Moncks Corner —The winter sports season for basketball concluded with the SCHSL crowning six boy’s and six girl’s championship teams from across South Carolina (March, 5-7), marking the first time in five years since the championships had been hosted at the spacious and very accommodating Colonial Life Center at the University of South Carolina, home to the “Lady Gamecocks” who are among the best women’s college basketball program in the nation. On the boy’s side of the state finals, congratulations are extended to the Ridge View boys’ basketball team for winning the Div. I AAAAA state title with a 65-44 win over Ashley Ridge . It was Ridge View’s third straight title win, and they have also earned seven titles in the past nine years. Adding a sentimental angle to the game was the fact Ridge View head coach Joshua Staley was coaching his senior son “ Talan” for the last time in a Ridge View uniform. Coach Staley will coach his son for the final time in a post-season all-star game. By the way, his son had 10 points in the win. In Div. II AAAAA boys’ finals, congrats to Westwood (25-3) who defeated last year’s champion, Greenville (23-7) 67-55. On a side- note, Goose Creek head coach Blake Hall complained about the disparity in the fouls called against his team versus Greenville in the state finals a year ago. Well, one year later Westwood nails 25-of-32 free throws in the win. Greenville now understands what Coach Hall was talking about. The Raiders were 12-of-20 from the free throw line. In AAAA boys, congrats to North Augusta (27-3) as they finally won the first boys’ basketball state title in school history, after cheering on the girl’s teams at the school for their numerous titles, with their thrilling double overtime, 64-56 win over South Pointe (20-9). This was easily the most competitive game of the three- day event. In boy’s AAA, congratulations are extended to Christ Church (26-1) who defeated Fox Creek, 52-49 in a highly competitive game. In boy’s AA, congratulations are with newcomer Phillip Simmons who defeated frequent finalist High Point Academy 50-46 for the school’s first boys’ basketball title since the school was founded 9 years ago. The HSSR also extended congrats to C.A. Johnson for their 72-64 win over Bethune-Bowman in the in the Class A boys on March 7.  The girls’ competition was just as exciting to watch. In Div. I AAAAA congrats go the way of Blythewood who defeated Wando 68-44 on March 6 to win their second straight state title. In Div. II AAAAA high fives are extended to a school located five miles from where I live; give it up for my neighbors the mighty Berkeley Stags who repeated with a 54-50 win over Greenville. (Can u surmise if any of the Stag players live on my street in Moncks Corner?) In AAAA girls, congrats to North Augusta (28-1) who added yet another state title to the school’s trophy case with a63-50 win over Westside (27-2). In AAA competition, how about a high five for repeat winner Wallhalla (26-2) who defeated Keenan 70-58. In Class AA, we salute the Landrum (25-7) girls for getting the three-day event off to a winning note on March 5 with a 45-43 win over Atlantic Collegiate Academy . In girl’s Class A, we salute Military Magnet for repeating this season with the most dominant win in any game over the event when they defeated Great Falls 70-21 on March 7. This writer has always day-dreamed about what if you were starting a brand new college boy’s and girl’s college basketball program in the state of South Carolina, and you were only allowed to sign, or make an offer, to players who played in the SCHSL state finals regardless of grade. So, there you are sitting at the state finals, as the boy’s head coach, with your fellow girl’s head coach sitting by you busy observing the talent before you. Both of you are even sharing a box of pop- corn making comments like, “This is going to be easy!” If you based your choices simply on stats in the game, you might be surprised how some top-flight players do not always have their top games in title games. Often a hardworking teammate might step up and have their best game of the season. There were only five girls who scored 20 or more points in the state finals. They were Ashlyn Frick (23) from Wallhalla, Taelor Lee - Sutton of Keenan (20), Alaina Carter (29) of Berkeley, Mariah Brown (25) of Military Magnet, and Chase Thomas of Blythewood (28). I have no problem at all offering all five of these players a full ride to come on a new journey to a brand-new college. There were only four girls in the state finals with 10 or more rebounds. They were Messiah Williams (12) of North Augusta, Ava Owens of Greenville, Delaney Caldwell of Landrum (12), and Miley White of Walhalla. We are going ahead and offering these four players also. We now have 9 scholarship players to work with. On the boy’s side there were eight players who pumped in 20 or more points during the state finals in Columbia. They are Clayton Everett (20) of Ashley Ridge, while Terrence McFadden of Bethune-Bowman had (31), tops over the three-day period. Others included Aassic Germany and Javrius Wyche of CA Johnson and they both scored 24 points. The remaining four players are Treven Raymon (22) of South Pointe, Quh’Mareon Webb of North Augusta, Jayden Crews (23) of Westwood, and D’Marcus Thomas (26) of Westwood, With little hesitation all 8 players were extended full rides to this new college program to be located somewhere at some time in the future. There were only three boys’ form among the 12 teams competing for state titles who had 10 or more rebounds. This was a bit of a surprise. Terrance McFadden not only had 31 points in the big moments, but he took the time to grab 13 rebounds in the same game! Aassic Germany, playing against McFadden in the same game was not going to be outdone. He matched his 24 points with 17 rebounds. (The new college program is looking forward to having these two rim-rockers on the same team on the new State-U team). In all honesty, what if all these players could end up on the same team in the near future? I guess we will never know. A week earlier, at the Sumter Civic Cener, the SCISA organization crowned four boy’s and four girls’ champions, and we extend congrats to all 8 teams. On the boy’s side we salute Pinewood Prep , Greenwood Christian , Cathedral and Ragin Prep, from AAAA on down to Class A. On the girls, from AAAA to Class A, we salute winning teams First Baptist , Florence Christian , Dorchester Academy and Wardlaw . Now it is on to Spring sports and time to PLAY baseball and softball!

Christ Church boys defeat Fox Creek to claim the SCHSL Class AAA state title.

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Moncks Corner - When Oceanside Collegiate used a highly rated junior quarterback. ( Aiden “Laser” Manavian ) to defeat AAAAA power Dutch Fork back in September, the media boys were about ready to phone in to the engraver at the South Carolina High School League to get the Class AAA trophy ready early for the Land Sharks. This reporter was on hand for that mild upset win at Charleston Southern back in September but there is too much football left to be played in Class AAA just to go ahead and give the trophy to the most talented team in AAA in South Carolina. The AAA SCHSL state finals will take place at high noon on Friday December 5 th at South Carolina State University so you AAA fans go ahead and phone in to your boss about having the flu because this is not a Saturday game. Oceanside Collegiate, coached by Brent LaPrad , advanced this week to host Marlboro County by defeating Georgetown 49-15 last week. The Bulldogs, who have an 180- mile ride to Charleston in front of them this week, advanced with a 49-13 win over Swansea. Do not be surprised if the Bulldogs hang around for three quarters against Oceanside but in the final quarter the Sharks should win with their depth numbers. BHP did survive the graduation of all-world running back Maurquise Henderson , and the number one ranked 11-0 Bears advanced with a 56-7 win over Palmetto in round one. Russell Blackstone’s team has been the most offensive productive team at all levels of prep football in SC with a state leading 558 points! (Wow!) Coach Blackston told the HSSR recently, “It sure is good when you can graduate 8,000 yards and 100 touchdowns in Marquise Henderson, that you can still be very good. There are people who thought we were not going to be anything and that’s okay. I knew we had 23 seniors back and six starters back on both sides. We’re where I thought we would be. We had a tremendous Spring and a tremendous summer.” BHP will host Southside Christian this week. The Sabres defeated Chapman 55-18 to advance. Senior BHP QB Noah Thomas is among the best dual threat athletes in the state. By season’s end Thomas should pass for well over 2,200 yards and he will be close to 1,000 yards rushing. His favorite target is junior stud Tajeh Watson Martin . Third ranked Loris (11-0) beat Dillon for the second year in a row and that got the folks around town pretty whipped up for sure. The Lions whipped Battery Creek 49-14 last week to advance. They will host upstart Orangeburg-Wilkinson this week after the 9-1 Bruins beat Keenan 25-12 last week. This game should be a one possession lead for either team well into the fourth quarter. Dillon has won a state title before with three losses, and the Wildcats have a rising star in 9 th grade QB Khayel Fong Talia (6-2, 200) who recently visited Clemson for the Florida State game. This Under Armour Next Level All-American has helped make talented North Carolina WR commitment and Shrine Bowler Zay Robertson the top WR in South Carolina. Robertson has drawn comparisons to former New England NFL receiver Troy Brown who played high school football at Blackville-Hilda . Dillon is also led by Shrine Bowl LB Daniel Capehart and North-South LB Keryien Brown . Dillon advanced in round one with a 49-8 win over Fox Creek and the Wildcats will host Silver Bluff this week, a 34-13 winner over North Charleston . It seems strange that Newberry (11-0) is competing in the playoffs as a lower state team this season but that is the case. Newberry is led by SC tight end commitment Jamel Howze (6-3,215) and they have dominated teams 470-142 this season. Newberry advanced with a 54-14 win over Aynor last week and they will host Hanahan this week. The Hawks advanced with a 38-21 win over Waccamaw last week. In the upper state , Powdersville advanced with a 66-0 win over Carolina , and they will host Pendleton this week. Pendleton advanced with a 24-21 win over Broome last week. Mountain View Prep (MVP) can be a sleeper but an early season loss to Woodruff exposed some of their weaknesses. MVP had a close 28-21 win over St. Joseph’s in round one to advance and they host Crescent this week. The Tigers advanced with a 52-14 win over Union County . Christ Church won Class A titles under head coach Quin Hatfield (a Manning native) in recent years but moved up to AAA with realignment two years ago. The Cav’s advanced with a 42-7 win over Walhalla last week and they will be at Woodruff this week. The 10-1 Wolverines are ranked 5 th by the HSSR this week and they advanced with a 49-7 win over West-Oak . Woodruff is led by a talented 1-2 punch junior pair on offense. QB Connor Davis (6-2, 210) has completed 147-of-242 passes for 1,904 yards and 23 TD’s coming into the game with Christ Church. Junior RB Amari Gibson has gained 1,284 yards on 159 carries and 19 TD’s. This makes Woodruff a very balanced team on offense between passing and running. While Class AAA might look like a BHP vs OC rematch anything can happen, and most teams are just one unfortunate injury away from a course correction so staying healthy is so important.

Christ Church head coach Quin Hatfield.

Dillon's Zay Robertson.

Athletic Director Molly Miller has outstanding coaches who believe in the core values of Christ Church and the vision statement for CCE.

Cav’s head coach Quinn Hatfield.

By Neill Kirkpatrick Special to the HSSR Greenville – Some may have expected a drop off for the states premier boys tennis program in 2025 , but the Christ Church Boys and new coach Reverend Wallace Adams-Riley showed that the more things change the more they stay the same as they made it to the AAA upper state championship match in their first year in the new classification. When asked what challenges the first-year coach faced he told the HSSR, “the biggest challenge was the rain.” “I had such ready, steady support from our Athletic Director, Molly Miller, and her Athletic Department team; from Jimmy Burford , my predecessor as coach; from my assistant coach, Rae Sobocinski, who is an experienced tennis coach and player (and the coach of our girls’ varsity tennis); and from the parents of our players, that I’m happy to say things went quite smoothly,” said coach. Coach continued, “Our boys played hard all season, right on up through our match against Clinton in the Upper State Championship game. We had several additions to the varsity team giving us 17 players throughout the season. The teams three captains were seniors Tucker Hendrix, Carson Bowers, and Hutch Lyman. They brought leadership and commitment to the team and they helped show the younger players on the team, the culture of Christ Church boys tennis. Bowers and Lyman were returning top seven players from 2024. This season Bowers played at number two seed while Lyman was the most improved player this year, playing at various times the number five singles and the number two doubles with Bowers. Hendrix returned to the court after a years absence and played at the number three seed. He will head to Clemson next season to play football as a preferred walk on. Krish Patel was a returning seeded player from 2024 and was slotted at the number four seed for the Cav’s this season. Joining Hendrix as newcomers to this years team was the Cav’s top seeded player in Judd Windham. The sophomore also started at forward on the Cav’s boys soccer team that also made the upper state finals. Paul Fraunberger and Omar Rida moved up from the JV team. Fraunberger played at the number five singles while Rida played at number seven. Ellis Trail and Powers McKissick will be back next season. They provided depth this past but will be looking to nab one of the seeds on next year’s team. “The one thing I have loved is the team’s spirit. There’s an enthusiasm that is contagious and I have appreciated their commitment, all of which has continued to develop over the course of the season. One particularly encouraging aspect of the team’s culture is the way they have welcomed in and encouraged the younger players,” said coach. “We had 17 players with us through the season, with another couple of players coming up from our JV team to join us for practices, so I am excited about the future of our team. Next year we aim to make it to the State Championship.” .

 By Neill Kirkpatrick Special to the HSSR Greenville – When you have won the third most boys’ soccer state championship in state history (14) at both the class A and class AA levels expectations are always high because the success has always been there but when you move up another level to AAA expectations may be tapered a bit. However, at Christ Church Episcopal the goals and expectations remain the same. “My expectations have not changed with the move up to AAA,” said CCE Head Coach Russell Shelley . “My first priority is to establish a positive culture, foster positive relations, and to focus on the player and his development. If we are successful in those pursuits the wins will take care of themselves.” Coach continued, “The transition to 3A has been pretty seamless, and I am happy with where we are as a team. I intentionally put together a difficult schedule. We scheduled several 5A schools, and I have been happy with our play against these schools.” The Cavaliers currently sit at 7-7 overall and 5-2 in region 2 AAA after dropping a tough one to region leading Powdersville (15-1/7-0). As coach pointed out, that schedule was difficult as every team they have lost to has a winning record and is competing for a region championship. “We are certainly competitive and want to win but testing ourselves against the best teams we can play is of the utmost importance,” coach Shelley. “We are playing a more attacking brand of soccer and as a result are creating better chances.” What also has been a plus for the Cavaliers is the return of their three senior captains Payne Hornish, Elliott Jeray , and Rodrigo Marques. They have played in back-to-back state championship games so their experience in big games has certainly helped their younger teammates. All three are playing at a high level on the pitch. Hornish and Marques are also returning All State selections at defense and midfield, respectively. While Jeray plays on the defensive side of field alongside Hornish. Mateo Gartner Lavina is a junior forward playing well and is one of the top offensive threats on the pitch for the Cavs. He has an outstanding sophomore season. Junior keeper William Ossman has been solid in net all season. He and the defense have not allowed more than three goals in any game this season despite playing some very good offensive teams. He has five shutouts on the season Sophomores Hudson Temple, Alex Aquino , and Sheamus Schellinger have also established themselves as solid starters. Temple and Schellinger are at midfield while Aquino plays forward. Temple also sees time on the defensive side of the pitch. Freshmen midfielder Sam Sutton is midfield has established himself as our starting 10. Rounding out the Cav’s roster are seniors Alex Montgomery, Garrett Long and William Mims, juniors Bernardo Pompeu, Alexander Schmoll-Nassar, Ludwig Marschner, Ian Tucker, and Julian Monsell and sophomores Judd Windham, and Holden Hughes and freshmen Phen Wunder and Griffin Boyd. The Cav’s have four games remaining in the season with three of them being region contests. Two of the three region games will be against rival St. Joseph’s Catholic School. The teams split their regular season matches last season but St. Joseph’s won the rubber match in the state finals. They will travel Palmetto (region contest) and AAAAA River Bluff. The Cavs can capture the second seed from region 2AAA if they can win their remaining region games. They will be a team to watch come playoff time as they know what it takes to make a deep run.