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Johnsonville beats Bamberg-Ehrhardt 20-10 to return to Class A state championship game
Neill Kirkpatrick Special Contributor • Nov 25, 2023
Flashes will face Christ Church once again for state title on Friday, December 1
Bamberg – Momentum is a funny thing in the game of football as it can change in an instance
and can happen when you least expect it. That was the case in Friday’s Class A lower state championship
game between Bamberg-Ehrhardt and Johnsonville high schools
The Red Raiders led the Flashes 10-0 with under ten seconds to go in the first half, and with the
Flashes facing third down and 29 yards to go from the Red Raider 49, it looked like that is how the first half
would end. But, as Lee Corso says, “Not so fast me friend,” on the final play of the half
Johnsonville quarterback Malik Shippy took the snap, drifted right and then launched a pass toward
the end zone and wide receiver Travis Wilson went up and over two Red Raider defenders to snag the ball
and score the Flashes' first points of the game with 2.3 seconds left in the first half. Suddenly the Red Raider
lead was cut to three at 10-7.
The Flashes rode that monumental play into a dominant second-half performance and punched
their ticket for a return trip to the Class A state championship game with a 20-10 win at the B-E field.
“Travis is my guy and I just trusted that if I got the ball near him, he would make the catch,” said
Shippy.
Johnsonville head coach Ken Cribb chimed in on the play saying, “Travis is a playmaker, and he
made the play when we needed it. The game had not gone our way until then and it gave us a big lift
going into the half.”
Bamberg-Ehrhardt controlled the first quarter of action as they drove inside the Johnsonville
10-yard line on both of their first-quarter drives only to end up with a 21-yard field goal by Zach
Singleton.
The Flashes defense led by Landyn Cribb, Taysawn Brown and Neal Martin would not allow
the Red Raider offense to cross the goal line on two first-and-goal situations in the first quarter.
The Red Raiders would finally cross the goal line in the second quarter when Nick Folk took the
handoff and headed left, then made a couple of cuts to the outside and scored on a 32-yard run to
give the Red Raider a 10-0 lead. Folk rushed 15 times for 88 yards in the first half.
After the score, the Flashes put together their best drive of the first half resulting in their
last-second touchdown.
The Flashes would take the lead for good on their second possession of the second half when
they traveled 60 yards in four plays to score on a Shippy six-yard touchdown run. The point after was
blocked and the Flashes led 13-10. Martin had a 45-yard run on the first play of the drive to get things
started.
The Flashes defenses would turn the Red Raiders over on downs, giving their offense the ball at
their 48-yard line. It would take the Flashes six plays to essentially put the game away when Shippy
would score his second touchdown from the 1-yard line. The PAT was good, making the score 20-10.
The Red Raiders would mount one last drive to try and get back in the game. After a Johnsonville
punt pinned the Red Raiders at their 4-yard line, Folk broke off a 54-yard run to move the ball to the
Flashes 32, but on second down Red Raider quarterback Chanston Crosby was hit and fumbled the
ball. The Flashes recovered, ending the threat and any chance of a Red Raider comeback.
Folk would finish the night with 147 yards on 18 carries, but only three of those carries occurred
came in the second half.
Shippy threw for over 200 yards with Wilson snagging five of them for 135 yards and a score.
Martin led the team in rushing with over 90 yards, and 69 cane in the second half.
“We knew coming into the game that we would have to weather the storm early, and we were
able to do that,” said Coach Cribb. “We are not the biggest or the fastest, but my guys don’t quit. I’m
so proud of the effort we gave tonight and all year. We are going to enjoy this one and then get
ready for Christ Church.”
The Flashes (11-2) will head to Orangeburg next week at South Carolina State's Oliver C. Dawson
Stadium looking for a little payback against Christ Church (12-2). Christ Church ended it undefeated
season last year 43-20 win over Johnsonville in the state championship game.
the game is scheduled for Friday, December 1, beginning at 2 p.m.
Bamberg-Ehrhardt finished the year at 12-2.
By Billy G. Baker Publisher Summerton — Softball championships are not always won just by the plays of the moment; they are won by the players on championship teams who prepare on a year-round basis, through summer ball, fall ball, outside instruction, and a total commitment to the sport. In Clarendon Hall’s 6-1 win over Colleton Prep (18-5-2) in Monday’s first game in the best- of- three SCISA AA state title series, observers could see the aforementioned on full display as a relaxed and well-trained team from Clarendon Hall played error free softball. Pitcher Calli Yount had 11 strike-outs, and the Saints produced timely hits with runners in scorer’s position. It was the third time the two teams had meet this season and it was the third win for Clarendon Hall. The two previous wins were 8-0 and 6-0 so Colleton Prep improved by scoring a run this time. They hope to score even more as the two teams (weather permitting) get ready to play game two at 5 p.m. at Colleton Prep today. After the game Clarendon Hall head coach Jeffrey Bays , told the HSSR, “We definitely got some timely hits today but we didn’t hit the ball like we usually do,” said Coach Bays. “You do have those games where you are not as strong as you usually are at the plate, and we tell our girls to be patient and wait on their pitch. “Getting some walks, mixed in with a few timely hits, proved to be a game changer for us, said Coach Bays. “I was really proud of how the girls responded to the challenge today. I can’t think of an error we made, and that is really important, and we have played very clean ball most of the year. “Our pitcher tomorrow will be a game time situation,” said Coach Bays. “Calli had a good outing today but we do have several pitchers who can throw strikes so we’ll just have to wait and see.” Colleton Prep head coach Tiger Martin told the HSSR , “They scored six runs total and five of them came in the second inning and then they got a solo home run later and made some errors and gave them some walks that helped them score the six runs,” said Coach Martin. “More games are lost then ever won. The team that makes the fewest mistakes usually comes out on top and they played a cleaner ball game then we did tonight. “It didn’t help that we had four backward K’s and we need to swing the bats more,” said Coach Martin. “We have to lay off her riser ball that was coming in high today and it can be virtually unhittable. Hopefully, we will have an umpire today that likes them thrown a little lower. We have to hope she can bring the ball down a little.” The Saints pushed across five runs in the bottom of the second inning. Yount led off with a single and then Colleen McIntosh drew a walk. Lacey Corbett singled to score Yount for a 1-0 lead and a throwing error on the throw in allowed both runners to advance to second to third. Two batters later, Macie McIntosh drew a one-out walk to load the bases. Brynlee Brewer , the only new starter on the team this season, reached on an error allowing two runs to score to make it 3-0. Two batters later, Macie McIntosh , drew a one-out walk to load the bases. An RBI ground-out RBI by junior Mandy Wells made it 4-0. The Saints 5 th run scored on a passed ball. In the CP 4 th inning, Ava Murray led off with a double down the third base line. She was brought in on a two-out single by Hannah Strickland to close the deficit to 5-1. CH added an insurance run in the bottom of the 5 th on a solo home run by Yount over the left field fence. Yount had three hits in the game including a home run. Clarendon Hall had six hits for the game and they benefitted from several CP errors and five walks they were issued. Yount gave up five hits in the game with two walks to go along with her 11 K’s. Senior Sydney Stivender pitched all six innings for CP. She recorded four strike-outs in taking the loss.
Hilton Head Christian, Augusta Christian, Dorchester, Richard Winn take openers
Laurence Manning, Pee Dee, Clarendon Hall, Jefferson Davis win openers
Cardinals beat Hammond 4-0 to finish as undefeated AAAA champion
Scores from around the SCISA universe from Game 1 Monday. SCISA SOFTBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES Best-of-3 series AAAA Monday Laurence Manning 5 Hammond 4 Tuesday Hammond at Laurence Manning, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday At Neutral Site if Needed AAA Monday Orangeburg Prep 0 Pee Dee Academy 3 Tuesday Pee Dee at Orangeburg Prep, 6 p.m. Wednesday At Neutral Site if Needed AA Monday Colleton Prep 1 Clarendon Hall 6 Tuesday Clarendon Hall at Colleton Prep, 5 p.m. Wednesday At Neutral Site if Needed CLASS A Monday Cross Schools 0 Jefferson Davis 4 Tuesday Jefferson Davis vs Cross Schools, @ Bluffton High School Wednesday At Neutral Site if Needed SCISA BASEBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES Best-of-3 series AAAA Monday Augusta Christian 3 Cardinal Newman 1 Tuesday Cardinal Newman at Augusta Christian, 6 p.m. Thursday At Neutral Site if Needed AAA Monday Hilton Head Christian 3 Pee Dee Academy 1 Tuesday Pee Dee at Hilton Head Christian, 6 p.m. Thursday At Neutral Site if Needed AA Monday Calhoun Academy 2 Dorchester 6 Tuesday Dorchester at Calhoun Academy, 6:30 p.m. Thursday At Neutral Site if Needed CLASS A Monday Richard Winn 8 Holly Hill 2 Tuesday Holly Hill at Richard Winn, 6 p.m. Thursday At Neutral Site if Needed
Five of eight series will have teams trying to defend titles
By Billy G. Baker Publisher Sumter — The good news was that no rain fell on Sumter’s Patriot Park on May, 11 providing for some great games in the annual SCISA softball playoffs with 8 teams qualifying to compete for AAAA, AAA, AA and Class A state titles starting on Monday. Game two will be played on Tuesday at the opposite site of the home team on Monday. If a third game is needed it will be played at a neutral site on Wednesday. One notable highlight from the games on Saturday was junior Mandy Wells of Clarendon Hall hitting three consecutive home runs in her team’s 15-0 win over Calhoun Academy to advance the Saints to the AA finals on Monday against Colleton Prep . Wells hit her two home runs to dead center field and her second homer was a base clearing grand slam. Her third home run was a line drive over right center field. Wells came into the SCISA tournament batting .481 with 28 RBI’s. Game one between Clarendon Hall and Colleton Prep is schduled for 6pm on Monday in Summerton. Laurence Manning defeated Hammond 5-3 to advance to the AAAA finals. The lost sent Hammond to the loser’s bracket finale against Wilson Hall and Hammond the defeated the Barons 14-4 to earn the right to play Laurence Manning for the title starting on Monday at 6 p.m. in Manning. “We started out hitting the ball right at people and Hammond gave us a great game,” said LMA head coach Buddy Truett . ´We didn’t like having to get up at 7 a.m. to get over here by 9 a.m. and it took us awhile to get going. We are excited to playing for a state championship. It should be a very competitive series and having finished runner-up the past two seasons we are focused on winning it all this year.” LMA trailed Hammond 3-3 going into the bottom of the 6 th inning. Lily Welborn led off with a single and made it all the way to third on a throwing error. An RBI single by Kaylee Avins scored Welborn to tie the score at 3. The difference in the game was a two- run homer from 8 th grader Karly Bjork the next batter up for LMA. “I told her after she hit the home run that I didn’t think I could love her anymore but I do now,” said Coach Truett. “I am very proud of the girls. We made some errors early in the game we do not normally make but we came back from being down and I very proud of all of them. ”We know that Pee Dee has good pitching and they are a solid hitting team also so we are expecting quite a series against them,” said Coach Kinard. “We went over there last year and kicked the ball around a bit. Our goal is playing better defense against them. Defense wins championships.” In Class AAA action, Orangeburg Prep defeated Thomas Sumter 15-0 to advance to the AAA finals. The Class AAA championship games for Pee Dee and Orangeburg Prep start Monday in Mullins at 6pm. Pee Dee Academy head coach Wes Eskridge told the HSSR after his team’s big win over John Paul II Saturday: “We have been fortunate to win three state titles in a row and we are competing in the finals for the 7 th straight time and I could not be prouder of this team,” said Coach Eskridge. ”Jo Jo Perritt is just a sophomore and she gets the job down in the circle for us. “Orangeburg Prep is a tough team and the key for us is for us to play our game and not theirs,” said Coach Eskridge. “We know we have to keep working hard.” In Class A action Jefferson Davis Academy will compete against Cross Schools , who defeated Laurens Academy 4-3 to advance. Jefferson Davis earned the right to play for a Class A title by defeating Cross School 7-1 on Saturday. Head JDA head coach Bart Owens told the HSSR , “Regan Still did a great job pitching all three games in the tournament and she is headed to Florence-Darlington Tech to play next season,” said Coach Owens. “We beat Wardlaw 16-3 and Laurens Academy in our other two tournament games ”Regan is an outstanding pitcher and she is the best that I have ever had at JDA,” said Coach Owens. “Super proud of the whole team today. Or goal now is to win the state championship next week.” The Class A championship series starts Monday at JDA game time is 6pm.
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Larry Gamble Photo Editor, HSSR SCISA Softball Tournament play kicked off in Sumter, SC with teams from around the state playing an intense two days of games to determine the top teams in each class to challenge each other for the final championship that will decide each Class' State Champion later this week. This photo gallery is just some of the Seniors who will be on the diamond and giving it their all one more time for a championship. More photos from the softball games, at Palmetto Park and Patriot Park from Friday and Saturday are available by following this link or the one below. High resolution prints and digital downloads from this event are available at www.LarryGamble.com by clicking this link to the photos.
Columbia – Memorial Stadium in Columbia was the site for the 2024 South Carolina High School League state championships for boys soccer on May 10-11. The five contests were highly competitive with three contests needing overtime to decide the outcome. Oceanside Collegiate repeated as the state champion in Class AA while Riverside won a fourth consecutive state championship in Class AAAA. St. Joseph’s coach Frank Kucinic hoisted the top trophy for the 11 th time in his career. Here’s the recap of the five contests. Class A boys St. Joseph’s 2, Christ Church 1 (golden goal) Johnny Bunecke’s golden goal in the first sudden death overtime period lifted the Knights of St. Joseph’s Catholic to a 2-1 win over Greenville area rival Christ Church. The title was the 11 th for Knights head coach Frank Kucinic and was the second straight Class A crown for the Knights. St. Joseph’s finished 2024 with a 17-4 record. “Holy smokes, what a game,” Kucinic said. “Amazing season for these kids. I knew coming into this that it was always a battle. The rivalry adds to it every time we play. Hat’s off to our guys. I’ve had these seniors since they were in the sixth or seventh-grade and this is a great way to send them out.” Christ Church and St. Joseph’s split two games in the regular season had split the last six contests heading into the finals. The Knights took the early advantage, getting a goal from Thomas Flanigan in the sixth minute of play. Christ Church evened the score seven minutes before halftime on Reeves Dobson’s equalizer off a follow up shot. Each team had a few chances to score but went through regulation and two 10-minute overtime sessions before the sudden death periods. Bunecke’s goal came less than two minutes into the period. “Just a great play by everyone,” Bunecke said. “Just passing it around and it got crossed over to me. At that point it was just muscle memory.” Christ Church’s first-year coach Russell Shelley felt his team had opportunities to win. “Great respect for their program and both teams had chances to win it,” Shelley said. “We played hard. Guys gave a great effort. We’re disappointed but it was a great season and a great accomplishment to be in this position.” Class AAAAA boys – Fort Mill 2, Stratford 2 (Fort Mill wins 3-0 on PKs) It took a while, five hours in fact, but the Fort Mill boys soccer team found a way to outlast Stratford in the Class AAAAA boys soccer finals. Fort Mill won the penalty kick phase, 3-0, to come away with their first state title since 2012. Adding to the 110 minutes of soccer was a two-hour weather delay with 31:59 left in the contest. The loss ended Stratford’s chase for their first-ever boys soccer state championship. Fort Mill provided the offensive push early in the first half and grabbed 1 -0 lead off a header by Braden Gritz in the14th minute of the contest. With 31:59 remaining in the contest, the teams were forced off the field by lightening, a delay that lasted for two hours. When the teams returned, the Knights brought another level offensively. “I think the rain delay helped us. I think it took some of the pressure off,” Stratford coach Jessie Stament said, “They came out and it was brilliant soccer. I could not be prouder of them. To see the pain in their eyes but they have no reason to hang their head. It was an incredible game by both teams. They really gave it their all.” Senior Vinny Teixeira got the equalizer in the 58 th minute of play. Three minutes later, fellow senior Jackson McNeil found the back of the net to give the Knights a 2-1 lead. The Yellow Jackets would not go away, firing a shot at Stratford keeper Enzo Mori that bounced off his hands and to the foot of Ryan Seitz. The point blank goal tied the score at two. “I am super proud of the boys,” Fort Mill coach Pete Burroughs said. “We felt like we were here for a reason. Our guys left it all on the field today. Both teams did really. It was a great game to be a part of.” Class AA – Oceanside Collegiate 3, Gray Collegiate 0 Oceanside Collegiate got three goals in the final 25 minutes of the contest to record their second straight championship game victory. “This one was harder,” OCA coach Collin Phillips said. “Happy for this moment. Guys played with discipline. They (Gray) pressed us hard in the first half. I think once we scored that first goal, we seemed to relax and play better. We needed one score to give our kids some confidence.” After a scoreless first half, OCA got on the board in the 54 th minute of play on a goal by Isaac Rasheed. That lone goal would appear to be enough but security was provided by Mathias Dennis with just over six minutes remaining in the game. Icing on the cake came with under two minutes on a goal by sophomore Robert Hemingway. “In my opinion, they are the best team in this state, regardless of classification,” Gray Collegiate coach Kevin Heise said of OCA. “Our guys battled. We came to play and we played great soccer for about 65 minutes or so. Once we got down, we tried to push more and we gave up a few goals. I’m proud of my team. We gave them all they wanted. We knew we would have to play an A-plus game to have a chance. I’m disappointed for my boys but we had a helluva year.” Phillips was proud of the way he team handled the pressure of being the defending state champion. “When we came into this season, we talked about the target on our back. We managed to go through the season undefeated because the guys work so hard. We didn’t rest on what we did last year,” Class AAAA – Riverside 1, James Island 0 (overtime) Riverside made it four in a row, winning an intense, physical battle with James Island. After a scoreless 80-minute battle in regulation. With two mandatory 10-minute overtime periods to come, Riverside got an early goal from Kanye Ridgill off a header in the first overtime. The Warriors then played great defense for the remaining 17 minutes, holding off several scoring challenges from James Island. “Great game,” Riverside coach Scott Columbia said. “It seems impossible to win four (in a row) but it’s a program. These guys, their heart was so much bigger. They followed the program and played so hard. “Tonight, that was a great James Island team. They put the pressure on us and they kept us from scoring goals with their defense. I give them major, major credit. We just kept fighting the whole entire time and I am very proud of the boys.” “It was a well-played game by both teams. We just came up a little short,” James Island coach Todd Robinson said. “Really proud of my team though. We gave it all we had. We lost to a really good team.” James Island entered the final game having won 11 straight while allowing just four goals during that run.
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