Daniel Mayes: Six boys soccer programs in the county, six with state titles
May 12—Go outside in Whitfield County and you just might run into a state championship soccer team.
Or several.
Like Thanos finding the final infinity stone in the Marvel Studios film "Avengers: Infinity War" (or the comic books the movie is based on), the gauntlet is now complete with all six.
Six Whitfield County boys soccer programs. Six Whitfield County boys soccer programs that have won a Georgia High School Association state championship.
Christian Heritage School was the sixth and final piece, powering up this theoretical soccer infinity gauntlet to full strength. The Lions won their first state championship in 2023, winning Class A Division II. Coahulla Creek won its second state championship when it defeated Oconee County in the 3A title game last week, and Dalton High is sitting on seven, having won its latest with a 2-0 win over Midtown in the 5A finals.
Six programs with state championships in a county outside of metro Atlanta is impressive enough, but then you remember that all six have won a title (or multiple) in the last six years alone.
Northwest Whitfield won in 2018. Southeast Whitfield, after winning its first in 2017, won in 2021 and 2022. Dalton won in 2019, 2021 and 2023. Creek in 2021 and 2023 and Christian Heritage in 2023.
Oh, and The Dalton Academy? The school that just opened in 2021-22? State champion in its first season of play a year ago.
A Whitfield County school has won a state championship in each season that's been completed since 2016. The season was halted prior to the playoffs in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but, chances are, there would have been a local state championship then too.
The 2016 season was the "off-year" in a longer run that also includes state championships for Dalton in 2013, 2014 and 2015. This year's batch of three champions marks at least one title-winner from the county in nine of the last 10 completed seasons.
Sure, the state championships are the most notable nearly-annual accomplishment in the area that is becoming increasingly known as Soccertown, but the stellar soccer in northwest Georgia doesn't stop there — or in Whitfield County.
Of the 16 boys and girls high school soccer programs based in Whitfield and Murray counties, 15 reached the state playoffs in 2023.
Northwest's boys, despite winning Region 7-4A, got eventual semifinalist North Oconee in the first round and fell on penalty kicks. Southeast, on a quest for a third straight state championship, fell to eventual 4A runner-up Westminster in a heart-breaking second-round game. Dalton Academy ran into eventual Class A DI runner-up Atlanta International in the second round, while North Murray hosted 2A semifinalist Union County in the opening round.
On the girls side, Northwest, coming off two straight Final Fours, played 4A state champion Westminster in the second round of the playoffs. Dalton fell just short of Northview in overtime in the 5A second round, falling shy of what would have been a history-making run. Coahulla Creek reached the second round for the second straight season.
So what's next to conquer for Soccertown's surrounding areas, now that the boys programs from Whitfield County all have titles?
The girls are getting closer, with Northwest, Coahulla Creek, Dalton and Southeast all making runs into at least the second round in the last two seasons. The two Murray boys teams are on deck too. North Murray reached the Elite 8 in 2018 and 2022.
Anything is possible in Soccertown.
Daniel Mayes is the sports editor at the Dalton Daily Citizen. Write to him at danielmayes@dailycitizen.news.
