Hilton Head Christian football team overcomes slow start
Eagles reel off four consecutive victories after beginning season with two losses
Bluffton – The season didn’t get off to the best of starts for the Hilton Head Christian Academy football team. The Eagles were outscored 66-10 in a 0-2 beginning.
Now, those losses did come against pretty good competition. HHCA opened the season with a 49-0 loss to Savannah Christian, a Region 3-AAA school in Georgia that is 4-2 this year. The other loss was by a 17-10 count to fellow SCISA AAA school Wilson Hall, 5-1 and ranked first in the High School Sports Report SCISA AAA Pick 6 poll.
Since then, things have been very, very good for Hilton Head Christian. The Eagles have reeled off four straight victories, scoring at least 31 points in each contest while allowing no more than 16.
“Yes, I would say that we’ve turned the ship around in the right direction,” said HHCA head coach Ron Peduzzi, whose team is ranked third in SCISA AAA. "The first couple of games were pretty tough, but we were going against very good football teams.
“Also, we were basically having to replace our whole offensive line. People don’t understand how important the line is. Also, our quarterback, Dylan Clark, has gotten a lot better.”
Hilton Head Christian is coming off of a 56-6 victory over First Baptist to give it a 2-1 record in SCISA AAA matchups. Before that, the Eagles beat both Ben Lippen and Northwood Academy by the score of 31-14 and then knocked off Beaufort Academy 36-16.
HHCA handed each of those teams its first loss of the season.
What Hilton Head Christian does offensively revolves almost exclusively around the quarterback, both passing and running the football. Clark struggled the first two games, but, like his teammates, has shown vast improvement over the last four games.
“(The play of the offensive line) had a lot to do with it, and the play of Dylan had some to do with it,” Peduzzi said of his senior quarterback. “He’s made a lot better decisions the last few games. We lined up and were not ready to play like we can play. We had to get everybody going in the right direction. It’s been a steady progression.”
Clark has completed 76 of 142 passes for 906 yards and nine touchdowns against just three interceptions on the season. He is also the team’s leading rusher with 249 and seven touchdowns on 100 carries.
Senior AJ Haupt is the leading receiver with 33 catches for 454 yards and five TDs. Senior Gage Zatalokin has 18 catches for 248 yards and two scores, and senior Tyshon Mansell has 15 catches for 309 yards and four touchdowns.
Since the opening game, the calling card for HHCA has been its defense. The Eagles have allowed just 68 points in those five games.
“Defense has been holding us together,” Peduzzi said. “Matt Smith, our defensive coordinator, has done a great job. We kind of got away from what we had been doing defensively (when HHCA had consecutive undefeated AA state championship seasons in 2020 and 2021). We went back to it, stuck to it, and we’ve been playing really, really well.”
Senior middle linebacker Zane Wilson and senior nose guard Jackson Conrad are the leaders on defense. Wilson has a team high 62 tackles to go with six tackles for loss, two quarterback sacks and one interception. Conrad has 21 tackles to go with eight TFLs and five sacks, both team highs.
Sophomore defensive back Reid McCollum is also having a big season, wreaking havoc in pass defense and rushing the quarterback. He has 32 tackles, seven TFLs and five sacks along with four interceptions.
Senior strong safety Tucker Tevepaugh has also been strong with 38 tackles and one TFL.
Tevepaugh has also been a weapon as a punter. He is averaging 42.3 yards on 25 punts, six of them being downed inside the opponents’ 20-yard line.
Junor placekicker Ian Kelly is 3-for-3 on field goal attempts with a long of 36 yards. He is 15 of 17 on extra point attempts and has six touchbacks among his 29 kickoffs.
“Tucker and Ian are both doing outstanding jobs,” Peduzzi said.
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