TCS Boys Soccer Program Is Making History!

By Samantha DePriest

Three years ago Coach Mike Townson stepped onto our campus with the goal of rebuilding our Trinity Christian School Men’s Soccer program. Since his arrival as the Director of Soccer and Varsity Boys Soccer Coach, the program has experienced significant growth through various development efforts including soccer camps, addition of coaching staff, and the tremendous support of the school community.

Coach Townsons’ first season started in Spring of 2023 when he hit the ground running. He recruited in the hallways and encouraged any student athlete not currently playing a spring sport to come out to play. In just three years, the boys soccer program has grown to over 100 players from middle through high school with almost all of our high school players playing club soccer ball. It was a season to remember as the varsity boys team had their first winning season in 6 seasons with a 7-6-3 record. The team missed the playoffs by one spot. The second season increased their wins to 9-9-0 and missed playoffs due to the tie breaker rule. Forwards Collin Mudge and Sebastian Yapor and defender Colin DePriest were selected to play in the Divarsity All Star Match in 2024 where DePriest was named MVP as a freshmen. The third season has been one for the history books. The team has won the most games in school history with 12 wins so far this season. Keeper AJ Brown has tied all time wins with Josh Taylor (12 wins) and has had the most shutouts with 6 games with clean sheets. This years team has allowed the fewest number of goals than any other season with just 23 goals.

Coach Townson celebrated his 200th win this season and while he was excited to celebrate this great achievement, he has focused more on the wins for his players than for himself. Multiple players have been recognized this season as GACA Preseason Allstate players AJ Brown, Collin Mudge, and Jackson Upshaw. Forward Jackson Upshaw was selected as Mike Fitzgeralds Athlete of the Week. And Keeper AJ Brown was selected as Prep Sports Nation Athlete of the Week, Wendy’s Athlete of the Week, and Positive Athlete Nominee.

2025 TCS Varsity Boys Soccer team led by Head Coach Mike Townson, Kevin Osse, Jessica Charman, Nassim Ssimou, Yordany Ledesma, and Ray Giunta.

Our JV boys team has continued to dominate and ended their season with a 7-1-2 record. For the second year in a row, our Middle School boys ended with a 15-2 record, winning 2nd in State.

(pictured l to r) TCS Alumni athletes now playing at LaGrange College: Connor DePriest, Noah Schloegel, and Dylan DePriest

Another goal of Coach Townsons’ was to develop players to compete at the next level, if they so desired. Under his leadership three student athletes have gone on after high school and are all playing soccer at LaGrange College led by Coach Ryan Dickson. Class of 2023 graduate Dylan DePriest, majoring in Exercise Science, has played over 1,000 minutes in his first two seasons and has been selected to serve as Team Captain this Fall for the LaGrange College Panthers. Class of 2024 graduate Connor DePriest, majoring in Sports Managament who led the Lions his junior year with 12 goals and 9 assists and Class of 2024 graduate Noah Schloegel, majoring in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, who led the Lions his junior year with 13 assists both saw game time their Freshman season in college and are looking forward to returning to the pitch this Fall.

TCS Class of 2023 Alumni, Georgia Tech Punter Josh Taylor

Class of 2023 graduate Josh Taylor who played keeper and held the record for most all time wins for the Lions, is now a punter for the football team at Georgia Tech majoring in Civil Engineering. Class of 2025 student Sebastian Yapor, who set a new school record in Spring 2024 with a whopping 5 goals scored in a single game, has committed to play soccer this coming Fall at Toccoa Falls College. Class of 2026 Keeper AJ Brown has already received multiple college offers and hopes to play soccer in college after graduation next May.

Coach Townson shares, “What a great year for our TCS Boys soccer team. It only took three years to build one of the best teams in the state. Our overall record was 12-6 which broke the prior school record for the number of wins as well as most clean sheets. We also shattered personal records, one being the all time scoring record by senior Collin Mudge who has scored 53 goals since his freshman year. Our team also ranked in the top 10 in all 3 polls.”

TCS Class of 2025 Sebastian Yapor committed to play at Toccoa Falls College after graduation.

For the first time in school history, our TCS Boys soccer team hosted playoffs in Lion Stadium. This past Friday night, the boys took on The Weber School in the first round of playoffs and what a game it was. After a long scoreless game, freshman KP Russell scored in final minutes of the game to give the Lions the lead. With just two seconds left in the game, The Weber School scored on a penalty to tie it up. Senior Niko Pagsisihan scored the winning goal in the second half of overtime to propel our boys to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in school history. It sure was a night these boys won’t soon forget.

Our Varsity Boys Soccer team is set to play Hebron Christian this coming Thursday night at 7:30pm in Dacula in their first Sweet Sixteen appearance in school history. Let’s Go Lions!!