The Elmore County boys soccer team had a Cinderella story for the ages in 2023.
The Panthers, who had never won a playoff game, won two postseason contests and reached the Final Four of the AHSAA Class 5A playoffs. To go along with their historic postseason run, the Panthers also claimed the area championship for the first time since 2017. Both the girls and boys teams were area champs for the first time in the same season.
When Elmore County traveled to Huntsville and stepped on the field for its semifinal matchup, it became the first team from Eclectic to reach the semifinals in any sport since 1970.
“It is incredibly impressive by this group of guys on my team,” head coach Josh Pack said when his team clinched a semifinals berth. “It’s an unorthodox team of kids who really just put everything on the line for each other. To make the Final Four and have a legitimate chance to keep on winning is probably beyond anything we could have ever imagined for our team.”
In the playoffs, Elmore County hosted Marbury and Sylacauga. In the 4-0 first round win, senior Logan Pack, Josh’s son, scored a hat trick to give the Panthers their first postseason win.
The speedy forward then struck again in a 1-0 win over Sylacauga in the first round when he outran the entire defense just 90 seconds into the game and scored on an assist from freshman Tate McNeely.
The defense then held on and sent Elmore County to the semis.
In the semifinals, Elmore County saw its season come to an end with a loss to Gulf Shores.
Despite the loss ending their season earlier than they wanted, it was the best season the Panthers had ever put together.
“They stepped up to the challenge when it was presented in order to get to the playoffs and fought their way through multiple teams that were considered better than us to get to the Final Four,” Pack said. “That just shows how tenacious this team was and how focused they were. We are disappointed we couldn’t get the job done, but what a heck of an effort from them all year.”
