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By Jay Spivey 

For the Clemmons Courier

Jacob Able has been the head boys lacrosse coach at West Forsyth for the past three seasons, and the team just had the most successful team in school history.

However, despite going 12-10 overall and reaching the first round of the NCHSAA Class 4-A playoffs, Able has announced his resignation to move back closer to his native Atlanta. 

Able, who also resigned as a social studies teacher at Kernersville Middle School, made the decision to leave as the boys lacrosse coach at West Forsyth at the beginning of the season. However, he chose to wait to tell the players until the end of the regular season. 

“I got home from work. It was just a normal day, we (he and his wife, Sara Ahmed) had kind of figured that next season would be our last season and our last year here because my wife is getting her Ph.D from UNC Greensboro,” Able said. “We figured we’d stay here while she finishes up her degree and then we would head back home to Atlanta afterward.” 

That plan took a detour at the start of this past regular season. 

“The day of the first game of the season I come home from teaching to get ready to go over to West for a game,” Able said. “We were about to play Williams. And my wife was just sitting out on the front porch, and she said, ‘Hey, I’ve got you a present.” 

And some present it was.  

“‘Alright, that’s kind of weird,’” Able told his wife. “There’s really no occasion, but I walked in and she said it’s sitting on the bed. And I walked in and there was a pregnancy test. And we found out that she was pregnant.” 

That’s when the conversation started between the couple.  

“We were kind of debating, should we stay or should we go?,” Able said. “We were thinking about it for a little bit. We were already leaning towards going back to Atlanta. And then we found it’s twins. We said, ‘We’re definitely going back.’” 

Able said that his wife has finished all of her course work in counseling and counseling education at UNCG and will be virtually working on her dissertation.

That whole day for Able was filled with a wide range of emotions. 

“It was wild,” he said. “Obviously, a lot of anticipation after last season going 0-16 and just really wanting to start the season off with a win. And all day long just thinking about that, thinking about that, like dialed in, ready to go, super excited for the game. And in 2 seconds I couldn’t have cared less what (about that).” 

As if the day couldn’t have gone crazier, it did. 

“My brother-in-law, my wife’s brother, he was running the penalty box that night, and I couldn’t say anything to him, because it was super-early and we didn’t want to tell anybody just in case something were to happen.”  

Despite Able not telling the players about the pregnancy, they knew something was up that night. 

“Everybody was saying, ‘Coach, you’re in a really good mood,’” Able said.

West Forsyth defeated Williams 8-3 that night.

Early in the season, Able made the decision to tell Athletic Director Mike Pennington that he had decided to resign at the end. 

“I hated it,” Pennington said. “He’s done a good job. He’s worked hard. They’ve had a dramatic turnaround from a team that didn’t win a game to a team that got a home game in the state playoffs. Pretty dramatic turnaround, so I hate to see him leave, but I understand it.”

The team kept winning games, winning its first seven. However, West Forsyth lost two conference games in a row to Reagan and Davie County. On April 3, the team was scheduled to make a trip to Morganton to play Patton. That’s the day Able said that he and his wife learned they were having twins in October.

“We had absolutely no idea (that we were having twins),” Able said. “When they told us it was twins during the ultrasound, we were sitting there, and she put the thing on my wife’s stomach and immediately made a face. And my heart sank. I didn’t know if there was something wrong. Is it bad? And she said, ‘Y’all, I think there’s two.’ And my first thought was, ‘There’s no way.’”

Despite the winless season the Titans had last season, the outlook for this season was bright. 

“You knew they were going to be better, but to be that much better was crazy,” Pennington said. “And really other than the teams in our league — Davie, who’s good now, Reagan’s good and Reynolds is very good — (West Forsyth) dominated people. They beat the crap out of everybody. So, I give him credit for that. And I told him that, too, I told him he’s still young. He’s still got lots of things (to do) in his coaching career, I’m sure.”

Before coming to West Forsyth as the boys lacrosse coach, Able played college lacrosse at North Greenville University. 

“He came from an area in Georgia where lacrosse is a little more established,” Pennington said. “You know, it’s still relatively new for us. I think he hated to leave West. He hated to leave the kids, I’m sure. But for a lacrosse guy going to an area where lacrosse is more established is probably a good thing.”

Pennington said the position for head coach will be posted this week on the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools website. Lewis Maynard, will be the interim head coach. However, because of Maynard’s work situation he won’t be able to take the permanent position. 

“You just never know in this day and time,” Pennington said. “You never know with lacrosse with however many applicants you’ll have. But we’ll find somebody. We always have. We’ll find somebody good and have to see who that person is.” 

While Able was playing, he did his student teaching and simultaneously worked at a Chick-fil-A. He accepted the job at West Forsyth while he was still playing college lacrosse. 

“It’s been a learning experience,” Able said. “It’s been one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do after I graduated. I thought that being a student-athlete was going to be one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do.” 

The season progressed and Able chose a time to tell the players that he was planning on leaving after the season. 

“After we lost to East (Forsyth) on senior night I told the team,” Able said. “They’re a mature group of guys. They were pretty understanding. Obviously, pretty upset, a lot of them, especially the returners. For the most part they were all very understanding.” 

After losing to East Forsyth 9-8 to finish the regular season, West Forsyth defeated Mount Tabor 15-4 in the first round of the conference tournament. However, Reynolds defeated West Forsyth 18-3 in the semifinals. West Forsyth did go to the state tournament and played host to Charlotte’s Providence, losing 11-8. 

“It was emotional,” Able said. “It was sad. Obviously, it’s hard because all the guys, after the game we had our little talk and said goodbye individually to most of them. And then, after pretty much everybody had left, I went out there just by myself and there were a few things to do cleaning up the field-wise, getting the pylons off, getting the goals off. So, I just took some time to myself to do all that, be out there by myself for a little bit.”