Defending state champs primed for another run

Published 12:48 pm Tuesday, February 11, 2025

The GMC Prep boys soccer team enjoyed another banner season in 2024 by winning the program’s third state championship, all since 2019.

The Bulldogs last spring played their way to a 17-2 record, which included a 4-1 finals victory over Atkinson County. Community coach Bobby Jaworski has the program humming along with high expectations again in 2025. But in order for the team to do something none of its predecessors has done – repeat – it’s going to take some guys stepping into roles bigger than they’ve ever had. Nearly half of the 107 goals scored last season are gone from the roster, as are the top three leaders in assists paced by 2024 All-County Soccer Player of the Year Owen McCabe.

McCabe was the through-line from the defense to the Bulldogs’ offensive attack. He picked his way through opposing defenses to find open shots either for himself or teammates. McCabe had a memorable play in last year’s championship win where he passed up his own good look at goal and instead moved the ball over to Bennie Huff IV, who had an even better view of the net. Huff scored to up GMC’s lead to 2-0. That scenario leads to one of the major questions surrounding this year’s Bulldogs. Who will pass up possible goal-scoring glory for the betterment of the team?

“We’re going to be younger, but we do have a lot of experience coming back,” Jaworski said. “The growing pains we’re probably going to see is more on the leadership style, being able to control emotions and the flow of play.”

Sophomore James Portwood (11 goals, four assists as a freshman) is taking over McCabe’s role in the middle.

“James is a very cerebral player who processes things at a level very near to how Owen did,” said Jaworski. “He’s smooth with his movements, can direct the flow of play, and shoot with either foot. We get all of our pieces around the field and put James in the middle pulling strings, we could be pretty special.”

One of those pieces Portwood will be passing the ball to is junior Tommy Carty. He tied for the team lead in goals a season ago with 25. Ten of those were during a dominant state playoff run, and two were in the state championship round.

While Carty is expected to carry the scoring torch, it’s anybody’s guess as to who will join him high up on the stat sheet. Huff should be in the mix, as will his classmates Gavin Smith and Greyson Robbins, a former Jones County attendee who could only play junior varsity last season due to GHSA transfer rules. Brody Brock, one of only two seniors on the team, could also feature heavily in the scoring rotation along with Portwood.

When it comes to stopping opponents from scoring, well the Bulldogs should be pretty good at that as well. Last year’s defensive back line, one that pitched eight shutouts and surrendered less than a goal per game, is basically intact. Juniors Zac Koehler, Landon Oltremari, Spencer Galloway, and sophomore Madhav Patel are all back with a year under their belts, as is goalkeeper Hayden Wells. Now a sophomore, Wells was author of all eight GMC Prep clean sheets when he was just a freshman. The only goal he allowed in the state championship game was a penalty kick following a handball inside the box.

Needless to say, things are setting up pretty nicely for the Bulldogs.

“We have a formidable lineup,” Jaworski said. “I think we’ll see things stabilize midway through the season. Guys will start to catch their footing and the leaders will start to emerge. Hopefully we’ll be on a good track from there. I think we’re definitely competing for the state championship. Obviously we don’t know whether we’ll get there or if we’ll hold the trophy up, but we’re definitely going to be able to make noise. The potential is 100% there.”

That’s helped along by a traditionally soccer-weak GHSA Class A Division II, the classification for Georgia’s smallest public schools. Anything less than a state semifinal berth would likely be a big disappointment, though Jaworski does believe the field has gotten better.

Regardless, the 2025 GMC Prep boys ought to light up the scoreboard most nights. A couple of can’t-miss dates on the schedule include a March 18 home match versus Lake Oconee Academy, a fellow Class A D2 program that went 12-3-1 last year, and April 18 at Putnam County, a 14-2 area champ in 2A.

GMC was scheduled to kick off the campaign Tuesday night versus Jasper County. The next game is slated for Tuesday at Peach County.