The best high school football seniors from the Coastal Empire play against the best from South Carolina’s Lowcountry in Savannah’s bowl game next month.

Blitz Border Bowl VI is set for Saturday, January 13, 2024 at Memorial Stadium in Savannah. Proceeds from the game go to help benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities in the Savannah area. The exhibition showcase is sponsored by Connect Savannah and broadcasted live annually by WSAV-TV.

Kickoff is set for noon again this year. Rosters are not yet determined. The head coaches were announced by WSAV in November. Loren Purvis (South Effingham) will lead Team Coastal Empire while Hayden Gregory (Bluffton) heads up Team Lowcountry.

Now in its sixth year, the game offers fans a final chance to see local gridiron stars one last time before they head off to college and beyond. Team Coastal Empire won 20-0 last year in Blitz Border Bowl V to take a 3-2 series lead in the annual game. It was the first shutout in Border Bowl history.

Neither team has won two straight in the series dating back to 2018. The bowl was canceled in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For more information, including how to get involved or sponsorship opportunities for this year’s event, email dflaxer@wsav.com. Tickets are $15 ahead of time and at the gate on gameday.

BORDER BOWL RESULTS
2023 (V): Coastal Empire 20, Lowcountry 0
2022 (IV): Lowcountry 14, Coastal Empire 13
2020 (III): Coastal Empire 38, Lowcountry 17
2019 (II): Lowcountry 35, Coastal Empire 34
2018 (I): Coastal Empire 15, Lowcountry 3

FINAL GHSA 2023 FOOTBALL POLLS
Savannah Christian, Benedictine, Calvary Day and Bryan County were the four football teams in the Savannah area who finished the season ranked in the composite state rankings released last week.

The composite rankings reflect a combination of the six major ranking systems used across Georgia. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB), 680 The Fan and SCORE Atlanta are the four human polls while MaxPreps and Maxwell Ratings use a computer rating based on results and stats instead of the so-called “eye test.”

SCPS (12-3) advanced further than anyone around the area, falling to Cedar Grove in the state championship on Dec. 13 in Atlanta. The Raiders finished ranked No. 3 behind Cedar Grove and behind No. 2 Calvary Day (13-1), which beat SCPS head-to-head during the regular season.

In Class 4A, Benedictine’s long winning streak came to an end against Stockbridge in the Final 4, as the Cadets fell just short of their bid to three-peat as state champions. BC (13-1) finished at No. 3 in the rankings.

Bryan County (12-2) went from unranked to start the year, to No. 4 after it. The Redskins’ historic season won’t soon be forgotten in Pembroke, and Bryan County set a new standard for its program on the road to the Class A-DI Final Four.

BOYS BASKETBALL STATE RANKINGS
The latest boy’s basketball rankings for GHSA teams were released by Sandysspiel.com on Sunday, Dec. 17th. Savannah area teams have been beating up on each other of late, including over the weekend at the

7th SCCPSS Holiday Hoops Showcase where top teams stumbled against tough opponents. These latest rankings reflect the losses from teams like Johnson, Groves and others in Class 3A dropping out.

Only Class A-DI has a Savannah team ranked in the top-10, with Savannah High and Woodville-Tompkins both making an appearance.

Savannah High (7-3 record entering week of Monday, Dec. 18) checks in at No. 4 in the rankings after the Bluejackets lost 63-61 to Windsor Forest (6-3) last Friday. Windsor had a great weekend at the Holiday Hoops Showcase. The Knights, still unranked in Class 2A, followed up their SHS upset win with a 73-56 blowout over Beach the following night.

Other notable takeaways from last week on the hardwood included No. 6 Woodville-Tompkins (11-1) beating Johnson 54-43 on Saturday afternoon and New Hampstead (6-3) pushing its winning streak to four with a 52-37 win versus Beach on Dec. 15 and an 88-54 victory over Groves (5-6) on Dec. 16.

Jenkins (2-3) crushed Groves, 69-50, on Dec. 15 before getting upset by region rival Benedictine, 52-50, on Dec. 16 in a game that won’t count for region standings. The Warriors have five players averaging more than six points and Jeremiah James leads the team in nearly every per-game category. James is averaging 15.0 points, 11.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.6 steals.

This article appears in Connect Savannah I December 2023.