How things have changed! Watching the 2015 high school playoffs over the past week or so has been especially satisfying due to the large number of Coast players on all of our area teams. Speaking with a number of former players currently in their twenties I was reminded that just five to ten years ago only a handful of club soccer players were on an average high school team. Twenty years ago high school soccer was mostly a platform for football players to stay in shape until Friday night lights came back around. Well no more, the bar has been officially raised.

A quick glance at the rosters of the Grand Strand schools will verify that conservatively 80% or more play club soccer and a huge portion of them at Coast FA. Coast players are scooping up the post season high school awards such as All Region, All State, Toast of the Coast, North – South and Clash of the Carolinas All Star events. The Myrtle Beach and St James boys teams will face one another in the Lower State Championship on Tuesday in a testament to the quality of our area teams. Socastee, North Myrtle Beach, Waccamaw, Loris and Carolina Forest all qualified for the post season and are also loaded with Coast boys and girls.

“Coast FA and the area High Schools have agreed that it is in everyone’s best interest to work together so the kids can play club soccer and to represent their school if they choose to do so. The end result is players who wish to play soccer exclusively can pursue State Cup championships in the fall for their club and State Championship titles in the spring for their school. Many of the area high school coaches also run teams at Coast in their off season which adds to already strong relationships with the players ” said Coast E.D. Heyward Gulledge

Clash of the Carolinas Allstar – Quadarius Grate ( St. James )…Coast 96 Red

North-South Allstar

Lydia Krask (Waccamaw) – Coast 96 BIB, Brandon Harrington (Myrtle Beach) – Coast 96 Red, Todd Mauney (Waccamaw) – Coast 96 Red

Joey Simpson (St. James) – Coast 96 Black

All State 2A Boys

Marquel Bellamy (Loris) Coast 96 Red, Todd Mauney (Waccamaw) – Coast 96 Red, Zac Benton (Waccamaw) – Coast 96 Black

All State 3A Boys

Joey Simpson (St. James) – Coast 96 Black, Quadarius Grate (St. James) – Coast 96 Red, Adolpho Aguillar (Myrtle Beach) – Coast 96 Red

Franc Lamcja (Myrtle Beach ) – Coast 96 Red

All State 2A Girls

Jessica Preedom (Waccamaw) – Coast 97 Red, Rachel Thornton (Waccamaw) – Coast 96 BIB

All State 3A Girls

Cassidy Posma ( Myrtle Beach )…Coast 96 Girls