How dominant Oceanside team spoiled Gray’s latest attempt at soccer state title
Kevin Heise knew his team needed to play an almost flawless match to win the program’s first boys state soccer championship.
For almost 60 minutes Saturday, Heise’s Gray Collegiate squad did just that. But top-ranked Oceanside Collegiate, considered by some to be the best team in the state regardless of classification, flexed its muscle late in the title game.
The Landsharks scored three goals in the final 26 minutes to defeat the War Eagles, 3-0, and win the Class 2A championship at Memorial Stadium. It is Oceanside’s third title in program history and second straight.
“I think Oceanside is the best team in the state two years running,” Heise said. “We knew we had to play an almost perfect game to have success here today. But we relished the opportunity and ... it was a good tilt for 65 or 70 minutes.”
The loss dropped Heise-coached teams to 0-6 all-time in state championship matches.
This was Gray’s third-straight championship appearance and one of its best teams to try and get Heise his first title, who also lost in three title games as coach of Brookland-Cayce.
“You don’t know the next time you will get back. Every year is a challenge,” Heise said. “You don’t get to the final without being a good team and having an above-average year. We have done that three straight years and the senior class put us in that position and had unbelievable careers. The only thing missing was a state title.
“If you sign me up to play on the last day every year, I will take it. It is bittersweet right now but better than the alternative and not being here.”
This was the second-straight year the two teams met in the championship. It will be the last time the two charter schools will play each other in a title match, at least the next two years. Both teams moving up in classification in the S.C. High School League for 2024-26: Oceanside is moving up to Class 3A and Gray is going to Class 4A.
The game was scoreless at halftime with both teams having several scoring opportunities. One of them for Gray came on a breakaway as Carlos Vazquez missed wide right. Another came on Ben Richards’ shot that hit the top of the post.
Oceanside got on the board in the 54th minute when Isaac Rasheed hit a 20-yard free-kick from the left side past a diving Joey Sullivan. That was the first goal the War Eagles (27-6-3) have given up all postseason.
The goal seemed to energize the Landsharks and take the momentum from the War Eagles, although Gray had a good attempt from Vasquez in the 70th minute.
Oceanside scored twice in the final 10 minutes after Heise replaced Sullivan in goal. Matthias Dennis scored in the 74th minute, and Robert Hemingway had one in the 79th minute.
Oceanside finishes the year at 18-0-1 with a lone tie against Fort Mill, which won the Class 5A championship on Friday night.
“Happy for this moment. Guys played with discipline,” Oceanside coach Collin Phillips said. “(Gray) pressed us hard in the first half. I think once we scored that first goal, we seemed to relax and play better. We needed one score to give our kids some confidence.
“When we came into this season, we talked about the target on our back. We managed to go through the season undefeated because the guys work so hard. We didn’t rest on what we did last year.”
