Stiven Galicia
Polite, humble and softspoken off the field, LFO junior Stiven Galicia let his play do most of the talking for him during the 2021 season.
In what turned out to be one of the most impressive individual offensive seasons for a Catoosa County boys’ soccer player in quite some time, Galicia was the county leader in both goals and assists as he helped keep the Warriors in the thick of the playoff chase right up to the end of the season.
Today, Galicia is being honored as the 2021 Catoosa County Boys’ Soccer Player of the Year.
“It feels really good,” he said of winning the award. “I’ve been working hard for it and I just have to say ‘thank you’ to all my coaches and my teammates for making me better every year. Without them, it wouldn’t be possible to do it.”
Galicia showed what he could do as a freshman in 2019, but no more so than on March 19 of that year, when he recorded a hat trick in a come-from-behind, 4-3 victory at county and Region 6-AAA rival Ringgold.
Looking forward to taking an even bigger role with the team as a sophomore, Galicia began the 2020 season with a handful of goals in early-season contests. That included another hat trick in a 4-0 win at Murray County in another 6-AAA match on March 9.
His plans for a true breakout year would have to be put on hold, however, as coronavirus would halt and eventually shut down the remainder of
the spring sports season just a few days later.
But with sports getting the green light again this past school year, Galicia would make his presence known in a big, big way.
His junior campaign started with a four-goal performance in an early-season match against Dade County and he would keep rolling as the season went on.
Galicia recorded a hat trick in a non-region match against
Ridgeland, assisted on three goals in his team’s blanking of Sonoraville, and had another hat trick against Murray County for the second year in a row as the Red-and-White downed the Indians in a region contest.
But even those performances paled in comparison to what Galicia called his most memorable match of the season.
“(Individually), I feel like I did pretty good. I’m really hard on myself as a player and that’s something I obviously have to work on because everybody has something they need to work on. But I think I did pretty good.”
A key contributor in virtually every match she played in this season, Fairchild averaged over a point per game (a combination of goals and assists), including two goals in an early-season win over rival LFO and two more in a region victory over Central-Carroll. She also added a goal in a key win over Southeast Whitfield to help secure a home playoff match and also picked up a hat trick against Pickens in another 7-AAAA match.
Once Heritage got into the postseason, Fairchild continued to be a playmaker. She booted home two goals in a 6-0, first-round home victory over Arabia Mountain and picked up a key assist in a 3-0, secondround home win over Madison County.
She said one of the most memorable moments of the 2021 season came in the state quarterfinals in Savannah where the Lady Generals endured exceptionally high temperatures on the artificial turf to knock off Islands High School, the Region 3 champions, 2-1. Fairchild assisted on both goals.
“I didn’t score the goals, but I feel like I made two great assists and we won the game,” she added. “I felt like I worked really hard.”
Heritage will lose a standout defensive player in All-Region first teamer Allison Craft next year, but will return every other player from this past season’s roster, along with an infusion of some new talent that will be coming up from the middle school. It’s a season she said she is already looking forward to getting started, adding that the ultimate goal is to get to the state championship match.
“I’m really excited for what we’re going to be able to do next year,” she said. “I just want (us) to keep working our way up.”
Fairchild said she is also looking at continuing her playing career in college, depending on what schools offer her preferred choice of study, as she hopes to one day become a physical therapist.