Sophomore Caden Camden has helped lead GCA to its first semistate appearance.
Daily Journal file photo
The ground floor of the emotions Greenwood Christian is stirring up this postseason was constructed seven years ago.
Little did Parker Satre and Carson Dillard, then fifth-grade soccer teammates, know that they would eventually find themselves two victories removed from touching the sport’s ceiling.
GCA classmates since pre-kindergarten, the senior co-captains are among the feel-good storylines associated with the Cougars advancing to a Class A semistate for the first time in their history.
Greenwood Christian plays eighth-ranked Forest Park on Saturday in the final game of a semistate tripleheader at Seymour.
“Going into this season, our coach set really high standards for us,” said Satre, a starting left midfielder. “As a team, we got close at the end of the year, and a lot of people are playing well. Our goal was to peak at sectional. We did that, and are still going.
“Looking at our (postseason) bracket, I thought we all had to be committed, and, if we were, could go far.”
Few might have visualized the past few weeks playing out the way they did considering the Cougars finished last season with a 3-12 record.
Micah Adkins-Estes did.
“Connected is probably the word that comes to mind. It’s pretty incredible just how close these boys have been,” said the 24-year-old Adkins-Estes, a former goalkeeper at Kentucky Christian University who is in his second year as GCA coach. “Hard work and chemistry beats talent every day of the week.
“Soccer is such a different sport. You can dominate the whole match and lose. We need to know each other so we can anticipate that next move on the field.”
Two other seniors start for the Cougars, forward Joel Flint and Patrick Taber; at this time last year, Flint was attending Columbus Christian and Taber was being homeschooled. The balanced age representation continues with juniors Xander Honeycutt and Caleb Schmidt and sophomores Caden Camden and Hayden Johnson in the lineup.
Another soph, 6-foot-4 Preston Van Til, shares time at goalkeeper with junior Colton Flint. Freshmen Bo Campbell, the squad’s top scorer this season, and Luke McNicholas also start. Key reserves are junior defenders Josh Beltz and Mason Wright, senior forward David McLaughlin and freshman Cayden Afterkirk.
“We have a special group of guys this year,” Dillard said. “We all put it together when it counts, and have gone on this run. It’s just been really cool. Even the kids on the team who are younger, there’s a maturity there. Everyone has stepped up.”
Adkins-Estes is impressed by the way his players have blended despite their various ages and soccer backgrounds. Moreover, their ability to transition quickly from defense to offense and counterattack has been a plus.
Doing so requires quickness and precision passing, and the Cougars are delivering in a big way.
“We probably lost more games last year than we should have implementing the style of play I wanted us to play,” Adkins-Estes said. “It was kind of tough, but having the players buying into it was huge.”
So much so that GCA is one of only four teams still in contention for the Class A state title.
That ceiling keeps getting closer.
