Photo by: Roger Lee/Journal Scene

Family members join Rachael Nobbs in filling out forms for Lees-McRae College.

On a day associated primarily with American football, soccer athletes grabbed much of the local spotlight.

Wednesday was the first day of this school year high school football players were allowed to sign scholarship documents or a national letter of intent officially declaring which college or university they plan to suit up for. But Summerville-area schools had more soccer players sign on national signing day than football players.

Five Fort Dorchester soccer standouts and two Pinewood soccer athletes signed to play college ball. Three of them inked a deal with the University of South Carolina.

Fort Dorchester forwards Wes Eads and Devin L’Amoreaux, as well as Pinewood forward Courtney Angotti-Smith, signed with the Gamecocks.

The two Fort athletes were teammates long before they were Patriots and traveled together to their first USC soccer camp when they were 8-years-old, which made selecting a college somewhat easier.

“We’ve always been on the same team and talked about playing together in the future, hopefully even past college,” L’Amoreaux said. “Living here as a kid you either pick Carolina or Clemson so when I moved here I picked Carolina and just stuck with them. They have a great coaching staff and facilities plus they have talented athletes who are already there.”

The chemistry L’Amoreaux and Eads developed over the years certainly paid off for Fort Dorchester. Both are among the state’s top high school scorers and have made the Patriots serious contenders the past few years.

Eads is hoping that chemistry will make the transition to college soccer smoother.

“We know exactly what each other is going to do out there and no one feeds me better balls or plays off me better than Devin,” he said. “We work for each other all the time and that makes a difference. My mom went to USC and we’ve always been diehard Gamecocks fans. The coaches there have always shown a lot of interest in me so I’m real excited to be going there.”

With the paperwork now done, the duo will turn their focus toward their senior high school season. Eads is on track to break the Fort’s all-time scoring record that was set by his brother, Randall.

Courtney Angotti-Smith, who set the all-time scoring record for the Pinewood Prep girls last spring, signed Wednesday to play with the Lady Gamecocks. Joining her at Pinewood’s celebration was Taylor Darling, who signed with The Citadel girls’ soccer program.

“Both players were instrumental in the winning of Pinewood’s first SCISA AAA soccer state championships in 2009 and 2010,” Pinewood girls’ coach Gail Osborne said. “They were also key members in the region championship teams of 2009, 2010 and 2011 and the State Runner Up team of 2011. Angotti-Smith is truly blessed with innate athleticism and specifically her soccer skills. Her presence on the field has attracted more attention than any other soccer player that Pinewood or SCISA has ever seen.”

Fort Dorchester also had three other players officially commit to the college of their choice. Midfielder Connor Bauknight signed with Wofford; midfielder Rachael Nobbs signed with Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, N.C.; and forward Taylor Simmons signed with USC Aiken. All three athletes are four-year lettermen for the Patriots who started multiple years.

Ashley Ridge didn’t have any athletes sign for soccer Wednesday, but did have three of its soccer players sign to play football. Dalton Robinson and Brandon Hughes signed with Newberry College and Seamus McKinney signed with St. Norbert College in Wisconsin.

All three dual-sport athletes served as a kicker and/or punter for the Swamp Fox football team during their high school career, though Robinson was the only full-time kicker among them.

Contact Roger Lee @ 873-9424 ext. 213 or rlee@journalscene.com

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