How Dreher soccer is using Italian suits, chocolate milk to prep for state title game

Jamie McClendon finally has a reason to wear that suit he bought last summer while vacationing in Italy.

The Dreher boys soccer coach could wear it Friday for the Blue Devils’ Class 4A championship match against Eastside at Irmo High School. It’s the program’s first state title game appearance since 2006 and fourth overall in school history, with the others coming in Class 3A.

“The athletic administration with coach (Jeff) DiBattisto and coach (Treigh) Sullvian talk about European soccer and I played with lot of Europeans at Lander,” McClendon said. “European coaches wear suits for big games. I went to Rome to watch Inter Milan and Lazio watched them play and told (Sullivan and DiBattisto) I would get a suit and if we get to state final I am going to wear the suit. Now they are holding me accountable. Not sure if I’m going to wear it, but we will see.”

It wouldn’t be the first time McClendon dressed up for a big game. Last season he wore a suit for the Blue Devils’ Lower State semifinal against A.C. Flora. Dreher lost 2-1, but his players would like to see him do it again.

“Have to say the man looked sharp,” Dreher goalkeeper Roland Herbkersman said. “ I think dressing up like that again would be a professional move and make him look great, not that he doesn’t already look great. And it would be icing on the cake for a great game.”

McClendon would love nothing more than to be drinking chocolate milk in his Italian suit following Friday’s match. The third-year Dreher coach, who previously coached at A.C. Flora and in Georgia, started the tradition of stopping at a gas station to buy his players chocolate milk following a road win.

McClendon said they bought all the chocolate milk in the gas station they stopped at following Tuesday’s 1-0 win at Bluffton in the Class 4A Lower State championship. After the third round win at Myrtle Beach, McClendon said they had to stop at two gas stations because there wasn’t enough chocolate milk at the first one.

“My dad always was big on getting me chocolate milk to drink after games, but it is always better to drink it and celebrate with your teammates,” senior midfielder Pierce Myrick said. “That is our Dreher tradition now. Our philosophy is, go on the road, get chocolate milk and do it again.”

Myrick is one of two all-state selections for Dreher, along with freshman Justin McElveen. For the most part, McClendon said the team doesn’t have a lot of star power but works well together and has bought into the “process” he continues to stress to them.

The Blue Devils finished second in Region 5-4A behind rival A.C. Flora and entered the playoffs ranked No. 5 in the state.

“We are just some ordinary kids doing remarkable things,” McClendon said. “We have processes we do and stick to them. Boys are really good kids, remarkable student-athletes and represent the school very well.

“In playoffs, it is about getting on a roll and buying into the plan. Every single opponent, the assistant coaches did a great job with scouting reports and we felt like we knew our opponents very well. The boys have come out and done exactly what we wanted them to do and we’ve been very proud of them.”

SCHSL Soccer Championships

At Irmo High School

Tickets: $12 (5 and younger admitted free)

Friday

Class 2A Girls: Southside Christian vs. Oceanside Collegiate, 2 p.m.

Class 2A Boys: Southside Christian vs. Oceanside Collegiate, 4 p.m.

Class 4A Girls: Eastside vs. South Aiken, 6:30 p.m.

Class 4A Boys: Dreher vs. Eastside, 8:30 p.m.

Saturday

Class A Boys: Royal Live Oaks vs. Dixie, 10 a.m.

Class 3A Girls: Powdersville vs. Bishop England, noon

Class 3A Boys: May River vs. Indian Land, 2:30 p.m.

Class 5A Girls: JL Mann vs, Wando, 4:30 p.m.

Class 5A Boys: JL Mann vs. Wando, 7 p.m.

SCHSL Boys Tennis Championships

At Cayce Tennis Center, Saturday

Tickets: $5 (5 and younger admitted free)

Class 5A: Spartanburg vs. Wando, 10 a.m.

Class 4A: AC Flora vs. Myrtle Beach, 10 a.m.

Class 3A: Clinton vs. Bishop England, noon

Class 2A: St. Joseph’s vs. Phillip Simmons, noon

This story was originally published May 9, 2019 at 1:09 PM.