South Broward and Highlands Christian coaches are Broward Boys Soccer Coaches of the Year

The 2023-24 high school boys’ soccer season was a season for breakthroughs in Broward County.

South Broward hoisted a state championship trophy for the first time. Highlands Christian made it to the region finals for only the second time, after failing to get past the region quarterfinals in either of the last two years.

Their coaches are now the Miami Herald’s Broward County Boys’ Soccer Coaches of the Year.

In Hollywood, coach Lionel Brown has turned the Bulldogs into a perennial contender in the five years since he took over as South Broward’s coach in 2019. Still a goaltender for United States Virgin Islands national soccer team, Brown guided the Bulldogs to the Class 6A title game in 2020 -- its first ever appearance in a final four -- and finally got them to the mountaintop this year, winning the Class 6A championship.

South Broward only lost one game all year and gave up just 19 goals in 24 games. For his team’s performance, Brown is the Herald’s Broward County Boys’ Soccer Coach of the Year for Classes 7A-5A.

In Pompano Beach, Davidson Loriston led the Knights on an unlikely run from No. 7 seed to the Region 4-2A title game. The run to the region championship matched the best postseason run in Highlands Christian history and began with an upset of Archbishop Carroll.

Now, Loriston is the Herald’s Broward County Boys’ Soccer Coach of the Year for Classes 4A-2A after the Knights got within a win -- and one goal -- of their first ever trip to the final four.

Both programs are ascendant, neither getting to even a region final before 2019. Now, they’re two of the premier programs in South Florida, in large part thanks to the turnarounds their coaches are guiding, and poised to keep their runs of success going.