May River’s 9 Win Season Makes Them “Top Turnaround Program” In SC For 2024 Season

By Billy G. Baker

Publisher

Bluffton — If there was a turnaround football program in South Carolina during the 2024 season, you would have to put the May River Sharks at the top of the conversation for sure finishing 9-3 under head coach William Bonneville after going 4-7 the year before.

“This team had the best group of seniors, top to bottom, that I have ever been associated with and I have coached at several different programs like at Richland Northeast when we played Byrnes for a state title several years ago,” said Coach Bonneville. “We had 17 seniors and every one of them was a joy to coach.

“Seeing how hard they worked in practice was the most gratifying memory I will take from this season,” said Coach Bonneville. “We changed our offensive system completely from a spread to a Wing-T and the kids who stayed (several transferred out) with us bought into what we were trying to do in order to give us our best chance for success.

“I know it might sound corny, or like a cliché, but these young men trusted the process and came to practice at 6 a.m. in the morning focused on getting better,” said Coach Bonneville. “They came to practice focused more on the preparation, and not so much on the result.

“Our offense was not razzle dazzle but our system certainly made it difficult for opposing teams to simulate in practice getting ready to play us this season,” said Coach Bonneville. “This team has set the standards for all future tams at May River in terms of accountability and commitment to the program.”

Coach Bonneville came to May River as an assistant coach when the school began playing varsity football in 2015. He became the head coach in 2023 and he is already looking forward to the 2025 season.

“I had an exit meeting with the team after the season and every player I talked to said they didn’t want us to change a thing,” said Coach Bonneville. “They still want to practice at 6 a.m. but if we can move from a fourth period block for all varsity players to a first period block then we could change our practice time to 7 am without any issues.”

One of the team’s biggest wins in school history came in the second round of the play-offs with a huge 46-45 double over-time win over arch-rival Bluffton. May River had just lost to Bluffton two weeks earlier in a highly competitive close game.

“After Georgetown forfeited our final regular season game it gave us some extra time to prepare to play Bluffton in the first round of the play-offs and we anticipated having to play them in the first round,” said Coach Bonneville.  “In all honesty, Bluffton had so much more talent than we did It was really like a David versus Goliath match-up.

“We got down 10 points at the half and we were trailing 10 points going into the fourth quarter also,” said Coach Bonneville in reference to the play-off game with the Bobcats. “We were able to kick a field goal in the final period and then with 20 seconds left in regulation our quarterback Tanner Macy (6-2, 175) scored on a short run. We were going to go for two and either win or lose at that point, but our center got hurt so we decided to get the PAT and go into overtime.

“We scored first in the first over-time on a short run by Sean Mitchell and then they scored to tie things back up,” said Coach Bonneville. “They went ahead in the second over-time. We scored to trail by a point on second down on Macy’s short run and then we called time out to think things over.

“During the time-out senior Will Bostick came over and grabbed me by the waist and said, “Coach, the players want to go for two. We got your back. Let’s win it right now by giving Tanner the ball.”

Coach Bonneville said that with the middle of the line clogged up with players from both teams, Macy went around the left side and literally walked into the end zone for the one-point win.  “Our sideline went nuts,” said Coach Bonneville. “Our fans went crazy too. Everyone pulling for May River was very elated.

“More than coming back and beating our rival for a huge win, the thing I was the proudest about was seeing the hard work our kids had put in this season paying off foe them with a win,” said Coach  Bonneville. “To see the process of hard work, preparation, and accountability pay off was the bigger issue for me. I was just proud of being able to share the moment with them.”

In the next round of the play-offs. May River concluded their turnaround season with loss at North Augusta. “In my opinion North Augusta had a very talented well-coached team and I think they were right in there with teams like Westside and South Florence.”

After the season seven May River players earned all-region honors. They were senior center Beau Gwynn (6-1, 285) along with junior running back Andrew Johnson (6-0,180). Johnson rushed for 1,158 yards on 166 carries and scored 16 touchdowns.

The next all-region pick was senior free safety AJ Hamilton (6-2, 190) who had 66 tackles, one interception, five pass deflections, one caused fumble and three blocked PAT’s during the season. The next all-region performer was inside linebacker Ethan Sprinkle (6-2, 230) who has a current offer to McPherson College in Kentucky. Sprinkle had 78 total tackles and four TFL.

Senior William Bonneville (6-3, 275) , an offensive lineman, was not only all-region he was also named to the North-South all-star game played in Myrtle Beach in December. He was also named the “Region Offensive Lineman of the Year.”

The final two all-region players from May River were place kicker/punter Hudson Tanner who averaged 37.3 yards a punt and he made 23-of-23 PAT’s. He also made one field goal of 38 yards.

The leading tackler on the team was senior linebacker Hudson Flanagan with 91 total tackles. He was named the “Lower State AAAA Defensive Lineman of the Year by the SC Football Coaches Association.

Rounding out the all-region picks from May River was junior defensive end Devin Ryan (5-9,190) who had 46 total tackles and one sack.   

  Some other players with good stats included senior running back Asa Haskins (6-2, 190) who rushed for 605 yards on 75 carries and four touchdowns. Junior running back Sean Mitchell gained 855 yards on 120 carries with three touchdowns. Macy rushed for 169 yards on 49 carries with 11 touchdowns and he completed 22 passes for 235 yards and three touchdowns.

Senior outside linebacker Brad Lowery (6-1, 180) contributed 61 tackles and four TFL. Junior linebacker Jackson Miller (5-10,185) had 50 total tackles and one TFL.  Will Bostick, a vocal leader of the team, had 57 total tackles and three TFL.

As a team May River rushed for 3.067 yards on 433 carries out of their version of the Wing T with more to come in 2025.