Johnsonville – Johnsonville High’s football program has been on a roll in the last two seasons. The Flashes won the last two Class A Lower State championships, reaching back-to-back state championship games.
Great teams often have great leaders and usually those leaders are seniors. Coach Ken Cribb had eight valuable seniors leading the way during the 2023 season.
“Our seniors were great. We had eight seniors and they were great leaders, great kids,” Cribb said. “They busted their tails and they made the town of Johnsonville and our school really proud.”
One of those key senior leaders was four-year starting quarterback Malik Shippy. Shippy finished off his last season with 1,789 passing yards and 23 touchdowns, completing 114-of-201 passes. He also rushed for 318 yards and six more touchdowns. Shippy totaled more than 4,000 career passing yards as Johnsonville’s starting signal-caller.
“Malik’s my guy,” Cribb said. “He’s been a good one. A good player, a better person. A great leader. He’s the kind of guy you want to be your quarterback and be the face of your school.”
Shippy was indeed the face of the football program and the school. He proved to be a great leader even as a freshman starter with much older players. Shippy’s leadership was even evident during his middle school days.
The 6-2, 180-pound Shippy moved from the football tradition-rich city of Gaffney to the small town of Johnsonville as seventh-grader. He grew up cheering for the Indians and was looking forward to one day wearing the black and gold of one of the state’s most storied high school football programs.
“I was upset when we moved to Johnsonville. I always wanted to play for Gaffney High School,” said Shippy, whose mother won a state championship as a track athlete at Gaffney. “I always dreamed of running out on the field and hearing those big crowds cheering for us.”
But, as fate would have it, Shippy ended up wearing the black and gold uniform of Johnsonville. As a freshman, he walked into a program that was struggling to compete in Cribb’s early years as head coach. The Flashes were just 4-17 in the two seasons prior to Shippy’s freshman year.
His first two seasons were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic but the Flashes went 10-6 over those first two years. In his junior season, Shippy guided the Flashes to a 13-1 record with the only loss coming in the state championship game.
Johnsonville went 11-3 in 2023, giving Shippy an impressive 34-10 record as a starter.
“It has been a great experience playing for Johnsonville. I wouldn’t trade the last four years for anything,” Shippy said. “The program was down but coach Cribb told us seniors, when we were freshmen, that we would be the ones to change the culture. Everything turned out great, other than not winning a state championship.”
Shippy says the Flashes were an option offense early in his career but he soon proved to Cribb that he could be an effective passer.
“I really didn’t like running the ball,” he said. “I run when I have to but I always wanted to throw the ball. As time went on, coach began to trust me more to throw it and we were able to change the offense to take advantage of our top talent.”
While football always has been important to Shippy. However, he never lost sight of the fact that academics were more important to being a success. He sports a 3.86 grade-point-average and was a Palmetto Boys State representative last summer.
“My mom always said, no grades, no football, so it was important,” said Shippy, who does not participate in any other sports at Johnsonville. “I was lucky at Johnsonville that we were in a small school and the teachers were always willing to help us. The support for us as students has been great at Johnsonville.”
Shippy says he will likely accept an opportunity to play football at Erskine College, though he is keeping his options open for a few more weeks. He says his career goals are to own a business and maybe work as an assistant football coach, preferably in Johnsonville.
“I love this town and I love the school. I love how this community supports us,” he said. “I’d love to coach here someday. I would like to give back to this community for all they did for me. It’s a great town to grow up in. They love their sports and they support Johnsonville athletics.”
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