Clarksburg star Julio Arjona Jr. shines in a foggy state title game

Since he's a pool player for the U-17 National Team, plays club soccer for D.C. United Academy, and is headed to West Virginia on a soccer scholarship, there are plenty of superlatives thrown the way of Clarksburg senior Julio Arjona Jr. The only problem is, every time he steps on the field for a high school soccer game, he has to live up to them.

But in Thursday night's Maryland 3A state championship at UMBC Stadium, Arjona wasted little time showing off his talent. Six minutes into the first half, the midfielder settled a corner kick from junior Nick Civetti just outside the penalty box, and almost instantaneously fired a blazing shot into the back of the net, jump starting Clarksburg to a 3-0 victory over Hereford and the program's first-ever state championship.

"When I hear the stuff other people say about me, I assume other teams have expectations," said Arjona, who also helped set up the Coyotes' third goal. "I try to live up to them, I try to play every game like it's my last."

Even with a lingering fog that made visibility difficult, the Coyotes were never threatened and controlled possession throughout. Their speed and skill simply overwhelmed Hereford, ranked No. 7 by the Baltimore Sun.

"We knew we wanted to start fast and start first," said Coach Jeremy Spoales after his team lost in the regional finals the past two years after falling behind early.

Five minutes after Arjona opened the scoring, senior Nelson Escobar followed his lead with a beautiful curling shot from 20 yards out that ricocheted off a Hereford defender to put Clarksburg up by two goals. Then, Civetti sealed the deal five minutes into the second half, scoring the Coyotes' final goal on a rebound that was initially created on a cross from Arjona.

As for the Coyotes' star, he plans to graduate a semester early from Clarksburg so he can begin training at West Virginia and hopes a professional career beckons in the future. As the final horn sounded, though, Arjona was perfectly content to revel in his school's historic victory.

"You can do so much internationally," he said. "But how many times can you win something like this, for your community?"