals.

It gave up four alone Friday in a 4-0 loss against Davis, the team’s first loss of the year. Downtrodden, dejected, disappointed and disgusted were some of the feelings seen on the Phoenix sideline.

Even after games like Friday’s, it’s easy for Farmington to find some perspective.

“It kind of makes the season bigger than us,” Petersen said. “It’s no longer what you want on an individual level. We’re playing for someone else, in someone’s memory and we dedicate each game to him in our prayers before the game. We all work harder.”

Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.