Hilton Head Christian has new basketball coaches, baseball coach

           Bluffton – Hilton Head Christian Academy won its sixth straight SCISA state title in girls basketball this past season and its first in baseball championship since the 2010 campaign. Both programs will be under new leadership in the 2024-25 school year though.

            Jay Scarbro will be in charge of the baseball program, taking over for JW Wilkerson, who stepped down to focus all of his attention on being the athletic director.

           Jessie Shrieve is the new girls basketball coach after Bobby Thompson stepped down. Thompson was the head coach two seasons, and he led the Lady Eagles to consecutive AAA state titles.

         Hilton Head Christian finished with a 24-6 record in baseball and swept 2-time defending state champion Pee Dee Academy in the best-of-3 state championship series.

Wilkerson stepped down after three seasons as head coach. Scarbro, who has

coached at both the collegiate and high school levels, was on Wilkerson’s staff this

past season, his first at Hilton Head Christian.

The HHCA girls basketball team went 17-7 last season but again dominated

in SCISA. The Lady Eagles defeated John Paul II to win last year’s crown.

Hilton Head Christian will also have a new boys basketball coach in Bryan

Brown. He takes over for Mike Colella, who stepped in as head coach when Jason

Grunkemeyer stepped down in June of 2023.

Colella, who had served as the HHCA head coach in a previous stint, led the

Eagles to an 11-15 record. Brown was an assistant to both Grunkemeyer and Colella.

A state championship-winning coach who will be back for Hilton Head

Christian is football head coach Ron Peduzzi. He returns for his seventh season

after leading the Eagles to the AAA crown and an 11-2 record. It was the third title

in four years for Hilton Head Christian. It had consecutive perfect seasons while

winning the AA crown in both 2020 and 2021.

Hilton Head Christian lost a load of talent off the championship team but the

goal is still the same, according to Pediuzzi.

“We lost 17 seniors last year,” Peduzzi said. “We have a lot of work to do

in front of us. We are looking for total effort, whether we are David or Goliath on

Friday night.

“We expect everybody on our football team to maintain our culture, our

legacy, effort that we gave in the past and will continue on the Friday nights that

we’ll be playing this fall.”

Drew Dale is back as the volleyball coach, Aaron Mau is both the boys and girls

cross country head coach and the boys and girls track and field head coach, Parker

Collins will coach the girls golf team, Mike Spangler is the boys golf head coach,

Melanie Hilton is in charge of the boys and girls swim teams, J.R. Moise is the

boys soccer head coach, and Laurie White is in charge of the girls soccer program,

Jim Bonaventura is the lacrosse head coach and Ashley Bezilla is the cheer head

coach.