Jefferson Davis Academy holds steady with coaching staff

Blackville – Anthony Reitenour is preparing for his fourth season as the athletic director at Jefferson Davis Academyi. This will be the first season in which he will have no new varsity head coaches or new assistant coaches for football, of which he is the head coach.

That suits Reitenour quite well.

“I feel like we all have a great relationship with each other,” said Reitenour, who will be entering his fourth season as the football head coach as well as the boys basketball head coach. “I feel like we do a good job working together, trying to get the kids to different practices and workouts. We have a strong group of coaches, with different personalities across the board. It takes hard work. We have same the principals and foundations in what we teach the kids.”

Returning to Jefferson Davis’ football staff are defensive coordinator Matt Lightsey, Johnny Calloway and Mitchell Webster. Reitenour will be calling the plays on offense.

Having that continuity will be a big plus, according to Reitenour.

“It always helps having a good group of coaches,” Reitenour said. “Lightsey (who was Reitenour’s predecessor as head coach), me and him meshed from Day 1. Calloway, I knew him from his coaching at Holy Hill and Dorchester, plus it is fun coaching with an old high school teammate.

“Mitchell Webster, he's young and learning from us. He’s improving every year. He’s still young, but he’s getting better at it. We all have things that we’re better at, but I feel like we complement each other really well.”

The Raiders have been ultra successful in Reitenor’s tenure, gong 31-9. They were 8-5 in his first season before going 12-2 and winning the 8-man state championship in 2023. Jefferson Davis was 11-2 last year, losing in the semifinals of the state playoffs.

The Raiders lost nine seniors from last year’s team, and the high school classes do not have a lot of boys in them. That has an obvious effect on numbers for football, with Reitenour saying he’s had 17 players for varsity and 11 for junior varsity for summer workouts.

That being said, Reitenour is happy with how the summer has gone.

“Things are not going bad,” he said. “We’re showing a lot of progress. We’re having to go back to the drawing board and work a little bit harder, but we’ve had to do that before. We’ve still got some unknowns, some things we need to work out, but these kids know how to win.”

Jefferson Davis will be breaking in a brand new offensive backfield, and whoever it is will have some mighty big shoes to fill. Gone are Colson Loadholt, Nasir Void and James Grubbs.

Grubbs rushed for 1,120 yards and 11 touchdowns, Void had 1,079 yards and 15 touchdowns, and Loadholt had 769 yards and 15 touchdowns as the quarterback. That’s 2,968 yards and 41 touchdowns.

The Raiders will open their season with a Week Zero game on August 15 against Providence Athletic Club in Columbia.

Reitenour led the boys basketball team to a 12-9 record and a share of the Region 2-Class A regular-season title with eventual state runner-up Curtis Baptist.

Veteran Jefferson Davis coach Bart Owens will return as the head coach for both volleyball and softball.

Owens led the volleyball team to a 15-4 record and its second straight region championship. That happened to be the second region title in program history as well.

The softball team won the 2024 Class A state championship under his tutelage.

Reitenour has the utmost respect for Owens.

Bart’s Bart,” Reitenour said. “You're really not a part of SCISA if you don’t know who he is. He’s so passionate, and he loves the kids. Where a lot of coaches seem to hit a wall at a certain point, that’s not him. Bart seems to improve every year. He does so many things at JDA beyond coaching.”

Mannie Wright will return for his third season as the baseball head coach. After guiding Jefferson Davis to an 11-11 record in his first season, Wright helped it post a 13-9 record this past season. The Raiders reached the semifinals of the Class A state playoffs. The Raiders swept Wardlaw Academy in the best-of-3 quarterfinal series before being swept by then defending state champion Richard Winn Academy in the semifinals.

“Mannie's great,” said Reitenour, who hired Wright as the athletic director. “He loves the kids. He creates a relationship with the kids even though he can be hard on them at times. He knows the game well, teaches the game well. This will be his third season, and I've seen progress every year. I’m happy to have him back again.”

Larry Johnson will be the girls head coach for the second straight year. He’s had other tenures as head coach, but his time at JDA has been interrupted by his military commitment.

“It's been a flip-flop thing with him and Shawn (Howze), so we’re happy to have him for a second consecutive season,” Reitenour said. “The girls had a pretty decent year last year, and he has a pretty good group coming back. I know he’s excited for next year, taking it a little further. He’s consistent and does a good job.”

Jefferson Davis finished the season with a 7-12 record, losing to Holly Hill Academy 40-27 in the quarterfinals of the state tournament. They will return two All-Region performers in rising sophomores Rileigh York and Riley Williams.