Blackville – Jefferson Davis Academy’s Sydney Owens was selected as the SCISA Region 1-Class A Player of the Year, while being joined on the all-region team by teammates Gylian Googe, Rynn Fickling, Carrielynn Loadholt and Mattie Morris.
Owens, a junior rightside hitter and setter, averaged 17 assists, two kills, three service aces and two blocks per match for the Raiders, who finished the season with a 13-6 overall record while winning the school’s first ever region championship in volleyball with a 5-1 record.
Googe, a senior middle hitter and team captain, averaged five kills, five blocks and two aces. Sophomore outside hitter Fickling and freshman middle hitter Morris were strong around the net for Jefferson Davis. Fickling averaged six kills, one block and four aces, while Morris averaged eight kills, two blocks and two aces. Loadholt, a junior libero, averaged six digs, three aces and three assists.
Jefferson Davis head coach Bart Owens was pleased with the season his team put together.
“We have had a good season, winning our first region championship in volleyball,” Coach Owens said. “We had some growing pains late in the season. We had a couple of girls get hurt, so our showing at state was not what we expected.”
Jefferson Davis went 0-2 in the state tournament played in Myrtle Beach.
Coach Owens thanked his two seniors, Googe and outside hitter Reagan Still, for what they brought to the program over the years.
“As for my two seniors, we will miss Gylian Googe and Reagan Still,” he said. “They will be hard to replace. They were awesome to coach. I still get one more chance to coach them in softball (which played for the Class A state title last season).”
Coach Owens believes good days await his team in the future.
“We have some young girls coming up who will make us better overall next year,” he said.
Other members of the team are junior defensive specialist Elle Fogle, junior outside hitter Kaylee Jackson and freshman rightside hitter/setter Kinslie Carson.
JDA FOOTBALL TEAM ADVANCES TO 8-MAN SEMIFINALS
Jefferson Davis won its 10th game of the season with a 51-6 victory over W.W. King in the first round of the 8-man state playoffs on November 3.
The Raiders, now 10-2 and ranked third in the High School Sports Report SCISA 8-Man Pick 6 poll, will go on the road to face No. 2 Richard Winn Academy in a semifinal game on November 10. The winner of that game will advance to the state championship game scheduled to be played on November 17 at a neutral site.
Jefferson Davis came into the first-round game off of a 36-16 loss to 3-time defending state champion Holly Hill Academy. The Raiders beat Holly Hill 28-22 in the third week of the season, snapping its 37-game winning streak in the process.
Jefferson Davis head coach Anthony Reitenour didn’t think his team was affected in an adverse way by the loss, and it proved the case to be true against W.W. King.
“We're fine. We came out (against Holly Hill) and just didn't play our best game,” Reitenour said. “We had some costly turnovers, and we gave up some lightning-in-a-bottle type of plays shouldn't have happened.
“I don’t think that game is any type of definition of what our team is. We did this to ourselves. We need to correct it. One of the things I’ve told our guys is it is much better to play like that in Week 10 of the regular season than in Week 1 or Week 2 of the playoffs.”
Defense has been the strong suit for Jefferson Davis all season. Entering the game against Holly Hill, the Raiders were allowing just 14 points a contest.
Reitenour said what makes his team so effective on defense starts up front with senior Tollie Fickling. Entering the state playoffs, Fickling had 102 tackles, including 82 solo stops. He also had a team high 18 tackles for loss and three quarterback sacks. Fickling had also forced three fumbles and recovered another.
“Tollie Fickling changes the whole face of our defense with his play on the defensive line,” Reitenour said. “Most of the points we’ve allowed have been big plays where we so aggressive, we’d get sucked in and have some slipup and miss someone. Those were just small issues that we’d need to fix.
“This is one of the best personnel groups on defense I've ever coached,” he added.
As Reitenour alluded to, Jefferson Davis is a big play team on defense. The Raiders had 51 tackles for loss, 10 interceptions and 13 fumble recoveries.
Junior cornerback Colson Loadholt had nine tackles for loss among his 78 tackles, and he had eight of the Raiders’ 10 interceptions. Junior linebacker Nasir Void and senior defensive lineman Payton Payne both had five tackles for loss, Void 47 tackles overall and Payne 76.
Senior linebacker Hunter Zorn had 67 tackles and three TFLs, and senior cornerback Carter Loadholt had 57 tackles, two interceptions and a fumble recovery.
The Raiders have used the same hard-nosed approach on offense as they have on defense. They were averaging 251 rushing yards per game. Void was leading the team in rushing with 908 yards and 12 touchdowns on 105 carries, while James Grubbs had 809 yards and seven scores on 110 carries.
Colson Loadholt is a dual threat out of the backfield. He had 399 yards and 10 touchdowns on 42 carries while catching a team high 22 passes for 472 yards and eight scores.
“We just see how the game progresses,” Reitenour said in what determines who gets the ball. “We’ve got a pretty deep stable of backs who can carry ball for us. We just stick with the run because we’ve got such a strong front line in Hunter Zorn, Tollie Fickling and Landon Williams. Them, along with tight ends Payne and (Carter) Loadholt, have done a great job blocking.”
“We’ve got two or three backs on any given night who could have 20 carries. It’s not by design; if one is having a good night we’re just going to keep on feeding them. We’ve got the bodies, so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Senior quarterback Paxton Wall had completed 35 of 57 passes for 656 yards and 12 TDs while running for 196 yards and five scores on 65 carries.
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