It has been a busy week in the local sports scene. In the Savannah area high school sports department, the news has been coming almost daily. So, instead of picking just one topic to address in this week’s column, I decided to go with an old-school format. The good ole notebook dump.

Here it is, in all its glory.

BLACKSHEAR GRANTED IMMEDIATE ELIGIBILITY

After being suspended from the Benedictine football team in November, sophomore wide receiver Thomas Blackshear departed BC in December and enrolled at Calvary Day School to begin classes at his new school in January. Last weekend, I confirmed the somewhat-surprising news that Blackshear’s hardship appeal to the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) for immediate athletic eligibility was granted.

In most situations where a student-athlete transfers from one school to another in the same service area, he or she is ineligible to participate in athletics for one year. In Blackshear’s case, the circumstances surrounding his exit from BC were murky at best. The general consensus is that he was dismissed from BC after eclipsing the discipline “points” maximum for academic rules violations. So, the fact that he was granted eligibility through an appeal means that the GHSA must’ve heard or read something from Blackshear’s camp which convinced them that he had made a bona fide move from Benedictine to Calvary Day.

A member of the Class of 2025, Blackshear has college offers from the likes of Minnesota, Florida Atlantic, Boston College and Vanderbilt.

The Cavs will feature an offense (as the roster currently stands) next season led by rising senior quarterback Jake Merklinger (who recently received a scholarship offer from UGA). He’ll be throwing to targets which include rising junior receivers Edward “Doopah” Coleman and Blackshear as well as South Carolina commit and four-star rising senior tight end Michael Smith.

CALVARY LADY CAVS HOOPS CELEBRATE CAIL, HAMILTON

The Calvary Day School Lady Cavalier basketball program had plenty to celebrate last week. Senior standout Hannah Cail became the school’s all-time leading scorer on Friday, February 3 in a 34-point effort at Long County. The following day at home, Cail was honored after her first basket in a brief ceremony highlighted by the attendance of Katie Covington, the previous record holder. Covington scored 1828 points while helping to guide the Cavs to a GHSA Class A State Championship in 2008 under head coach Jackie Hamilton.

Speaking of Hamilton, the longtime Calvary head girl’s basketball coach announced that this would be his final season at the helm of a program he helped to rebuild and then elevate to new heights. Hamilton will still remain on staff as an assistant, and has amassed over 400 career wins.

REGION & STATE BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS APPROACHING

Back on January 26, when the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) announced the five host venues for the state basketball semifinals in early March, I fully expected Savannah to be among the five cities selected. It wasn’t.

I don’t exactly know how these things are decided, and I don’t know that the City of Savannah has done its part to try and attract these kinds of things. But I do know that Savannah and high school basketball are a match made in hoops heaven. 

There is no excuse for not hosting state basketball events here every year. We have some of the best high school hoops in the state right here in this city. So we’ve got to figure out a way to honor that fact by being relevant on the state scene come March. The old Civic Center, the new EnMarket Arena, Savannah State’s Tiger Arena and Georgia Southern’s gym on the Savannah Armstrong Campus are among the viable options here.

Instead, here are the state semifinal sites and the two-day Final Four schedule for boys and girls teams.

Friday, March 3

Class 5A – University of West Georgia (Carrollton)

Class 3A – Ft. Valley State University (Fort Valley)

Class A DI – Georgia College & State University (Milledgeville)

Saturday, March 4

Class 7A – Georgia State University (Atlanta)

Class 6A – University of West Georgia (Carrollton)

Class 4A – Ft. Valley State University (Fort Valley)

Class 2A – Georgia College & State University (Milledgeville)

Class A DII – Valdosta State University (Valdosta)

First round games in the state basketball tournament will be played on February 21 and February 22. Of note in this area, the highly anticipated region 3-3A tournaments (boys and girls) begin early next week and will conclude at Calvary Day School over the weekend. The semifinals are scheduled for Friday, February 17 while the third-place games and championship matchups are set for Saturday, February 18.

Beach’s star senior Shamarrie Hugie injured his right arm/wrist last Friday in a loss to now No. 1 Johnson. He has not played since then, and the No. 4 Bulldogs lost to underdog region opponent Long County, 64-58, without Hugie on Tuesday (Feb. 7). It is unclear if Hugie will return for the region playoffs or the state playoffs. After games on Tuesday night, Beach (20-4, 11-2 region 3-3A) and Johnson (20-4, 11-2) were tied atop the region standings having split two regular season matchups.

FOOTBALL COACHING CAROUSEL

Two Savannah Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) head football coaching jobs are currently vacant. Johnson’s Kenderrick Bonner announced his resignation in late January and, in early February, the SCCPSS job board posted a job opportunity for applicants to be Savannah High’s next head football coach. That post came after Michael Moore’s resignation after three seasons and a 4-23 record at SHS, which finished 0-10 this season.

The official job title for the Savannah High job – “Mathematics Classroom Teacher/Head Football Coach” – is curiously specific, and seems to limit the candidates applying for the gig.

Savannah Christian will need a new defensive coordinator next year after Robert Walsh announced through Twitter that he was accepting the head coaching job at Whitefield Academy in Smyrna. Walsh tweeted a statement to the Savannah Christian faithful, which read in part: “What a ride! Once a Raider, always a Raider.”

BASEBALL SEASON HAS STARTED

Monday (Feb. 6) was the first day for baseball games for Georgia High School Association teams. In this area, expect the typical big-boys to be good once again this season on the diamond. Benedictine, Calvary Day and Savannah Christian are the area’s top-tier squads. Islands is considered by many to have the best roster among SCCPSS clubs.

This article appears in Connect Savannah | February, 2023.