Southeast in the state semifinals as a team

Published 7:30 pm Monday, May 8, 2017

The Southeast Whitfield High School boys soccer team is in the state semifinals. And according to the Raiders, being a team is what got them there.

“Team bonding honestly,” Southeast’s Tony Ortega listed as the reason why the Raiders are back in the semifinals after missing out a year ago. “We just have a really good bond together. Not just a team, we’re just a family all together. We communicate well with each other. And we know when to take it serious and also when to have fun sometimes.”

Raider coach Todd Close said that team bond has resulted in unselfish play and a balanced attack.

“I think it’s like 14, 15, 16 guys that have scored this season. That stat, along with having just as many people have assists shows me how well we share the ball,” Close said. “It’s one of those things where this team believes in team. Sometimes it’s really aggravating to me, but they’re perfectly fine making an extra pass when I’m thinking they should pull the trigger, but they’re seeing another guy open so they make the extra pass. It’s a good problem to have. They want to get everyone the ball, it’s paid off so far this year.”

It’s that belief in team that Ortega said will carry the Raiders in tonight’s Class 4A semifinal against Marist.

“Faith,” he said. “Faith in our team, faith in our players.”

The War Eagles, region 7-4A’s second seed, enter Raider Stadium for the 6 p.m. contest with a 13-3-3 record. The Raiders come in at 18-2 but know they’ll be in for a challenge.

“Looking at stuff online, you’re looking at who beat who and who lost to who. To a certain degree, none of that matters any more,” Close said. “You have one game, what are you going to do? Peachtree Ridge was the No. 1 team in the nation, they lost, they’re out. We have got to stay focused and look at Marist and focus on Marist and do everything we can. From what we’ve seen on film, they’re big and physical and they’re going to attack us.”

As for any weakness they Raiders might be able to exploit …

“Good luck in finding a weakness,” Close said. “They got one player that’s 6-7 or 6-8. They got another that has an exceptional long throw-in ability. It’s one of those things where, when they got the weapons that they do, are we going to be able to keep all of them in check the entire time? We’ve had mental breakdowns at times this year. We can’t have mental breakdowns.”

The key for the Raiders to get a win and earn the right to play for a state championship is going to be to play their game from the first kickoff until the final whistle.

“If we play to the best of our ability, if we play our game and we don’t let them try to come down and impose their will on us and play their style of play, then we have a chance,” Close said. “Right now we’re looking to play another day. We’ve got to play for 80 minutes.”

“They’ve had good competition, we think they’re going to come out tough and we’re going to give it all we have,” Ortega added. “Eighty minutes of intense soccer. We’re trying to finish our game, play a full game. Eighty minutes of full soccer.”