Nansemond River High School senior forward Gabe Everette was the on-field face of the Warriors’ soccer dominance this year to conference coaches who unanimously named him the Ironclad Conference boys’ soccer Player of the Year.

He put up personal-best statistics of 14 goals and 16 assists during the regular season, helping his team achieve 10 wins for the first time in school history.

As a result of receiving the honor, Everette said, “It just shows me that if I put my mind to it, I can pretty much accomplish anything, really.”

Warriors coach Dustin Tordoff had a myriad of reasons for why Everette was the right choice for the award, but he led off with a reference to his team captain’s character.

“It was absolutely well-deserved for a kid that has never once asked the question, ‘Why?’ He’s only said, ‘OK, whatever you need,’” Tordoff said. “It’s one of those things where if he’s not rewarded for that, I almost felt like it would have been just completely unfair, for lack of a better word.”

The coach then moved on to highlight Everette’s power on the field and his work ethic.

“He hands-down could control the field,” Tordoff said. “He was the hardest worker at practice, and I know that doesn’t go into consideration for other coaches, but it definitely does for me.”

Everette’s versatility showed in his stats, which manifested equal parts forward and midfielder.

“When you’re a forward, and you have equal amounts of goals to assists — he actually had more assists than he had goals – that never happens,” Tordoff said.

In the postseason, Everette became a shutdown defensive player when his coach asked it of him.

Tordoff said Everette is extremely fast, with the ball and without it. Also, his natural ability on his touches is phenomenal, allowing him to be ready to pass, dribble or shoot at a moment’s notice after receiving even a slightly off-target pass.

Summing up Everette’s ability on the soccer field, the coach said, “It’s one of those things where you just kind of step back and you watch a soccer game and you might not know anything about soccer, you may never even have seen a game, and you’d be like, ‘That kid right there is good.’ And coaches pick up on that quick.”

Warriors joining Everette on the all-conference first team included sophomore forward Axel Lopez, sophomore midfielders Brayan Morales, Ty Williams and Yousef Al-Sarraf and sophomore defender Brandon Dowden.

Nansemond River players making the all-conference second team included senior forward Addison Hagberg, sophomore midfielders Daniel Brickhouse, Daniel Tallarico and Maliq Webster, freshman defender Jacob Baker and junior defender Justin Naylor.

King’s Fork High School second-team players included senior forward Oludare Olugbemi, sophomore forward Drequan Wilson and sophomore defender Tathan Bennett.

Warriors senior goalkeeper Dustin Telles received honorable mention.