Shaun Welch and his staff have St. John’s Christian on the right path
By Neill Kirkpatrick
Special to the HSSR
Moncks Corner – Head coach Shaun Welch begins his second season as the head of the St. John’s Christian football program after a solid first season where the Cavaliers ended the season in the first round of the SCISA Class AA playoffs.
Before taking over the head job the Newberry College graduate had been an assistant coach for three years at SJCA. He began putting his stamp on the program last season and looks for year two to see more progress from his team.
“Last year was my first year as head coach and I was proud of the way the team responded and played throughout the year. We went 4-6 in regular season and 3-2 in region. Our region losses came from Pee Dee Academy, which on the state championship and Bethesda Academy, which was the state runner up. We also took our first lost a season from Pinewood Prep the 3a state champion,” said coach.
Coach continued, “My first goal when I first took over the program was to make sure that our team was disciplined, learn life lessons, give all our glory to the Lord, and get better every day, not just us football players, but as young men.”
On the field coach Welch and his staff put in a spread offense that relay’s heavily on RPO’s but stressing the run game. Defensively, the one thing the Cav’s struggle with his size along the defensive front so they play with three down linemen with the rest of the defensive made up of athletic players that can get the football.
Returning to coach Welch’s staff are Matthew Myers and Stephen Billiot. Myers handles the offensive and defensive lines and brings a wealth of experience to Cavaliers.
Billiot is in his third year at SJCA and is the team’s defensive coordinator and running back’s coach.
Ryan Jackson and Christopher Oliver will be in there first year at SJCA. Jackson will coach the wide receivers and the defensive backs while Oliver will handle the quarterbacks as well as help with the receivers and the defensive backs.
“We stress to our kids discipline conditioning and getting better every day. Each week we must get better as we make it to our region into our playoff run, of course the first few games matter, but we want to progress every week. We have a veteran group returning so we are expecting a good season but we have a lot of work to do before the season starts,” coach Welch said.
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