Zack McWhorter knew it was his time to step up.

The Woodstock senior forward entered the 2012 season ready to assume the leading role for a Wolverine squad that was aiming for their first state playoff appearance in school history.

McWhorter did just that as he proceeded to accumulate a career-high 17 goals and 14 assists to lead Woodstock into the postseason for the first time.

As a result, McWhorter is the 2012 Cherokee Tribune boys soccer player of the year.

“It’s definitely an honor,” McWhorter said. “I couldn’t have achieved this without my teammates. Our goal was to make it to the state playoffs and we did that. It was a great way to end my high school career.”

McWhorter knew he was going to carry more of the offensive load going into the season when he was moved from the midfield position he played last year to forward.

He thrived in his new position as he dramatically improved his offensive numbers from the seven goals and seven assists he had achieved as a junior in 2011.

“Last year, I played midfield and I moved up front (to forward) this year,” McWhorter said. “I played forward before I came to Woodstock, so I had plenty of experience playing forward. I had to step up and I was able to do the job.”

Woodstock strugged with a 3-10-3 overall record, but the Wolverines got two of those wins against Region 5AAAAA opponents — Cherokee and Marietta — to clinch the fourth and final state playoff spot in the region.

“Our record didn’t reflect the season that we had,” McWhorter said. “We won the games we had to win and that made the difference in getting us into the state playoffs.”

McWhorter nearly helped Woodstock get an extra win in its regular-season finale against Towne Lake rival Etowah.

He scored two goals in the second half to help Woodstock erase a 3-0 Etowah lead to tie the game up at 3-all, before the Eagles added another goal at the end to take the 4-3 win.

“That’s one of the biggest highlights of the season,” McWhorter said. “We came back from 3 down to tie it up at 3-all. We played really well and I was proud of the way we pulled ourselves together and came back.”

He also scored three goals in Woodstock’s 9-1 victory over county rival River Ridge and contributed three assists in the Wolverines 3-1 win over Cherokee.

McWhorter will not be continuing his soccer career on the college level as he moves on to Tennessee in the fall, though he hopes to play soccer there on the club level.