Hawks Open Up With Pair Of Explosive Victories

By Rob Gantt

Special to the HSSR

HANAHAN - Hanahan High School's football team has cranked up its fourth season under coach Milan Turner after going 6-6 each of the past two campaigns with a pair of second-round playoff appearances.



What does 2026 hold for the Hawks? So far, so good. The Hawks are working toward perfect execution as the season goes along. Turner said effort matters most during the early part of the season, though.

"For me, I want to see a physicality and a toughness from our kids," Turner said. "I told them before we started. I said be violent between the whistles. We know they're going to make some mistakes and obviously we want to try to minimize those. We want to see things like running to the football, all the things that don't take talent. Those are the things I have to see. If I don't see those, we've got a lot of work to do. I feel like we saw that."

The Hawks opened the regular season with victories over Philip Simmons (34-33) and Kingstree (48-20), using a stop on a 2-point conversion late to edge the Iron Horses in a thriller at home. Against Kingstree, Hanahan's big-play offense clicked on all cylinders to pull away on the road.

Junior quarterback Tripp Gallus (6-5, 230) went for over 340 yards through the air and hurled three touchdown passes. Senior receiver Grayson Mathes and junior Quamell Grant were the primary targets again. Grant led the way during Week 0 and Mathes was the top pass-catcher in Week 1. Mathes racked up more than 200 yards receiving and scored on receptions of 41 and 75 yards versus Kingstree, while Grant hauled in more than 90 yards in grabs and reached paydirt on a 25-yard strike from Gallus.

Against Philip Simmons, Gallus heaved a 50-yard touchdown pass to Grant and finished with 137 yards. The Hawks mostly rode the hot hand of sophomore running back Nevaehus Gourdine in Week 0. Gourdine carried 22 times for 117 yards and found the end zone three times. Senior running backs Isaiah Snodgrass and Xavier Sabback, who combined for more than 1,400 yards and 17 touchdowns in 2025, chipped in 68 yards on 13 combined carries against the Iron Horses. Sabback reached paydirt on a short run to open the scoring.

"We feel good about that running back room," Turner said. "We feel like we’ve got four or five running backs who can do what we need them to do."

Gourdine and junior running back Tristen Green broke the plane twice against Kingstree. Senior Quinn Soler also receives some totes out of the backfield.

On the offensive front, junior Connor Schleizer leads a veteran group that includes junior Donovan Manigault, junior Elijah Mitchell, senior Brandyn Maduro and senior Noah Hill. Tight ends are senior Mason Bellamy, senior Julien Washington and sophomore Troy Davis.

The Hawks travel to Beaufort Sept. 4 and host Andrews Sept. 11 before heading out to county rival Timberland Sept. 18.