Whitefield Academy ‘fired up’ after 1st boys soccer state title in 9 years
Sophomore Jack Raymer scored the game’s only goal midway through the first half and Whitefield Academy held on to capture its first boys soccer state title in nine years with a 1-0 victory over Hebron Christian in the GHSA Class 3A-A Private championship game Tuesday at St. Pius X High School in Atlanta.
The championship was the program’s first since 2017 and the ninth in any sport in school history. The top-seeded Wolfpack (21-1-1) allowed just 12 goals this season, including none in four playoff games. Last year, Whitefield Academy lost to Atlanta International 1-0 in the championship game.
“For the last nine years, we’ve been to two final games and three final fours,” Whitefield Academy coach Steve Hellier said. “The thing about it is it takes so much; it’s so hard to complete it all. You have no idea — those things you can’t control, the things that just happen. We’re just blessed for it all to work out.
“What does it take? Just preparing the horse for battle and working as hard as you can out there, just controlling what you can control and getting after it. That happened this year, and we’re fired up about it.”
Whitefield Academy started slowly against Hebron Christian but got a great scoring opportunity nine minutes into the game when it was awarded a penalty kick. Parker Shim missed the attempt, high over the crossbar, but it seemed to ignite the Wolfpack.
Whitefield Academy turned up the pressure, and it paid off when Raymer took a long throw-in from the right side of the field and headed it into the left side of the goal with 15:27 remaining in the half.
As it turns out, that’s a familiar pattern for the Wolfpack.
“It’s funny because when we played (Atlanta International in the semifinals), the same thing happened,” Hellier said. “We weren’t playing well and we got a penalty kick and the keeper saved it, and that turned the game around. That did something. Same thing here. We decided we had to play for it, and they did. They played hard. It’s a tough game. It was a long game after we scored that goal.”
This was Whitefield Academy’s second victory of the season against Hebron Christian, which was the No. 3 seed in the playoffs and seeking its first state title in the sport. The Wolfpack beat the Lions in a March regular-season game on penalty kicks after the teams had played to a 1-1 draw.
About the Author
Chip Saye rejoined The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2025, at the launch of AJC Varsity. In 2009 he helped start Georgia High School Football Daily. He previously worked for the AJC, Athens Banner-Herald, Anderson (S.C.) Independent-Mail and Gwinnett Daily News.
