CARY – When looking at Octavio Hernandez, one would a very atypical athlete.

At 5’9" and 158 pounds, Hernandez won’t be mistaken for an offensive lineman or a power forward.

On the soccer field, however, Hernandez stands very tall.

For the Jordan-Matthews Jets soccer team, Hernandez is very typical.

He’s typical of the type of player the Jets have – unselfish, happy-go-lucky, and talented.

Although the Jets pride themselves on their team first-style of play, it would be hard to imagine J-M winning its first ever state soccer championship without the play of Hernandez.

"We knew this was going to happen," Hernandez said. "We have trained so hard every single day. Working hard pays off."

In Saturday’s title game against the Lejuene Devilpups, Hernandez, just as he has done so many times this season, made a big play for his team.

With his team clinging to a one goal lead deep in the second half, and Lejeune very much on the offensive, Hernandez delivered the goal of the year for the Jets.

At the 10:13 mark of the second half, Hernandez blistered a shot from 20-yards out that Devilpup goalie David Perez could do nothing but dive at.

The shot found the back of the net, giving J-M the critical 2-0 lead it managed to hold on to for the final score.

"I am so happy. This is so big for us," Hernandez said after the game. "We have worked so hard for two years. This is something really great because we represented the whole Hispanic community. No Hispanic has ever gotten here, we are the first."

The goal earned Hernandez the Most Valuable Player award.

"I think that second goal was the championship," said Hernandez. "It gave us security. We were nervous before the game, but getting the lead helped us relax."

Both the Jordan-Matthews Jets and the Lejeune Devilpups came to Cary with one goal in mind – winning the state 1A soccer title.

The edge would seem to have favored Lejeune, a team making its second trip to the title game in the past three seasons.

J-M’s soccer team, on the other hand, is only in its third year of existence, and is extremely young with 14 freshman and sophomores on the roster.

The one thing the Jets were not , however, was inexperienced.

Despite its short history, J-M soccer is known for winning.

They have progressively advanced each year in the post-season, narrowly missing a shot at a title last year when they lost in the third round.

Natural expectations around the Jets team was that anything less than going to the fourth round would be a sort of let-down.

J-M did it make it past the fourth round, and the fifth round was at the SAS for all the marbles.

When the ball went into play, it was the Jets that looked like they had been there before, putting the pressure and the Devulpups behind them, as Luis Arellano’s goal in the first half and Octavio Hernandez’s tally in the second was enough offense for J-M to beat Lejeune, 2-0, claiming the first soccer state championship in school history.

"I’m not surprised," said coach Paul Cuadros. "When we started the program three seasons ago, we finished second in the conference and went to the second round of the playoffs. Last year, we came in second again, went to the third round, this year we skipped the fourth round and went to the finals. We have been knocking on the door as a program. Early on we set high standards.

Sometimes in life, the glass may seem half-empty when it is actually half-full.

It was to be expected that the Jordan-Matthews soccer team woke up Saturday morning a bit nervous.

They were, after all, about to play for the state soccer championship in just their third season ever, loaded with a roster full of kids not old enough to drive.

Despite riding a 17-game winning streak heading into Saturday morning’s final against the Lejeune Devilpups, the Jets were tight.

Tight to the point that J-M coach Paul Cuadros was a little nervous, saying after the game that he hadn’t seen his team like that before.

What better way to break the tension of a championship game than to have the bus break down.

That’s right, for all those Jets fans who made the ride up to the SAS Soccer Park in Cary early Saturday morning, and saw that Chatham County bus sitting on the side of the rode past Jordan Lake on US 64, and wondered if that was J-M, well, it was.

On the way to their biggest game of the year, the Jets were quickly faced with the prospects of not even making it to Cary.

What a terrible way to end such a great season – on the side of the road with a broken down bus.

J-M didn’t panic.

more- See Thursday, November 25 paper: Vol 84, No. 52