CALEDONIA — Caledonia High School soccer’s senior class has a lot to show for itself this season as both teams reached the playoffs and, all told, five players signed to play at the next level.
The final two signees of the 2023 class signed their National Letters of Intent on Friday, and the two will be joining forces in Scooba, playing for East Mississippi Community College.
Forward Logan Burges and midfielder Brandon Thompson were integral parts of this season’s boys team, and now, the two have the chance to show off their talent in junior college.
“It means everything,” Burges said. “Really neither of us were planning on going to play next year and then this came out of nowhere and we couldn’t pass this up.”
The prospect of playing college soccer didn’t come into focus for the duo until their senior year. Midway or so through this season, Caledonia head coach Louis Alexander got in contact with Lions coach Kevin Sherry.
After seeing the two play, scholarship offers were immediately on the table.
From there, not only the prospect of continuing to play college soccer but being able to room and go to school together for at least the next two years was an offer too good to pass up for the longtime friends and teammates.
“We both got offers at the same time,” Thompson said. “(Sherry) told Coach, and Coach told us. We’re best friends. We just want to go wherever we want together. It just made it even better going at the same time, same place.”
Playing two important roles on the field for Caledonia, Thompson has been a steady presence in the midfield for the Cavaliers, helping to shore up things in both a defensive and attacking midfielder position.
His versatility allowed Alexander to use him in a plethora of ways, and often, he would find Burges making runs toward goal as Burges found opportunities to score.
Arguably his signature performance of his Caledonia career came during this season’s first-round playoff game against Kosciusko, where Burges scored a hat trick in a 4-1 win to send the Cavaliers to the second round.
The duo’s success on the field was easily seen and recognized.
“They’ve been consistent staples for what our program has tried to build upon,” Alexander said. “I put a lot on them this year; I won’t lie to you. I was hard on them both, but it was coming from a good place. I saw the potential there.
“Knowing what those guys bring to the table, I definitely knew they had what it took to play at the next level and they’re just very deserving to get that opportunity.”
The two will help usher in a new era of soccer at EMCC as the program was reinstated for the first time since after the 2009 season.
Under Sherry, who was previously the head women’s coach at Louisiana Tech for 15 seasons and has been involved in the game for two decades, Burges and Thompson will be among those relied upon from the beginning to build the foundation for the future.
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