Wilson Hall overcomes several major injuries to reach SCISA AAA football title game
Barons to face Hilton Head Christian for state championship
Sumter – Wilson Hall came oh so close to playing for the SCISA
AAA football state title last year. The Barons reached the semifinals and
were facing Florence Christian School, a team they had beaten during
the regular season. They lost 19-17.
“Last year we almost got it done, but not quite.” said WH head
coach Adam Jarecki. “I think that served as incentive going into this
year. We wanted to take the next step, take it a little further.”
And that’s exactly what Wilson Hall has done. The Barons will
take on Hilton Head Christian Academy on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at
Charleston Southern University’s Buccaneer Field in North Charleston.
The Barons have taken a very difficult route to get to the title
game, though not of their own volition. They have overcome several
season-ending injuries along with the normal injuries that occur over a
season.
“This is a special group altogether,” Jarecki said of his 10-2 squad.
“They just worked so hard year around to get to this point. They’ve
faced adversity with big injuries, but they just keep going. Everyone has
done their part to get to this point.”
The season started with starting junior defensive end Shawn
Michael Matthews sidelined for the first three games. In the second
game of the season, junior linebacker and defensive leader Owen
Meyers, the leading tackler from last year, was lost for the season.
Senior captain Slade Custer, a starter on both sides of the line,
was lost for the year in the sixth game. Junior Andrew Segars, who
provided depth on the defensive line, was also lost for the season.
In the regular-season matchup against Florence Christian, a 28-14
loss, senior quarterback Clark Kinney suffered a dislocated elbow in
the early going and then missed the next two games. He returned for the
first round of the playoffs in a 49-28 win over Northwood. However,
senior leading rusher Dylan Jones was lost for the rest of the season
with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Still, here the Barons are.
“The next man has stepped up,” Jarecki said. “That’s the mentality
of this whole group.”
Kinney will be behind center against HHCA. He has completed 62
of 103 passes for 1,026 yards and eight touchdowns while throwing just
one interception. He’s also rushed for 235 yards and 10 touchdowns on
62 carries.
WH won’t have Jones’ 1,327 yards and 19 touchdowns. He has
been replaced by sophomore Milling Galloway at one of the A back
spots. Senior Miles Van Patten is the other A back, while senior Ben
Reynolds is the B back.
Van Patten has rushed for 626 yards and nine touchdowns on 92
carries. Reynolds has 418 yards and three scores on 55 carries.
Galloway only had nine carries and 30 yards prior to the second
FCS game. He ran for 63 yads on 11 carries against the Eagles.
“Milling ran the ball well.” Jarecki said. “Miles Van Patten, Ben
Reynolds did good jobs. Everybody did their part to help us overcome
that.”
Senior Blake VanPatten and sophomore Cooper Hill are the
starting split ends Blake is the leading receiver with 30 catches for 701
yards and nine scores. Miles has 10 catches for 236 yards and two
scores, and Matthews has seven catches for 105 yards.
“What we do is distribute the ball,” Jarecki said. “We like to run
the ball, but if people are trying to take it away, we’ll take our shots and
try to beat people with the pass.”
The starting offensive line has junior Carson Wilsey at left tackle,
senior Grayson Alexander at left guard, junior Cooper Scott at center,
sophomore Andrew Howle at right guard and senior Sam Tristen at
right tackle.
Matthews and senior Luke Pederson are the ends on the defensive
front, while juniors Parker McLeod and Cooper Scott man the tackle
slots.
Pederson has 42 tackles, three quarterback sacks and five tackles
for loss, Matthews has 26 tackles and two TFLs, Scott has 23 tackles and
four TFLs, and McLeod has 31 tackles and three sacks.
The linebackers are Alexander and junior Jackson Bonser while
Galloway and sophomore Ben McLaurin man the outside linebacker
positions.
Bonser stepped into Owens’ spot, and he is the leading tackler with
94 and has the most TFLs with eight. Alexander has 70 tackles and
three TFLs, Galloway has 46 tackles and two TFLs, and McLaurin has
76 tackles and three TFLs.
The secondary has Blake VanPatten and sophomore Harris Naylor
at the cornerback slots with senior Landon Gilley at free safety.
Gilley has 81 tackles with four TFLs and four interceptions while
Naylor has 29 tackles and an interception. VanPatten has 19 tackles and
two interceptions, both of which he took back for touchdowns for a
combined 123 yards.
Bonser has been a major weapon as placekicker. He’s connected of
48 of 54 extra point attempts and is 6-for-9 on field goal attempts. He hit
a 40-yarder on the final play of the game to beat Laurence Manning
Academy 31-28.
Bonser is also averaging 33.0 yards on 20 punts. Bonser also
returns punts, eight of them for 251 yards, a 31.4 average.
Blake VanPatten has also returned a kickoff 80 yards for a score
among his 10 returns for 346 yards.
Wilson Hall opened its season against Hilton Head Christian,
winning by a 17-10 score. It was HHCA’s second game of the year and
its second loss as well. The Eagles haven’t lost since. They’ve averaged
over 40 points a contest in the 10-game winning streak while allowing
just over 10 a game.
Jarecki said the key for his team is to set the tempo for the game.
“We want to control the ball,” he said. “If we can keep the ball,
control possessions, have long possessions. That will play in our favor.
There can be no drive killers, we can’t put the ball on the ground.
“They want to score fast, make big plays. We want to keep the ball
from them, hold down their number of possessions. We have to be sound
on defense, be strong in our coverage defense. Everybody needs to their
jobs. We have to keep the quarterback corralled, He runs all over the
place. If they have big plays we have to shake it off and go to the next
one.”
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