By Robert Wilson
Kevin Johns coached in his first Jackson Prep-Jackson Academy boys soccer game Saturday afternoon at JA’s Brickyard in Northeast Jackson and came away a winner.
Johns – the longtime Mississippi College men’s soccer coach who replaced legendary Prep soccer coach Jon Marcus Duncan, the winningest high school soccer coach in Mississippi history, this past summer – led his new team to a 1-0 victory over arch-rival JA in a MAIS Class 4A non-district game between the top two rated MAIS teams in Mississippi before an estimated 400.
Sam Sherman scored the game’s only goal from an assist by Thomas Hewitt Oswalt five minutes into the game and Prep’s defense, led by goal keeper Mason McCain and defenders Rhodes Morgan and Walker Dreher, kept JA out of the goal for the win.
Prep – ranked No. 13 in Mississippi and No. 1 in MAIS Class 4A by MaxPreps – improved to 12-2-2 and defeated JA for the fourth consecutive time, all by one goal. Prep hasn’t lost to JA since the 2023-2024 season. Prep’s only losses this season are Rockwell-Heath, Texas, and MHSAA Class 7A Ocean Springs and ties to St. Paul’s from Covington, La., and MHSAA Class 7A Tupelo.
JA – ranked No. 14 in Mississippi and No. 2 in MAIS Class 4A – dropped to 10-3 and lost for the first time to an MAIS team this season. The Raiders’ only two other two losses are to Monroe, La., Neville and Tupelo.
Johns is the most successful youth coach in Mississippi Soccer Association history with 24 state championships for the Jackson Futbol Club/Mississippi Rush and also has two decades of men’s college soccer coaching experience at Mississippi College.
When Duncan resigned to go work for his father, Jimmy Duncan, after winning 30 state championships (15 boys and 15 girls) in 25 seasons at Prep, Johns was interested in the position.
Johns – a Clinton High alumnus who played on the 1992 Belhaven College NAIA national championship team – has been coaching with the Jackson Futbol Club since 1993 and has been director of coaching for JFC/Mississippi Rush since 2010. He was the men’s soccer coach at MC from 2003 to 2025 and was the Conference Coach of the Year four times and has 222 collegiate career wins. Johns also was the assistant coach and assistant general manager for the minor league professional team Jackson Chargers for two years.
Johns has known Duncan and his family for about three decades and coached him on a select team back when Duncan was in high school.
Now, Johns is trying to continue the winning tradition set by Duncan and he’s off to a good start, especially with the win Saturday.
“We talked today about focusing on the performance, not the result,” Johns said. “We thought if we focused on that and battled when the moments called for that, the result would work itself out. The team had some spells in the game when we didn’t play the way we wanted to, but they continued to work for each other and as a team. That helped us see the game out and to end up with the result.
“Our months of November and December playing in Texas, and playing against schools like Hernando, Ocean Springs, Richland and Tupelo have prepared us for the final stretch of the season and the playoffs. With the tenanted players we have, we will always get chances in games to score, but our defense will always be a part of our team that allows us to succeed and help us win games.”
Sherman and McCain were big reasons why Saturday.
“Sam always finds ways to be there,” Johns said. “He works very hard of those moments and of the team. Mason makes the guys in front of him feel confident that it will take something special to beat him for a goal.”
It was the ninth and third consecutive shutout this season for Prep, which finished 16-8-1 and lost to Hartfield Academy 2-1 for the state championship last season.
JA coach Philip Buffington – who is considered one of the best high school soccer players in Mississippi history when he played for Duncan and Prep in the mid-2000s – is in his seventh season as JA’s head coach and is going after his fifth state championship.
“I thought our boys played well and had some really good moments,” Buffington said. “We weren’t able to take full advantage of of those chances in the game. I thought the game was relatively even and will look forward to playing them again in a couple of weeks when we hopefully get a couple of players who missed today back.”
