Porter-Gaud Wins Girls Soccer Title

By David Shelton Senior Writer Lake City – Having led five teams to a state championship during his tenure as the softball coach at Carolina Academy , Scotty Phillips knows a good team when he sees one. Phillips felt early on in the 2025 season that his team had a chance to win big this spring. The Lady Bobcats did just that.  Carolina Academy swept Dorchester Academy in two games to earn their sixth state title under Phillips. The Lady Bobcats finished with a 23-8 record, winning their last five games. “We had some bumps along the way and nothing was easy before spring break,” Phillips said. “We lost a game to Cheraw and it was really bad. I kind of went off on them after that game. I was trying to shake them up, make them understand that we were not where we needed to be. If we wanted to win a state title, we had to turn it around.” The rant, that Phillips said brought tears to the players eyes, as well as some parents, worked like a charm. Carolina Academy won game one of the championship series with Dorchester in dramatic fashion. The Lady Bobcats scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh to win the game, 8-6, on a walk-off double by freshman Paisley Coker . This came after eighth-grader Natalie Braveboy tied the game with a homerun. Coker, pitcher Raylee Frye and freshman Ella Ham all had two RBIs in the win. “We don’t win game two had we lost game one,” Phillips said. “I felt like the loss the way it happened sort of took the life out of Dorchester. Had we lost, I think that would have been us.” Carolina won game two, 5-2, and was in control from the start. Braveboy had two hits and Savannah McCutcheon had two RBIs. “This was a fun team to coach,” the coach said. “They’re a competitive group, love the game. I had a good time with these girls.” Junior catcher Carly Ann Smith finished as the team’s leading hitter with a .481 batting average. Smith had 37 hits and 23 RBIs but was most effective behind dish. “She’s the best catcher I’ve ever had,” Phillips said. “She’s a gamer.” Frye, a junior, was the team’s top pitcher, posting a 2.25 earned run average. She also batted .452 with 38 hits and 37 RBIs, belting eight homeruns. Ham batted .364 with 27 RBIs and Coker hit .303 with 13 RBIs. Phillips did not have any seniors on the roster this spring and Carolina will be a strong favorite to repeat next year. While Phillips admits to be nearing the end of his career, he fully plans to return next season. “Hard to leave this group,” he said. “I don’t look too far ahead. Maybe we can win another but I ain’t taking anything for granted. We will work just as hard next year.” The Carolina Academy golf team nearly won a state championship, finishing as the runner-up in the AA state tournament. Blanding Franks was low scorer for the Bobcats, shooting 149 over 36 holes. Thomas McDaniel shot 165 and Cam Porter shot 174. Rounding out the scoring was Drake Morris with a 182.

By Billy Baker Publisher Ehrhardt— Following the state championship run by the Andrew Jackson Academy baseball team head coach Jason Mathys shared some of his thoughts about the team’s vast improvement this season with The High Schol Sports Report. “The MVP of the team was our senior leader Jack Walling,” said Coach Mathys. “He threw strikes on the mound and his base running speed were factors for him getting better, plus he was out top hitter.” “Our two 8 th graders made huge contributions to the team ( Channing Terry was our top pitcher in region and Kaiden Kinard was one of our top offensive players) We are losing four starters but five are returning Once we got in the play-off, we showed a lot of guts and kept fighting and coming from behind and I am very proud of the entire team,” said Coach Mathys. Walling hit .471 with 32 RBI’s including 15 doubles and two home runs. Hayden McClung hit /436 with 17 RBI’s and Kinard was at .424 with 23 RBI’s. In the pitching department Terry had 49 K’s in 47.2 inning pitched with an ERA of 2.64. Walling had 38 K’s in 31 innings of work. Landon Johnson pitched 24.1 innings with 47 K’s. Here are some key moments for AJA in their narrow 6-5 loss to Lee Academy in game one of the SCISA AA baseball finals. In the bottom of the 4 th , AJA pushed across a run. Johnson reached on a hit-by-pitch and scored two batters later on an RBI single by Eli Mathys to make it 5-1. In the top of the 5 th Lee Academy added a very important insurance run that ended up being the difference in the game. Rodgers reached on a hit-by-pitch, stole second, and scored on a throwing error to make it 6-1. In the bottom of the 5 th AJA plated two runs to trail 6-3. Kaiden Kinard struck-out, but the catcher dropped the ball and he was able to reach first safely ahead of the throw. Kinard then stole second and scored on Jack Walling’s single. Walling stole second and third and scored on a fielder’s choice RBI by Channing Terry to cut the deficit to 6-3. In the bottom of the 6 th inning, it was a picture of good and bad for the Warriors. Brad Hightower and Mathys led off with back-to-back singles, and then Hall Sease drew a walk to load the bases with no-outs. Hayden McClung singled in Hightower to make it 6-4 and then Kinard then drew a bases loaded RBI walk to bring in Mathy’s and a heads up play by Sease made it 6-5 when he ran in right behind Mathy’s on a throwing error.

Gray Collegiate's rising junior, Aspen Boulware on the diamond at short stop.

By David Shelton Senior Writer Johnsonville – Playing in perhaps the toughest Class A region in the state, the Johnsonville High baseball team ended up having a solid 2025 season. Region 6-A included three other teams that were ranked among the top 10 in Class A at some point in the season. The Flashes also earned top 10 status, giving the region four top 10 teams. Region member Lake View won the Class A Lower State title, beating region foe Latta. Johnsonville and Hannah-Pamplico of region six were among the final four teams in the Lower State bracket. Johnsonville was eliminated by Latta by a 9-8 final score. Second-year head coach Carson Carroll , while disappointed with coming up short of the goal of winning a state title, could praise his team for their efforts this spring. “I am very proud of them and with the effort they gave me this year,” Carroll said. “Obviously, we wanted to be playing in that final series but that just didn’t happen for us this year. We had a very good season though.” The Flashes finished the season with a 13-8 record, posting an 8-5 record in region play. The key to success was the offensive balance and production within the lineup. Leading the way was senior Landyn Cribb , who earned Class A all-state honors. Cribb finished the season with a .530 batting average and drove in 13 runs. Three others hit over .400 for the season. Jackson Eaddy hit .431 with 21 RBIs while Gavin Marlowe hit .404 with 15 RBIs. Larkin Powell finished at .403 with 13 runs driven in. The softball team also made the state playoffs and finished with a 10-11 overall record. Coach Walter Clark had a relatively young roster this spring and looks to be even stronger next season. “We have a good group returning so the future looks bright.” One key senior who will be missed is catcher Blair Coker, who earned all-state honors for the third straight season. Coker batted .462 with 18 runs batted in this season. Sophomore Peyton Wall , the third baseman, ended up hitting .439, while sophomore first baseman Mallory Prosser and eighth-grade shortstop Claire Cook each hit over .320. Junior pitcher Natalee Taylor batted .291 with 15 RBIs and provided solid work inside the circle. The only other senior on the roster was outfielder Sadie Stone . Junior Allison Eaddy played second base while juniors Brianna Lawrimore , Charley Tippett and CJ Smith worked in the outfield as well. Like in baseball, region six was a juggernaut in softball. Latta won the Class A state championship while Lake View and Hannah-Pamplico had deep runs in the playoffs. Several members of the track and field program earned their way to the Class A state meet through region and Lower State qualifying. Six girls and three boys got an opportunity to compete against the best in Class A. Malyric Singletary 13 th in the javelin and 11 th in the shot put. Teammate Michelya Doctor finished second in the javelin and Zykeria Skinner finished fourth in the high jump. Abigail Lambert finished fifth in the 400 meter hurdles and Arkeria Cunningham finished sixth in the 400 hurdles. Harmony Gregg was eighth in the 200 meter dash ad 11 th in the 100 meter dash. Jamere Ross was the top performer on the boys team. Ross earned silver in the long jump, was fourth in the 200 meter sprint and fifth in the 100. Skylar Montgomery finished ninth in the triple jump and Ben Eaddy finished 14 th in the 3200 meter run.

By David Shelton Senior Writer Myrtle Beach – For the third time in the last four years, the Myrtle Beach boys tennis program is a state champion. The Seahawks capped another outstanding season with a 4-2 win over Riverside in the 2025 AAAAA Division II state finals in Columbia. Myrtle Beach is an eyelash from having four consecutive titles but lost to Riverside in 2023. And, the chances of winning another title next spring are pretty solid as most of this year’s team is expected back next year. This year’s No. 1 singles player was junior Spenser Green . The lone senior in the lineup, Ashiv Patel , played No. 2 singles. Brothers Foster Cahill and Caleb Cahill played No. 3 and No. 4 singles while seventh-grader Wyatt Anderson played No. 5. Freshman Kenneth Gunter and seventh-grader Gage Van Wagner formed the No. 2 doubles team and earned a win in the finals. The performance of the boys tennis team was the highlight of the 2025 spring sports season. The boys soccer team finished third in the region and posted an 11-13 record overall. The season ended with a 1-0 first-round playoff loss to Chapin. Senior Juan Rivera led the team in scoring with 14 goals and four assists. Senior River Shumacher tallied five goals and added five assists. Sophomores Yarin Bouskila scored four goals with four assists while sophomore Raul Lopez also scored four goals and had three assists. The girls soccer team posted a 4-14 record. Senior Tia Boatwright finished as the leading scorer with eight goals and four assists. Senior Karley McGonigal added seven goals and three assists while freshman Cameron Bary scored five goals and led the team with six assists. Senior Hannah Weidner scored five goals but spent most of her time in goal. The baseball team finished with an 8-18 overall record and the softball team finished with a 5-17 record. Lilly Langway led the team in hitting with a .414 batting average and had 12 RBIs. Shianne Needle batted .393 with 14 RBIs and Madison Ashmore hit .348 with 11 RBIs.

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Columbia —In this Modern Turf recruiting article we will focus on Gray Collegiate rising junior softball player Aspen Boulware , her highly regarded rising senior football playing brother Michael Boulware , Jr., and Southside Christian junior left-handed pitcher Carson Boleman who struck-out 19 batters in his team’s state championship win over Oceanside Collegiate . As always, we would like to extend our appreciation to Mark Grainger and the fine folks at Modern Turf, in Irmo and Rembert, for sponsoring our monthly recruiting feature page. Having covered two recent Gray Collegiate softball games, this writer of 52 years, truly feels like rising junior Aspen Boulware, who plays shortstop for the War Eagles, was the best softball player in the state of South Carolina this past season, from any grade level. In all honesty, I think she may have been the top prep sophomore player in the United States, and that covers a whole lot of ground. This past season Boulware led the state of South Carolina in home runs (22), RBI’s (44), and runs scored (67). She hit .573 and was easily chosen the AAAA Player of the Year by the South Carolina Softball Coaches Association . She was the Region Player of the Year also.  And if we can all keep this a secret, due to the fact the HSSR, will not officially release our Spring Sports all-state teams until Monday, June, 16, Boulware was the top vote getter on all-state ballots returned from head softball coaches all around the state for 2025 Miss Softball honors. She will indeed be named Miss Softball in the state of South Carolina when the lists of honorees are made public by the HSSR at hssr.com in mid-June. After watching her play “live” on May, 6 in an early round play-off 15-0 win over Bluffton, it was time to meet this truly gifted athlete, and have her share some of her hopes and dreams she has as a softball player. “Absolutely, my number one goal right now is to help my team win a state title,” said Boulware after the Bluffton win. “My role is to help carry the team offensively and defensively. We are not a one- person team. It takes all of us playing together to have success. “I love being a part of this team, and we are all focused on competing hard, and hopefully winning a state title,” she said. “I have been playing softball competitively since I was 8 years old, and softball is the only varsity sport I play. I take a lot of pride in trying to lift up, and support my teammates. “One of my strong goals is to be on the USA softball team in the 2028 Olympics,” said Boulware. “That would be a dream come true if I could accomplish that goal.” Boulware has already played on the USA National 16-U softball team, and she has been promoted to the 18-U USA National team this summer, and this group of the best-of-best will play against other top teams for a three- week period over the summer. Less than 24 hours after helping her team defeat York 5-2, to capture the state title, with a towering home run over the right field fence in the first inning, Boulware has joined her elite travel team known as the Thunder Bolts based in Alabama. In that game she blasted another home run! By the way, after her first inning bomb against York she was walked the next two times she came to bat. In fact, Boulware was walked 35 times during her sophomore season, making her stats even more impressive. How many more home runs and RBI’s might she have had if teams were willing to pitch to her? Doug Frye is the highly regarded head softball coach at Gray Collegiate . He is an old school coach who rarely gets carried away talking about any one player he coaches. He breaks his own rule when talking about Aspen Boulware. “Her work ethic is what blows me away,” said Coach Frye. “Who gets in a car with her mother (former Florida State Softball Hall of Fame member Jessica van der Linden , who was named the National Softball Player of the Year in 2004), and drives 250 miles to Alabama to play with her travel team the next day? “Last year, the day after we won the AA state title, she and mother went to a local rec field and Boulware asked her mother to hit her 500 ground balls as hard as she could,” said Coach Frye. “I can say with confidence that she is the best high school softball player in South Carolina. With everything she brings to the table I do not think any other player can match her all around play. “She could easily play center field for us, and she can throw a softball 64 miles per hour, but she would rather play shortstop,” said Coach Frye. “You might say there is a little competition between she and her mother. Aspen studies pitchers like no player I’ve been around. She takes pride in knowing when the change-up is coming for example. “Well, one day her mother is pitching to her during one of their many practice routines, and Aspen tells her Mom (who won 67 games in the circle at FSU) that she could hit a home run against her best pitching,” said Coach Frye. “Well, the competition between the two began and after 30 pitches, or so, the Mom was winning the challenge. “Aspen figured out that her Mom’s next pitch would be a change-up and she guessed right,” said Coach Frye. “She blasted the ball over the fence, and deep into the woods, and I don’t even think they even went to look for the ball, as that was the end of that batting practice.” In conclusion, Coach Frye says Aspen is the fastest player he has ever coached. “Teams that walk her have to deal with the fact she will be on third base before they know it,” said Coach Frye. “As a shortstop she can get to balls hit deep into the hole, that few other shortstops can get to. She can make a very challenging play look routine and she throws many batters out by two steps from deep short.” The HSSR considers the top junior baseball prospect in South Carolina to be Carson Boleman a 6-3 LHP pitcher from Southside Christian who recently stuck-out 19 batters against Oceanside Collegiate to lead the Sabre’s to the AAA state title. Boleman is a commitment to Wake Forest but the Deacons could be competing with major league baseball for his services after he graduates next year. Southside Christian is head coached by Scott Freeman , and he was just appointed the athletic director for the Sabres as well. Coach Freeman has won five baseball state titles and he finished the 2025 with 307-110-1 career record. He has help develop numerous major college prospects, particularly when he heads coached Mauldin baseball for six years, earlier in his career. When asked if he had ever coached anyone better than Boleman, Freeman had a quick response, “No, I have not and I doubt that I ever will.” In the first inning of the state finals second game with Oceanside Collegiate, Coach Freeman said Boleman’s fastball was clocked at 95 mph. “Carson just doesn’t over power you on the mound because he has command of several pitches and he is very effective with his off-speed pitches as well. “He throws a slider, curve ball, and change-up and he is just a student of the game,” said Coach Freeman. “He began pitching for our varsity in the 8 th grade when he pitched game one against Johnsonville in the state championship series. He had elbow surgery his 9 th grade year and he returned to hit some late in the season, but he did not pitch at all his freshman year. “He came on strong his sophomore year on the mound and has been even better as a junior,” said Coach Freeman. “Coaches love it when their top player is also the hardest worker on the team. Carson never lets anything go to his head. The day after he had 19 strike-outs in the championship game he was back in the gym the next day working out.” As a junior, Boleman finished 12-0 on the mound. He had an unreal 135 strike-outs in 55 innings of work. He had an ERA of 0.00. Teams batted .039 against him. These are some impressive stats for any baseball pitcher. Boleman is a first baseman when he is not on the mound. He hit .352 with seven home runs and 38 RBI’s this season. He is under serious consideration for the Gatorade SC Player of the Year according to Coach Freeman. “I knew Carson was going to be a special player when I first heard about him in like the fourth grade,” said Coach Freeman. “You will never meet a more humble kid. He does not let success go to his head. He is a great team mate. In the class room he carries like a 4.65 GPA. “I would use adjectives like focused and confident when he is on the mound,” said Coach Freeman. ”He is smart on the mound and he is always thinking ahead of the batters he is facing. He is a kid that was born to play baseball at a very high level. If he does not get early round consideration for the major league draft, after next season, there should not even be a draft. He is everything you are looking for in a pitcher and he has been a pleasure to coach.” Boleman plays on a well-respected National Showcase travel team known as the Canes and his coach says he will be active with the canes this summer where he is surely to get scouted by numerous major league teams. “Honestly, Carson is really committed to Wake Forest and he loves the coaching staff in place in Winston Salem,” said Coach Freeman. “His family has ties to the Winston Salem area also. “”Carson has had interest from many major colleges like Clemon and South Carolina,” said Coach Freeman. “He has been to a lot of prospect camps over the past two summers but he fell in love with Wake Forest and the baseball staff and it would be hard for any college to get him away from Wake Forest right now.” When you watch film of Gray Collegiate 2026 linebacker Michael Boulware (6-2, 220), or watch him play on Friday night, it’s like a flash-back to the days his father ( Michael , Sr .) and uncle ( Peter ) played at Spring Valley, back in the 1990’s. Peter and Michael, Sr. went on to play at Florida State and both brothers went on to play in the NFL after college. The younger Boulware had 155 tackles, 8 TFL, two sacks, 11 hurries, and four interceptions as a sophomore when he helped lead Gray Collegiate to the AA state title. He followed up those outstanding accomplishments with 103 tackles, five sacks, 9.5 TFL, two interceptions, three forced fumbles and two blocked kicks as a junior. Unfortunately, his team was put out of the play-offs by the SCHSL for using an ineligible player so he only played in 10 games as a junior. The question this writer has is likely the same questions the Boulware family has, now that the off-campus Spring evaluation period has come and gone. Despite his hard-work as a sophomore and junior, Boulware is yet to receive a major college football offer. He was even left off the 247 2026 in-state watch list for South Carolina. This writer had an in-depth conversation with Boulware’s high school coach DeAngelo Bryant and he is little disappointed also. After graduation from Silver Bluff Coach Bryant went on to enjoy a college career at Wake Forest . In fact, he played against Michael’s father in college. “Back in February I watched Michael play in a junior all-star showcase game at Airport High School with most of the top rising seniors involved in the game,” said Coach Bryant. “Michael had 12 tackles and he was the best linebacker in the game, on either team, hands down. “A couple months later he attends a Coaches Combine at Woodland High and he runs a 4.25 shuttle that measures how well at athlete runs from side-to-side and in all directions,” said Bryant. “When you run a shuttle that fast, carrying 218 pounds of weight, that is really separating you from the pack. No one at that event came close to that shuttle time.” Boulware runs a 4.65 laser times forty. He dead lifts 500 pounds with a 425 squat. He powers cleans 290 with a vertical of 32 inches. He has a 295- pound bench press. Having reported on top football players in South Carolina for nearly 40 years I companion with the Boulware family in asking this question. What else does Michale Boulware need to do on a football field to merit an offer from a major college football program? During the May evaluation period Coach Bryant said 32 different colleges came by to see him and he said several came by only to talk to him about Boulware. “I got the impression that while a lot of major colleges said they like the sheer athleticism of Michael, they have yet to elevate liking him, to loving him” said Coach Bryant. “There is no doubt in my mind that he is a power five football player. On a football field he has a high motor that all coaches love. “I think what has been lost by major college coaches is the fact that no one is going to out-work Michael Boulware, and I mean no one when I say this,” said Coach Bryant. “Trust me, this will be verified by the college that is fortunate to sign in.” At the present time Boulware has serious interest from Wake Forest , Virginia Tech , and Coastal Carolina . South Carolina has told him that he is on their radar and to date Clemson has not shown little interest but he did camp with the Tigers recently. He will be attending numerous one day prospect camps over the summer. The HSSR currently ranks Boulware as the 15 th over-all 2026 prospect in South Carolina. He is expected to have a monster senior season at Gray Collegiate and we wish him well. With football scholarships increasing from a total of 105, compared to the old allotment of 85 one would hope there is an opportunity for a truly talented player like Boulware to land a spot in a power five program. So, in this Modern Turf recruiting feature we have talked in-depth about top sophomore softball prospect Aspen Boulware of Gray Collegiate, rising senior football prospect Michael Boulware also of gray Collegiate, and Carson Boleman , one of the nation’s top junior pitchers this past season. The state of South Carolina continues to be a hotbed for next level prep talent as exemplified by these three outstanding athletes.

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Spartanburg — Spartanburg Day varsity tennis coach Bob Allsbrook is returning a text from this writer while 30,000 feet in the air, on a flight to Barbados, where he has come to spend two weeks to work as a tennis instructor to guests at the resort island where he will also be staying. A month earlier, Coach Allsbroook was coaching the Spartanburg Day Boy’s tennis team to their second straight championship win over traditional power Hilton Head Prep at the Cayce Tennis Center in Columbia. The hard-fought matches lasted for nearly five hours and the Griffins finally won 5-4 with a win in number two doubles at the very end of the 9 match event. “Last year with SCISA realignment we were never in the same classification with Hilton Head Prep so we never played each other,” said Coach Allsbrook, who has been involved in the sport of tennis for most of his life, even playing on the pro tour for a while. “Our players got upset last season when witnessed one of the Hilton Head parents showing off some cupcakes she had made that was already congratulating them for winning the state championship, and that gave the team extra juice, and we won like five of the six singles matches. “So, we knew they would come loaded for bear this season, and they did for sure,” said Coach Allsbrook. “We spilt the six singles matches 3-3 and we had split two of the doubles matches so it was 4-4 with our number two doubles team left on the court in the last match.” During a break in the final match of the day, Coach Allsbrook went over to give a pep talk to Nathan Harris who was teamed with number one singles player Charlie Forgerty in the last doubles match of the competition. “I went over to Nathan and told him, You got this!” A short while later Harris hit a return volley shot for the game winner helping lift the Griffins to a 5-4 win, their second straight SCISA AAA win over Hilton Head Prep that had not lost a state title match in quite a while, prior to last year. The six-man singles team consisted of sophomore Charlie Fogerty at one single. He won his state title match 6-2, 6-2. Bradley Johnson Jr won at two singles 6-3 and 6-2. Price Nelson won at three singles 7-5 and 6-4. Hilton Head Prep won the next three matches over number four senior Lane Greer , number fiver Harris and number six Griffins performer Bennett Johnson, an 8 th grader , who lost in close competitive matches. John and Nelson played number one doubles while Johnson and Greer played number three doubles. Those matches went 1-1 so the two doubles team of Forgerty and Harris decided the match. “Winning this year was even sweeter because we didn’t sneak up on them this year,” said Coach Allsbrook. “They brought a lot more fans with them this year also. We are losing two seniors to graduation but we have several up-and-coming players as good as the one’s we are losing. These two up and coming players are freshman Henry Gosnell and 7 th grader Parker Wilson .” Coach Allsbrook said that none of the six players who competed in the state finals had lost a match this season. Since 1987 Coach Allsbrook has won 20 state titles high school tennis, 13 of them have been with teams from Spartanburg Day. “I guess we will meet Hilton Head Prep in the state finals once again next season and we know that both teams will bring their A game for sure,” he said. “I tell my players all the time that you can’t go undefeated if you don’t win the match, you are currently competing in.”

 By Neill Kirkpatrick Special to the HSSR Moncks Corner – St. John’s Christian Academy fell a little short of their goal to get into the SCISA AAA baseball championship series, as they fell in the state semi’s to state runner up Orangeburg Prep (4-1) in what was the rubber game for the teams this season. The loss dropped their record to 12-9. They finished second in region 4 AAA at 4-2 with their only losses coming to AAA state championship Hilton Head Prep. The Cavaliers had to come thru the losers bracket in the state tournament as they dropped their first game to Pee Dee Academy 4-0 before beating Spartanburg Christian (6-1) and Patrick Henry (3-2) to set up another game with Pee Dee Academy . Senior Mason Ritter, who pitched well in losing to Pee Dee in game one, pitched a four hitter and didn’t allow a run to cross the plate as SJCA won the game 1-0 setting the game with OP. On the season he went 4-5 with a 2.31 ERA. He struck out 50 hitters in 42.1 innings. Senior Sumpter Moorer was named to the SCISA all-state team after leading the Cav’s in batting at .388, in hits with 26, runs scored with 17, doubles with four, triples with three and one round tripper. He was second in RBI’s with 11. On the bump, he appeared in nine games and had a 0.91 ERA to lead the team. Tyler Black was solid all year on the bump, leading the team with five wins. His era was 1.91 and he had team high 60 strike outs. Senior Lucas Morrison led the team in stolen bases with 9 while senior Landon Chipman was second on the team in hitting with a .297 average. Jacob Glover has been outstanding behind the plate this season. The junior had two errors in a 156 chances for a .987 fielding percentage. He did a great job of handling the pitching staff all year. “We had a veteran group with seven seniors that have played a lot of baseball together and they knew what it would take to make a playoff run. They have set a standard for future teams, ” said head coach Stewart Pierce . “

 By David Shelton Senior Writer Ridgeland – As one of the youngest athletic directors in the state, Logan Thomas takes over as the leader of the Thomas Heyward Academy athletic department this fall. In fact, Thomas may in fact be the youngest in his position in the Palmetto State. Thomas is a 2018 graduate of Thomas Heyward and participated in several sports while a student/athlete. He matriculated to Wofford College and returned to his alma mater as a teacher and coach a few years ago. Thomas rejuvenated the boys golf program while assisting in the football program. Taking on a much bigger role can be a daunting task but Thomas says his familiarity with the school and the athletic program is making his transition a lot easier. “I definitely think having been here basically all of my life helps in terms of knowing our culture and commitment,” Thomas said. “I’m not here to make drastic changes because there is no need for that. My goal is to build upon the legacy and culture that some good people established before they left.” Thomas is replacing Al Boni , who was a long-time coach at Thomas Heyward and the athletic director for the last four years. Another area that Thomas has been prevalent in prior to his new position is the social media aspect, making sure the positive word about the happenings at the school are publicized. “We work to make sure people know what we are about and that main thing is to help our kids get the best experience as students and as athletes,” he said. “Of course we want to continue to provide our kids the resources to excel and hopefully earn an opportunity for college.” Thomas Heyward also will have a new head football coach this fall. Daniel Bryan , a 2002 graduate of the school, will move from his role as an assistant to direct the program. He will be the fourth head coach in four years. Bryan was a starting offensive tackle at Thomas Heyward and was the first tackle ever named SCISA player of the year for the 2001 season. He played collegiately at Mars Hill. “We are very excited to have coach Bryan as our head football coach,” Thomas said. “He also knows our culture and our community and he knows our players. Coach Bryan will continue our winning tradition.” Thomas Heyward is the defending state champion for Class A of SCISA.