Lewisville Proud To Be Named First National Winner of the CPA Quality Athletic Program Award

By Billy G. Baker

Publisher

Lewisville - This December in Dallas, Texas,  Lewisville High athletic director Kirk Cannon will accept the first ever “CPA Quality Athletic Program Award” ever presented to a high school athletic program in the state of the South Carolina.

The awards program is conducted through the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NAIII) based in Indianapolis, Ind.

“We are very proud to have our athletic program at Lewisville High honored with this national award,” said Coach Cannon. “Our athletic program was judged on 10 areas of criteria. Some of the areas included leadership, budgeting, professional development, coaching strategies, and sports medicine. ”I am looking forward to attending the national awards banquet in December and receiving the plaque on behalf of Lewisville High School.”

Coach Cannon has worked at Lewisville the past seven years as an assistant AD, and head golf coach. He became the athletic director during the 2023-24 school year.

Coach Cannon, who has had several offers to leave Lewisville for larger school job opportunities, said he is staying at Lewisville High because of the caring community in the area, and because he has deep roots having grown up in Chester County. Prior to coming to Lewisville, Cannon had worked 14 years at Chester High School.

“My core philosophy in running the athletic program at Lewisville High is rooted in two basic areas,” said Coach Cannon. “Number one, sports means so much to the citizens of our rural community and they give our student athletes a lot of support. We have a winning tradition, and in past decades we have had coaches like Bennie McMurray, Moose Wallace, and Billy Keels help lead the success of football and baseball teams at our school.

“Secondly,  at the end of the day, we make decisions based on what is in the best interest of our student athletes said Coach Cannon. “It is always going to be about them, first and foremost.”

Coach Cannon said he is looking forward to the upcoming football season. Former Lions defensive coordinator Trent Usher  was promoted to head football coach after Leon Boulware left to take the head job at Lugoff-Elgin after last season.

Coach Usher told the HSSR recently, “Coach Boulware was 23-4 in his two seasons at Lewisville and I am thankful he brought me in to help run the defense when he got the job,” said Coach Usher. “We will play a lot of players both ways.  I believe in keeping the best athletes on the field as much as possible.”  

Usher will once again welcome the support of former NFL players Sheldon Brown and Mike Barber as volunteer coaches on the Lions football team.

Jerry Thomas returns to head coach the varsity softball team that won their second state title under Thomas with a win over Lake View in May. The Lady Lions finished 25-4  and were led by the 2024 HSSR-SCHSL Class A Player of the Year sophomore Sarah Owens ,who finished with an 11-1 record with a 1.64 ERA and 195 K’s on the season. Owens also batted .431 at the plate.

“This is what we hoped to accomplished this season, after getting close last season,” said Coach Thomas after the state title win. “We have high expectations for this program and this is where we strive to be every season.”

Blake Barron will return as the head baseball coach after completing his 7^th season as head coach this year. The team had a winning season and advanced to the district finals. Senior star performer Dion Brown was a key leader on the team and he has signed to play baseball at Clemson this season and he was named to the HSSR-SCHSL 2024 all-state baseball team.

Wade Wilson will begin his 4^th season as head boys’ soccer coach at Lewisville. “The soccer team has improved by leaps and bounds,” said Coach Cannon. “We had our first player ever to make the North-South all-star team in Balan Massey and he also signed with Newberry College. Our combo kicker on the football team Marcel Fee is also an outstanding soccer player and he is being heavily recruited  in both soccer and football. He is the best athlete on both our soccer and football teams for this season.”

Monique Spears returns to head up the girls’ soccer program for her third season. Josh Renauld returns to coach volleyball. Dewayne Strong is back to head up the track program once again.

Coach Spears will also be the head cheer leading coach. She will be assisted by Deborah Strong and Frederick Evans. The new adult trainer is Bre’Yana Singleton.

The girls’ basketball team had great success under Miriah Thompson-Planter winning a region title for the first time since 2004. Unfortunately for the Lions, her husband took a job teaching and coaching at York High where she will have a role in that school’s basketball program this season. Lewisville is currently looking for a new girls’ varsity basketball coach.

Boys’ basketball head coach Lamont Elder saw his Lions beat Great Falls twice in one season, for the first time in memory. He will start his second season with the team.