GHSA Finals, Brackets, Champs Visits: Soccer Is In Session 5/16/25

It is that time for the last soccer is in Session for the season, presented by our friends at Kaiser Permanente. So of course this means it is a soccer is in Session playoff Daily Live. And we are in a bit of a no dilly, no dally zone because I think we've got enough plane stacked on the runway here to kind of get you through what happened yesterday and get you ready for what's going to happen today. So

I'm great, fantastic. I think I think everybody's a little bit exhausted. We're it's starting to hit us, you know. But the arrival, you know, they they they welcomed the girls, the team, uh, very well when we showed up because our spring football game was was happening last night, had some fans that were there, you know, obviously we were we were talking to the supporters. We you know, shout out to the Raider Nation. They they turned out really

What you're not looking at next season like right now, Jason, come on.

Actually secretly, I mean, we're always planning for the next season, but now we're going to put that on hold for a second.

That this has been a long time. You know, this has been a four year process.

This has been the goal when when myself and the rest of the coaching staff came in four.

Years ago, we knew what we had here and.

Identified quickly that probably the number one thing that had to happen was create a culture, a culture of winning.

And you know, a tribute to the leaders.

On the team, they did an absolutely fantastic job, you know, when you know, it came down to pks and called the captains together and we you know, we had a pool of ten and we out of that pool of ten, came up with the top five and we felt confident in going in because it was something that we had worked on. We had had too many times where we came up short on the PK end. And again I always say that it's not my program, it's the girls program.

And they showed that that work.

Uh, they demonstrated that works when they take ownership of and responsibility for how the team is going to do. Uh, good good things can happen, you know. And uh, yeah, it's just incredibly proud of them.

Yep. So I mean it's uh when when you have a moment like that, you said that you had let them practice before and you just kind of let them do their own thing. It's like you're you and the coaching staff, you're off to the side. You're just gonna let them do their own thing to get ready for what possibly could be an ending that ended up being the way that it was going to be after one hundred.

Yeah, we did Tuesday. Tuesday was scripted. Uh.

Tuesday was a competition between what we thought were our top ten. Uh and then Wednesday it was it was them. Uh they got to decide, you know. Uh, they relaxed, they took pks, they they talked to each other. They were sitting around and talking. Because we knew for the seniors it was their last last trading session there.

And and the.

Thing, you know, the things that we did as a coaching staff as we tried to maintain the routines. We didn't want to disrupt anything that we've been doing all season, you know, and just kind of keep them lose, keep them relaxed. There was no hype about this game whatsoever.

It was just another game. You know.

Obviously we probably skeept our game up when it came to things like scouting and and knowing what our opponents were going to throw against us, which actually I probably need to mention.

I mean what a team Buford was. Uh.

And you know, I I think I think we don't say it enough. Uh And I know I definitely haven't when I've talked to people. But you know, in sixth A, we had we had us, We had Beauford, we had west Ford Scythe we had Campbell, we had Harrison, we had Brookwood, who had a tough team. I mean, it's there was a lot of competition, and I think there were probably six or seven teams that that if if they had won it, everybody would have been Yeah. They

Tyler Mayer from Laway is going to join us in about ten minutes. He'll be the next coach up here on our last Sucker is in session Playoff Daily Live for the year. And you know, you mentioned how tough six to eight girls is. That gauntlet that was over on the right hand side of the bracket, you just kind of got to look at that and you're like, yeah, go ahead, knock each other around, do your thing. Because it was West first side up right, and then Brookwood

Well, at first, I looked at the left side first because that's where we were, and I saw Harrison and went, dang it. I was hoping that we would face them, we had faced them early in the season. It was a close game. We knew there are some things that we kind of knew going into that game that we hoped would work in our favor, and of course, you know, wound up being the game that we expected. A very well coached team with a lot of talent, They had a lot up top coming at us. But then on

We had to fight that game.

It was on the road, we had been on the road, we had traveled, played a tough.

Game, and then we came home and you know, Lambert.

Probably that probably wasn't as challenging a game as Harrison. Uh So we were probably a little more fresh coming into the final, but it was the travel experience to Harrison definitely helped.

When you think about this group of seniors, what sticks in your.

Head, Oh, how much time you have?

You got got eight minutes to fill? Brother, it's all you.

I mean, I can't I can't say enough about those four players and all the seniors really because some had to be very very patient, uh to to earn it. I mean, when you have the talent that we have here, you sometimes had to be very very patient and for your moment.

You know. But the captains just every four years.

That's been a big thing for us here for the coaching staff, is developing our leadership. The JV team does a very similar process to what we do of varsity, and they understand what it means to be a leader and they bring themselves to the role, meaning they don't change who they are when they're a leader. They recognize the qualities that they have and they use those qualities.

And all of them did.

They were very you know, they would be brutally honest with the coaches, they would be honest with their teammates. But in the same respect, they they they supported and they supported the program, and they supported their teammates, and they knew what they wanted to do. I mean, it's it's and we have future leaders coming up. This is the you know, this year was the first year that we had a junior get a significant number of votes.

Uh.

And then you know, I mean Grayson, she wasn't a captain, but from the back she did a great job directing things. We had another senior that that hadn't really played a whole lot coming up, and we put her in the midfield and to break some people, and she did, Sophia Matravitch. She did fantastic, level headed, calm under pressure.

I was just.

There's so much that we could say about this group, but but very proud of them.

Tier one is what we're calling them. They're Tier one captains. They're there at the top.

And Grayson was set to be the fifth p K taker if it got to that.

Yes, absolutely, no doubt every captain.

So when we met before before the PKS, we had our pool of ten uh coach Darn, Coach Brad, and myself. We had come up with the top five, know we wanted to know who was fresh, who felt good, and then the captains kind of made their suggestions on the order we had adapted.

We changed a little bit.

From what coach Don and I thought, and then yeah, Grayson, but everybody agreed Grayson was number five.

What's it like to have everyone on that roster agree that Grayson was your number five as your I mean, she's starting keeper, and we've seen it in times when you go further down the line where it's like maybe round nine, round ten, round eleven, and beyond that the keeper is there. But your keeper was number five. I mean, that's pretty that's pretty heavy. Man.

Well, I'm so Grayson is an amazing basketball player as well. I'm pretty sure she was a captain on our basketball team. She's a four year starter for a girls basketball team. So the way that I see it, when she takes a PK, it's almost like she's just hitting free throws. She puts it in the same spot and she does it with amazing pace and confidence, and she's calm.

I mean, she's just calm under pressure.

I actually have to say, you know, all five of the players, the way that we worked on PKS, you could tell that they were very relaxed, and when they stepped up to that spot kick.

So I mean in Anna Ramos, who hadn't seen any action, I don't believe in the eighty minutes. Yeah, literally, she's like, Okay, that's one of the five. That's a slam dunk. That's an easy one. She goes in there and she just puts it in the back of the net too.

Yeah.

So I actually had coach Don walked down and talked to her and ask her, and Anna said, yeah, she was good. She was good and ready to go. And Anna is an amazing player. She's a quality player. It just is you know, her moment's gonna come. She's an outstanding midfielder. But yeah, she's composed. She's one of our number ones when it comes to taking pks's And to have someone just literally step in like that and just deposited and very very cool.

Uh when did you finally go to sleep or did you.

Yeah, I slept, I slept. Uh, it wasn't early. We'll leave it at that.

It wasn't very early, but you know, obviously quite a few text messages, a few phone calls. Uh, and you know, we were down in Raider Valley for a while. Uh, and coaches got together to kind of debrief uh after that and relax. But you know, it's it's a great moment. Uh. It speaks volumes for the community that we have here, for the quality not just the quality of athletes, but the quality of student athletes.

Uh.

You know, our team, it's it's it's loaded with really just fantastic kids that you know, I don't know how long their soccer career is going to go.

You know, for a lot of them, that was their last game. Uh.

You know they'll probably play you know, adult league or something like that, but as far as competitive soccer, it's probably over. But they're going to go on and have have some great careers and whatever it is they decide to do.

Okay, So before you get out of here, I have something that I need to play courtesy of our friends at the NFHS network. You might recognize one of the voices, but I just figured I would play this before you left us here today.

You're not gonna go to Washington.

Well placed to two absolute rocket to Layelah Washington, Lilah Gillette. Top of the third of the third, quick run up and easy Jelette.

Mm hmmm.

Neither team really wastes a whole lot of time. It looks like you have to go to the one ar who's at the report with the reporting station. Basically, we're gonna assembly line this as quickly as humanly possible. Bottom of the third for Buford.

Seed you'd mentioned Alen, and Alen comes up big on Ebany Torres, Honor Ramos, four for four one team Buford's got to keep pace.

You gotta keep the safe here.

For Walton to close it out.

M hm, done and out.

Brie Adams shut down by Grayson Alen. It takes four frames back to back saves and Walton.

So there you go.

That's stuff great.

Thank you for everything this year. It's been fantastic. You know, be banging on your door pretty soon to get ready for this upcoming season. But as always, thanks for everything this year, and you know on your door soon.

Thanks for having me.

Hey, Jason Page, head coach of Walton. He's got a title. And so now we go from there to l o A and we go and catch up with Tyler Mayer, who has uh and uh. Tyler over at l o A. He's at his actual gig. He's like, he's like actually doing things in his real job. So Tyler, how are you?

Sir?

Hey John, I'm doing I'm doing great. I'm sorry, I don't know what's my camera there, but hey, I'm doing fantastic today.

And yeah, you know, a real gig.

But I'll tell you last night was a real gig and it's fantastic. It's a high that we don't want to come off of anytime.

Soon, all right. So I, since I did it with Coach Page, let me do the same thing with you for one of the moments that happened last night. This is our buddy matein Rod on the call courtesy of our friends at the NFHS Network. So I will ask you where you were when this particular moment happened. After last night.

Of course, who else to tick the ball but Palmer Larkin, who has not scored today, both goals going to Enostrosa, but leads this team offensively with thirty four goals this season. Larkin to put the game to bed scores and celebrate in front of his hometown fans. If it wasn't already decided before Palmer Larkin wins the penalty, buries it himself and makes it three to one. Lake Acone Academy already with one of their hands on the trophy.

Now, so there you go, Palmer Larkin, who when we had coach Don Aleski on last time, we have kind of taken something that we do at Georgia Public during the American football time of year, and it's to make that Kid an Offer segment that Matt Stewart Hannah good than I do or we always kind of look around the state and look at those underappreciated talents for whatever reason. And he instantly nominated mister Larkin for the make that

Well, I'll tell you, John, I mean, you know, when you try not to give up scouting reports, it's hard not to. It's hard to hide Palmer Larkin. And I'll tell you talk about a kid that can just score at will and can take over a game, and you ask where I was there. The funny thing is John I never saw that ball go in the net. I turned around to grab a cup of water, you know, and then next thing you know, you just hear the crowd erupt. So I confess I never saw the ball

When you look back at this season, how difficult has it been knowing that? But that that entire campus boys and girls sides, there are bullseyes on the front and the back of the jersey at LA in the classification. What's it been like to push through this season and come out on top?

Well, I'll tell you, I mean, and again thanks for bringing it up, but kudos to the to the girls team, I mean, back to back state finals appearances to coach you know, Baxley and coach Souls this year. But you know, I say it a lot here at work, go I'd rather be part of something that building and something you know, people are trying to emulate than a school or a department where people don't want anything to be part of.

So, you know, we have.

Something really good going, a lot of young talented athletes in this in this small area and just watching these boys overcome so much. You know, Connor has done such an amazing job in his four to five years here just building this program and spending time.

And and and just you know, and that's what it is.

You need to spend time with these kids and show them that you love them, and you show them that you care and that you really want to teach more than justice than just an athlete, but a person as well. And just just fantastic. And I'm so excited about the future of where we're at from our middle school program up through our JV program and what the future looks like here with with you know, personally our boys.

Program Class A D two Boys Champs, like a Cony Academy. After the big win in the final three to one over Atkinson County at Mercer Macon last night, and one of the things that I wanted to ask you about is your defense. I know that we all kind of gravitate towards goals put in the back of the that so on and so on. But even in the postseason where you shut out Mountain Zion, Carol, you only give up one to doo Lee County and then on the right hand side of the bracket you only give up

Well, you know, and I'll piggyback what Connor said the other day. I mean, this wasn't our initial back forth. You know, you know, we we've played through some things, and I think is as coaches, you know, we we got together, hit hit the whiteboard and and you know, Lefe's about putting people in the right positions to be successful.

And you know, when you have when.

You have the proverbial fort Knox in goal, you're you're kind of safe no matter what you do.

But I mean, just so proud of those guys.

I mean, Austin Dell's come a long way since when I've seen him as a as a freshman, and Jamison mcew and who we started the season as our striker and then Connor got my ear and it's like, hey, you know he used to play defense too.

I'm like, let's go.

You know, somebody who's comfortable with the ball at their feet, he's he's a fierce competitor. Sometimes we have to reel them back in. And then Jack Kalvanovitch and his brother Adam you know, on the outside. So it took us a while to get our foot but hey, offense scores, but defense wins championships. Man and man, they locked it down when they had to, you know, and even you know, the duel of game was an a to zho and you know, gave up a late goal there for eight one.

The match, how long did it take for you to you and the coach Don Leski to kind of get everything figured out to where you were comfortable with all of these uh you know, all of these pieces having to fit in unfamiliar How long did it take for that to get to full song to where you guys were comfortable maybe.

The try on game.

Wow.

I mean, that's that's John. That's how interchangeable things have been.

I mean we went from a four four to two diamond to a four five three you know, uh four or five whatever formations you you want to equate to, uh that equal eleven.

But I mean we.

Tried a little bit of everything, and and you know, I'm an early riser, so I'd be sending formation pictures to Connor, like, hey.

What about this? What about three back? What about three up top?

And and he's like, coach, hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, like leave it alone.

I'm like, all right, all right, you're you're right.

But you know, last night, I mean, we we had to you know, we got we Sorry if I'm jumping the gum, but we you know, we.

Got down early.

And the resiliency of this team. It took a little bit in the first half to really get our motors going, and we had a real good coming to Jesus half time. Made some changes when aggressive, you know, with a with a four to three three pushed the attack. I said after the game, you know, for a team like at CO to not give up a goal all State tournament, I found that real challenging for them to do against our three headed monsters with Industro, so, Larkin and Dronsky

What was the conversation like heading into minute eighty one and beyond, because if you had to climb the mountain to get to one one, then it's another one to try to push through it in that second twenty minutes, so you're not going to pks or anything. What was the conversation? Was it calm? Was it focused? What was the mood as you guys were getting ready for overtime?

Well, gosh, I get I get chills just just just reliving it because it was it was so calm.

It was. It was so calm.

You know, you get that point where we tie it up one to one, we know we're going into overtime, and the momentum was immensely on our side. So it wasn't a point of and I had that that personal reflection of it. I don't think we're going to lose this game. We just have to find a way to make the most of our next opportunity. And you know, we have this this mantra of unfinished and you know, the message going into that overtime was finished, this finish

Personnel to make this happen.

And man, that just just coming together, the boys and the resiliency and how calm they were. I think they knew that we were going to win that match.

What does this mean to La A. Cooney Academy in the the overarching sense? And then what does it mean to the program a little closer to the field house?

Well, I mean for Lake at Cony Academy. I mean, it's just it's just another feather in the cap. And I don't say that, you know, arrogantly. It's just it's such a community, you know, driven by academics and athletics, and it's you know, it's you know, going around town today and seeing everybody and coming into work and hearing from everybody.

And it's you know.

When you're when you're part of something bigger than than yourself with which this is And this isn't about Connor winning or me winning. This is about you know, these boys coming together and overcoming adversity from the.

Last two three seasons.

And you know, I think it's just we now understand at the high school level.

And I made this known to the boys.

The second you sign up to be an athlete, no matter what what level you play, you are on a different stage. You know, you are in a pedestal now that is magnified everything coults, no matter what you do, how you behave, how you act in the classroom, out in the community, and you know, you know, hopefully you know, these boys know that they they are role models, you know, and they have now paved the way for others to follow.

And that's what's exciting.

Winners in Class A D two, you get to how how much sleep did you get by the way?

Oh man, I'll tell you we got by the time we got off the bus it was after one. And then I'll tell you what our our tiresome, you know. Coach Souls with the girls team she's in charge of pe at the school. We went and helped set up field day on the turf field. So but that's what we do. That's what we do, you know. We we help each other. So running on about three and a half hours of sleep and running on Duncan.

Today, I can I can relate. I am not a guy that runs on Duncan. I run on high powered PEPSI products myself. Beautiful winners over at co in the final and Class A D two boys. As always, it's great to catch up with everybody down there at LA and in Greensboro. It's another really cool pocket where things are growing in Class A Division two. Tyler, thanks for dropping by and sharing the story about the win last night. Go get some more Duncan and then maybe a nap

Man, we'll look.

Hey, I kick off with my club club soccer team tomorrow. We got a tournament tomorrow, we got graduation tonight. Hey, this is what we live for, right, could you blink and it's over?

So let's go, man. Hey, God bless you guys. Thanks John, all.

Right, be good, Tyler Mayor and he's gonna go and maybe get a cat nap or something. I'll say, so Field Day, Graduation Club team, all the things as you head out, as you head out I twenty toward Augusta and the lake and the bridge that you cross over

Unfortunately, yes, because I'm now working doing frisbee golf with middle school kids.

Oh so, how good a frisbee golfer? Are you, sir?

I'm not very good.

I'm just I'm just the facilitator. It's a it's a fun day for the kids, and I had to come in. I had a late night, but I'm feeling good, that's for sure.

How late a night was it?

Oh?

Well, we got locked out of the locker room after the game, so it ended up taking another hour.

Wow, whoa, whoa? You got locked out?

Yeah, I mean the school was closed up and we didn't find anybody, so we were sitting there.

But it's a lot better.

In my high school, my last game of my high school career, we lost our trival and then our bus broke down and we had to sit there for two hours and watch them celebrate.

So this was better.

Break it down for me a half at a time last night in a heated rivalrymatch like this one. So at forty minutes, what did you think of the first forty?

I thought the first forty were good.

I thought we started out well and then they it was kind of back and forth. They would possess much more than we did. But then we were very good at our counter attack chances, and I thought that that kept us in the game. So we got to I felt pretty good. We just needed to make some tactical adjustments.

And so what was the conversation like at the half to make those tactical adjustments to get you ready for the second forty?

There was a certain personnel that we felt we had to cover, and it's kind of like you as a soccer coach. I wish they would give me one time out in the game and I just solved everything. We thought we were twelve, but then they adjusted to our adjustments and it just kept on being a back and forth game.

How much of a chess match was it? You mentioned adjustments and them adjusting to your adjustments and so on. How much of a chess match was in that second forty?

Well that's I.

Felt good in that sense, But to be honest, it was like it's just the tale of two styles.

They were very good at possession.

They would hold it, and I thought our way around that was to counterattack. I think both of us created some really good chances. I think it was fair that nobody scored.

If if some.

Of those chances have gone in It could have been a three four to nothing game on either side, but for whatever reason, we both defended very well and got lucky.

So then you're heading into the extra extra frames. What was the What was the mood like in the huddle or they calm or they anxious? What was it like trying to get the message across after eighty minutes getting ready for minutes eighty one through ninety?

It was that was something.

It's it's high school sports, so your whole bench just like cheering, and I'm trying to get them to be quiet so I can talk to the team.

So just deal with that was it, And then I felt good about what we did. I talked more.

About composure and maintaining like focus, and then my assistance, I let them talk a little bit tactically, and yeah, I felt good going in there. But I did think they basically you would have to say they they were better in the game in terms of like possession and stuff. I thought tactically we were better, and that's where I was trying to get it. I mean, I could not beat them playing their game. I had to try to get them to play our game.

How difficult is that to try and turn an opponent to where they're having to defend against what you want to do, instead of, you know, having to have two rams on a mountain side butting heads with conflicting styles. How difficult is it to turn that dial to where they're doing what you want them to do.

Oh, it's very I mean you could see the game.

It's like we would get it turned for a minute or half or two and then they would revert it right back. The thing that was harder for us is that their way made us have to run a lot. So when we are defending, they're holding the ball, they're resting in essence, and we're running to close down angles. So and then when we get the ball, we're running to counterattack. So it is a little bit of fitness component that.

We to beware. We had to keep subs ready, we had to keep it going.

And you're also having to navigate that plus the weather and all these different things. Where a kickoff at mckechern last night it was like ninety degrees at five o'clock and it was probably low eighties by the time I got to seven thirty. How much of a navigation was the weather in addition to having to adjust to your style and their style and all of that stuff.

The weather for us actually that we got lucky because we were playing today, They're saying it's going to be ninety and being the later game helped us. I assumed that they were going to be really good with fitness. I'm I do our fitness, but I can't say like I'm not an expert.

It's not my background.

I played in college and I use what we did. So I feel my team was in pretty good shape. But the game seemed to bear it out, but we definitely cramped up. We had players that.

Had to come out that we would rather be in the.

Game conversation.

P K.

How do you navigate that?

The week before with Dalton, so I felt helped with it. I thought my keeper was good.

The thing that we didn't have on them was that we had known Dalton, like they had taken p k's before, so we could actually go and look at film.

A little bit.

With with this group, I watched one kid take a p K when they played Pious, so we didn't know about their kickers and that sometimes that's not a bad thing because then your keeper just does what he does based on instinct.

Yeah. Uh, when you got so tell you what I'm gonna I'm gonna play a I'm gonna play a piece of audio right and I'm gonna I want your reaction after it gets played. But this is late last night, in a game that you are very very familiar with. To see of our friends at the NFHS network, Jason Longshore Maddy Cruise in the call three.

Two Westminster round four Andrew Alvarez from Marist.

Pressure mounting.

Alvarez right behind the ball over the bar, went for the upper ninety. Didn't miss by much, but it's over the bar and the Wildcats can win it here.

Tristan Lewis, the senior defender. Tristan Lewis.

Can earn a second straight state championship for Westminster.

Four steps back.

Lewis h right, But why he missed it to the opposite side.

Gordon wasn't bouncing as much as he could to try to throw Lewis off.

I think he did. Marist have to make here, Matt Connor.

A miss or a save and Westminster are your state champions. A make and then Westminster will have the opportunity to win it from the spot in the fifth round.

Matt Connor for Marist five yards behind.

The ball.

Lee right in the middle of the goal. Here comes con Her.

Off the post, Westminster or your state champions.

Okay, I mean obviously we didn't want to miss, and that's that's part of life. We missed up at Dalton, and it was a lot more tenuous because that put us behind and our keeper had to make the safe to make the difference.

But yeah, I I I.

Still felt confident. I mean a lot of I don't know. I really emphasize that pieces. We trained pks the whole year, and we train like exactly what your routine is, so that when you get there you shouldn't have pressure. You're just doing your routine and you ignore everything else.

Tristan had not missed.

We felt good about him, and he even felt good about his kick. But even after that, I felt that my keeper was going to be the difference maker. I felt like we were going to be go to our kicks, but my keeper could make the difference because he almost saved two again, and he saved the second one and enrolled in one of those horrible slope of sport.

Yes, yeah, but no, I we were going. It was strange because at the end of the game.

Theyres like a thirty seconds left and it's their team just quit. They just in the sense they didn't quit like hey, we're done, but they didn't try to play another ball out.

And not for me.

I would you always see those goals in the last two seconds or whatever, you know, the land and Donovan Scoore or something like that. So I always want to push for that. But they seemed like they were content to go to kicks.

And I was like, Okay, how much time are you going to give yourself to celebrate and enjoy this before you start getting ready for next year.

I need to learn to give myself grace, to be honest. As you get older, it's it becomes a grind if you don't step back and relax and enjoy it. So I mean, we'll do stuff with the summer that's more like we like the company, enjoy it. I start to try to recruit, but not in the sense that people think.

I coached the football team.

I'm an assistant and I'm always talking about I had three football starters on the fields, you know, I just talk at basketball's going to basketball, guys.

Guys need to look here.

I read this great article Hard Grates said he wanted to be a basketball player, and he played basketball. I guess he just wasn't to be the strongest guy, but that made me such a better soccer player. So I get those stories and I try to kids and.

Get them to come out for us.

Last question for you, because I know you've got to get back to uh looking after what's going on with golf, and I know I'm probably giving you lactic acidosis for how you're holding the phone. We have a we have a question from p W and he wanted to know how how has your coaching evolved and improved since joining the over forty Blues on Monday nights.

Oh, it's definitely probably the most significant factor in mysy. You are a good guys and it's definitely on the forty Monday.

Thanks becaus.

Afterwards we'll stay and have a.

Couple of years together and that makes us been at the cab.

Regard someone one.

Or not.

Well as always. Thanks for everything this season, Scott, congratulations and go enjoy it and may every frisbee golfer hit a hole in one have a great weekend. Thanks for everything this season. We really appreciate everything that you do for the sport and everything you've done here at SDH.

Thank you.

I appreciate it. Take care of all right, Scott Snyder, he is the head coach at Westminster and he yes. And by the way, full disclosure, that last question came for Patrick Williams, part of the coaching staff over at Shambly. He says, hey, if you get Snyder on today, tried to throw h mccurr. So I think it's safe to say that we threw himccurr.

Yes.

The contributing factor to one of the contributing factors to the top of Scott Snyder's success is joining the over forty Blues on Monday nights.

So that was very very cool.

And by the way, Patrick, thank you for the heads up to give the end of the segment the perfect question that we got. So that is three coaches down, and that is the championships that we've got so far. So let's recap where we are and get you ready for today. Eighty two boys Lake of Cony Academy, three one winners over Atkinson. That was at Mercer Macon yesterday ad one boys our Merchie and Thomasville. Remember we caught up with Jason Page a couple of days ago found

Troy uneventful?

Man?

They have to do another draft or something. Yeah, it's delayed even for thought. I was gonna be a big, big, huge procedure today, but it's not quite ready.

It's a nightmare, all right.

But what weill will do is we're going to play a piece of audio for you to start off the segment. Since you're sitting in your car. This is safe listening and it's safe interviewing. So this is how this will go. You may hear some familiar voices from last night, and it is a particular moment that happened last night courtesy of our friends at the NFHS Network from a match

Frankly, I'm amazed that Grayson even have somebody on their own hand to the field, and it's not just the keeper by himself, because you are in a situation now with the way that Campbell has been keeping the ball from you and the way they have been fighting so tenaciously.

If you don't get this the first time, man, I don't know if you get it back. Bat a coon on his feet heading to the bench, and I think the conversation is trying to figure out, Hey, can I sub.

Should be Alex.

I think they were checking for a head injury really soon. So Kamara thirty five yards from the near side corner flag. Start the clock, keep giving up real estate. Schleister doesn't care.

No, clock's still going. The perfect is you're Campbell, You'll just keep playing volleyball all day long.

Camara again, twenty five yards getting to the ball first. Miles Russell sends it clear.

He said, sure, you're gonna get another chance. Now this is gonna be last Hey, this is the last chance saloon. If you are Grayson.

Callan freeman going along first to get there, flick header goes backward edge of the eighteen, nardello chip through the gold mouth, near side edge of the eighteen, push back, shot.

Point and plank saved and wide.

And that's gonna do it.

They got a chance for this court, right, No, no two? What So how's it feel?

Man?

I I can't even put into words. It's I don't know if it's fully sunk in yet. Yeah, it's amazing.

It's amazing.

Let me let me go. I want to walk through this with you a little bit. First forty minutes conversations at the half what were they?

I mean the conversations I half is they've they executed the planet exactly what we were trying to do. We we need we needed to stay as compact as possible. We knew how dangerous their front two were, and we knew we wanted to target their their their left back. We knew we wanted to target target that right side. So in transition, that's where we uh, where we focused, where we where we played. We hardly put the ball into our left side at all that first half, and

We actually we.

Kept four back so that that next player that should have been on top of the eighteen where that ball kept dropping, we only had one there, and we weren't going to make that adjustment. We weren't weren't nive enough to try and go even two v three versus or three v two rather verse their their frontio there. Those two players are incredible.

Then you go through eighty minutes and it's you're fourteen to go, and you're having to hang on and hang on and hang on, and you kind of heard a little bit where Jarrett and I were going with the call. We could not have spoken anymore highly about a defense that we knew was going to suffer in that final fourteen minutes because of everything that you knew Grayson was going to be throwing at you, throwing at you and

Man, that's the most stressful fourteen minutes I think I've ever experienced. I don't know if I've ever experienced anything like that. The feeling like the stress release after the game. Fourteen minutes is a long time.

Uh.

And going into the game, my conversations with with my coaches, like we knew like the longer it stayed zero zero that worked in our favor.

Uh.

If we would have scored in the first half, like who knows what would have happen in terms of opening the game up and and and all that. But so the fourteen minutes left, it was, it was, it was, it was.

It was tough.

It was tough.

They I cannot be highly enough about my back line on midfield that put it in a shift. Even right before that, Gavin coming coming off of the bench into the role he did. I was the shout out to one of my assistant coaches. I can't remember exactly which one it was, but put that in my years saying hey, like let's let's throw Gavin up top, let's get his work rate. And we cycled in, uh, Trey for for Tristan to a freshman for a freshman on on that

But I mean, and you mentioned it, so I'll follow up on it. The impact that you had from the three freshmen that you put out there at various points. That's a lot. That's a lot of responsibility for some very young student athletes in a situation like that, and they handled it really well.

Yeah, they've they were the biggest surprises of the season for us. We saw them in tryouts. We knew that they were technically skilled. It's one thing to be technically skilled, though as a fourteen year old you're playing gainst eighteen year old kids. You're playing against kids that are that are a head taller than you have sometimes forty fifty

Mean to have it looked like the entire Campbell student body.

Man, Yeah, it felt like a home game. It felt like a home game. I took some screenshots of Uh, it was just a wall wall of students, so loud that we've been very fortunate the last two years with the support we've gotten from the the students that have come out. They've they've traveled well with us, They've they've had their backs the entire time. They showed out last night. It was Uh, it was amazing.

I want to ask about your keeper, and especially late when he was as locked in as he was coming up with a couple of big saves, and I mean the responsibility was there and he was locked in the entire time.

Yeah.

I so one of the things I always say, I've said this for the last few years, like I don't need any of my players to be perfect, Like no one's gonna play a perfect game, but I need to be clutch when it matters. So I would say, can be perfectly clutching. And Eric, he was clutched all season

Incredible.

What does this mean for the program?

Everything? Everything?

It's I've been that gave this my tenth going on to love the year now. We've been working to get to this point and it's it hasn't been easy. We've we've made steps in the right direction, made to the final four several times in the past, just couldn't get over that line. Last year, got to the finals and just couldn't get it done. For the talent that we have in the perm to the talent that we've had through the program. Again, Ie, I think it adds. I think it's I think I hope it. Uh, it's silence

Uh.

The coaching staff that I have helped meet, that the players will be have there. That's support that we get from the Booster Club in the sumer community and this itself like none of this is an accident. I'm just really proud.

Troy Connolly, the head coach of the State six A champ Campbell Spark. That does that sound Uh yeah, man, I'm so proud.

Definitely the most proud. That's my creience.

It's uh. I hope to going for I'm.

Get some rest. Thanks for everything that you've been helping us out with all season long. Can't thank you enough for everything. Enjoy the weekend, get in a nap or whatever. Just enjoy it for a little bit because I know you're gonna give yourself about like three and a half days before you start looking at next year, right, Troy, thanks again, Just be safe and we'll catch up with you soon. My friend be well, really good, all right, Troy Connelly, the head coach at Campbell. So we went