(Photo by Talon-Gray Collegiate Academy) – Gray Collegiate boys soccer team
By Thomas Grant Jr.
For the fourth time in five years, Gray Collegiate Academy boys’ soccer in playing for a state championship.
The War Eagles will face Southside Friday at Memorial Stadium for the Class 4A title. It will kick off following the girls’ soccer final between Bishop England and A.C. Flora which starts at 4 p.m.
The Lady Bishops defeated Gray Collegiate Academy in overtime 2-1 in the Lower State final played last Friday. The Lady Bishops were seeking their first-ever appearance in the championship.
Vanessa and Victoria Coleman, Lydia Kiker and Ruth Ann McCarty were named to the S.C. High School Soccer Coaches Association’s Class 4A All-State team.
Meanwhile, Gray Collegiate Academy boys earned their head coach Kevin Heise a seventh state title appearance with a dramatic 0-0 (4-1 on penalty kicks) victory over Bishop England Saturday at home.
“I’ve got a nine-month-old,” Heise said. “I lost more sleep because of my soccer team than I did from her keeping me up at night. It’s amazing and I was frustrated. Thirty-five, 36 years of doing this, you think you’ve seen it all. I’ve never seen anything like a January and February we had. I just never thought we’d get it on track.
“But then sometime the second week in March, the worm turned a little bit. The belief and the commitment these guys have had in each other, the belief, the commitment, the desire, the discipline. all those things fell in place the last 9-10 weeks.”
Gray Collegiate Academy has won seven straight matches since suffering back-to-back shutout losses to Bishop England on April 17 and Ashley Ridge the next day. In the rematch, the War Eagles battled the Bishops through two scoreless periods and four overtimes before breaking through on penalty kicks.
After both teams scored opening kicks, Gray Collegiate outscored Bishop England 3-0 to win the match. All-State selections David Andrade and Andres Campo (who were joined by Jason Gonzalez), Jacob Gardner and Joshua Perez accounted for the goals and goalkeeper Charlie Petroff made the two stops to clinch the Lower State title.
“It is a dream come true,” Petroff said of going to the state championship. “The beginning of the season it was such a question mark. But now it’s at the point where we’ve come going to state. It’s unbelievable and to be back there. I was there my freshman, sophomore year, missed it my junior year. So, it’s really great to be back and have a good chance of winning it.”
This is just the second all-time meeting between the War Eagles and Tigers. Gray Collegiate won the lone meeting 7-0 on Feb. 28, 2020 at River Bluff High School as part of the Capital City Cup tournament.
The state final match is available for viewing for a subscription fee at www.nfhsnetwork.com.
Raysor wins gold
Gray Collegiate Academy senior Caleb Raysor won the Class 4A 110 meter hurdles at the S.C. High School League track and field championships at Richland Northeast High School.
Raysor was the lone gold medalist for the War Eagles. Other top finishers were ElizaKate Rikard, who placed second in the pole vault and the girls’ 4×400 meter relay team finishing in third place.
