AHOSKIE – To the victor goes the spoils.

And this academic year, Ridgecroft School has definitely been the victor.

The Rams won 20 games for the second consecutive year and earned their first-ever boy’s North Carolina Independent School Athletic Association soccer championship with a 3-0 win over Grace Christian School of Sanford.

Thanks to that stellar season, the Rams received numerous regional and state honors. A pair of new ones were handed out recently when the North Carolina Soccer Coaches Association named Aron Martin State 1-A Coach of the Year and tabbed Drey Chrysostomou as part of the All-State Team.

Chrysostomou said he had enjoyed the entire soccer season at Ridgecroft.

“It’s been a great year all the way around,” he said. “Words can’t describe it. It’s just too sweet – like a dream come true.”

He said he was also grateful for his selection to the All-State team.

“It’s great to be honored as one of those players,” he said. “I had a lot of fun this season. It was great helping others get on the score sheet. We had fun all the way.”

Chrysostomou said he got his first soccer ball at the age of one and that he had been playing the game since he could walk. While he has played almost every sport available, he said it was soccer that had made him the happiest and made him enjoy sports the most.

He said he plans to continue playing soccer after his graduation from Ridgecroft later this year. His current plan is to play for a junior college in New York state and then hopefully have the opportunity to play at St. John’s University.

Chrysostomou was also thankful for his association with Martin, who he said richly deserved to be named Coach of the Year.

Martin actually earned the honor for the third time in his seven-year career at Ridgecroft. He was also named State Coach of the Year in 2007 and 2010.

“I’ve said before, this is an individual award that acknowledges where we’ve come from as a program and the people who have made it possible,” Martin stressed. “There have been people who have stood behind us for all seven years to get us to this point and that has made this special.”

Two other things that make the award special, he said, are the fact it comes from his peers and the fact that the team won the state championship this season.

“I’ve said before I would give up whatever personal accolades for a state championship and this year we were fortunate enough to have both,” he said.

Martin and Chrysostomou received their awards during a ceremony in Greensboro earlier this year.