GHSA soccer: Eras coming to an end with Upson-Lee championship battle

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

            Matt Bentley had been thinking of a career move for a couple years, of moving from athletics to administration.

            Two years ago and last year, he was close, but couldn’t leave before a couple of groups were seniors, so he targeted this year, and pulled that trigger a few months.

            So Saturday will be a long and emotional day, his final one as the Knights’ head coach after 15 years and on the sidelines for 19.

            It’s a state championship day.

            The undefeated and top-ranked Knights will take on Oconee County in one of the two final soccer games of the year, this one the GHSA Class 4A finale at Mercer’s Five Star Stadium. At about the same time, Lambert and Lakeside-DeKalb will start the 7A championship at McEachern.

            The clock will likely move slowly for the 1995 Upson-Lee grad who played for the Knights, whose three siblings played at Upson-Lee, and whose father was his assistant for a decade.

            And the Knights have a whopping 16 seniors on the roster, 10 of whom are in the starting lineup. “Amped” may be an understatement.

            “I had my eyes on these guys since probably U-10, U-12,” said Bentley, summoned by some fathers to work with and speak to those young players. “I knew about this group for a long time. They’re a special group.”

            The 19-0-1 Knights are ranked first in Eurosport, so they’ve been able to mostly control the emotions. Of course, never will they be as high as this particular gameday, which will start in earnest with a 3:30 p.m. drive from the high school to the square for a few laps and then head to Macon.

            Sticking to the routine and game plan will be big.

            “We’re an attacking team,” Bentley said. “We’re going to come after year. We’re not going to change much.

            “We possess the ball, but we possess it to attack.”

            Chase Winters has keyed that attack for a few years, and leads the Knights with 22 goals and 15 assists. Berklei Rakestraw has 12 goals and 13 assists, Triston Coker 13 goals and Rhett Baucom 10.

            “Last year, we had a little trouble scoring,” Bentley said. “We had two guys that were scoring all our goals. You stop those guys, and we had some close games. This year, we’ve kind of spread our goals out.”

            Bentley said goalkeeper AJ Hunnicutt has had his best year.

            “Rhett Baucom is a senior, and he’s played a lot of different roles for us,” Bentley said. “He had some injuries last year, and this year, he’s been one of the best players we’ve had.”

            The Knights will be shorthanded, thanks to red cards in the quarterfinal against Blessed Trinity sitting Jordan Massey and Bryson Teal. Two Blessed Trinity players also got red cards. Bentley wished the officials had controlled the game better by warning both teams strongly before taking such a harsh action.

            “They were two starters on my back line,” Bentley said. “We had to move some people around. Even Baucom has stepped in, and we moved Rhett (Baucom) to the back, so he’s playing there. Drae McDuffie – he played on the football team, a big, tall wide receiver – he’s starting up top for us.”

            Nevertheless, the Knights finished off the 3-0 win over Blessed Trinity and then edged Druid Hills 1-0 on penalty kicks.

            It can’t get much tighter than the semifinal against Druid Hills. It was scoreless through regulation and the 15-minute overtime, going to penalty kicks.

            Winters put the Knights up 5-4, and then improbably was put in at goalkeeper.

            “He’s 5-9 on a really good day,” Bentley said with a laugh. “He’s just that good an athlete.”

            And Winters came up with the game- and season-saving save for the 1-0 win.

            Evan Baucom came off  the bench in that game.

            “We moved him to left back, and our whole team was calling him the MVP after the Druid Hills game,” Bentley said. “They thought he played that well. We’re hoping he’s the MVP again on Saturday night.”

            Cameron Teal and Brandon Martinez have been money.

            “They win a lot of balls in the middle for us,” Bentley said. “As they go is usually how the team goes.

            Upson-Lee has outscored Thomson, Columbus, Blessed Trinity, and Druid Hills 17-0 in the playoffs, things getting tighter after the 10-0 opening win over Thomson.

            The Warriors, the second seed from Region 8, have outscored Sandy Creek, Chestatee, Woodward Academy, and Southeast Whitfield 14-7. They’ve been on the road since the first round and have found ways to get it done in the second half.

            Oconee County is in its third championship, having lost to Westminster in 2007 and St. Pius in 2014.

            Last year, the Knights dropped to 17-2 with their 2-0 semifinal loss to runner-up Chestatee, and Oconee County was knocked out 4-1 in the first round by Blessed Trinity.

            Upson-Lee and Oconee County played in the second round in 2017, the Warriors winning 3-2 at home.

            Five Star Stadium will have a football – American football – atmosphere for the final soccer game of the year. The Knights will travel about 45 miles from Thomaston and the Warriors around 88 miles from just west of Watkinsville.

            “It’s be like an Atlanta United game, but with about 68,000 fewer people,” Bentley said with a laugh. “They’ll bring vuvzelas, everything. They really get into it.”