The “Red C” worn on the upper right arm of Sloan Bolanos has been extremely well earned by the most decorated high school boys’ soccer player in Bradley County history.
The explosive and shifty Bolanos made history at Benny Monroe Stadium on Saturday night as he lifted Cleveland to its first TSSAA state tournament appearance since 2017 by scoring both goals in a 2-1 Class AAA sectional victory over Rockvale.
Bolanos reached a preseason goal he set for himself by scoring his area-leading 30th goal of the season, which turned out to be the game-winner in the 75th minute off an assist by Yenri Mazariegos. Fittingly, the score was also the 75th of his career, breaking a tie with his head coach, Miles Christian, for the most goals ever scored in Bradley County history by a boys’ soccer player.
Christian was a prep standout from 2009 to 2012 at Bradley Central, where he had his jersey retired and set a county record with 33 goals in one season.
“I can only think of one time when Sloan asked me about my record, but I definitely knew he was trying to chase it down,” said Christian, who has led the Blue Raiders’ soccer program since May of 2019. “All I did was encourage him to work hard in practice and practice outside more. He regularly stays after practice with a bag of balls and will call me on the weekend to get more. He works for it and has earned this record.