Vitals: Farmersville

Need to know: Led Farmersville to a third Central Section title and the school’s first appearance in the CIF Southern California Regional, finishing the year 28-2-3. Has a career record 212-62-18 with eight league titles.

Up next: Jordan plans to return for a 12th season as Aztecs coach.

After Farmersville High captured its third Central Section boys soccer championship in the school’s first 11 years, the crowd gathered at Evan Meek Stadium showered their appreciation on the program’s architect.

“Jor-dan! Jor-dan! Jor-dan!,” chanted the approximate 1,000 fans who witnessed the Aztecs top Mendota 1-0 for the Division VI title.

As in Michael Jordan.

No, not the basketball Hall of Famer, but the legend of Farmersville.

“It’s mutual,” Jordan said of the affection the community has for him. “I love the town. I love the involvement people take with the program. I love that they have as much passion for it as I do. When things go well, they are right there with us. And when things go bad, they feel the pain, too.”

Farmersville is arguably the section’s premier small schools boys soccer program since Jordan took over in 1999, going 212-62-18 with nine playoff appearances and eight league titles.

The Aztecs went 28-2-3 this season, capturing two tournament titles (Jim Inglis and Garces Holiday Soccer Festival Gold Division) and advancing to the CIF Southern California Regional for the first time under Jordan, The Bee’s Coach of the Year.

“I wanted to come and build a program from scratch,” Jordan said. “The kids have really bought into what we’re doing. They’ve really taken this program to the next level. All I do is offer a little guidance. They put in the blood, sweat and tears, and they do so willingly. It’s been a family here from day one.”

And it’s a family bond that doesn’t figure to be broken any time soon. Despite opportunities to move on to bigger schools, Jordan said he plans to be in Farmersville for a long time.

“The reason I don’t leave is because of the ties I have to the kids, to the families, to the community,” Jordan said. “I feel a real closeness to them. I can’t let these kids down. Too many kids who have problems in life look to the soccer field and they look to me for advice and guidance. I’ve invested so much of myself, I’d feel I betrayed the kids and the town if I ever left.”

The best season in Farmersville’s successful history came to an end in the SoCal Division III semifinals, a 2-1 loss to Amino Leadership-Inglewood. Jordan said the experience will only serve as fuel to the fire of future Aztecs.

Said Jordan: “The next group of guys, they are going to say forget semifinals, we want to win the whole dang thing.”