Duo lifts GHS soccer team to new heights

Matt Skinner and Justin Harris have added punch to the GHS soccer team. For Gaffney High soccer players Justin Harris and Matt Skinner, scoring is the name of the game, but developing the ability to play together has been the route to team success.

"Justin can take the corner kick from the left and Matt can hit it with his right foot in the goal," said Gaffney coach Frank Ridlehoover. "They've scored five or six goals from the corner this season. Or, they can score on a throw in. Justin will throw it in and Matt will head it (in the goal.) They play off each other."

Both possess well-round offensive skills but they share another important trait a willingness to share the ball.

"They look for each other," Ridlehoover said. "They aren't selfish. They are willing to pass

The result has been an explosive offense for the playoffbound Indians, who travel to Lexington for a first-round game on Tuesday.

Skinner leads the team in goals with 22. He also has eight assists. Harris has 17 goals and a teamhigh 14 assists.

"If it wasn't for an assist from Justin, I wouldn't be scoring goals," Skinner said.

Harris, who also serves as the placekicker for the state champion football team, began playing soccer at age 8.

"I like running," he said. "I just had a knack for it. It just kind of clicked for me."

Harris played in the youth soccer league before joining the Gaffney High junior varsity as a middle schooler. He jumped to the varsity as a ninth-grader.

"When I played junior varsity, I never scored a goal," Harris said.

That changed as a member of the varsity when he scored against Union as a freshman.

"I like to score goals," he said. "But I like to score cool goals. They have to look good."

Skinner also was introduced to the sport in a youth league.

"I started to play on the Spartanburg Club team," he said.

He joined the Gaffney High varsity as a freshman and made an immediate impact, leading the team in goals.

"I used to be a lot faster than anybody else and I scored a lot of easy goals that way," he said.

Both players have been instrumental in the recent success of the Gaffney boys' soccer team, which has qualified for the playoffs in three of the last four years.

"They have been two of the mainstays," Ridlehoover said. "They really have set new records and have raised the level of play here at Gaffney."

They've also raised the interest level in the sport among their classmates.

"More people are coming out to the games," Skinner said.

"We have more students coming out," Harris said. "We asked them to come out and they've come."