Greer Middle College plays Greenville Tech Charter in a second round 1A state playoff boys soccer game Thursday at 8 p.m. at Furman University. That simple sentence has a much deeper meaning for the Blazers and their followers.
GMC is seeded fourth in the Upper State playoffs and received a first round bye.
All that deserves more than a footnote in the GMC's 5-year athletic history.
There is no campus practice field – Pittman Park, centered in Greenville County near Pelham serves that purpose. Home games are played at Greenville Tech’s northwest campus near Berea.
Those are typical growing pains for charter schools.
The first three years Greer Middle soccer was co-ed. Then Chas Crenshaw, brought on board an athletic director, began assembling a coaching staff with competing and winning its priorities.
“When we hired Tony (Koutsos) our culture started to change. It's been exciting,” Crenshaw said. “Tony had come from Greenville Charter and he knew beforehand what charter systems were like and what we were trying to do.” Gus Koutsos is the assistant coach.
As Crenshaw peeled off the top three seeds in the Upper State, he mentioned that those same schools were the Blazers’ competition. “Tony has been strategizing getting some 3A and 4A teams on the schedule. That has helped us develop,” Crenshaw said.
Greer Middle was 7-9 during its regular season. The scheduled included 3A schools Travelers Rest, Carolina, Berea, Greer, Woodmont and Clinton. Wade Hampton, class 4A, rounded out the upper tiered schools. Playing in schools in their classification, 1A, all claimed the seeds above Greer Middle, St. Joseph’s (1), Christ Church (2) and Brashier (3) – neighbor opponents.
Playing its first playoff game at Furman is also a strategic move by Crenshaw. “We have never hosted a playoff game and to think we are playing at Furman is great,” Crenshaw said. “We’re trying to bring a lot of people out.
“We’re doing all these great things . . . we fundraise, we have great uniforms and we’re developing good programs. Our cross country team and track has been state runnerup, boys tennis was third in the state and boys golf was fourth in the state.”
If Thursday’s game is postponed it will be played at 8 p.m. Friday at Furman. The winner of the game advances to the Upstate semifinals on Saturday.
Playoff admission is $6 per person.