How this Augusta-area goalkeeper helped his team to a GIAA boys soccer state championship
Westminster Schools of Augusta boys soccer did it again.
Making it through double overtime and dueling penalty kicks, the Wildcats bested Holy Spirit Prep in Macon Saturday for the Georgia Independent Athletic Association Class 3A state championship. It was their 14th state title since 2000.
This was a game two years in the making, so to speak. Holy Spirit won back-to-back state titles two years ago and were looking for a third until Westminster knocked the Cougars out of the state playoffs last year. Not that the Wildcat players needed any extra motivation, but there was a little bit of bulletin board material released ahead of this one.
“They won it four years ago, they won it three years ago and last year when we beat them in double overtime, their coach said, ‘Our thinking was we were going to win four in a row, and then y’all took one from us,’” Westminster coach Shawn Brower said. “This was their revenge tour and they put a video out, titled The Trilogy, and it was supposed to be their comeback. The Lord had something different in mind and we’re fine with that.”
Westminster boys soccer survives ‘heavyweight’ battle on way to state title
Both teams came in as the two top-ranked teams in Class 3A, with Holy Spirit Prep as the top seed. Brower knew it was going to be a marathon, not a sprint.
“That Holy Spirit team was such an incredible high school team. The technical ability and they had so many great players that have been playing together for years,” he said. “Two heavyweights just exchanging blows back and forth. We were hunkered down a little bit, to be honest, just trying to weather the storm. I knew that’s what it was going to be. I prepped the boys that you’re going to have to hold. There were points that we were bending, we just didn’t break. Player for player, man for man, they did their part and held.”
It’s important to remember that while Westminster is the defending 3A state champion, the makeup of this year’s team looks a little different. If losing the leadership of Creed Barrett and Eli Daniel to graduation weren’t enough, losing reigning 3A player of the year William Jeffords to an academy in France could have put this team further behind.
Enter senior goalkeeper Henry Campbell.
How this newly minted goalkeeper changed things for the Wildcats
A GIAA All-State selection in 2023, Campbell has been one of the pillars of this program since Brower arrived two years ago. Not coincidentally, that’s also when Campbell took over as goalkeeper.
The 6-foot-4 Campbell had played soccer for years, but never in front of the net. Due to a traumatic head injury suffered on the soccer field in middle school, his parents were understandably apprehensive about the position change. But the results have spoken for themselves as another All-State nod is likely around the corner.
“When I came in, we didn’t have a goalkeeper and I told him, ‘Hey, you’re our goalie.’ He said he hadn’t really done a lot of goalkeeping,” Brower said. “In the last two years, as a team we’ve had 39 wins, two losses and three ties and 23 of those wins have been shutouts. He’s given up 0.56 goals per game.”
The move paid off Saturday, as well. Not only did Campbell make the 10th penalty kick to put the Wildcats on top, but he also blocked the final kick to secure the victory.
Record-breaking season for Westminster girls soccer
Looking for their first state championship in program history, the Westminster girls fell to Frederica Academy 1-0 in Macon Saturday.
While they came up just short, this was a record-breaking season for the Wildcats. Senior Roenne Saddington broke the single-season goal record with 47, previously held by 2011 grad Annie Speese (who went on to play college soccer at Florida). Freshman Joliene Romero also tied Speese’s assist record with 25.
Of the 94 goals Westminster scored in 2024, 14 different players found the net. Coach Tucker Blackmon said that was the hallmark of his team. Their selfless team motto comes from the verse Romans 12:9-10, about honoring others more than you do yourself.
“This collection of girls are the most special group I’ve coached. It’s them, nothing to do with me,” he said. “They are unique in the fact that they celebrate each other, no matter what it is. As a coach, I’m just sitting in a chair and they’re just edifying God with the way they treat each other. It’s easy when you’ve got a collection of girls like that.”
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Westminster Schools of Augusta gets another GIAA 3A boys soccer title
