Braylen Greer took the ball just across midfield and dribbled past one defender as two others closed in. Practically dancing down the left sideline as he moved the ball from foot to foot, crossing it over like a basketball point guard, he got past them only to find two more between he and the goal.

Greer put on a quick move to get his shot off. It skipped along the ground, across the face of the goal and into the right side of the net for a crucial goal in Warren Central’s playoff game against Northwest Rankin.

It was an electrifying goal, perhaps one of the best individual efforts in the state this season. And, for Greer, it was kind of routine.

“I’ve seen some kicks that are jaw-dropping kicks,” Warren Central coach Greg Head said. “We were playing Brandon and the ball came to him. He one-touched it, volleyed it, and put it in the upper 90. I was like, ‘How did he do that?’ We just don’t have players that do that. There are a lot of those moments in the past three years.”

There were enough of those moments to make Greer The Vicksburg Post’s Warren County boys soccer Player of the Year for the second season in a row.

Greer scored 33 goals and assisted on 14 more while leading the Vikings to an 18-4-2 record and the second round of the MHSAA Class 6A playoffs for the first time in eight years.

Greer is the first two-time winner of the award since Warren Central’s Erik Chappell in 2009 and 2011. He’s the first person to win it in back-to-back years since Vicksburg’s Michael Cooper in 2005 and 2006.

St. Aloysius’ Michael Head, in 2002 and 2003, is the only other two-time winner since The Post’s soccer awards were started in 1999.

Greer’s selection also marks the fifth consecutive season, and the ninth time in 10 years that the boys’ Player of the Year has come from Warren Central.

“The first one to do it in a while. It feels pretty good,” Greer, an East Central Community College signee, said of the back-to-back selections. “I’ve always wanted to win it at least twice. I feel accomplished by doing that. We like to keep it at Warren Central. If we have the best player at Warren Central, we’re obviously going to do the best in the county.”

Greer spent five seasons as a varsity starter for Warren Central. His spectacular senior year capped a career in which he scored 82 goals in 96 games. Since his freshman season he has averaged exactly one goal per game.

His best asset, however, might be his unselfishness. In addition to the goals he scored himself, he had 54 career assists. Head said that attitude sets him apart from other forwards.

“In the past, the other leading scorers we’ve had would have 28 goals and only four or five assists,” Head said. “What Braylen does, is he knows when he gets two or three people on him then somebody is going to be open and he sets those people up. He’s good about that. He’s a team player when it comes to that. He likes the fact that he has a lot of assists.”

Greer’s unselfishness did not go unnoticed by his teammates. Late in the regular season, against an overmatched Provine team, Greer was closing in on WC’s single-season goals record. Head told his starters he would pull them from the game once the score reached 5-0. Before they got there, the rest of the Vikings kept passing the ball to Greer to set him up for scoring opportunities.

Greer wound up with four goals as the Vikings won 7-1.

“They knew once they got five goals the starters were coming out. So they wouldn’t shoot. They kept passing Braylen the ball,” Head said. “I was proud of the boys for that because they thought about someone besides themselves, and it all stems from Braylen doing a good job with assists and helping them.”

Greer played in 21 games this season, and had either a goal or an assist in 19 of them. He scored two goals in a 7-2 playoff win over Desoto Central — Warren Central’s first playoff victory since 2010 — and both goals in a 3-2 overtime loss to Northwest Rankin in the second round.

Greer credited his parents and brother, Ahstin Greer, as well as Chappell and others he’s played with and for over the years for creating his drive. It’s led to an outstanding high school career that won’t soon be forgotten.

“I always wanted to at least beat my brother. I always went off of what he did, and once I beat what he did I went off Erik Chappell. I finally got more goals than Erik Chappell, and I finally got past the first round,” Greer said. “This senior year just completed my whole career.”

Vicksburg Post boys soccer Players of the Year
2018 – Braylen Greer, Warren Central
2017 – Braylen Greer, Warren Central
2016 – John Austin Burris, Warren Central
2015 – Nick Wright, Warren Central
2014 – Chris Kurtz, Warren Central
2013 – Garrett Watson, Vicksburg
2012 – Chandler Bounds, Warren Central
2011 – Erik Chappell, Warren Central
2010 – Tim Hoeptner, Warren Central
2009 – Erik Chappell, Warren Central
2008 – Bowen Woodson, Vicksburg
2007 – Cameron Curtis, Vicksburg
2006 – Michael Cooper, Vicksburg
2005 – Michael Cooper, Vicksburg
2004 – Luke Sellers, Warren Central
2003 – Michael Head, St. Aloysius
2002 – Michael Head, St. Aloysius
2001 – Andy Gough, St. Aloysius
2000 – Chad Henley, Warren Central
1999 – Mark Titre, Vicksburg