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MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Radford High School senior Lukas Findley will play soccer the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School in New Jersey next fall and prepare for a possible appointment to the U.S. Military Academy and a spot on the Army soccer team.

| Chuck Altizer

Special to The Roanoke Times

ROANOKE -- There are many different dreams a high school senior can follow and achieve.

Chances are Radford High School soccer standout Lukas Findley will be marching to his.

Radford will be looking to march through to its record-setting third straight Group A title this weekend, and the scoring ability of Findley the past three seasons is a big reason why.

While he and his mates are looking for that third straight crown, Findley knows more marching will be in his future.

You see, Findley, the Three Rivers District soccer player of the year, knew he wanted to get into the criminal justice field like his father, Larry, a Virginia state trooper.

He also hoped that soccer would provide the avenue for that goal, which it has with his appointment to the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School in New Jersey next fall, when he will play soccer and prepare for a possible appointment to the U.S. Military Academy and a spot on the Army soccer team.

"It is going to be interesting," said Findley, who scored six goals in Tuesday's 9-0 win over John Battle at Bobcat Stadium to reach 100 career goals.

"It has been a dream of mine to play college soccer since I was in the eighth grade, and this appointment to the prep school is going to help me a lot to make the transition from civilian life into military life."

Even though it was his goal to play Division I college soccer after making the choice over baseball in the eighth grade, it took awhile for that goal to develop.

Playing mostly for the Radford club team, Findley finally got selected to an elite all-star team after the Bobcats captured their first state title his sophomore season.

That is when Army began to notice the prolific scorer, leaving him with a choice between a Division III school or the riggers of cadet life and Division I soccer.

"Army was the only Division I school to contact me, so it was really a tough decision when I had to make it back in January," Findley said. "It is one of the biggest decisions I have ever had to make, but there is something about going to Army that is special."

His father knows this is special for his son.

"You can't help but love what he has done and chosen," Larry Findley said. "He has been playing soccer since he was 6, and he has a 4.0 GPA. I am very proud of him."

His coach, Greg Wade, echoed those sentiments.

"He is a great leader, a great young man and has done an excellent job in the classroom," Wade said. "He is going to do great things at prep school and greater things at West Point.

"I'm glad to have been a part of his life in some position. I'm unbelievably proud of him."

While Findley's marching orders will come from the military the next few years, he and his Bobcat teammates have their own marching to do this week in the state playoffs. Radford looks to become the first team to win three straight times in Virginia High School League history.

Radford began that quest with a victory over John Battle on Tuesday and now will look to follow up with a semifinal matchup today versus James River.

"Four straight years in the state tournament, so I hope we can handle the pressure," Findley said. "But in single-A, soccer Radford has always had a name no matter how good they have been.

"I just want to walk off that field, hopefully Saturday, and know that we put all our heart effort and energy out there to win."

Wade knows the teams that face Radford want a resume piece on their record.

"I think this team has great potential to make it through," Wade said. "There are a lot of teams out there that want to stop that.

"Anytime you face the two-time defending champions, you would love to be the team that knocks them out. Even if you don't win the title, you can say you knocked the champs out."

One potential pitfall for Radford in its quest for the three-peat is finishing shots.

Going into the season, the Bobcats were inexperienced on defense. But as the defense has gotten stronger, the goal scoring has gone down, evident by the Region C title game, in which Radford outshot James River 30-1 but had to go to penalty kicks to claim the title.

"We got to finish," Wade said. "It is great to have 30 shots, but in this game a team can have one shot and win, so hopefully we can finish this week."

Findley knows the talent is there for the third title.

"We have a lot of talent. It is just a matter of putting that talent together," Findley said. "A lot of it is finishing our shots. Sometimes we get frustrated and down if we don't get an early goal.

"Our defense has been good the last few games, if we finish and are on our A game we are going to be tough to beat."

Radford has a nice draw playing teams they have some familiarity with, but it won't be easy to capture the third in a row.

But come Saturday, if the Bobcats are hoisting the trophy, the historical significance won't be lost on Findley or any of his Bobcat teammates.

"It hasn't been done before in Group A soccer much less by any team at Radford High School," Findley said. "It will really be indescribable, and if it happens it is going to be great not only for me and the players but for Radford High School as a whole."

Not a bad way to march into the rest of your life.