GUYTON, Ga. – Individual state titles, deep team runs at state and a notable turnaround in football punctuated a banner year for South Effingham athletics in 2025.
Three Mustang wrestlers – Tahrik Bailey, Emilio Santana and Brandon “Moose” Bringer – claimed traditional state championships in February. Harrison Crofts soared to a track and field state title in the spring. In the fall, the softball and volleyball programs proved to be among the state’s elite, while the football team made strides that carried it to the brink of its first state playoff appearance since 2019.
Here are the stories that defined South Effingham’s year.
Three champions keep wrestling in spotlight
The Mustangs fell short of a dual state title for the first time in three seasons, but individual championships by Bailey, Bringer and Santana kept the program squarely in the Class 5A spotlight in Macon.
It marked the first time in school history South Effingham produced three individual state champions in the same season.
Bringer, the son of coach Christopher Bringer, and Santana closed their prep careers by avenging losses from the 2024 title matches, winning championships at 157 and 126 pounds, respectively. Bringer finished the season 67-2, ended his career at 229-15 and set the school record for career victories. Santana posted a 52-4 season record and finished 174-26 overall, fourth-best in program history.
Bailey delivered another first, winning a state title as a freshman at 113 pounds while compiling a 61-3 record. He became just the second Mustang to claim a championship in that weight class, matching Jacob Galindez’s 2022 title.
Softball breaks through to championship finals
Reaching Columbus – site of the Elite Eight, double-elimination state tournament – has been an annual goal for South Effingham softball. In 2025, the Mustangs not only got there, they made history.
South advanced to its first state championship finals since 2005 and finished the season 26-5. Led by junior Danni Lynn, the Georgia Dugout Club’s Class 5A Player of the Year, the Mustangs edged Glynn Academy 7-6 in Game 3 to win the subregion.
After a 4-3 loss to Effingham County in the region finals, South responded by sweeping best-of-three state series against Winder-Barrow and Region 7 champion Milton to earn a fourth consecutive trip to Columbus.
In the Elite Eight, pitcher Cheniyah Jackson shut out Region 6 champion Lassiter and Jackson County on Day 1. South fell to Creekview on Day 2, rallied in the seventh inning to defeat Veterans the next day, then lost its second game to Creekview.
Lynn rewrote the school record book, setting marks for batting average (.545), hits (54), doubles (18), home runs (12) and RBIs (52). She was also named the Class 5A, Region 1 South subregion Player of the Year. Justine Nevels earned Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Shortstop Sydney Minshall, third baseman Alyssa Martin and Jackson were named first-team, all-subregion.
Volleyball surges back to state quarterfinals
After an underwhelming 2024 season, South Effingham volleyball surged back to the top of the area in emphatic fashion.
The Mustangs finished 40-11, set a school record for single-season wins, captured a region title and advanced to the Class 5A quarterfinals. A 13-game winning streak highlighted the regular season, and South rallied past Effingham County in the region finals before defeating Apalachee and Milton in the first two rounds of state.
South’s run ended with a three-set loss to perennial power McIntosh in the quarterfinals.
Senior middle blocker Clara Vorel, who signed with Towson University, dominated at the net with 526 kills and 88 blocks, earning Class 5A Co-Player of the Year honors from the Georgia Volleyball Coaches Association. Vorel was also named the Class 5A, Region 1 South subregion Player of the Year.
Junior setter Leah Magana was the subregion’s Offensive Player of the Year, senior libero Lauren Olson earned Defensive Player of the Year honors and junior outside hitter Morgan Stringer recorded 358 kills to land first-team, all-subregion recognition. Coach Haywood Ellison was named subregion Coach of the Year.
The Mustangs finished seventh in Class 5A in ScoreAtlanta’s final top-10 poll.
Crofts clears path to state gold
As a freshman, Harrison Crofts needed encouragement from friends to join the track team. Three years later, he made the biggest leap of his high school career.
Crofts won the Class 5A high jump title at the state championships in Rome, becoming South Effingham’s first state track champion since Cameron Edwards captured the triple jump in 2022.
Crofts and Villa Rica’s Jermaine King both cleared 6 feet, 8 inches, then missed all three attempts at 6-10. Crofts claimed the title by virtue of fewer misses earlier in the competition.
The championship capped a steady rise for Crofts, a versatile athlete who also played varsity football and basketball before signing with the U.S. Naval Academy for track. As a junior, he set a school record by clearing 6-7. As a senior, he raised the mark to 6-10 at the region championships in Statesboro.
Football shows signs of revival
Four wins in a 10-game season may not always signal success, but for South Effingham football, it represented meaningful progress.
Under coach Loren Purvis, the Mustangs rebounded from a 0-10 season in 2024 to finish 4-6 overall in 2025. South snapped a 13-game losing streak with a win over Lakeside and posted a 4-4 region record – its first .500 region finish since 2015.
It marked just the fourth time in school history the program improved by four wins in a single season. In 2019, the Mustangs jumped from two wins to six under coach Nathan Clark and reached the state playoffs. Purvis was the offensive coordinator on that staff.
South entered its final regular-season game against Brunswick with a chance to advance to the state playoffs.
First-year defensive coordinator Carson McClellan led a defense that allowed nearly 17 fewer points per game, while the offense averaged seven more points per contest. Junior running back Khyran White rushed for more than 1,000 yards, and senior middle linebacker Corey Woods recorded more than 100 tackles.
