Boyd proud of Stallions' run after losing double-digit seniors for 3 straight years

By Neill Kirkpatrick Special to the HSSR North Charleton – Thomas Heyward Academy is synonymous with championships, but it had been two years since they hosted the championship trophy, well they are back on top of SCISA Class A as they avenged a regular season lose by beating Williamsburg Academy 23-8 Saturday at Charleston Southern University The state championship was the 12 th for the Rebels and their first under first year head coach Taylor Malphurs, a former player and coach for the Rebels. They finished the year 12-1with their only loss coming to Williamsburg 28-26 in week four. “We have come a long way since March. It has been a long road and these guys have been getting after every week. I could not be happier or prouder of them. I had a lot of these guys since the sixth grade when I started coaching JV as head coach. To have that group as seniors winning it all is a great feeling,” said Malphurs. The Stallions finished the year at 10-2 with their only losses coming the Class A champion (THA) and the AA champion (Pee Dee). It was their fourth consecutive trip to the championship game with the last three coming at the AA level. They won it all 2022 (AA). “They are a good team but we did not finish our drives. We are not a big play team, we like to drive it down the field and control the clock,” said Williamsburg Academy coach Tyler Boyd . “This group played with a chip on their shoulder all year. I am proud of the effort, they did not quit and played until the end.” Williamsburg started the game by doing what they do best running the ball and controlling the clock. They put together a 15-play drive covering 64-yards that used 8:15 of the clock but when they got to a first and goal at the Thomas Heyward 10-yardline things went array as two delay of games penalties derailed the drive and the Stallions were turned away. Junior quarterback Micah Balder completed three of five passes for 47 yards and rushed for 13 while sophomore running back Grant Smalls had 32 total yards on the drive. THA Senior Beau Pinckney and junior Tony O’Banner had big plays in stopping the Stallions once they got to the 10. Pinckney had a stop for no gain on first down while O’Banner had a five-yard tackle for loss on second down to push the Stallions back to the 20. The Rebels finished out the first quarter be driving the ball 52 yards to the Stallions 24- yard line but on the first play of the second quarter the Stallions defensive front led by seniors Wyatt Floyd and Drake Evans broke through the line and hit THA senior running back Colton Young in the backfield forcing a fumble which was recovered by the Stallions. The Stallions returned the favor four plays later when on first down a bobbled snap led to a fumble where senior Kelan Fripp fell on the ball at the Williamsburg 28. The turnovers continued when on third and eight from the Stallions 23 the Rebel tried a half back pass but O’Banner was pressured as he rolled to his right and his pass was intercepted by William Caulder at the 12. On first down Floyd had five-yard tackle for loss for the Stallions. Williamsburg ended the back-to-back-to-back turnovers by driving the ball 88 yards in just four plays to take the lead when Balder lofted a perfectly thrown deep ball in the waiting arms of junior Jay Kellahan for a 37-yard touchdown. Balder then hit sophomore Michael Ard for the two-point conversion and the Stallions were up 8-0. The Rebels would take one play to get back in the game as O’Banner would take a hand off going left then hit the seam and out raced everyone to the end zone for a 52-yard touchdown run. Senior kicker Donovan Robinson added the PAT making the score 8-7 Stallions. “I definitely wanted to atone for my interception so it was felt good to score a touchdown,” said O’Banner. After a 32-yard kickoff return by Smalls giving the Stallions good field position at their 42 with 5:11 left in the first half. Balder led the Stallions down the field by to the Rebels 10-yardline with 35 seconds before disaster struck. Balder got some pressure as he rolled to his left. As he was going down he tossed a pass to the left, right into the waiting arms of THA junior safety Josh Gibson . Gibson returned the ball 28 yards to the 43 with 22 seconds left in the half. Gibson said of the interception, “I saw that they ran a flat route but both receivers went inside. I knew the quarterback was going to throw it outside so when he threw it I just went and got it. Then ran the ball up the field.” O’Banner would strike again when he took the hand off on a stretch play left. He saw a crease, then made his cut and raced untouched for a 57-yard touchdown run. Robinson added the PAT and the Rebels would have a lead they would not relinquish at 14-8. THA came out after half-time with the intent of putting the game away on their first possession. Starting at their own 28 they moved quickly into Stallion territory after a 15-yard run by O’Banner and a face mask penalty. However, on third and ten from the Stallion 19 sophomore quarterback Kiran Boggess had his pass picked off at the 10 by freshmen Gamble Wilson who returned it 16 yards to the 26. The Rebel defense took over from there. Led by their defensive line of sophomore Dawson Drew , junior Dodge Peeples and freshman Ben Gibson they forced the first punt of the game on Williamsburg’s first possession and then held the Stallions to 76 yards in the second half after allowing 236 yards in the first half. “The defense got hit in the mouth early but they rebounded from that adversity and made the plays when we had to have them. In the second half we were able to push the pedal down,” said coach Malphrus. The Rebels went up two scores on their next drive. Taking over at the Stallions 45 the Rebels started the drive with two penalties putting them in a first and 25 hole. O’Banner picked up 8 yards and then Boggess hit Young with a swing pass to the right. Young run the ball down to the one for a first and goal. After losing 9 yards on their first two play, Boggess hit Gibson in the left corner of the end zone for 20-8 lead. The PAT was no good. While Stallion offense struggled in the second half, the Rebels played keep away with theirs. They had two drives in the third and fourth quarters where they ran 18 plays and ate up over 8 minutes on the clock. The second drive ended in a Robinson 25-yard field goal for a 23-8 lead. The Stallions final three possessions ended it two turnover on downs and one interception when Gibson nabbed his second of the game at the end of third quarter. Seniors Angus Crider Jaiden Edwards along with Pinckney, Peeples and Drew led the offense by opening up holes along the Stallion front to the tune of 285 yards on the ground. O’Banner led all runners with 201 yards (unofficially) and the two touchdowns while Young ran and caught the ball for 107 total yards. Boggess was 5-6 for 46 yards and touchdown and interception and Gibson caught four of those balls for 46 yards, a score and he had two picks. Balder threw for 218 yards while Smalls had 90 yards of total offense. Kellahan had three receptions for 56 yards and a touchdown while Byrce Blackburn had two catches for 58 yards.

By Dennis Brunson hssr.com Associate Editor Kingstree – Williamsburg Academy will be playing in its fourth consecutive SCISA football state championship game on Saturday. The Stallions will face Thomas Heyward Academy for the Class A state title beginning at noon at Charleston Southern University’s Buccaneer Field in North Charleston . And it’s not like WA has accomplished this with the same cast of characters over that time frame. When it played for the AA state title in 2021, Williamsburg had 15 seniors on the team, according to head coach Tyler Boyd . The following year when the Stallions won the AA title, they had 12 seniors. Last season when it lost to Bethesda Academy in the AA title game, WA had 16 seniors, several of whom were starters on each of those three teams. So for Williamsburg to be doing this again speaks volumes to Boyd about the character of his players. “It’s really crazy that we’re such a small school and have lost that many players over the last three years and still we’re back here again,” said Boyd, who is completing his second season as head coach after being the offensive coordinator for Don Shelley the first two years of the run. “It’s pretty cool, and it means a lot to these seniors. There was a lot of negativity and doubt about how good they were going to be. They’ve proved everybody wrong to this point.” Boyd gives some credit for this team’s success to the ones from the previous three campaigns. “Obviously, you have to say culture has a lot to do with this,” Boyd said. “They’ve learned from the best because they had to go against the best in practice the last three years. They learned from them because they practiced with them. They’ve developed a tightness over the years. They’re all tough and they want to play hard for each other is the main thing.” The Stallions will take a 10-1 record into the championship contest. Their lone loss came to undefeated AA state finalist Pee Dee by a 25-0 score in the second game of the season. That was the anomaly though as WA has scored 332 points in 10 games (it won one by forfeit) and allowed just 112. Junior Micah Balder has matured at quarterback after winning the job held by his brother, Conrad Balder , the three previous seasons. Micah is the leading rusher with 775 yards and 10 touchdowns on 123 carries and has really come on as a passer down the stretch. He has completed 50 of 95 passes for 854 yards and 13 touchdowns against just three interceptions. “I I think Micah has really grown in his confidence,” Boyd said. “”He wants the ball in his hands as much as possible. He’s become better as a runner and a passer. He’s getting a few extra yards in the run game. He always knew where to throw the ball, he’s just doing it with confidence now. “He’s throwing with confidence, getting the passes out quicker. He’s got a lot more trust in the guys around him. There were a lot of unknowns coming into the season, so he had to develop that trust in confidence with them.” Balder’s favorite target is senior Bryce Blackburn with 16 catches for 265 yards. Sophomore tight end Charlie Caulder has 12 catches for 233 yards and three touchdowns. Sophomore running back Grant Small has five catches for 144 yards and two touchdowns, sophomore H back Michael Ard had four catches for 83 yards and two touchdowns, junior H back Jay Kellahan has four catches for 55 yards, senior wide receiver William Caulder has four catches for 47 yards and at TD, and freshman wide receiver Gamble Wilson has six catches for 74 yards. Small is the starting running back and he has come on as well down the stretch. He has 651 yards and eight touchdowns on 92 carries. Senior running back Ty Tilton has 268 yards and a score on 59 carries. Ard, who just recently moved from the offensive line to H back, has seven carries for 45 yards and two touchdowns. Kellahan has eight carries for 46 yards. The offensive line is anchored by sophomore Sammy Tomlinson at center. On the left side are senior Wyatt Floyd at tackle and senior Drake Evans at guard. Senior Layton Morris is the left guard and sophomore Marlin Morris is the left tackle. The Stallions work out of a 3-4 defensive alignment. Boyd said the defensive unit has improved by leaps and bounds. “The defense has gotten a lot better,” he said. “We moved some pieces around, and our players just understand their reads and trust more in our reads. They know where they’re supposed to be. We’ve got a lot of sophomores who keep getting better.” Junior Connor Morris is the noseguard and has 31 tackles and six tackles for a loss. Floyd and Evans are the main defensive ends. Floyd has 52 tackles and shares the team lead in TFLs with nine, while Evans has 46 tackles and seven TFLs. Also seeing time are Tomlinson with seven tackles and Marlin Morris with 23 tackles. The inside linebackers are Layton Morris, who has 58 tackles with five TFLs, and Tilton, who has a team high 62 tackles to go with six TFLs. Lining up on the outside are Charlie Caulder with 37 tackles and nine TFLs and Ard with 46 tackles and six TFLs. Small, who has 24 tackles and one TFL, also sees time. The cornerbacks are Blackburn and Wilson. Blackburn has 23 tackles and five TFLs, while Wilson has 37 tackles and one TFL. Several players see time at the safety positions. They include Balder with 23 tackles and two TFLs, William Caulder with 52 tackles and five TFLs, sophomore Seth Cherinko with 30 tackles and Kellahan with nine tackles and one TFL. Wilson leads the team in interceptions with three, while Balder and Ard both have two. Layton Morris, William Caulder, Small and freshman safety Weston McKenzie each have one. Layton Morris is the punter while Small handles the kicking duties with sophomore Al Casselman serving as the holder. Floyd is the long snapper. Blackburn and Small are kickoff returners and William Caulder returns punts. Wiliamsburg and Thomas Heyward met on September 13 in Ridgeland , and the Stallions pulled out a 28-26 victory. Boyd doesn’t think the outcome of that game will have much of a bearing on the title game. “They’re almost a different team,” Boyd said of the Rebels, who are 11-1 on the season. “They’re a better team than when we faced them the first time. I think both teams are a lot better than they were then.” OFFENSE QB - Micah Balder #5 Jr. RB - Grant Small #10 So. HB - Michael Ard #44 So. WR - Bryce Blackburn #12 Sr. WR - William Caulder #13 Sr. TE - Charlie Caulder #7 So. RT - Wyatt Floyd #52 Sr. RG - Drake Evans #75 Sr. C - Sammy Tomlinson #54 So. LG - Layton Morris #61 Sr. LT - Marlin Morris #60 So. DEFENSE NG - Connor Morris #56 Jr. DE - Wyatt Floyd #52 Sr. DE - Drake Evans #75 Sr. ILB - Layton Morris #61 Sr. ILB - Ty Tilton #28 Sr. OLB - Charlie Caulder #6 Soph. OLB - Michael Ard #44 Soph. CB - Bryce Blackburn #12 Sr. CB - Gamble Wilson #3 Fr. SS - Micah Balder #5 Jr. FS - William Caulder #13 Sr. SPECIAL TEAMS Punter - Layton Morris #61 Sr. PK - Grant Small #10 So. Holder - Al Casselman #8 So. Long Snapper - Connor Morris #56 Jr. Punt Returns - William Caulder #13 Sr. Kickoff Returns - Bryce Blackburn #12 Sr. Kickoff Returns - Grant Small #10 So.

It's a big weekend for high school football. SCISA holds their Championship Weekend starting tonight with two games in different parts of the state. And, the SCHSL playoff round gets one step closer the final playoff round before their big Championship Weekend. SCISA's state title games for Friday night: At W.W. King Academy with kickoff at 7:30pm , the 8-man title game pits Laurens Academy vs. Richard Winn At Charleston Southern with kickoff at 7pm , the Class AAAA title game pits Hammond vs Porter Gaud SCISA's state title games for Saturday : all games at Charleston Southern University Kicking off at 12-Noon , Class A featuring Thomas Heyward vs. Williamsburg Academy Kicking off at 3:30pm , Class AA featuring Pee Dee vs. Bethesda Academy Kicking off at 7:30pm , Class AAA featuring Wilson Hall vs. Pinewood Prep The SCHSL will hold their Championship Weekend Dec 14th and 15th at South Carolina State's Oliver C. Dawson Stadium in Orangeburg, SC. If there is a time for upsets, it's this weekend. See how your team stacks up this week in our exclusive prognostication feature, Doodles Doodles . This season the predictions are right 78.6% of the time with a record of 1089-313-2 .

Important Information For Schools, Parents, & Fans Concerning The Upcoming SCISA State Football Championship Games Moncks Corner -- The “ High School Sports Report” will be devoting our time, energy and resources this week towards producing individual full-color keepsake souvenir state championship football programs for the 10 teams competing for state titles on Friday (Nov. 22) and Saturday (Nov. 23). All four of the SCISA AAAA, AAA, AA and Class A games will be hosted by Charleston Southern University located in North Charleston at the I-26 205 exit. The SCISA 8-man championship game will be played at W.W. King Academy (near Saluda ) at 7:30 on Friday night. The Hammond School (12-0) will face Porter Gaud (11-1) at Charleston Southern at 7 p.m. Friday night. Then on Saturday, the Class A state title game between Williamsburg Academy (9-1) and Thomas Heyward Academy (11-1) begins at noon. The SCISA AA title game between Pee Dee Academy (11-0) and Bethesda Academy (9-3) follows at 3:30. The night-cap AAA title game on Saturday night is at 7 p.m. between Pinewood Prep (9-2) and Wilson Hall (11-1). Ther HSSR would like to inform all schools involved to please e mail to hsreport@aol.com your varsity football and cheer team pictures by 6 p.m. on Monday. Every team will have their respective football team on the cover of their edition, and your cheer squad will be pictured inside your respective edition. (Important) Each Head of School is offered a free “Welcome Letter” page geared towards your team, fans and community. We need your “Welcome Letter” in at hsreport@aol.com by 7 p.m. on Tuesday (Nov., 19). Please include a picture of yourself and a school logo. The HSSR has four marketing reps assigned to market programs. Should you have interest in supporting your team, along with your favorite player, or cheerleader reps include: Swift Bethea is assigned to market Pee Dee Academy and he can be reached at 843-774-3482. Larry Gamble will be marketing the Hammond School and Wilson Hall’s programs and he can be reached at 414-699-9061. Neill Kirkpatrick will be marketing the Porter - Guad championship program and he can be reached at 704-996-3333. The remaining five schools will be marketed by HSSR Publisher Billy G. Baker and he can be reached at 843-200-9555. Baker will be in Kingstree on Monday with the WA program, Ridgeland on Tuesday with the THA program, and in Summerville on Wednesday wrapping up the Pinewood Prep program. However, feel free to call him or any marketing rep on this list anytime Monday-Thursday. We hope to have the majority of the best wishes ads in house by 9 p.m. on Wednesday night, due to a tight print schedule, but 6 p.m. on Thursday is the final deadline. Fans are asked to follow instructions on the attached official state championship form. Feel free to send your ad information to hsreport@aol.com and Berna Noll will be available at the HSSR “home office” between 9 am and 9 pm to take payment for sponsor ads, or answer any questions. The one request is that once you have all the content for your best wishes ad, please send just one e-mail, and not three or four e mails, so we make sure everything gets in your ad. Participating schools are asked to forward this attached team football program ad order form to the parents and boosters of your team! Good luck to all teams competing for SCISA football championships this weekend!

Williamsburg Academy's Jr. QB Micha Baulder rolling out looking for a target

Williamsburg Academy's Ty Tilton on the run.

Williamsburg Academy QB Micah Balder

By: Gerald Doolittle Goose Creek, S.C . - The South Carolina Independent Schools Association is preparing to open its 55 th football season with a new two-year alignment. Can Hammond (4A), Hilton Head Christian (3A), Bethesda Academy (2A), Patrick Henry Academy (1A) and Jefferson Davis Academy (8 Man) defend their 2023 titles? Hammond will be playing for their 8 th straight title in Class 4A. The top five pre-season ranking for Class 4A : 1. Hammond 2. Laurence Manning 3. Porter-Gaud 4. Northwood Academy 5. Cardinal Newman. Laurence Manning was runners-up to Hammond in 2023. Augusta Christian, Ben Lippen and Heathwood Hall will earn a playoff spot by finishing in the top eight. The top five pre-season ranking for Class 3A : 1. Hilton Head Christian, 2. Wilson Hall, 3. Pinewood Prep, 4. Florence Christian and 5. Trinity Collegiate. Hilton Head Christian defeated Wilson Hall for the 2023 title. John Paul ll, Palmetto Christian and Camden Military will earn a playoff spot if they finish the regular season in the top eight. The top five pre-season ranking for Class 2A : 1. Bethesda Academy, 2. Clarendon Hall Academy, 3. St. Johns Christian, 4. Orangeburg Prep and 5. Pee Dee Academy. Bethesda Academy defeated Williamsburg Academy (now in 1A) for the 2023 title. Greenwood Christian, Spartanburg Christian, Calhoun Academy, Dillon Christian, Thomas Sumter Academy, Hilton Head Prep and Christian Academy all will earn a playoff spot by finishing in the Class 2A top eight. The top five pre-season ranking for Class 1A : 1. Williamsburg Academy 2. Patrick Henry Academy 3. Lee Academy 4. Dorchester Academy 5. Thomas Heyward Academy Patrick Henry Academy defeated Lee Academy for the 2023 title. Colleton Prep, Beaufort Academy, Faith Christian, Andrew Jackson Academy, and Carolina Academy can get playoff spots by finishing in the top eight. The top five pre-season ranking for Eight Man are: 1. Jefferson Davis Academy 2. Holly Hill Academy 3. Richard Winn Academy 4. Wardlaw Academy 5. Laurens Academy W.W. King Academy, Newberry Academy and Oakbrook Prep can earn playoff spots by finishing in the top four of Region One. Cathedral Academy, Cross Schools and Conway Christian can earn playoff spots by finishing in the top four of Region Two. The Kings Academy is a new comer Region Two moving to 8-man play this season.