H.S. SOCCER

Martin Jacobson recalls one day over the summer when he was in his office at Martin Luther King H.S., taking down memorabilia from his coaching tenure at the Manhattan school, where he guided the Knights to six PSAL titles in seven years.

“It was sad,” said Jacobson. “I thought I was also going to lose my job [as a guidance counselor] and be moved to another school, but I was really upset about not having this team anymore.”

MLK, once a bustling school that held 3,200 students, is being phased out and replaced by four new, smaller schools. With the change comes the end of the school’s ESL program for non-English speaking students and with it, probably the end of a soccer dynasty.

“This was supposed to be my last year here,” said three-year player Luis Candela, one of the many foreign-born players who have traditionally made up much of King’s squad, which opens its league schedule next week. “And I was nervous that Jake would leave and they wouldn’t have a team. I was sad.”

Instead, Jacobson’s counseling job was saved at the school, he was named athletic director, and the team survived, for one more season, at least.

“I think it was divine intervention,” Jacobson said. “I really thought it was over, but we got one more chance.

“There’s a chance we might keep things alive here,” Jacobson said. “But there’s also a chance that this will be our last great team here. I hope we can win one more time and put an exclamation point in what we’ve done here.”