GCA looks forward to 2025-2026 season

By WORTHY EVANS

Contributing Writer

Columbia - One year into Gray Collegiate Academy’s move from the 2A classification to 4A, the transition process is in the rear-view mirror.

Last year was also Kevin Heise’s first full year as athletic director, and while the soccer and cross country coach had the challenge of taking on yet another job for the school, he and the school finished the year on a strong note.

“It was a great learning experience for me as a full-time AD. I’m certainly a better AD than I was a year ago at this time,” he said. “We had a very good year going from 2A to 4A. Regardless of classifications, we were sixth overall in the Carlisle Cup in Class 4A, and that speaks volumes for our coaching staff, student athletes, and our commitment to the process.”

The Carlisle Cup is awarded to the most outstanding athletic program in each classification. Gray Collegiate finished second in its final year as a 2A school.

Gray’s high finish despite its football team receiving a postseason ban for fielding an ineligible player is telling of the strength of the school’s other programs.

“That our football team did not get to participate in the playoffs, but if they had our finish would have been a little higher,” Heise said. “It is what it is. We learned a few things that set ups back, but we’re willing to soldier forward.”

The school’s boys and girls basketball teams both finished second in Region 4-4A and both reached the third round of the playoffs. Girls head coach Brandon Wallace, who won a state championship in 2023, returns. Boys head coach Carlos Powell was recently let go to make way for a familiar face.

Dion Bethea, Gray Collegiate’s first boys basketball coach in the school’s history, returns to the program.

Bethea led the program before Gray joined the High School League for the 2014-2015 school year. Since being eligible for the postseason in 2016-2017, Bethea led the team to 273 wins and six Class 2A state championships, including three in a row from 2022-2024.



Bethea, who spent the 2024-2025 season as an assistant at Georgia Southern, replaces Powell, a former USC standout who coached at Wilson for four seasons before succeeding Bethea. Powell led the War Eagles to a 19-8 record.

“Anytime you get a coach who won the way he did and wants to come back in the program, you take him,” Heise said. “When he took the job at Georgia Southern he had been scratching an itch. He had always wanted to get into college, but his family stayed in Columbia and I guess it was homesickness. It couldn’t have been a better time for us and a better time for us. He put the mark of excellence on the program.”

Gray Collegiate ended the year strong, with the softball team winning its second state championship in three years and first at the 4A level. The girls track and field team won its second straight state title.

Heise’s boys soccer team (24-4) won the region title and reached the lower state final. Heise, a 34-year coaching veteran, also won his 600^th soccer game this year.

Heise’s wife, Emily Heise, won her 100^th soccer game last year and led the War Eagles to a 22-3 record, a region title and a second-round appearance in the state playoffs.

As for the football program, Heise said the team is in good hands with De’Angelo Bryant in his second year with the school.

“We’ve increased our measures to ensure that it won’t be happening again,” Heise said. “We also had a transition with our coaching staff at the time too, and that never helps the situation. You don’t know what you don’t know. But De’Angelo is a great guy. I couldn’t be more happy with the direction he’s going. I think they’re going to have a fantastic year.”

As for the entire athletic program at Gray, Heise thinks that year two in 4A will be the same.

“We’ve got a lot to build on, and I’m looking forward to seeing what we’re going to do.”