Bluffton – After a season in which it allowed 268 points, the Hilton Head Christian Academy football team decided to go back to a tried-and-true defense in 2023 that had helped it win consecutive SCISA AA state titles.
“Last year defensively we were trying to do some different things,” said Eagles head coach Ron Peduzzi of the 7-4 season. “This year (defensive coordinator) Matt Smith said, ‘Nope, we’re going to run our regular defense that we do, the Junkyard Dogs. We stuck with it, and we said we were going to be better tacklers because we weren’t very good at times last year.”
One had to wonder if the switch back was going to do any good after the first game, which ended in a 49-0 loss to Savannah Christian. HHCA lost the second game to Wilson Hall, but it was by a 17-10 count.
After that, Hilton Head Christian rolled off 11 straight victories, the final one a 28-6 win over Wilson Hall for the SCISA AAA state title. The Eagles allowed just 110 points in those games, 30 of those coming in a 42-30 win over Pinewood Prep in the semifinals.
“We practiced as many times as we were legally allowed to,” Peduzzi said of how HHCA improved its defensive play “We may not have been great tacklers, but we were better than we were last year. That had a lot to do with it, and we did it with some very aggressive guys.”
Although Hilton Head Christian recorded just one shutout, it had six other games in which it allowed no more than seven points.
Defensive tackle Jackson Conrad and linebacker Zane Wilson were two members of the defense who were selected to the SCISA AAA All-State team. They were joined on the All-State team by quarterback Dylan Clark, wide receiver AJ Houpt, wide receiver Tyshon Mansell, wide Gage Zatalokin and punter Tucker Tevepaugh.
Conrad, a senior, had a team high 18 tackles for loss and 11 quarterback sacks among his 51 total tackles. He also forced a fumble.
Wilson, a senior, led the team with 144 tackles, 15 of them TFLs and five of them sacks. He also had an interception and one FF.
The offense revolved around Clark, a senior, at QB. He completed 157 of 278 passes for 2,278 yards and 27 touchdowns while rushing for a team high 766 yards and 17 touchdowns on 189 carries, over 100 more than anyone else on the team.
“We just worked every single week and trusted what the coaches gave us,” Clark said. “They put in something new every single week leading up to this game (the state championship game) and we were able to adjust. and we got better as the season went on.”
Clark’s top three receivers, all seniors, made All-State. Houpt had 57 catches for 924 yards and 13 touchdowns, Mansell had 39 catches for 629 yards and 11 touchdowns, and Zatalokin had 35 catches for 533 yards and six scores.
Tevepaugh averaged 41.7 yards per punt on 34 attempts. Nine of his punts were downed inside the opposition’s 20-yard line. Tevepaugh was a force on defense in the secondary as well., Tevepaugh had 73 tackles, one TFL, three interceptions, two fumble recoveries and one FF.
VOLLEYBALL
Hilton Head Christian had two players make the SCISA AAA volleyball All-State team in sophomore Caitlyn Jackson and senior Margaret Hiers. They were also named to the All-Region 1-AAA first team along with junior Reese Clark.
Junior Macey Langhals and senior Keely Langhals were named to the All-Region second team.
CROSS COUNTRY
Senior Devon Yarde and eighth-graders Max Leroux and Kennedy Vance were All-Region selections in cross country
Yarde finished 13th in the SCISA AAA girls cross country meet in a time of 21 minutes, 45.22 seconds. Leroux finished 23rd in the boys meet in a time of 19:01.71, while Vance finished 28th in 19:13.37.
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