Paul SchwartzWhen Saif Ahmed was a seventh grader at the Maywood Avenue School, he thought he’d be playing high school soccer at Hackensack High School like Maywood kids had done since 1969. But that year, he found out that the town would be sending future students to Becton Regional High School.
“I had never even heard of Becton before,” Ahmed said. “And when I got to high school about a year later, I only knew one or two kids who I had played rec soccer with in town.”
But talent helps make friends and makes the transition easier.
“He really came out of nowhere that first year,” Becton coach Mike Furino said.
“I didn’t even know if I would play varsity,” Ahmed said. “And in practice, I was more a wing than I was a striker.”
Ahmed didn’t play much in the Wildcats’ first four games, but with Becton trailing Bergen Charter, 3-2, with about 10 minutes to play, Furino signaled for the freshman to come off the bench and gave him a simple instruction, “we need goals.”
Ahmed scored his first two varsity goals to give Becton a 4-3 win. Little more than three years later, he is the leading goal scorer in school history.
“He’s really good in and around the goal and he’s deceptively strong,” Furino said. “He can score many different ways, a long shot, in the air, PKs (penalty kicks), breakaways. He’s learned how to get to the ball and get open and he knows how to use his feet.”
Saif Ahmed
Sport: Soccer
School: Becton
Class: Senior. Age: 17
Accomplishment: He scored three goals vs. Bergen Charter in a 4-3 win, and five goals against Saddle Brook in a 6-5 overtime win. His game-winning goal was the school-record 62nd of his career.
If you think that sounds like someone who’s been playing the game all his life, you’d be right.
“My dad and my uncles played a lot of amateur ball in Bangladesh, where they grew up,” said Ahmed, who was born here. “When we used to live in Bogota, there wasn’t a lot of oranized ball for kids so I would practice with my dad a lot. But I’ve always loved the sport.”
It hasn’t always been easy for Ahmed despite his early success at Becton. He led the Wildcats with 15 goals as a freshman but struggled for most of his sophomore year, scoring just eight times.
“I hurt my leg and I couldn’t run full speed, but I didn’t want to go to the doctor because I was afraid he wouldn’t let me play,” he said. “But when it didn’t get better, I had to go.”
The result was a fracture in his leg and a shortened second season. Last year, he returned to form and again led team with 22 goals. But he admits he can sometimes be his own worst enemy.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself and I get into my own head too often,” said Ahmed, who has 17 goals in 11 games so far this season. “I try and tell myself it’s only a high school soccer game and that I shouldn’t lose focus.”
“He’s a really a nice kid and really coachable and you don’t become a goal scorer like he is by not working hard, but sometimes he has to just relax and just enjoy his talent,” Furino said.
That’s where his two other hobbies come into play: cars and photography.
“I’m saving up to buy my first car, but I eventually want an Audi or a BMW or Mercedes,” said Ahmed, who wants to study computer science or engineering and play college soccer.
As for photography, he said he takes his camera everywhere, and loves to shoot sunrises and sunsets.
“I just have a little digital camera now, but I plan on getting a nicer one in the future,” he said
Right now he’ll settle for a few more picture perfect goals.
