Soccer twins with ties to area headed to Heidelberg
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Twin brothers Cody and Dylan Thomas recently committed to Heidelberg University to continue their academic and athletic careers.
The twins began playing soccer when they were four-years-old in Monongahela before moving to central Ohio in the Highland School District.
The Thomas brothers are sons of Greg and Marci Thomas of Howard, Ohio. Their grandparents are Gregory and Christy Thomas of Washington and Denny and Marie Hunt of McMurray.
While playing under head coach John Sachleben, they were four-year starters and letterwinners for the Fighting Scots soccer team. The pair captained the team during their senior season.
“The biggest thing that set them apart was their dedication to the program itself and to showing up every day with a positive attitude,” said Sachleben. “They wanted to work and wanted to get better for themselves and the team.”
The duo will be the first boys soccer players in Highland School District history to play soccer for an NCAA program. Sachleben was thrilled that the brothers are the pioneers for their program.
“It’s awesome. Somebody has to be first, at the tip of the spear so to speak, and it’s them. There couldn’t have been two better guys to represent Highland soccer.”
The Thomas twins have the intangible of coachability that all coaches are looking for, and according to Sachleben, that is why they will blossom at the college level.
“Cody played sweeper back this year. He started out as a freshman and played a lot of midfield. Our sweeper graduated and we needed a sweeper. Without him back there, we wouldn’t have been very competitive at all,” said Sachleben. “Dylan was a big scorer, but he played a lot of midfield and went back on defense a lot at the end of close games. Dylan probably could have scored more but he was happy with assists and happy with wins. He always wanted to get better.”
In addition to their on-field success, they added accolades in the classroom. The boys made the honor roll every year in high school and received several college scholarships for their performance. Cody will be studying biology (pre-med) while Dylan will be studying education.
Heidelberg is located in Tiffin, Ohio, and is a member of the NCAA Division III Ohio Athletic Conference.