Will Furse new football head coach, athletic director at Williamsburg Academy

Kingstree – Will Furse is the new football head coach and athletic director at Williamsburg Academy after spending one season in similar positions at Lee Academy. When he was offered the job at Williamsburg, the decision to make the move came down to how long Furse’s commute to work would be.

           “It really boiled down to one thing,” Furse said. “Williamsburg (which is located in Kingstree) is closer to my home.”

           Furse lives in Manning, which is where he grew up and had been the head football coach and athletic director at Laurence Manning Academy the two seasons prior to going to Lee Academy. The drive to Bishopville, where Lee is located, is 41 miles and approximately 45 minutes from Manning. Kingstree is 17 miles closer and just a 20-minute drive.

           “It’s nothing against Lee Academy,” Furse said. “It’s a great place and everyone was very good to me. It’s just a closer drive for me,”

           Furse takes over for Tyler Boyd, who stepped down to become the football head coach at Lamar High School, his alma mater.

           Williamsburg has played for a state title in each of the past four seasons, the first two under Dop Shelley and the two most recent seasons under Boyd. The Stallions played for the SCISA AA state title the first three years, winning it in 2022. They played for the Class A crown in 2024, losing to Thomas Heyward Academy 23-8 in the state championship game to finish with a 10-2 record.

           Boyd was 22-3 in his two seasons as head coach.

           Furse will inherit all of the coaching staff including Ken Kellahan, who was Furse’s high school coach at Laurence Manning and Furse was also on his staff at LMA. The other coaches on the staff are John Floyd, Chase McFaddin, Britton Morris, Sam Plowden, Quinton Gaines and Michael Newell.

           “Having the coaching staff back is a big plus because the kids will be hearing a lot of the same voices,” Furse said. “We were able to have spring practice in May. I had an opportunity to see what we had and we have a good group of guys back. We were able to hit the ground running here at Williamsburg.

           “Defensively we got our base defense in, which is good. We were able to add a wrinkle here and there. It was a very productive spring.”

           Although all were key contributors, Furse inherits a team that only lost six seniors.

           One of the key performers who is back is rising senior quarterback Micah Balder. He was the Region 1-Class A Player of the Year, helping the Stallions win the region crown. Balder finished the year completing 64 of 119 passes for 1,072 yards and 14 touchdowns against just four interceptions. He also led the team in rushing with 822 yards and 10 touchdowns on 137 carries.

           Returning All-Region performers are junior Grant Small, junior Marlin Morris, junior Charlie Caulder, senior Connor Morris and junior Michael Ard.

Small, an inside linebacker and running back, had 27 tackles and two tackles for loss while running for 709 yards and eight TDs on 104 carries. Marlin Morris had 28 tackles and a tackle for loss while on the defensive line and was Balder’s backside protection at left tackle on the offensive line. Caulder had 41 tackles and 10 TFLs at inside linebacker and 13 catches for 252 yards and three touchdowns at tight end.

Connor Morris started at noseguard and had 36 tackles and six tackles for loss. Ard had 54 tackles and six TFLs at linebacker and had four catches for 83 yards and two TDs and two rushing TDs at H back.

           Junior Sammy Tomlinson, who started at center, will be back.

           Furse was 3-7-1 in his one season at Lee. The Cavaliers started the season with a 3-1-1 before losing their final six games, including a 55-12 loss to Thomas Heyward in the firsts round of the playoffs.

           That left Furse with a career record of 22-14-1. Furse, He led Laurence Manning to two AAAA state championship games in his two

seasons in charge of the program at his alma mater. Furse was 19-7 in his two seasons as head coach at LMA, with four of those losses coming to now 8-time defending state champion Hammond.

           Furse’s first game as Williamsburg head coach will come August 22 in a home game against Thomas Sumter Academy..

           WILLIAMSBURG BASEBALL FINISHES 19-5 IN BOYD’S FINAL SEASON

           While Boyd had only been the head coach of the football program for two years, he had been in charge of the baseball program for 10 years. It was one he had built into a consistent winner, leading the Stallions to a state championship in 2022.

           Williamsburg finished this year with a 19-5 record, going 2-2 in its 5-team bracket in the AAA state playoffs.

           “This was the most successful regular season we’ve had since I’ve been there,” Boyd said. “We just wish we had done a little bit better in the playoffs. There were a lot of solid teams in AAA this year, and we got a little cold at the plate, We lost a couple o close games that could have gone either way.”

           Williamsburg had four players selected to the All-Region III team in Layton Morris, senior Bryce Blackburn, Connor Morris and Charlie Caulder. Blackburn, Layton Morris an Connor Morris were selected to play in the SCISA North-South All-Star Game as well.