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By Jay Spivey

For the Clemmons Courier

Grayson Brandon just recently set the all-time points record for boys lacrosse at West Forsyth. 

Now a senior at 18, if you ask him, it’s all been a work in progress since he started playing the sport 12 years ago.  

“One of my neighbors, he began playing when I was younger,” he said. “I think I started out playing baseball and soccer, and I didn’t like that as much, so I started playing lacrosse and gave me my first stick and from there on I’ve been playing since.” 

On March 6 against South Iredell, he broke the old record of 138 points, which is a combined total of goals and assists, set by Brody Macdonald, who graduated in 2023.

“I can’t say I had much of an inspiration,” Brandon said. “I guess lacrosse has never really been big. It’s starting to get more popular now, but I guess when I started it wasn’t really that big. And I guess the inspiration of playing a sport that nobody has really heard of, it’s something that I really enjoy.” 

Nearly a month after breaking the points record, he just continues adding to that number. As of Monday, he has 158 points. But Brandon just keeps going back to that 6-year-old who picked up a stick for the first time.  

“The sticks were a lot different,” he said. “You didn’t really have that many people who played. I remember I started out playing at the (William G. White Jr.) YMCA. We played right there at Reynolds High School. And that was a YMCA, and they had a lot of good people there.

“That’s how I learned and from there I went to Winston-Salem (Lacrosse).” 

Unlike most young athletes in their sport, Brandon said he caught on to lacrosse pretty quickly. 

“Having good people around you, you make them better, they make you better,” he said. “They made us all better. I was probably about 12, I was able to use — I was a right-hand, a left-hand, ambidextrous. So, I’m able to use both hands.”

Those early years of playing lacrosse proved to be a solid foundation for him. 

“So many memories long ago,” Brandon said. “I guess the first memory I can remember is coming down the field and I got hit and fell to my knees. I think I felt the ball on my stick. I think I scored it with one hand. That was the first goal I ever had. I think that’s one of the best moments I ever had.”

Another thing that’s aided in his development as a player is that Brandon, who now plays attack, has played almost every position.

“The fact that I used to play defense, now that I play attack, which is the offensive side, that honestly helps so much because knowing what I would expect has helped me see the field better,” he said. “If I have to explain it to certain players, I’ve played every position. So, I know just about everything there is pretty much to know. 

“…Honestly, I enjoy helping people at this point. I’ve got so much knowledge of the game, that’s mainly what I’m good at.” 

Brandon has even passed on his love for lacrosse to one of his siblings. He has a 15-year-old sister, Chloe, who is a freshman at West Forsyth, and a 10-year-old brother, Hayden. Hayden has picked up lacrosse from his big brother.

“That’s a pretty big age gap, but I usually try to go out and practice with him,” Brandon said. “I make him the best lacrosse player. That’s what I try to do, and I have a lot of tactics and try to help him out. He plays for a team in Charlotte that I used to play for. So, they’ve got a good team and I try to help him to be the best player he can on his team.” 

Brandon knew that he was going to West Forsyth as a freshman, and he knew that he was going to play lacrosse for the Titans. 

“I heard some things. I always heard they weren’t the best in the (Central Piedmont 4-A) conference,” he said. “But I heard they had some decent players, which we did. And I miss those players to this day. But coming there after seeing the team I thought we had a pretty decent team.” 

And little did Brandon know, but he and his head coach would be starting their careers the same season. In January of Brandon’s freshman year, Coach Jacob Able, who played college lacrosse at North Greenville and had recently graduated, was hired to be the head coach. That was just before practice started for the spring season. 

“We met Able, I think two weeks before the season started,” Brandon said.  

Both Brandon and Able tell their beginnings differently. 

“I think I made a pretty good first impression on the field,” Brandon said. “So, he utilized me quite well, and I think he knew I had pretty good potential on the team. Still to this day, me and him are pretty buddy, buddy.” 

Able was a pretty good high school player himself, so he knew what to look for on the Titans. 

“Grayson and I, it had highs and lows Grayson’s freshman year, my first year here,” Able said. “That was my first-ever high school coaching job, but pretty much just graduated college. I was 23 years old, so I didn’t really know what I was doing.  

“And Grayson was very talented. He started his freshman year, but there were some issues — missing practice and not always having the best attitude,” Able said. “Nothing major, but he had his moments.” 

Those sketchy moments didn’t hurt Brandon’s play on the field as a freshman. According to him, he finished that season with 37 goals and seven assists for 44 points, helping the Titans finish 10-11 overall and 5-7 in the conference. 

Things became even better for Brandon in his sophomore season, both as an individual and as a team. According to him, he finished that season with 39 goals and eight assists, helping the team finish 9-8 overall and 7-7 in the conference. 

“We had a phenomenal team that year,” he said. “I figured I’d be playing the X position, which is behind the net because I was the main attack man at the beginning of the season.” 

Last season, Brandon’s junior season, ended up being a nightmare. The team finished 0-16 overall. However, Brandon finished with 31 goals and seven assists for a total of 38 points. 

“I was hoping that we were going to have some people come in hoping something good would happen,” Brandon said. “I was trying to work with the guys, trying to recruit some of my buddies, which I ended up doing. They play now, of course.” 

Despite last season being such a trying one for the team, Able saw something different in Brandon. 

“As each year’s gone on, he gets more and more mature and we get along more and more,” Able said. “And just really happy to have him on the team.” 

That maturity has made his coach proud of him. 

“He’s turned out to be a pretty great young man,” Able said. “And on the lacrosse end of it, he’s always been one of our better players, but he does a great job of stepping up every year and showing his role and somehow scoring more goals than he did the year before.” 

That led to this season, his final one at West Forsyth. Brandon knew that he wasn’t far off Macdonald’s points record at the school, which gave him something to strive for during the offseason. Brandon also broke Macdonald’s all-time goals record last year, which was 97. 

“I knew before the season started that he would get it,” Able said. “And the amount of goals he scores. Last year, he scored not that many compared to other players on top teams. But last year he was one of the only guys who’d ever played lacrosse more than a season. Years before, he always put up huge numbers. So, I kind of figured he’d be breaking some records.” 

And break some records, he did. He broke the school’s points record, which was 138, earlier last month against South Iredell. He was given the ball afterward to mark the record. So far this season, Brandon said he has 23 goals and six assists for a total of 29 points. Not only that, but West Forsyth is also much improved. 

“It helps out a lot (with facilitating),” Able said. “I think we’re seeing that especially this year. All of the first-year players last year, who didn’t know what they were doing weren’t very skilled. They all worked incredibly hard this summer, and they’ve come back. And now, it’s the reason we’ve had the success that we’ve had.” 

The team is currently 7-1 after losing its first game 15-9 this past Friday against Reagan. Brandon scored four goals in that game. 

West Forsyth, despite its success, has had trouble defeating Reagan. 

“That’s the closest we’ve gotten to beating Reagan since my sophomore year,” Brandon said. “We had a good team that year. I think the second time I think we’ve got them.” 

That second time is April 22 in Clemmons.  

“We’ll have a tough schedule coming up now in conference, but I think we’re still on track to do pretty well,” Brandon said. 

There is still plenty of season remaining. The final regular-season game is scheduled for May 2 in Clemmons against East Forsyth. 

That’s a pretty big feeling, you know, because of so many different players, so many different memories. It’s just going to be a big step,” Brandon said.

The next step is going to college. He plans on attending Appalachian State, despite his being a big Clemson fan, in the fall, but not to play lacrosse. But he plans on playing club lacrosse in Boone. 

“I’ve been playing for so long,” Brandon said. “After a while, it starts to take a toll on you a little bit.”