Williamsburg ready for another title in fifth straight championship game appearance
Stallions to face Colleton Prep for Class A title
Kingstree – They’re baaack!
“They” would be the Williamsburg Academy Stallions in a SCISA state championship football game. WA will be taking on Colleton Prep Academy for the Class A title on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at South Carolina State’s Oliver C. Dawson Stadium in Orangeburg. It marks the fifth consecutive year Williamsburg has played for a state championship.
However, only once in the previous four seasons did the Stallions bring home the championship trophy, that coming in the 2022 AA title game. So, excuse head coach Will Furse and his team if they’re not overly excited.
“It’s always good to reach your goal, but we haven’t quite reached ours yet,” said Furse, who has led WA to a 10-1 record in his first season in Kingstree. “We’re glad it’s still on the table for us. We just want to have a good week of practice in getting ready for another football game. For us to win on Saturday, we need to have good days of practice. We had a good day on Monday, and we want to have a good day on Tuesday and so on.”
Williamsburg advanced to the title game with a 37-20 semifinal victory over Thomas Heyward Academy, the team it lost to in last year’s championship game. Junior running back Grant Small rambled for 272 yards and a touchdown on 37 rushes, while senior quarterback Micah Balder had 63 yards and threw two TD passes to lead the way.
That’s a formula that has worked quite well throughout the season. Small has rushed for 1,940 yards and 25 touchdowns on 198 carries for a per-carry average of 9.8 yards. He is averaging 176.4 yards a game and has gone over 100 yards in 10 of the 11 games.
Balder has rushed for 570 yards on 54 carries for a 10.6 average and has five TDs. He has completed 55 of 89 passes for 1,046 yards and 13 touchdowns against just two interceptions.
“Grant has had a really good season,” said Furse, who led Laurence Manning Academy to consecutive AAAA championship game appearances during his two years at the school. “Our offensive line has done a great job blocking for him. Micah has done a great job making the right read on the option. That’s one area where we’ve made a lot of improvement since it was new at the start of fall practice.
Sophomore Eli Brown has rushed for 615 yards and six scores on 88 carries.
Wingback Charlie Caulder is the leading pass catcher with 31 catches for 592 yards and six touchdowns.
The starting wide receivers are junior Al Casselman and sophomore Gamble Wilson. Casselman has two catches for nine yards, and Wilson has two catches for 67 yards.
Senior tight end Jay Kellahan has 11 catches for 201 yards and two scores.
Williamsburg’s offensive line has junior Michael Ard at right guard, junior Marlin Morris at
right tackle, junior Mason Cribb at left tackle, junior Sammy Tomlinson at left guard and sophomore Henderson Livingston at center.
Defensively, the Stallions operate out of a 3-man front. Senior Connor Morris starts at noseguard and has Marlin Morris and Tomlinson lining up on either side of him at the ends.
Connor Morris has 38 tackles and four tackles for loss, Marlin Morris has 31 tackles and three tackles for loss, and Tomlinson has 26 tackles and two tackles for loss.
Caulder and junior Seth Cherenko start as outside linebackers, while Ard and Kellahan play on the inside.
Ard leads in tackles with 122 to go with four tackles for loss, one interception and two quarterback sacks. Kellahan has 76 tackles and seven tackles for loss. Caulder leads in tackles for loss with 13 among his 52 tackles and has one interception. Cherenko has 35 tackles, four tackles for loss and three sacks.
The secondary will be without junior Hall Dukes, who leads the team in interceptions with five. He was injured in the final regular-season game.
The cornerbacks will be Wilson and sophomore Lane Patrick. Balder and freshman Caden Morris are the safeties.
“Micah is the leader of our offense, and Micah is the quarterback of the defense,” Furse said. “He’s communicating with everyone what we need to do. He’s a very intelligent football player who has made us very good this year.”
Wilson has four interceptions, returning one for a touchdown, to go with 32 tackles and one tackle for loss. Patrick has 36 tackles and one TFL, Balder has 40 tackles, three interceptions, one a Pick 6, and 2 ½ tackles for loss, and Morris has 33 tackles and one interception.
Small handles the placekicking and punting chores. He’s only punted 13 times but has a 46.7 average. He is 20 of 30 on extra point attempts as Small has 188 points.
Caden Morris and Caulder handle the returns. Caulder has returned nine kickoffs for 254 yards and a touchdown, while Morris has nine returns f or 155 yards. Morris has returned 14 points for 204, a 14.6 average.
Connor Morris is the long snapper.
The matchup with Colleton Prep is a bit uncommon for SCISA title games: the two teams will be meeting for the first time. The other four championship games are all rematches.
The War Hawks defeated Dorchester Academy 22-16 in a semifinal game. CPA is led by quarterback Cale Owens. He’s completed 127 of 185 passes for 2,027 yards and 21 touchdowns while rushing for 1,158 yards and 18 scores on 159 carries.
“He’s a good passer, very fast, their leading rusher,” Furse said. “He’s a dynamic threat who we hope to slow down a little bit.
“They’re very good on defense who do a lot of different things with a lot of different scenarios. It does a really good job. They’re a big team, they’re young, they play hard. We’ve got our hands full.”
OFFENSE
QB – Micah Balder Sr.
HB – Grant Small Jr.
WR – Al Casselman Jr.
WR – Gamble Wilson Jr.
WB – Charlie Caulder Jr.
TE – Jay Kellahan Sr.
RT -- Marlin Morris Jr.
RG -- Michael Ard Jr.
C – Henderson Livingston So.
LG – Sammy Tomlinson Jr.
LT – Mason Cribb Jr.
DEFENSE
NG -- Connor Morris Sr.
DE -- Marlin Morris Jr.
DE – Sammy Tomlinson Jr.
OLB – Charlie Caulder Jr.
OLB – Seth Cherenko Jr.
ILB – Michael Ard Jr.
ILB – Jay Kellahan Sr.
CB – Gamble Wilson Jr.
CB – Lane Patrick So.
S – Caden Morris Fr.
S – Micah Balder Sr.
SPECIALISTS
PK/P – Grant Small Jr.
PR – Caden Morris Fr.
KOR – Charlie Caulder Jr.
and Caden Morris Fr.
SCISA Championships
AA
Saturday
at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium
in Orangeburg
Pee Dee (8-3) vs. Bethesda (11-0), noon
Class A
Saturday
at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium
in Orangeburg
Williamsburg (10-1) vs. Colleton Prep (9-2), 3:30 p.m.
AAA
Saturday
at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium
in Orangeburg
Wilson Hall (11-1) vs. Pinewood Prep (9-3), 7:30 p.m.
