Oak Hill girls soccer wins CSRA Championship

Published 5:26 pm Wednesday, April 16, 2025

The 2025 soccer season was one of perseverance and championship gold for the Bravettes of Oak Hill Middle School.

Led by eighth-graders Edith Ramirez and Maxime Tchmana they had to overcome numerous obstacles this season. The Bravettes started the season with a tense shootout victory over Jefferson County. After that though, their inexperience showed with seven of their 13 players having little to no experience playing the game of soccer. This inexperience resulted in them losing five of the next seven games to finish the regular season. The Bravettes were lucky enough, however, to make the playoffs.

During the semifinals versus Putnam County, the Bravettes put on a defensive clinic in holding Putnam to zero points in its own stadium. Led by defenders Kinnidy Daniels, Kadence Griffeth, Shyreana Crayton and others, OHMS managed to shut down the few scoring opportunities that Putnam County was able to get. Ramirez, Tchamna and Addison Mosley led the Oak Hill offense tallying a total of three combined goals.

With the win the Bravettes were on to the championship game for the fifth straight year. The girls from Oak Hill had to go on the road again, this time to regular season wins leader Thomson Middle School. The championship game was a 50-minute battle of will and determination. Through the first half each school had multiple scoring opportunities that were thwarted, so the half ended at 0-0. The second half was much like the first in that neither team was just going to give up. Each time it looked like one of the schools had a chance to win, the opposing defense would come up with a miraculous save. Finally after 50 minutes of outstanding soccer the regulation ended in a 0-0 tie.

With the game tied at the end of regulation, the two schools went into a best-of-five shootout. Both schools missed their first opportunity. The second shooter for Oak Hill was Griffeth, who buried her shot into the bottom right corner while Thomson’s second shooter made theirs as well. Again both schools missed their third shot with Oak Hill’s first-year keeper, eighth-grader Braylee Meeks, making a terrific save. Thomson took the lead on their fourth shot. The last kicker for the Bravettes was Ramirez, who blasted her shot past the Thomson goalie. On Thomson’s final attempt to win the game, the kick went high, resulting in a 2-2 tie after five shots. The schools then had to go into sudden death. On OHMS’ sixth shot, sixth-grader Alylah Atkins again buried a shot into the bottom right corner. On Thomson’s attempt to keep their hopes alive, Oak Hill’s Meeks took two steps to her right, deflecting the shot away and securing Oak Hill’s second championship in three years.

First-year head coach Gary Benslay had this to say about the girls team.

“I knew coming into the playoffs that we would be dangerous because the girls had finally gelled together over the last three games and were playing their best soccer. This group of ladies definitely earned this one, and I could not be more proud of them.”