Resilient St. James boys soccer team ready to play for state title

Only the uninformed took the St. James soccer team lightly.

The Sharks rose up the state rankings – all the way to No. 1 – before a pair of losses to programs from the state’s largest class knocked them from that pedestal. But it was the loss to Myrtle Beach on April 27 that knocked St. James even further down the rung and out of its first legitimate shot at a region title.

To reach the pinnacle of the Class AAA soccer season, Saturday’s state championship game against A.C. Flora, the Sharks had to erase the pain.

The only way that was going to happen was by beating the team that delivered the biggest blow.

“I feel like we’re the best team in the state right now,” senior Quadarius Grate said. “Maybe it was good for us to lose that game against Myrtle Beach because it was destined to happen this way.”

Either way, St. James (20-3-1) enters Saturday’s game against A.C. Flora as an elite program, even if only for one season. It has Grate, the Region VII-AAA Player of the Year, and his area-leading 30 goals and 69 total points. There’s freshman Luke Williams, whose hat trick performance against the Seahawks in a 5-1 Lower State finals win on Tuesday pushed him to 20 goals on the season.

Senior Keaton Zimmer has added 12 goals and 14 assists. Defender Joey Simpson, the first back-to-back first-team region selection at St. James, is a North-South All-Star selection. And senior Haywood Brandon was the point person on 16 shutouts, allowing just 15 goals all season and a goals-against average of 0.67, both school records.

Coach Drew Pavy certainly has a collection of talent, one that also has a drive.

“We’re not done until it’s over,” he said. “We’ll fight until that last whistle.”

It’s that motivation that is pushing the team into Saturday’s game.

“It’s got to mean something to us,” Brandon said, alluding to the win over Myrtle Beach and how to roll it forward. “I’ve never felt so intense with a game; I’ve never been so nervous for a game. If we bring that level to the state championship, we’re going to win.”

Pavy said he wanted to bring a trophy home for the entire region. The breadth of what a title would mean actually goes further.

If St. James is able to defeat A.C. Flora (16-3-1), it would be the first South Carolina High School League boys soccer title for any Horry or Georgetown County school. Locally, only the Waccamaw girls have won a championship, that one coming in 2009.

St. James could be the second team to earn a title on the pitch, thanks to the ability to overcome its toughest loss there this season.

“I told them after that game, that wasn’t us. We looked over the film and we forgot about it,” Pavy said. “We knew we were the better team. After that night, they played how I know they can.”

This story was originally published May 15, 2015 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Resilient St. James boys soccer team ready to play for state title."