Soccer is A Family Affair At Gray Collegiate With Kevin & Emily Heise Head Coaches Of The Boy’s & Girl’s Soccer teams At the School

Billy Baker • May 10, 2025


By Billy G. Baker

Publisher

West ColumbiaGray Collegiate Academy boys’ soccer coach an athletic director Kevin Heise, celebrated his 600th career win late in the 2025 season, and his current War Eagle’s team improved their record to 22-3 with a first round AAAA play-off win over Gilbert, 5-0,  on May, 7.


The War Eagles will now host Brookland-Cayce on Saturday May, 10. The Bearcats advanced with an 8-0 win over Wilson High.


In the win over Gilbert, the Gray boys’ team took 26 shots on goal, making five of them. The goals were scored by five different

players. Those War Eagles scoring goals included Ethan Mohundro, Noah Mitchell, Jason Gonzalez, Gavin Greer, and Tanner Leggette, Andres Camp has one assist while Mohundro led the team with two assists and Jay Ethridge added one assist.   


Earlier in the week, prior to his game with Bluffton, the HSSR interviewed Coach Heise as he was keeping stats on his lap top, watching the Gray Collegiate girls’ soccer team defeat Bluffton 6-1 on May, 6.


“We finished 21-3 in the regular season with a 13-1 region record,” said Coach Heise. “The one region game we lost was to North Augusta in penalty kicks at their place earlier in the season. We were fortunate enough to come back home later in the season and best them 4-0.


“Winning the region was a big goal because it sets us up well for the play-offs and here, we are getting ready to play Bluffton,” said Coach Heise. “We always hope to be playing our very best once the paly-offs begin.”


Coach Heise talked about the seven seniors on this year’s team who have been a vital part of the programs the past several years. He began with senior goalie Joey Sullivan being a four-year starter for Gray. ”Sullivan has already competed in three state championship games, so he has a lot of experience and he has a huge number of minutes played, that will never be surpassed here,” said Coach Heise. “It is very rare to play start four seasons and play in all 30 games each season. He is a good leader for us.”


Sullivan has 58 saves in goal this season and he has only allowed 12 goals in well over 1,000 minutes of play. Sullivan is headed to the Honors College at USC.


In the mid-field the War Eagles are led by senior Noah Mitchell who has 11 goals and a team leading 26 assists to date. Mitchell is an all-state performer and he will be on the Carolina’s Classic team. Mitchell will be attending Emory University in Virginia. Senior Ethan Mohundro id also in the mid-field. “He’s our glue guy,” said Coach Heise. “He does all the dirty work and leads by example.”


Another key forward/mid-fielder is junior Andres Campo who transferred into the program from Cardinal Newman last season. Camp has 14 goals and 12 assists so far this season. Freshman Jason Gonzalez also works hard in the mid-field and he has 11 goals and six assists coming into the post-season.


Coach Heise is especially pleased with the play of three marking backs who have led the defense for several years as starters. “Really, a key aspect of our team is three seniors who play in the back,” said Coach Heise. “JJ Evans is going to be playing in the North-South game (also has 7 goals & 7 assists) and he is joined in the back by senior Junior Gonzalez who is just a great soccer player,” said Coach Heise. “He turned down several colleges offers to move back to Mexico this summer. Then we have in the back senior Jay Ethridge who will also play in the Carolina’s Classic all-star game after the season. Jay has signed to play at USC Lancaster next year.



“All seven of our seniors are a very special group of players that we will miss,” said Coach Heise. ”I can’t put it any other way. They are very special players in our program.”


Nathan Hernandez is a senior versatile player, on offense and defense, who has missed most of the 2025 season with a knee injury. “Nathan has been a three-year starter but he has only played in about a quarter of our games this season,” said Coach Heise. “The game he has played in, he has made an impact and knock on wood that he can play and give us a shot in the arm in the play-offs.”  


Some non-senior starters include sophomore mid-fielder Will Webber who has scored 14 goals with 11 assists to date. “He is on the outside and he is tied for the most goals on the season and he just a sophomore,” said Coach Heise. “We have a junior up-front Tanner Leggette and he is a beast, a very big boy at around 200 pounds and he has scored 10 goals with seven assists. We also have a junior right marking back who has started all but one game this season in David Andrade. Freshman Jason Gonzalez has started 8 games for the team this season and he has 11 goals and six assists tohis credit so far.


“We have 26 total players on the team and we rotate them in-an-out-out all the time,” said Coach Heise.  “All of our players are hard-working and dedicated to the sport of soccer.”


Over the past three seasons, Gray Collegiate boys’ soccer has been in the state finals three years in a row. They lost to Christ Church three years ago and to sister charter school Oceanside Collegiate the past two seasons.  


Can this senior dominated team take that next step and win a state title this season? “The thing I am most proud of is that this team wants to really prove that they can compete at the AAAA level,” said Coach Heise. “Before realignment this year we competed at the AA level. We know that people are waiting to see what we can do at the AAAA level.


“In the three championship games we have lost we were beat, 2=0, 1-0, and 3-0,” said Coach Heise. “In two of these games we had a chance to score to score in the first minute of play and one hit the post and the other we just missed a wide-open shot.

“You have to score in order to win and we have to take advantage every scoring opportunity we get,” said Coach Heise. “The play-offs are single elimination so we have to play our best from here on out.”


Coach Heise is now in his 8th season at Gray Collegiate. His top assistant is brother Kyle. Other assistant coaches include: Bryan Fallaw, JT Gardner, and Todd Wilkerson. Alisa Dancer is the team statistician.


The Gray Collegiate Girls Soccer team Finishes 22-3 On The Season            

To describe the boy’s and girls’ soccer teams at Gray Collegiate as a family affair would be right on the mark.


Emily Heise, wife of Kevin Heise, is the head coach of the War Eagle’s girls’ soccer team.


After an opening play-off win over Bluffton (6-1) to start the the play-offs on May, 6 the team lost an over-time hard-fought game to traditional power Hilton Head, 2-1, three-days later to conclude a very successful 2025 season at 22-3.


Against Bluffton goals were scored by five different players. Leading the way with two goals was sophomore forward Caroline Cantrell. Cantrell finished the season with 21 goals and four assists for 46 total points. Junior Vanessa Coleman, junior Victoria Coleman, junior Bailey Lancaster, and freshman Maggie Ingram each scored one goal against Bluffton.


The top scorer on the team was Victoria Coleman with 32 goals and 22 assists for a total of 86 points. Lancaster finished the season with 47 points, with 11 goals and a team leading 26 assists.


Senior goalie Sophie Hoffman allowed only 12 goals all season in 1,460 minutes played.  She had 14 shut-outs on the season.


Coach Emily Heise, who is expecting the couple’ third child in the near future, is assisted by Kevin Heise, Katie Clampitt, and Kenneth Smith. Kyle Heise is the team’s statistician.

 


By Larry Gamble June 18, 2025
Senior running back Jaiden McDowell also returns and he recently ran a 4.47 at a skills combine camp.
By Larry Gamble June 18, 2025
Lake View’s Kaylynn Turner Named “NETC” Female Student Athlete of the Month Lake View — Kaylynn Turner is a senior who plays softball and volleyball at Lake View High School . Turner said she started playing volleyball in the seventh grade, but softball is her favorite sport, which she started playing in the 9 th grade. On the volleyball court, she played all around as a utility player and played left field in softball. Being a two-sport student athlete brought opportunities. Turner says this about team play, “My favorite part is being on a team with friends, forming new friendships, and the support from family.” In the classroom, she carries a 4.07 GPA, and she says that after high school she plans to major in Exercise Science with an end goal of a career in Occupational Therapy, or as an athletic trainer. While she has not ruled out continuing softball at the next level, if she gets that opportunity, her favorites teams are Coastal Carolina , USC , and Florence Darlington Tech .  For all her athletic and academic accomplishments, Turner has been chosen the “NETC” Female Student Athlete of the Month.” This honor is bestowed through a partnership between the Northeastern Technical College and “The High School Sports Report” with the publication communicating with athletic directors at high schools in the counties of Dillon, Marlboro, and Chesterfield, where NETC serves the needs of high school students seeking to earn dual credits, in various subjects, that can be transferred to colleges after a student’s high school graduation. The NETC is currently offering over 44 online dual credit courses for the 2024-25 school year to students in the three counties they serve. Currently, Turner is enrolled in two dual credit online courses offered by NETC. She already completed many basic requirements for her freshman year of college. She has focused on taking key classes for her major, like Medical Terminology, History, and Spanish. She added that she “already took care of many first-year classes and hopefully this puts me a semester ahead when I start college.”. When asked about what NETC did to help her, Turner said it “helped her develop important time management skills, especially while playing sports, attending high school, and taking college level classes online through the NETC. “Dual-enrollment classes really taught me the difference between in-person classes, versus online classes which prepared me for what’s I should experience in in college,” said Turner. When asked about the online class experience, Turner said the experience was a “confidence boost” that enhanced her time management skills. “The online classes were doable when I thought they weren’t,” she said. “Before taking online classes, I was more of a procrastinator, and I learned to be more on top of my work.” Turner recalled her favorite time playing softball “In the first game of the lower state playoffs this past season, I played a long ball off the fence and I was able to throw it back to the infield and we got the lead runner out.”
By Larry Gamble June 18, 2025
Lake View’s Kason Herlong Named “NETC” Male Student Athlete of the Month  Lake View — Kason Herlong is a senior two-sport athlete at Lake View High School , where he earned all-region honors in two seasons as the starting quarterback on the football team. He was recently named the Class A Baseball Player of the Year by the South Carolina Baseball Coaches Association and Herlong has signed a baseball scholarship to attend North Greenville College . He has also earned Class A all-state honors in baseball by the “The High School Sports Report” for the past three seasons. Herlong batted .418 with two home runs and 17 RBI’s this past season. On the mound he was 7-1 with 80 strike-outs in 50.1 innings of work. He had a .556 ERA also. Of the two sports, Herlong favors baseball. Baseball is a sport he has played since he was first enrolled in T-Ball. Herlong was also chosen to represent Lake View in the 2025 North-South all-star baseball game. He has a very bright future ahead of him in the sport of baseball. In the classroom he carries a 5.23 GPA. He has been taking dual credit online courses through the NETC since he started the ninth grade. Just a sample of his completed college course work includes College Algebra, Biology, English 1, English 2, Computing, and Economics. For all his athletic and academic accomplishments, Herlong has been chosen the “NETC” Male Student Athlete of the Month.” This honor is bestowed through a partnership between the Northeastern Technical College and “The High School Sports Report” with the publication communicating with athletic directors at high schools in the counties of Dillon, Marlboro, and Chesterfield, where NETC serves the needs of high school students seeking to earn dual credits in various subjects that can be transferred to colleges after a student’s high school graduation. The ”NETC” is currently offering over 44 online dual credit courses for the 2024-25 school year to students in the three counties they serve. With his high diploma earned, and numerous college level courses completed with NETC, Herlong should start college as a sophomore when he reports to campus at the end of the summer. He plans to major in Accounting in college. “Taking NETC online courses had a huge impact, including being better at prioritizing my time,” said Herlong. “How you do one thing, is how you do everything. And it helps keep me focused on meeting priorities and deadlines in both academics and athletics,” said Herlong. When asked about the impact on starting his collegiate career, he commented, “By taking these online classes now, I’ve got extra credits completed to put me one step ahead. I’ve been very blessed to have this opportunity.” Herlong said that while baseball is his favorite sport, he also enjoyed playing football. As a two-sport athlete in high school, and dual enrolled for online college classes through the NETC, he feels better prepared to meet the challenges ahead of him as a student athlete at North Greenville University. Herlong has a favorite memory from his baseball career. ”This season, we won against Latta for the Lower State Championship,” he said. “Last season, we got beat by Latta for the lower state championship. We came back this season and turned that around by beating them twice on their field. Those two wins advanced the team to play for a State Championship.”
By Neill Kirkpatrick June 18, 2025
Cav’s head coach Quinn Hatfield.
By David Shelton June 18, 2025
Colleton Prep rising senior Ava Murray batted .543 with six homers, 31 RBIs and 22 stolen bases in her junior season.
By Rob Gantt June 18, 2025
By Rob Gantt Special to the HSSR GOOSE CREEK – Goose Creek High School track and field coach Jason Winstead said hurdler Kourtney Horne was at her best in the Class 5A Div. II state track meet. Horne believed she was going to be challenged in the 100-meter hurdles May 15 at Spring Valley High School. Horne ran like it, too, making it look easy on the way to her first track and field state championship for the Gators. Horne cruised across the finish line in 14.2 seconds, 18 hundredths of a second ahead of the runner-up. “We saw her best,” Winstead said. Horne placed eighth in the event in 2024, more than a full second behind her winning time at state. “Her future is as bright as it possibly can be,” Winstead said. “Watching Kourtney run the last month or so has been fun. She’s such a competitor. She does a great job of getting ready to run. She just got off to a great start.” Horne became the third Gators hurdler in a row to win a state championship. Faith Jones finished first in 2024 and Robert Wheatley reached the top of the podium in 2023 for the Goose Creek boys. “We’ve had pretty good hurdlers around here for a while,” Winstead said. Horne also placed second by two hundredths of a second in the 400-meter hurdles. Wisdom Johnson added a runner-up finish for the Goose Creek boys in the 110-meter hurdles. More notable finishes for the Gators were turned in by long jumpers Julian Whitfield and Trevor Smalls . They placed second and third in the boys event. Kaprice Manigualt-Garrett finished second for the Gators' girls in the 400-meter dash.
By Roger Lee June 18, 2025
Sophomore Briggs Gwozdo was named the SCISA 3A Boys All-State Team.
By Billy Baker June 18, 2025
By Billy G. Baker Publisher Spartanburg —It’s not often you get to build a football program from the ground up, but that is exactly what Spartanburg Day football coach Partick Moffitt (actually the Director of Football) has been experiencing for the past year as the school transitions from a middle school program into a varsity program by the Fall of 2026. This past May Coach Moffit worked out 36 candidates for the junior varsity program that the school will have in the Fall. By 2026, the Griffin’s will be playing varsity football likely at the AA level. “We went 3-3 in the six games we played with a group of middle schoolers in the fall and we were mildly shocked at the fan support we got at games and how unity starting a football program was bringing to the school,” said Coach Moffitt. “Having some success in the early going helped everyone’s confidence also.” Spartanburg Day played games against Christ Church , Southside Christian and St . Jospeh’s last season. “Our numbers have picked up in a year from 20 kids playing on our 5 th to 8 th grade team last year to now having 36 players competing to play at the junior varsity level and that is very positive,” said Coach Moffitt. “When we had May football drills it was like teaching some kids real basic fundamentals of the game because many of them had never played the sport before,” said Coach Moffitt. “It is a really hands on experience for sure.” Coming all of the May drill period into June Coach Moffitt has a really good idea of who his better players come August when the team plays even more competitive games. He starting quarterback will be Rutledge Hall described as a dual threat with a high football I-Q. He was a starting free safety on the middle school team last year. “Rutledge has a good arm and he uses his feet when he has to escape pressure also,” said Coach Moffitt. The likely starting running back out of the spread offense is likely rising freshman Bennett Johnson . Johnson gained 163 yards and scored two touchdowns last season as a middle schooler. The offense uses four receivers. Camden Teal , who recently won the 800 meters run at the SCISA State track meet, will be one starting receivers. He had seven catches for 99 yards last season. He will be joined by Tyler Fermanders , Chandler Wilson , and the team is still seeking that 4 th receiver. The offensive line will be comprised of left tackle Nicholas Quinn , right tackle Charlie Birch , center Sammy Crain , right guard Cale Willoughby and left guard Gibbes Montgomery. Many of the offensive players will flip to defense and play both ways. Quinn and Birch flip to defensive ends while Willoughby flips to defensive tackle. Newcomer Lawson Robinson will start at defensive tackle. “Lawson is an 8 th grader with a high motor and he plays a very physical type game,” said Coach Moffitt” The Griffins defense will consist of four linebackers. They are Charles Wilson , Mike Bennett , Heath Boyd , or Rutledge. Ben Visk could also see some action at linebacker. The three deep secondaries will consist of Fermanders, Camden Teel , and a flip between Rutledge and Visk. Charles Wilson is the place kicker and Charlei Birch is handling punting duties. “Our goals are to keep kids engaged in the sport and hope that they fall in love with practice,” said Coach Moffitt. “We just hope our young players continue to develop and build off our successes of our first season. We hope everyone of them develop into good football players.” Right now, Coach Moffitt has one assistant coach and he is Justin Crain who works with both lines. A little later this summer Chris Cormier will be joining the program as the defensive coordinator. Coach Cormier was a top athlete who played in the highly successful St. Aquinas Florida prep football program in the late 1990’s. The team will begin the season on August, 29 against the Greenville Hurricanes.
By Roger Lee June 18, 2025
Pitcher/infielder RJ Hamilton is one of only two seniors on the Fort Dorchester roster this season.
By Rob Gantt June 18, 2025
Stratford's Jacob Deacon one of ten players the Knights have graduating this year.
More Posts