GREENSBORO — After a stellar high school career, former Jordan-Matthews soccer player Johnathan Campos took his talents to the boys’ East-West All Star Soccer Game on July 16.
Campos is J-M’s first ever soccer player selected to the East-West All-Star Game. In front of his family, J-M athletic director Barry West, J-M boys’ soccer head coach Paul Cuadros and other coaches and teammates from J-M in attendance at Jamieson Stadium, Campos played as a defender for the West All-Stars which fell to the East, 3-2.
“It feels good getting the opportunity and the chance to come out and play with the best seniors from all around North Carolina,” Campos said.
Said Campos, “It feels good to have a lot of support. It helps to keep me motivated and keep going forward to make all of them happy.”
J-M first announced Campos’ selection in February, and he was honored during the school’s Hall of Fame Night before a basketball game on Feb. 9.
“I didn’t really know what it was,” Campos said. “I’d never heard of it because none of us have ever made it. When Coach West started explaining it to me, I started getting more excited.”
Last fall, Campos earned his third straight all-conference selection and was named the Mid-Carolina 1A/2A Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
In his career as a Jet, Campos scored 19 goals and recorded 12 assists. He helped lead the Jets to three straight Mid-Carolina 1A/2A conference titles from 2021-23, and he was named as the Jets’ most valuable player for last season.
“It’s a real privilege and honor to see Johnathan selected, get to play and represent J-M and Siler City,” Cuadros said.
Said West, “He’s one of our great kids. Very well deserving. I couldn’t be happier for him.”
Campos said the practices and the process of getting acclimated to his teammates was “good.” The players arrived at Grimsley High School on July 14 and practiced three times, including twice on July 15 and once in the early afternoon on gameday.
“There’s a lot of good people out here (and) a lot of great talent,” Campos said. “It was good coming out and spending three days with them (and) talking to them. The training sessions were something light, so we wouldn’t get tired, but they were good sessions to get to know each other for chemistry.”
Before Campos entered the game, the West held a 1-0 lead thanks to an early goal from Independence’s Aaron Zhu. Campos made his first appearance after just under 18 minutes of play, and just a few minutes after, the East tied the game.
The East scored two quick goals in the beginning of the second half to take a 3-1 lead. As Campos played the majority of the second half, the West tried to make a late game push to tie following a penalty kick goal from Zhu with just nine minutes left to play. However, one last shot from Zhu in the game’s final minutes veered too wide.
Cuadros said Campos’ selection to the all-star game was “inspirational” for some of his former teammates that will return to J-M in the fall. Cuadros has been at the head of the Jets’ storied program for a little over two decades and has coached plenty of talented players over the years. Now that Campos has been recognized as one of the best players in the state, he hopes other Jets can also earn East-West All-Star honors in the future.
“It feels awesome to have a friend close to me that’s really good, talented, has a lot of potential, and stepped up a lot for Jordan-Matthews,” J-M boys’ soccer player Francisco Ibarra, who will be a senior this fall, said. “Seeing him out there gives everybody the courage to want to do it too.”
Campos, who was also named an academic all-star before the game, is still undecided on college, but he knows he wants to major in mechanical engineering and pursue a career as a mechanical or aerospace engineer.
“Ever since I was young, I’ve worked with machinery and doing hands-on stuff,” Campos said. “I was looking into (engineering) back in middle school, and I had already set my mind on it. I’ve been looking for colleges that have soccer and mechanical engineering.”
For now, Campos does know that he wants to go to a two-year college before transferring to a bigger school while also keeping soccer opportunities in mind.
