GMCP BULLDOGS BOYS SOCCER REACH STATE CHAMPIONSHIP FOR SIXTH TIME IN LAST SEVEN TRYS
With a decisive 6-1 victory over the Brooks County Spartans last Friday, the Georgia Military Prep (GMCP) boys soccer team clinched a spot in the GHSA A DII state championship for the sixth time in the last seven seasons.
The Bulldogs and Spartans were originally scheduled to play at GMC but after a large amount of rainfall left the Bulldogs’ home field unplayable, the game was moved to GCSU’s soccer field on West Campus. The Bulldogs defeated Mount Zion 4-1 the week prior to advance to the final four. With their win over Brooks County, the Bulldogs will face the Metter Tigers this Friday at Upson-Lee High School in the championship game.
Much of the Bulldogs’ success can be credited to their head coach Brent Fincher, who said he was struggling to put any words together to describe his emotions after leading GMCP back to the state championship.
“I’m a one-game-at-a-time [coach], and that’s what I focus on,” Fincher said. “I’m just so excited for these boys.”
The Bulldogs and Spartans played a close game through the first period but by halftime GMCP had taken a 3-1 lead in the second half, when the Bulldogs began to truly control the game on both sides of the ball.
“I think you saw a team at full steam tonight, it took us about 20 minutes to really get in the pace of the game,” Fincher said. “I thought we were kind of forcing things a little bit early because once we found our way into the game. After we had made some halftime adjustments, you saw what we could look like when we’re at full steam.”
The Bulldogs also did a great job of spreading the ball around the field with five different players scoring GMCP’s six goals. Tommy Carty was the only Bulldog to score twice in the 6-1 win and both of his goals came in the first period including the opening score of the game.
Fincher said he believes the Bulldogs’ ability to spread the ball around is indicative of their lack of having one great player but rather a great group of players.
“It’s special,” Fincher said.
“If you look at our stat line we don’t have that guy with 30 goals, we have I think 18 players who have scored a goal this year. Maybe more than that now and we have five [players] in double digits. They can’t take a player out if we have another player who’s gonna score.”
Fincher also praised his team’s ability to come together for a potential fourth state championship in the last eight seasons.
“The togetherness, the willingness to achieve the goal,” Fincher said. “It’s about them, I’m just here standing on the sideline. It’s their willingness and focus to achieve the goal which is to win the last game. That’s what we’ve been talking about to win the last game, which is the state championship.”
The Bulldogs are no strangers to success in boys soccer after winning three state titles, including championship wins in 2019, 2021 and 2024. The Bulldogs have also been to six of the last seven state championships (there was no championship in 2020 due to COVID-19), including this year’s state title game.
The Bulldogs will travel to Thomaston this Friday to face the Metter Tigers at Upson-Lee’s Matthews Field at 6:30 p.m.