The Grind, presented by Bank of Clarendon: Lee Academy's June brothers making the most out of final season together

Trace and Cain June have only known success at Lee Academy.

As Trace was making the jump up to varsity, the Cavaliers were making a run to the first of four straight state championship game appearances. When Cain joined the varsity squad in 2022, Lee went all the way, claiming a state title over Thomas Heyward Academy.

But this season has been a grind. Injuries have plagued the Cavaliers all fall. The Junes have seen the brunt of it from Trace missing most of a game due to injury to Cain moving to quarterback in their last two games.

Through all of the ups and downs, the pair have each other. As Trace watches his final football season wind down, he's trying to enjoy every moment with his brother on the gridiron.

"It settled in on senior night because I realized I've only got so many more games left to play beside my brother. It sucks, it really does. I've grown up playing beside him every year," Trace said. "He's always been my right-hand man through sports and everything else. We get in fights and arguments and all that, but deep down inside, I love him to death, and I'd do anything for him."

GROWING UP COMPETITIVE

Trace and Cain are just a year apart, a dangerous combination for a pair of boys. Growing up in Darlington, their first love was the track, where they raced go karts before graduating to proper race cars. Their dad, John Michael "JJ" June, took the pair all down the East Coast to compete in races, and the pair found plenty of success. While the accolades were nice, the most important thing was how they competed against each other.

"Cain would hate it for Trace to outdo him," JJ said. "Trace would outrun him, and he'd wait for Trace to come back around to wreck him just so he couldn't outrun him."

The Junes don't race each other anymore, however, thanks to a close call on the track. Now Cain generally competes in Charger class, while Trace races super truck and limited late model.

"Our parents won't let us race now; they're scared we're going to wreck each other," Trace said. "I don't know if he didn't see me or what, but I was kinda above him, and I was arching to go to the corner, and he clipped my left rear and spun me around. I ended up coming back and finishing second, but ever since that, dad won't let us race together anymore."

But the Junes didn't just compete on the track. Safety equipment quickly became required in every sport because of the way they smacked each other around in the yard.

"It got so bad that Dad went and got us football helmets and pads to play in the yard with," Trace said.

Things even got out of hand when they were JV teammates at Lee Academy. In one game, Trace was supposed to open a hole for his brother in the running game, but Cain got swallowed by the defense. He took exception to that, and when the Cavs flipped around to the other side of the ball, the June brothers started to brawl.

"I let him get creamed, and we started throwing hands at the 50-yard line," Trace said with Cain adding, "We got like 30 yards' worth of penalties on us in the span of two minutes."

While Cain was always much smaller than his brother, he never backed down.

"He's never been ahead of me," Cain quipped.

One of JJ's favorite memories from the pair growing up competing was a Christmas season when Trace and Cain begged their father for boxing gloves. Their mom wasn't too thrilled by the concept of giving her sons an excuse to whale on each other, so it was out of the question for a while. But one day, JJ was going Christmas shopping with the boys, and the fervent request came again. JJ told them that they'd have to get protective gear if they were going to convince their mother, so they did just that. They boxed everything up and gave it to their mother on Christmas Eve.

"She was like, 'Oh my God,'" JJ recalled. "Whenever I bought them that stuff, you'd think a title match was fixing to happen the way they were going back and forth talking about who was going to knock the other out."

JJ remembers setting them up for a proper fight with four rounds. Trace won, and Cain was less than thrilled by the format and the result.

"After it was over with, Cain was crying, and he said, 'I knew it! I knew y'all were gonna cheat me!'" JJ said. "I asked him how we cheated him, and he says, 'This round stuff, I thought we were going until somebody got knocked out. He's so big and fat, I was going to tire him out, and then I was gonna knock him out.'"

While the Junes have always been quick to compete with each other, they also fiercely defend each other.

"A bully picked on Cain at the go kart track," JJ recalled. "He jumped on Cain, and when he did, Trace jumped on him and put him in a choke hold. When he went off running, Trace said, 'There ain't nobody that beats up my little brother but me.'"

FAMILIAL SUCCESS

When the Junes finally made the jump to varsity, they were a part of a Lee Academy dynasty. The level of success was spectacular, but it wasn't uncommon for their family.

Their cousins, Casey and Cody Kelley, won a baseball state title together for the Cavaliers before they graduated. Their step-brother, Hunter Myers, was on the 2015 state championship football team for the Cavaliers. There's also a well-known June who just wrapped up his career at Laurence Manning.

Tyler June helped lead the Swampcats to a state championship in baseball in 2022. On the gridiron, he helped LMA play for state titles in three of the four years he was in high school. Now Tyler is at South Carolina playing baseball for the Gamecocks.

"I think our family has one thing in mind, and that's trying to set a legacy for our family, try to have somebody that can go pro, play good D1 ball," Trace said. "That's what I had in mind because I wanted to try to do that, and I'm just not fortunate enough to have any offers yet. Hopefully that'll happen for Cain. I really want Cain to get offers because if he puts on some weight, he can go places because he's good enough."

Lee Academy head coach Will Furse has been able to coach three Junes now. He was at LMA throughout Tyler's career before moving to Lee this year. He was glad to see a familiar name when he made the transition.

"If you have a June on your team, you usually have a pretty good player, regardless of the sport," he said. "They all seem to be athletic guys that give it their all on Friday nights. You're always happy to coach them, not coach against them."

PRESSURE OF SUCCESS

While it's great to play for state titles, that level of success gets tougher to bear with each passing season.

After an undefeated fall in their championship run in 2022, the Cavs hit some bumps in the road last year, losing three games in the regular season. They were able to bounce back and make another run to the state championship, where they ultimately fell just short against Patrick Henry 35-28.

Coming into this season, they were expected to be right back in the SCISA 1A title game, but things haven't gone perfectly for the Cavs. Lee sits at 3-5 with a rain-out tie. They've lost four straight thanks in part to a swath of injuries. Two weeks ago, they faced the defending 2A champs, Williamsburg Academy, without their starting quarterback, Brayden Davis. The freshman was sidelined with an injury, and their backup quarterback was suspended, so Cain was thrust into the starting job despite the fact that he hadn't played quarterback since he was playing JV. Not only that, he didn't make the move until two days before the game.

"It was hard to get used to playing QB because I'd only played one game at Lee Academy at quarterback, that was on JV," he said. "They weren't using my cadence; I didn't know what to do in the huddle because I'm never in the huddle. So, that was a little difficult."

While the Cavaliers suffered losses in each of the two games Cain was forced to play quarterback, Furse credits his willingness to step up for the team. He scored both of their touchdowns in a 38-14 loss to Colleton Prep on Friday, doing whatever he could to keep the offense moving.

"He picked it up quickly. He didn't bat an eye, he was confident in his ability, and he did a pretty good job for us considering he had one real practice and a walk through," Furse said of Cain's first start. "He exceeded my expectations. I was proud of the way he battled."

Furse wasn't surprised that Cain stepped up. He learned very quickly that the junior could respond when pressed. In their season opener, Cain got burned on a double move for a first down, and Furse was quick to sharply correct him. It was a way to test the defensive back early in their relationship together.

"I'd never really had to get on Cain before, so I was interested to see how he responded to it. The very next play, he comes down and runs the alley in a run fit and absolutely demolishes the guy. That really showed me what kind of player he was," Furse said. "The way he responded to coaching really stood out to me. He didn't feel sorry for himself. He felt like he let his teammates down, and he wanted to make up for that."

Both brothers have moved around on both sides of the ball. Cain has played every skill position on offense and moved from safety to outside linebacker on defense. Trace has shifted to both inside and outside linebacker while moving to the defensive line in their most recent game. Trace also tried his hand at punting against Colleton Prep.

"I think when you face adversity, it really reveals your character. Both of these guys have shown tremendous character this year," Furse said of the brothers. "They just want to do whatever they can to help the team."

Trace hopes their recent struggles can lead to a mindset shift for the team. He thinks the Cavs got a little too confident because of their consistent championship success. With only one regular season game left, a matchup against former head coach David Rankin and Carolina Academy next week, Trace wants to see the Cavaliers right the ship.

"We're really not playing as a team like we were at the beginning of the season," he said. "I feel like if we come together as a team and everything starts working out again, we'll be right on track again."

With his football career at Lee Academy winding down, Trace can feel the pressure of getting back to a state championship game one more time.

"Now, with it being my senior year, there's a lot of pressure because I really want to make it to state and hopefully win it," Trace said. "There's a lot of pressure in that because I've grown up playing here knowing that a state championship is all we've got."

JJ is trying to savor every game that Trace and Cain have left together. Unfortunately, he'll have to miss the matchup against Carolina Academy; Hunter is getting married that weekend, and he's the officiant. No matter how long the pair have left on the field together, he's going to enjoy every bit he can.

"It's kinda emotional for us, too," JJ said. "One of them is going to be gone soon to college or whatever he decides to do. It's definitely emotional."