By David Shelton
•
25 Dec, 2023
Johnsonville – For the second consecutive season, the Johnsonville High football team proved to be the best Class A team in the Lower State. Johnsonville won a second straight Lower State title with a 20-10 win over favored Bamberg-Ehrhardt before losing in the state championship game to Christ Church, 67-21. Unfortunately, it the second straight championship game loss, also to Christ Church. However, few in and around Johnsonville thought the 2023 Flashes could be a state title contender, especially after heavy losses in personnel. Coach Ken Cribb and his staff had to replace eight starters on offense. After four games of the regular season, the Flashes were 2-2. They proceeded to win nine straight games before losing in the finals, finishing with an 11-3 record. Impressive playoff victories included wins over St. John’s (57-0), Lake View (35-14) and Lamar 14-12). “Proud of our kids,” Cribb said. “When we were 2-2 nobody had us penciled in here. We played hard. We had a good season. We’ll get back to work and see if we can get back next year. “I said at the beginning of the year that it was going to be a growing process and hopefully we would be a better football team by the end of the year. We kept improving and getting a little better every week. No teacher like experience. You’ve got to fail before you can succeed. We made some mistakes but we learned from them.” In the championship game, the Flashes lost a fumble on their first offensive play of the game. Christ Church quickly scored a touchdown. The deficit was 20-0 five minutes into the game and the Flashes never fully recovered.] “We got off to a bad start. They out-played us. They have a good football team but we definitely didn’t play our best,” said Cribb after the game. While the disappointment of coming up short will linger a bit, the Flashes will soon get back to work in preparation for the 2024 season. As always, there will be holes to fill by graduating senior players but Johnsonville had only eight seniors this season. “Our seniors were great. We had eight seniors and they were great leaders, great kids,” Cribb said. “They busted their tails and they made the town of Johnsonville and our school really proud.” One of those seniors was four-year starting quarterback Malik Shippy. Shippy finished off his last season with 1,789 passing yards and 23 touchdowns, completing 114-of-201 passes. He also rushed for 318 yards and six more touchdowns. “Malik’s my guy,” Cribb said. “He’s been a good one. A good player, a better person. A great leader. He’s the kind of guy you want to be your quarterback and be the face of your school.” Cribb spoke of how the inexperienced offense worked hard and made steady improvement. “We had to replace a lot on that side of the ball where we brought back three starters. They hung in there and kept getting a little better every time.” Another big loss will be linebacker/running back Neal Martin. All Martin did this fall was rush for 1,418 yards and 18 touchdowns while totaling 102 tackles and 18 tackles for loss. The Flashes also must replace Travis Wilson, who was the team’s leading receiver with 37 receptions for 772 yards and 14 touchdowns. At defensive end, Wilson had 89 tackles, 23 tackles for loss and four sacks. The lone senior starter along the offensive line this season was center Taylor Davis. Senior Payne Alford was a key performer along the defensive line, finishing with 84 tackles and five sacks. Zavier Grant was a senior that saw time at receiver and defensive back. Luke Altman started at the other defensive end spot and totaled 83 tackles and 18 tackles for loss. Senior placekicker Reid Baxley also will graduate. Baxley averaged better than 33 yards per punt and converted 43-of-46 extra-point kicks. Plenty of underclassmen contributed this season and will form the nucleus of next year’s team. On offense, four starting offensive linemen included junior Michael Tapia, sophomores Brayden Baxley and Jason Brigham, and freshman Daniel Ortiz. The starting tight end was sophomore Dylan Smith The second-leading rusher on the team, behind Martin, was freshman Zaghe Davis, who gained 685 yards and scored four touchdowns. Larkin Powell, a freshman in 2023, looks to be next in line at quarterback. The defense will return several key players. Junior linebacker Landyn Cribb finished this season with 118 tackles, including 19 tackles for loss. Junior strong safety Taysawn Brown tallied 110 tackles with 29 tackles for loss. He led the defensive effort in the championship game with seven tackles. Sophomore linebacker Bricen Howell posted 88 tackles (10 for loss) this fall, while sophomore free safety Clovell Woodbury had 82 total tackles. Junior corner CJ Woodbury had 39 tackles and junior corner Quantrell Woodbury had 40 tackles and 11 pass breakups. Junior defensive tackle Jaiden McFadden finished the season with 34 tackles and seven tackles for loss.