How Southside boys soccer won its first 'but not last' SCHSL championship

COLUMBIA – Southside earned its first boys soccer state championship May 22 with a 3-0 win against Gray Collegiate in the SCHSL Class 4A final at Memorial Stadium. 

“And it won’t be the last,” Southside coach Luis Kuronya said. 

After a scoreless first half, Erik Martinez scored the first two goals and then Adriel Rodriguez made it 3-0. Southside (18-1) played keep away from there, and its fans basically celebrated the entire second half. 

“It was a big opportunity for us,” Kuronya said. “They deserve to have this award for the first time for the school. ... You see the crowd, right? Amazing.” 

Martinez scored his goal within two minutes of each other midway through the second half. 

“The second one really shocked me,” Martinez said. “I was not expecting that at all. I wasn’t even expecting the first goal to go in. It was a very awesome moment.” 

Martinez led Southside this season with 31 goals. Rodgriguez scored his second-best 17^th goal. 

The Tigers made it to the Upper State championship in 2025 but lost 1-0 to Daniel. 

“It’s very emotional,” Martinez said. “I don’t have words to speak right now. I’m jjst very happy that we came out on top and won state.” 

Martinez was hobbling throughout much of the first half and got knocked down hard a few times. He said he’s been dealing with an injury. 

“I have a bad blister on the bottom of my foot that’s been bothering me for a week or so,” he said. “I had to do everything I could to support my team. I tried to forget about it, but I was feeling the pain.” 

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After the first goal, he started to feel better. After the second, he nearly forgot about the blister. 

“That was good medicine,” he said.

Todd Shanesy covers high school athletics for the Greenville News, Spartanburg Herald-Journal and Anderson Independent Mail in the USA TODAY Network. Contact him by email at todd.shanesy@shj.com. Follow him on X, formerly called Twitter, at @ToddShanesySHJ.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Southside wins SCHSL boys soccer 4A state title vs Gray Collegiate