White Knoll boys hoops improving

Worthy Evans • January 9, 2025

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By WORTHY EVANS

Contributing Writer

Columbia - Winning basketball seasons have been hard to come by recently at White Knoll. This year both the boys and the girls teams are working on fixing that.

Neither team has had a winning season since 2019-2020, and the girls have gone 15-69 from November 2020 – February 2023.

This season, in the second year under head coach Willie Thomas, the young boys are 7-6 on the eve of Region 4-4A play. The girls team is 9-4.

In Thomas’ first year with the boys team, the Timberwolves had just three seniors while several underclassmen got a lot of playing time. White Knoll finished 12-15 and second in the region behind Lexington, which won the 5A state championship.

“We kind of got it turned around last year,” Thomas said. “We’re just working. We started with young kids last year, five, six freshman and four sophomores. I think we’re meshing and the focus now is to keep getting better.”

Thomas spoke after his team gave perennial favorite Blythewood a run for its money Dec. 3. The Bengals won 55-53 but the Timberwolves held the Bengals to just 8 points in the third quarter. Leading scorer T.J. Lewis (23 points) had just 3 points in the second half. Bryan Schofield, a 6-4 freshman forward, led White Knoll with 16 points and six rebounds, showing a keen awareness under the nets.

“Right now we don’t really understand what it is we’re trying to accomplish,” Thomas said. “I can tell them and show them, but it takes time for them to really understand it. Hopefully after Christmas I think we’ll be able to do a lot of things. We just want to have a chance. Like tonight, we had a chance, but the kids made some mistakes right there in the end. It was physical out there.”

As basketball wrapped up in December, it appears that the boys team is getting accustomed to each other on the floor.

Since dropping the close game at Blythewood, the Timberwolves fell again to the Bengals and lost to Westwood twice, but they also beat Gilbert twice, Lower Richland, and Fort Dorchester. They went 2-1 in the Orangeburg-Wilkinson Christmas Tournament, beating Lake Marion 69-42 Dec. 27, falling 58-51 to Bethune-Bowman Dec. 28, and topping North 78-61 Dec. 30.

In 13 games, Schofield is averaging 12.9 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. Sophomore Peyton Jennings leads the team with a 13.2 scoring average. Senior Ryhan Cepeda averages 10.9 points and 2.2 boards per game.

The Timberwolves opened 2025 action against Lower Richland Monday and open Region 4-5A play at River Bluff Friday.

The girls team is clearly bouncing back from a 6-22 effort in 2023-2024. The Timberwolves are 9-4 and have won six straight games going into Monday’s non-region game against Lower Richland.

Seniors Shaelyn Hayes and Emory Waters-Inman lead the way for the Timberwolves. Hayes is the scoring leader with 14.4 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. Waters-Inman averages 12.5 points and 7.9 boards.

In football, the Timberwolves finished the season 8-6, falling 29-25 to Irmo in the 5A Division 2 lower state championship game Dec. 6. Defensive back Devin Geronomi made the All-Classifications All-State team. Quarterback Landon Sharpe made the 5A All-State team.

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By David Shelton • July 30, 2025

By David Shelton Senior Writer Charleston – First Baptist School has new leadership within its football program and athletic department for the coming 2025-26 school year. Kevin Mapp was hired as the new head football coach in the early spring and Jay Godbolt was hired as the new athletic director at the start of the summer. Mapp has extensive coaching experience on both the college and high school levels while also working in law enforcement. First Baptist is his first head coaching position. Mapp last coached defensive linemen at James Island Charter High and has had coaching stints at James Madison, Hampden-Sydney, Georgetown, Marshall, Missouri State and Coastal Carolina. Mapp graduated from James Madison and was a defensive lineman on the 2004 Division I-AAA (now FCS) national championship team. “Coaching has always been my passion,” Mapp said. “Ever since I was playing, I wanted to be a coach. I have always found a way to coach while working in law enforcement. I’ve been fortunate to have had the opportunities to do both.” Mapp has been with the Charleston County police department for the last 10 years. He took some time away from coaching to start a family. “I felt like First Baptist was the perfect fit for me and my family,” Mapp says. “It’s a great opportunity at a great place. The kids here work hard and there is a lot of support from the administration. I’m excited to be the head football coach at First Baptist.” Mapp has hired coordinators on both sides of the ball. Will McCombs , once the head coach of the program, will call the offensive plays. Chris Hart comes over from James Island as the defensive coordinator. “Our numbers are improving and the kids are working hard,” Mapp said. “I feel like we can be a competitive team. It’s year one of the building process.” Godbolt has been a coach and athletic director in the Charleston area for nearly two decades. As the boys basketball coach at Charleston Collegiate, Godbolt coached three state championship teams. He also has been a coach and athletic director at Lowcountry Leadership Academy. Godbolt has more than 450 career victories as a head basketball coach. Current First Baptist basketball coach Antoine Saunders was Godbolt’s assistant at Charleston Collegiate.