Boys Soccer

DaKota Paradice
dparadice@effingham.k12.ga.us  

HS Coaching Record: 55-20-2 (72.7%)  

Coach Paradice enters his 6th season as a head soccer coach and his 5th as a high school coach. In his first year, he led Effingham County Middle School to arguably one of their most successful seasons ever before having their run cut short by Covid-19. In his first year at South Effingham he was tasked with moving up to AAAAAA and competing in a tough region. The Mustangs would finish their first season in AAAAAA as 3rd in region, have a 13-7 record, and go on to the second round of the state playoffs where they would lose to Valdosta 1-0 in a very tight game. Fast forward to today where the Mustangs have knocked off the #9 team in the nation at one point, reached a national ranking of #13, made the playoffs every year, had the #3 defense in their classification in 2023, and #5 in their classification offensively in 2024, and have went undefeated in rivalry games since 2018 .

In the past 8 seasons, the Mustangs have been a force to reckon with by winning region each year up until 2021 and Coach Paradice hopes to follow up on that by getting them back to that tradition in AAAAAA. Since 2021, the Mustangs have sent six players to Europe, multiple players to college, and continue to gain interest from opportunities after high school.

Coach Paradice brings a new twist on soccer by noting that he will challenge the way soccer has been traditionally coached and played using his experience as a travel, high school, and college soccer player along with his coaching experience.   

Coach Paradice played for Vidalia High School as a 4-Year starter at goalkeeper winning All-Region and All-State nominations while there. He also started as a winger, right back, and striker in travel ball where he was recruited to go to college as an athlete at multiple positions. At Brewton Parker College, he played right back, right-wing, and goalkeeper. Coach Paradice now teaches engineering and technology at Effingham College and Career Academy.  

South Effingham kicks off the 2025 season on
February 7th at Benedictine Military Academy