GMC Prep adds to boys soccer “dynasty,” wins fourth state title in 7 seasons

THOMASTON — Georgia Military College Prep’s boys soccer team can be considered a Class A Division II dynasty.

The Bulldogs won their fourth state championship in the last seven seasons (the 2020 postseason was canceled) with a 3-1 defeat of Atkinson County on Friday. GMC Prep jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the game’s first 20 minutes and held the Rebels off the rest of the way.

GMC Prep coach Dustin Jennette said the game followed his team’s “M.O.” — take an early lead and control the game’s pace from there.

“If you can score in the first 10 minutes, the percentage is really high that you’re going to win the game,” Jennette said. “It’s not about the goal. It’s the tempo.

“It’s taking it to the team and dictating how you want to play the game and saying, ‘You better figure out how to change your game plan.’”

GMC Prep got its first goal from the game’s MVP, Greyson Robbins. The senior, who was ineligible to play for the Bulldogs’ last state title in 2024, took the early advantage with a short shot off his left foot.

“That first goal will demoralize the other team,” Robbins said. “It really will, and you just keep hammering from there.”

GMC Prep got two more goals before the midpoint of the first half from James Portwood and Tommy Carty. Atkinson County got a goal back in the second half but never threatened the Bulldogs’ lead.

“We are building a dynasty,” Jennette said. “Every year, it never stops. They’re playing club soccer with their club teams, and we get started in January, and we know the goal.

“The motto this year was ‘Win the last game,’ and we just did it.”

Jennette was a volunteer assistant coach when his senior class was in the eighth grade. He watched his players learn to win a state championship in 2024 — beating Atkinson County 4-1 — and fall short of that standard in the quarterfinals last season.

The first-year coach used an appropriately military-themed word to describe the winning culture around GMC Prep.