Sports
Seniors Say Goodbye
By: Angel A.
This week the Seahawk Times interviewed senior football player Erkan Montoya. Erkan is the punter and defensive Linemen for HHIHS football team. This is his first year playing football.”This is my first time playing football and I have really enjoyed it. It is a lot more different than soccer.” Erkan played soccer for the school before transitioning to football. It was a surprise for people because of the amount of time he gave into soccer then switching to playing football. But why did this senior start playing football? He said, “I decided to start playing football because I wanted to try something new. I was also told by some of the coaches last year that I had a good foot and that they needed a kicker and that I was the man for it.” Since joining the team Erkan has played as kicker, punter and Defensive Linemen. The football team has their senior night this Friday the 13 against the Lucy Beckham Bengals. “I’m really excited for this Friday because it’s senior night and we're playing a really good team. I’m also kind’ve sad because it means the season is coming to an end.” Senior night is a night where seniors get recognized for their hard work and for their last year of high school. They face Lucy Beckham, which is one of the best teams in the region.”Lucy Beckham has a really good team this year. They usually always have a good team but this year they have a really good team but I think we have a chance in beating them.” What will Erkan do after high school?” I’m going to try to go to college for soccer, I don’t know what my major will be but I do know that I want to go to college to play soccer.”
Hilton Head Baseball
By: Connor MacCabe
This past year the baseball team here at Hilton Head High School saw a big jump in just one year. Two years ago our Seahawks baseball team went 7-14, not winning a single series in the region, also making them the worst playoff team in the state tournament, leading to an early elimination. However, just this past season they improved to 19-9, only losing one series in the region, earning them home field advantage throughout nearly all of the playoffs. This incredible run also made the Seahawks the number four seed in Lower States, as they took down some powerhouses like Beaufourt and Hilton Head Christian.
The Hawks lost two incredible players last year in Connor Gardner and Christian Stratis. Connor Gardner, was a catcher and threw out all but three baserunners while attempting to steal a base, Christian on the other hand, ranked as the second best third baseman in all of South Carolina and top 50 in the nation. So how did one team with these two stars do so bad, yet nearly the exact same team, but without those two players, do so much better. To answer this question Brad, was the go to guy to interview, as he is one of the leaders on the team.
Brad said “We honestly were less talented last year than we were two years ago, we just took it a lot more seriously.” When Brad said it was taken more seriously he was referring to the offseason lifts and mid season practice, saying “Practices used to be just a big joke, someone was always missing, nobody was ever paying attention, and no one would listen to our coach. Now though, Everyone understands we can still have fun yet also still practice with intent.” Much of the issue before was a “Lack of leadership” Brad said “Many of our best seniors had just transferred over and didn’t really care how the season went, and that affected the rest of our team. Last year our leaders were people who have been in the program for year and were friends with the rest of the team, the also knew how to lay the hammer down on us when we weren’t doing what we needed to.” If that leadership was there you can only imagine how good they could’ve been. Brad said “That is probably the most talented team we’ve had in a while and I think we could’ve won the region and made a deep run in the playoffs.” However, the past is the past and Hilton Head is looking froward to this upcoming season, Brad said “Our reborn leadership will guide us to have an even better season than last year, I expect at least 20 wins."
Connor Maccabe Mid Year Sports and Take On Football Team
By Ryan Kurz
Connor MacCabe played on special teams for the Hilton Head Island Seahawks Football team. This year was his senior year and was his last season in high school.
There are many players on the Hilton Head High School football team and only some ever get a touchdown. Connor said “I never got to really play on the offense this year, but I did catch the football a couple times when they did have me in.”
This year the team had a 3-7 and they missed the playoffs this year but there is always another year. There is always a way to help change the football team but Connor said “This year we did our best and we performed to the best of our ability and I think the other teams just got the best of us.”
It was the senior season for many of the players on the Hilton Head High School Football Team. Connor's opinion on his senior year was “I'm sad that was my last time suiting up for the football team ever.”
“My favorite football teammate is Bo Saxon but my favorite baseball teammate is Slater,” said Connor. Connor also said, “I like the whole team, don't think I don't but I just have favorites.”
Many players in high school don't get a chance to play football in college. Some are lucky and get full ride scholarships to D2 or D3 but if you're really good and lucky you can get accepted into D1 schools. Connors' opinion on this was “It would be nice but it's unrealistic to think I could play football. My goal is to play baseball D1 because that is my number one sport.”
The school baseball training is starting soon and so is the season. Connor said “yeah I think I'm ready for the season. I'm getting a four month head start before the season so I can be ready to win regions this year.”
Cross Country
By: Connor MacCabe
The Cross Country team here at Hilton Head High School has had some major success in the past years, not only in men’s but in womens too. Many of the runners run only cross country and do not participate in other sports, meaning many of these athletes are able to maintain a good and healthy weight for running with optimal speed. Last year the boys team had major success, going to states and earned a score of 158, which earned them fifth place in the state meet. The girls team last year also went to states, in that meet they earned a score of 290, which earned the girls thirteenth at the state meet. While the girls scored more points than the boys they still finished lower; this is because similarly to golf, you want to finish with the lowest possible score. The boys team looks to improve on their season from last year, as they have many returning runners coming back with an ultimate goal of winning the state championship.
The cross country team has been preparing for months, waking up in the cold, and staying after school, just to get the chance of winning states. Many of the runners are tall and skinny, usually standing at five-foot-ten-plus, and weighing in at, or more than 150 pounds. One of our runners, Drake Edmonds, who is the number two runner on the team said “We have high expectations for this season, and I have high expectations for myself.” The team looks very similar to the team they had last season when you look at their numbers so far this year, these high expectations might even by an understatement. “Our team has lost some good runners from last year, but our guys have put in the work to keep what we had going from last year.” Despite having a team with nearly a 25 second slower team compared to last year Drake said “I still think we haven’t had our best race yet.” When it comes to Drake himself he said “My personal goal is to run a sub 16:15,” This is a tough but manageable goal for Drake, as his all time personal record is 16:35. In closing Drake said “I know we have something special and I’m excited to see how our season turns out.”
Cheer At States
By: Samanta Garcia
On November 17 - 19, 2023 Hilton Head Island High School sent their competitive cheer team to states. This is their seventh time going and with Coach Lee coaching them. They went to state qualifiers and then to states.
For state qualifiers the top sixteen teams go on to states and HHIHS placed fifteenth. It was a very close call but the Lady Seahawks were able to pull through.After finishing with qualifiers they went straight to state on November 17 - 19, 2023.
Cheer states were in Columbia, South Carolina at the Colonial Life Arena. The HHIHS Competitive Cheer team placed 13th at states for the 2023 season. All-state is when an athlete performs well during states and throughout the season, unfortunately cheer doesn’t have all-state.
Although only varsity cheer can go to states some junior varsity cheerleaders got pulled up to varsity after their season. The girls were Ayanna Lee, Janeal Stevens, Maya Woodhouse, and MJ Lopez. So these girls are on varsity for the next competitive cheer season.
The Lady Seahawks cheer team may have not gotten the outcome they wanted, but they worked really hard, and with all of that the 2023 cheer season is over.
Varsity Basketball 2023
By: Ellie Mastrorocco and Angel Andreceutti
When talking to Coach Brown about this year’s Varsity Boys Basketball team, he has high expectations for the team. He expects them to do well this year as he describes them to already be at a point where they’re better than last year’s team. The team chemistry has improved as there are strong leaders that have grown up over the years. The guys keep the energy up and stay competitive at practice, Coach Brown explains.
The team has geared their energy towards making practices faster and a “higher tempo” with more running. “The first 30 minutes of practice are the same so the team can get into a routine.” They run passing and shooting drills, along with individual offense and defense practice. It is known that the team is not very big this year, so they want to improve their boxing out skills in order to better their rebounds.
Bluffton and May River, the Seahawks biggest rivals, have gotten better and have players that have grown and improved, just as we have. “Any team can beat you on any given night regardless of who they have.” Games start the Tuesday after Thanksgiving on November 28.
Hilton Head Basketball
By: Connor MacCabe
Hilton Head is coming off of a rough year, going 5-19. While the season seems like a complete failure, their record doesn’t do them justice considering how they truly played against their opponents. They were a young team, with almost a completely different starting line up this past year, due to the senior class from the year before graduating. They had seven total games where they only lost by 5 or less. This means they could’ve had a potential record of 12-12, which isn’t too bad considering the quality of opponents they played against. They holy lost by 3 to the region champs, gave Lecy Becham one of their only 2 losses in the region, and only lost by one to a 7A school out of Georgia. With all of these factors in mind we can likely come to the conclusion that this team had some great talent as they competed with some of the best team in the state, with that being said there are also a lot of returning players coming to play again this year, looking for a lot more better outcomes in some of these games they believe they should’ve won.
Player Brad Larson, was one of the many players playing in his first varsity year as a basketball player. He said “Our team last year kind of reminds me of the baseball team we had when I was a sophomore,” he said, relating to the fact that the close losses they had added up. “Just like that baseball season we were a couple of made shots away from being one of the better teams in the region. Brad also emphasized that not having many returning varsity players hurt them pretty badly saying “We were physical enough in the paint, we couldn’t get any rebounds and had to shoot from the perimeter way too often because of it.” In closing Brad said “While we are still a young team and smaller than others I expect to definitely see some improvement when comparing ourselves to what we were a year ago.”
Drake Edmonds Cross Country
By: Ryan Kurz
Last week Drake Edmonds and the Cross Country team ran in the States Cross Country meet in Newberry. They did relatively well in the States compared to the competition.
The team worked really hard everyday to make it to states. Drake said “We placed 6 in a group of 16 which in my opinion is very good because it means we're the top 6 in Cross Country in the state.”
The team was top 6 but what did Drake place? Drake said “I got 14th out of 118. I'm proud of where I have gotten in my last season.”
There are about 14 runners on Hilton Head Island High School Cross Country team. Drake said “J.D is one of the best on the team. He placed 12th on the course and made all-state.”
There were awards for the top runners in the state. Drake said “
I won all-state at the race. I won because I placed in the top 15 which is why I got it.”
This is the seniors’ last year and this was their last meet ever. Drake said “Yes I love cross country and as this was my last season and meet I'm happy but sad to be never running again in the high school league.”
Now that the Cross Country season is over and the track season is starting, spring. Drake said “my main sport is Cross Country and I prefer it, but I also really like to run track so yes I’m happy for it to start.”
The First Varsity Basketball Game
By: Ryan Kurz
Connor MaCcabe and Kai Stauffer were at a HHIHS basketball game on November 28th 2023. This was the first real game for the varsity basketball team. Kai is from the point of view of the JV manager and Connor has the point of view as a fan in the stands.
The point of view of Connor was “I was in the stands watching the game.” Kai said, “I am the JV manager and I get to sit in a different spot during the game and sit with most of the team.” Their point of view is important because they can give two different perspectives of the game.
Kai said the final score was “The score was 60-41 for the basketball game and we lost but we thought we played ok for our first game and who we played.”
Kai's opinion on the game is “I think they played well against the hard team they played and although we lost we were not defeated.” Connor said “when going into the game I knew this was going to be a very hard game to win but I think the team did surprisingly well”
It wasn't a very close game but Kai and the team felt they played well. Kai said “they absolutely out played us but going into the game we knew that they were a better team.” Connor said “The team played well but it just wasn't enough to beat Brunswick.”
There were games earlier during the day. Kai said “yea I watched the other game which was girls varsity which was a good game.” Connor said “no I was only there for the boys game and I was late to that.”
Hilton Head Softball
By: Connor MacCabe
The Hilton Head Softball team, like many other sports teams, was composed of many young players and had a better future ahead of them. This past year the Lady Seahawks were only able to squeak out 3 wins throughout the season all of which were winless teams and also failed to win a single region game. While this may seem concerning they were able to do this with a team composed of mostly underclassmen. They had no JV team meaning the younger players had to step up for the team. They struggled all year; however, as the year passed on the team is going to build more and more as these younger players gain more and more experience.
Abrielle, one of these younger players for the softball team, said “I think the Varsity experience was good for us.” She said “I don’t think not having any JV experience is a bad thing, we aren’t afraid of the bigger girls and we know we can compete.” Abrielle showed confidence in her squad and their future saying “We knew we were in for a bumpy ride last year, but our confidence is not replenished whatsoever, we were well aware of the fact that we were at a massive disadvantage, and that is why we have completely flushed last season away and are ready to take on whatever comes at us this year.” The squad is still very young, composed mostly of sophomores and some juniors. “Last year five of the nine starters were freshmen, now that we all have some experience at a higher level we are ready to take on the next challenge ahead.” With a team still so young it’s hard to have faith but Abrielle said “We understand that we are still at a major disadvantage and we also understand that this season isn’t what we want it to be, but we know that one day all the hard days are eventually going to pay off, all of us are excited to continue getting better so that we can hopefully have a really fun senior season.”