By Billy G. Baker Publisher Summerville —The Northwood Academy Chargers baseball team is rebuilding under second year head coach AJ Hickey who spent four years as an assistant coach at Goose Creek High before taking over the Chargers program in 2024. “We have made great strides in our “B” team, junior varsity, and varsity baseball programs over the past two seasons,” said Coach Hickey. “We only have two seniors and two juniors on the varsity this year and we are still developing a winning culture at the varsity level.” With only two non-region games remaining on the schedule, the Chargers are currently 6-15-1 and 3-8-1 in the region. “With realignment we have three regions comprised of 14 teams in SCISA 4-A baseball,” said Coach Hickey. “SCISA put an extra team in the three regions with realignment, but only 8 teams will make the play-offs. Unfortunately, I do not think we will make the play-offs and that was a strong goal of ours.”  Coach Hickey said the Chargers best game all season was a 0-0 tie game with First Baptist on March 28. The game had to be discontinued in the 8th inning because the field at First Baptist didn’t have lights. “That game was the best game we played all season and I doubt that we make it up but it was a region game,” said Coach Hickey. “Sophomore Eliajah Flatt (L-L) had 13 strike-outs in that game and he pitched lights out the whole game. I am telling you this kid is a prospect. He is left-handed and his fast ball is hard to hit.” Flatt, who won two games on the mound, has pitched 28.1 innings on the season with 50 strike-outs. The team’s number two pitcher is 8 th grade lefty Jhett Dungan who has thrown 37 innings with 26 strike-outs. “Dungan’s best pitch is probably his change-up,” said Coach Hickey. “Our number three pitcher is 8 th grader Wesley Boldin and he has improved a lot over the season,” said Coach Hickey. Bolden has pitched 21.2 innings with 23 strike-outs. The top hitter on the team is senior leadoff batter William Rose who is currently hitting .333 with 12 RBI’s including three triples. “Rose is a solid catcher behind the plate and he has a very strong throw to second,” said Coach Hickey. “He is a prospect for someone in my opinion.” The next Charger on the hit index is sophomore designated hitter Tyler Cumbee who is hitting .291 with 10 RBI’s to date. Cumbee also plays some in right field. The next leading hitter is junior left-fielder Jack Singleton at .282 with five RBI’s batting in the five-hole. The clean-up batter is freshman third baseman Travis Mercuri who has four RBI’s and one double so far. Senior Noah Oswald starts at short and he is batting .241 with 10 RBI’s including two doubles and a triple. “Oswald has the best set of hands I’ve ever coached,” said Coach Hickey. A leading candidate for the Most Improved Charger over the past two seasons is probably two-hole hitter Zach Welch who starts at second base. He is batting .274 with 12 RBI’s including four doubles and a triple. The team’s best offensive game of the season was a 9-4 win over Ambassador Christian , NC on March, 31. Dungan was the winning pitcher in that game tossing a three-hitter, giving up two earned runs with two K’s. In the win over AC Rose was 3-for3 with two RBI’s and a double. First baseman Nate Cross had two hits, scored two runs with one RBI. Flatt had a hit and one RBI and Singleton had a hit, scored a run and had one RBI. Mercuri had a hit and scored a run in the game and Cumbee had a hit and scored a run. Welch also had ahi tans cored a run in that big win. Some additional key reserves include freshman Mason Curti, freshman pitcher Rhett DeMars , freshman 1 st baseman Nate Cross , soph RHP Grady Livingston, and freshman OF Noah Wilder . The Chargers have been a good running team on the base paths with 38 stolen bases so far this season. Rose and Oswald are currently tied with 9 stolen bases each, and Welch is right behind with 8 stolen bases. Coach Hickey is assisted by Donovan Campbell and Kyle Gaynor .

Northwood Academy HC Ginnell Curtis with Alyvia Tocco, Rylan Dundon, and Maliyah Birch.

Porter Gaud's RB/CB, JJ Flood (6-1, 180) finding the gaps and gaining yards!

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Summerville —When former First Baptist head coach Johnny Waters took over the football program at Northwood Academy, at the start of the 2023 season, the Chargers program had hit rock bottom with 29 straight losses. Needless to say, Coach Waters had to develop some players and bring in some coaches along to help rebuild the team from the ground-up. Well, Coach Waters is known as a coach who works hard to develop players, and he has done a masterful charge with the Chargers (10-2) coming into a semi-finals SCISA AAAA match-up with Porter - Gaud (10-1) on the road this week. Last week Northwood defeated a rebuilding Laurence Manning team, 49-20 at home in a first-round play-off tune-up game before facing the Cyclones this week. “We got up early tonight and we jumped on them early and that was the game plan,” said Coach Waters. “ Kaven Ford ran really well tonight and it is a shame that Keshon Singleton broke his leg last week and he is out for the season. I called them thunder and lightning and they were a great one-two punch in our back field. Ford rushed for 140 carries on 20 carries against LMA and he scored five touchdowns in a dominating performance. Ty Washington had three catches for 26 yards and WR Ayden Hogan caught four passes for 50 yards and one touchdown. Senior quarterback Austin Grady (6-3, 190) passed for 105 yards and one touchdown during the game also. Earlier this season P-G beat the Chargers and their will be a lot on the line this week on the road. “Porter-Guad is a great football team but in all honesty, we felt like we gave that game away with our mistakes,” said Coach Waters. “We might make a couple adjustments this week but we just need to cut out the penalties and mental mistakes. If we do that, we can be hard to beat.” Coach Waters is very high on DE Will Watts who has 82 tackles and 12 Sacks on the season. Gabe Roper is a DT with 80 tackles and seven sacks, along with MLB Cody Mccleary who has a team leading 116 tackles. Right behind him with 101 tackles is senior LB Riley Vicars . Junior Edward White plays at a DT slot and he has 61 tackles on the season. Junior FS M.J. Davis is a prospect and he has 67 tackles from his FS position. Junior Quincey Lingard has 57 tackles from his OLB slot. Junior DT Edward White has contributed 51 tackles. On the season Ford now has 962 yards on 127 carries and 12 TD;s. Singleton finished the season with 931 net yards on 129 carries and 15 touchdowns. Grady has a strong year passing the ball completing 114-of-168 for 1,580 yards and 11 TD’s. This week’s game with P-G could be that signature win that Coach waters and his hard-working staff of coaches have been working towards this season. A win Friday night and the Chargers will be playing for the SCISA AAAA state championship.  (Just two seasons after losing 29 games in a row).

Northwood Academy players at The HSSR Media Day in July.