Coaching Staff
Matthew Gilbert
Men's Varsity Head Coach
matthew.gilbert@walton.k12.ga.us
Coach Gilbert spent 11 years as the Grayson High School JV Boys Coach. He had been the Loganville High School JV Boys Coach for 7 years, now in a 2nd year of Head Varsity Boys Coach.
He also coached for 2 years at Liberty Soccer Club at the boys Select/Academy level. Prior to that, Coach Gilbert spent 4 years coaching for West Walton Recreation.
A love for soccer started when playing soccer at 4 years old. He played his youth soccer for local club RYSA, and later played 4 years at Rockdale County High School. Coach Gilbert played 2 years at the college level at Atlanta Christian College.
Coach Gilbert is a proud daddy of three boys....Davis (previous LHS player) Wilson and Turner (both current LHS players). He loves his boys, soccer, hunting, fishing, and everything Auburn. He grew up in Rockdale County and has lived in Walton County since graduating college. Coach Gilbert is a counselor at LHS and loves working with students.
Coach Gilbert's mama went to almost all his soccer games and is carrying on this tradition with her grandboys. Her name is Lynda (goes by Gran to the boys). Make sure to say "hey" if you see her watching Wilson and Turner play at LHS. She endures travel and weather most people would not attempt to sit through.
Blakelee Gibson
Women's Varsity Head Coach
blakelee.gibson@walton.k12.ga.us
Coach Gibson began teaching at LHS in 2020. She began serving as the Women's Varsity Soccer Assistant Coach in 2019 and became the Varsity Head Coach in 2020. Coach Gibson also has been one of the LHS Basketball Assistant Coaches since 2018.
Coach Gibson graduated from Loganville High School in 2014 where she played four years of varsity soccer and basketball. After graduating high school, she attended Emmanuel College. While at Emmanuel College she played four years of collegiate soccer and studied biology. Coach Gibson completed her Masters of Arts in Teaching degree from the University of West Georgia.
Dylan Cheney
Men's Junior Varsity Coach
Coach Cheney has made a return home to Loganville High School teaching in the school he attended and played at. After graduating in 2013, Coach Cheney attended Oxford College of Emory University and eventually graduating from the University of Georgia. At LHS, Coach Cheney teaches Advanced and AP Physics. Coach Cheney is in his 3rd year as the JV Boys Soccer Coach.
Ashlyn Balon
Women's Varsity Assistant Coach
Coach Balon began working in the Walton County School District in 2021 as the Student Engagement Specialist. She enjoys working with students and helping them reach success.
Coach Balon played 4 years of Varsity Soccer at LHS before graduating in 2014. Coach Balon then went to the University of Georgia to obtain her Bachelor’s of Social Work and Master’s of Social Work (Go Dawgs!).
April McClendon
Varsity Assistant Coach
Goalkeeper Coach
Coach McClendon has served for 3 years now as the Area Director for Walton County Fellowship of Christian Athletes after serving 14 years teaching in Christian Schools. She was an Army brat and has had the opportunity to play overseas in Germany during her high school career. Along with goalkeeping, Coach McClendon played volleyball, basketball, and softball in high school where she attended Bitburg HS, in Bitburg, Germany and finished at Ellison High School in Killeen, TX. She also played soccer and softball at the collegiate level at Missouri Valley College her freshman year and then transferred to goalkeep at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, MI, where she played for two years; eventually finishing her degree in Ministry/Christian School Education at Nazarene Bible College.
This is Coach McClendon’s 3rd year coaching goalkeepers at the high school level in Walton County as a lay coach. She is married and has 3 boys who all played multiple sports at LHS, and so now that they are grown and she is not at all of their things, she is able to pursue her passion to train goalkeepers and coach athletes in all dimensions: body, mind, spirit. She is thankful to be home coaching at LHS where her boys played and her sports family is.