FLEMING ISLAND - Coupled with a Class 4A team title, a Class 4A player of year on top of 50 goals scored, Fleming Island High junior soccer forward Reed Davis has been selected as the Gatorade Player of Year Florida for boys soccer and a shot at the Gatorade National Player of the year later in June.

Davis, a nifty, hard running forward for coach Frank Pontore’s Fleming Island High team that won a 4-0 dominating Class 4A title game over Doral Academy of Miami, scored his 50th goal in that state game to be one of the more prolific soccer scorers in Florida and in Clay County soccer history. Davis also contributed 15 assists for the Golden Eagles.

“Reed is all you could ask for in a soccer player, first, and also as a team leader,” said Fleming Island High coach Frank Pontore, who also won a title in 2012. “Whenever we were down going into the second half, I could turn to Reed and he would say ‘coach, we got this’ and then he would direct the gamewinning push at the end of the game. He was personally responsible for three playoff game wins with late goals to get us to the title game.”

According to the Gatorade website, The 6-foot, 170-pound junior forward led the Golden Eagles to a 24-1-2 record and the Class 4A state championship this past season. Davis scored 50 goals and passed for 15 assists to earn the state’s Mr. Soccer honor. He stepped up his game in the postseason, scoring three game-winning goals, all in overtime, including the gamewinner in the state semifinal against Melbourne that propelled Fleming Island into the state final. Davis tallied nine times in five playoff games and had a goal and assist in the team’s 4-0 win over Doral Academy in the state final.

In the classroom, Davis has maintained a weighted 4.20 GPA in the classroom. He has made a verbal commitment to play soccer on scholarship at Jacksonville University beginning in the fall of 2018.

According to Clay County rival Oakleaf High School boys soccer coach Carlos Celis, “Reed is one of those players that you must change the way that you play to make sure that you minimize his outcome on the game. You could not leave him alone for one second because he would make you pay.”

Fleming Island High coach Frank Pontore also won a state title in 2012.