By Donald Heath

Special for the Effingham Herald

GUYTON – It was another banner year for South Effingham’s boys’ and girls’ athletics. New coaches came on the scene and made impressive strides.

Athletes got a year older and a year better. Countless hours of work came to fruition.

Here’s a look at five highlights at SEHS in 2023.

SEHS wrestling team wins Class 6A state title

The wrestling team made a run at the elite of Class 6A in 2022. The Mustangs crossed the finish line No. 1 in 2023.

“You can print this, ‘Effingham County is a wrestling county now. We can create champions’” said a proud SEHS coach Christopher Bringer after his squad topped North Forsyth 36-28 in the dual finals in Gainesville.

South finished 35-2, defeated nemesis Brunswick for the Area 2 championship and took down five teams at state to pin down the school’s first state championship.

A few weeks later, the Mustangs shined individually during the traditional portion of the wrestling season. Ashton Anderson won a state championship in the 285-pound weight class with a heart-pounding four-overtime win.

Enrique Santana (second at 157), Brandon “Moose” Bringer (third at 132), Ashton Tootle (fourth at 165) and DaMyon McFarlin (sixth at 175) all placed among the top six.

Softball wins region, takes fourth at State

The defending region champion Mustangs entered the softball season as favorites to win another region title and make a long run at state.

They accomplished both goals, but the way they navigated and persevered down a path filled with roadblocks made for a special season.

South took a humbling mercy-rule loss to Grovetown late in the schedule and lost the first game in a regular-season, three-game set with rival Effingham County before turning the season around.

SEHS finished with a 31-6 record – the program’s single-season record for wins, according to MaxPreps – and won a third region title in four years.

At state, the Mustangs blanked defending state champion Pope 3-0 in the opener and won a 2-1, 10-inning thriller against Effingham County en route to a fourth-place finish.

Senior Bailey Kendziorski, a Boston College signee, was the region’s Pitcher of the Year for the fourth straight year.

The SEHS’ seniors finished their careers with a 108-24-1 record. Catcher Jaden Burns (Wingate), third baseman Whitney Thompson (East Georgia State) and second baseman Emma Darrow (Georgia Highlands) recently signed college letters of intent.

Football captures first winning season since 2019

Loren Purvis was a new head football coach but a familiar face around South Effingham’s practice fields. Purvis was the offensive coordinator when Nathan Clark took over the Mustangs in 2019. Clark and Purvis took a two-win 2018 season and blossomed to six wins a year later.

Purvis returned to Guyton as SEHS’ head coach and performed similar magic. During his first year, he turned a four-win team to a six-win team.

The .600 winning percentage (a 6-4 record) was the Mustangs’ best since 2015 and South’s 26-point win against Grovetown (a 40-14 win) was also the team’s largest margin of victory against a region team since beating Bradwell Institute by 35 (35-0) in 2015.

Purvis pushed a lot of buttons correctly. He moved Kaden De Genaro back to starting quarterback and played former starting quarterback Aubrey Heath on offense, defense and special teams.

Linebacker Gannon White found a new home at running back and led the team in rushing. Oft-injured JaKeim Leeks stayed healthy and helped at wingback.

Offensive lineman Ashton Anderson, linebacker Jeremiah Washington and defensive back Dominic Martell each earned first-team all-region honors.

Volleyball advances to state quarterfinals

The volleyball team spiked a lot of interest during the 2023 campaign, beating rival Effingham County for the first time since 2020, finishing second at region and advancing to the Elite Eight at the Class 6A state championships.

First-year head coach Heywood Ellison, who had been the junior varsity coach in 2022, continued to keep the varsity program on the rise. South went from four wins in 2021 to 20 in 2022 and posted a 25-17 record in 2023.

This season, the Mustangs started slowly at 4-8 and lost a non-region meeting to Effingham County. But South, led by Area 2’s Defensive Player of the Year Clara Vorel (297 kills, 93 blocks) and setter Riley Stringer, eventually snapped its six-game losing streak to the Rebels in a match that counted in the region standings.

SEHS entered state as a No. 2 seed and easily beat Morrow in the first round before defeating Veterans, an area champion, in the second round before falling to Blessed Trinity.

South’s state quarterfinal appearance was the school’s best showing at state since 2017.

 

SEHS girls’ basketball wins 20 games

After languishing with six straight under-.500 teams, SEHS made a sizable stride to go from 10 wins during the 2

021-22 season to 20 wins in Coach Alexus Parker’s second season a year ago.

The Mustangs placed second in the region, falling only to highly regarded Brunswick in regular-season region play and the region tournament championship game.

By finishing as a second seed, SEHS earned a chance to host a state tournament game for the first time since 2019. The Mustangs’ 20-8 record was their first winning season since the 2015-16 season.

Kay’mar Griffin, a 5-foot-9 guard, led an experienced group of four seniors and one junior. Griffin, who signed to play at South Carolina-Beaufort, earned the region’s Offensive Player of the Year after averaging 11.3 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 3.4 steals.

Elena Hairston captured first-team all-region honors and Zakerria Hall and Shi’Asia House made the second team.