By Donald Heath
Special for the Effingham Herald
SPRINGFIELD – It was another action-packed, record-setting year for Effingham County High School athletics in 2024.
Football, softball, volleyball, and a couple of long-distance runners made their marks during a productive fall and girls lacrosse forged new inroads to garner headlines in the spring.
“Our kids battled through a lot of adversity all year. I’m proud of them and optimistic about the future,” said Coach John Ford, when talking about his football players after a state tournament loss to East Paulding.
But his words rang true for other Rebel sports programs that took significant steps forward.
While ECHS was making its fourth straight appearance at the football state championships, the softball program continued its seemingly annual pilgrimage to Columbus for the Elite Eight tournament.
The volleyball and lacrosse teams captured single-season win records and Chloe Adkins and Theron Claridge etched their names in school record books with all-time runs.
Here’s a look at what made Springfield special in 2024.
Rebels football takes to the air for return to state
Effingham County’s football team skied to new offensive heights during a record-setting season. The Rebels, after an 0-3 start, won six of seven games during the regular season to make the Class 5A state tournament for the fourth straight year.
It was a solid accomplishment for a team that graduated the region’s Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year from 2023.
Offense carried the Rebels this season. First-year starting quarterback Tucker Perkins, a group of fleet-footed wide receivers and a dependable rushing attack produced a school-record 33.6 points a game heading into state.
Six Rebels had 485 or more total yards.
Perkins threw for 2,619 yards and 32 touchdowns. Wideouts Lamar Roberts, Q King, Ryan Wells, Trayvis Hunter combined for 25 scoring catches.
Running back Jmere Doe-Davis ran for 861 yards and nine touchdowns and caught 20 passes for 393 yards and four scores.
ECHS softball makes a run to fourth in Columbus
Fueled by a strong returning nucleus, Effingham County softball posted a 24-6 record, an undefeated subregion championship and a fourth-place finish in the Class 5A Elite Eight championships in Columbus.
ECHS compiled a 16-game winning streak and skirted trouble in the second round of the state tournament by winning the second and third games against Loganville to win the best-of-three series, 2 games to 1.
The Rebels avenged a region championship loss to rival South Effingham by beating the Mustangs 12-4 in Columbus before ending their state run.
Ansleigh Giordano earned subregion Player of the Year honors by combining batting prowess (.427, 3 HRs, 14 RBIs) with clutch pitching (9-3, 3.66 ERA).
Ava Wingate (10-1, 2.66 ERA) was the subregion’s Pitcher of the Year.
Overall, nine Rebels captured postseason honors, led by the four-year double-play combination of shortstop Olivia Morgan and second baseman Megan Coleman – both first-teamers for the second straight year.
Gracie LeFleur, Shelby Zeigler and Jordan Tarver also notched first-team acknowledgement. Abbi Jones and Gabie Hill were second-teamers.
Rebels kill it on volleyball courts
The volleyball team played a competitive schedule and the battle-tested squad morphed into one of the best in school history.
The Rebels won a school single-season record 30 matches, including a school-best 10 in a row, and advanced to the Class 5A Sweet Sixteen at state.
Along the way, ECHS defeated four region champion teams – Richmond Hill, Veterans, Lakeside and East Paulding. The win over East Paulding came on the road in the first round of the Class 5A state tournament.
The Rebels also beat rival South Effingham three times, including a 2-0 victory which knocked the Mustangs out of the region tournament.
Bella Giaquinto made second-team all-subregion honors.
Bentley Braswell, Kimber Michaelis and Jordyn Powell earned first-team all-subregion. Braswell, a setter, passed the 1,000-career mark in assists.
Emily Perkins was honorable mention.
Girls’ lacrosse nets big season
Like a well-placed shot from the eight-meter arc, Effingham County’s girls found their mark during a record-setting lacrosse season.
The Rebels won 11 games to break their single-season record by two. After losing their first two games of the season, they won nine of the next 10, including their first-ever victory over Richmond Hill 7-6 in a double-overtime thriller.
The next time out, the Rebels held off rival South Effingham 7-6 in overtime to build momentum toward a second-place finish in the Class 5A-6A Area 7 standings and hosted a state playoff game.
At state, ECHS, which had never come closer than 15 goals toward winning a postseason contest, led Midtown by a goal at halftime before falling 17-13.
The softball double-play combination of shortstop Olivia Morgan and second baseman Megan Coleman formed a potent one-two scoring punch in lacrosse with 46 and 38 goals respectively.
Defensively, goalie Faith Strickland registered a 0.608 save percentage, placing her among the best in the Coastal Empire.
Adkins, Claridge go the distance
Chloe Adkins and Theron Claridge smashed the school record books for girls and boys long distance running in 2024.
Adkins was a freshman when her time of 11:27.90 to win the 3200 run at Class 6A, Region 2 meet broke Candace Kieffer’s record by more than eight seconds.
Adkins, now a sophomore, broke Kieffer’s cross country school record by nearly 13 seconds with a time of 19:08.2 at the Three Rivers Cross Country Classic in Toombs County on Oct. 17 and bettered her own mark with a time of 18:45.3 at Sectionals on Nov. 2.
Claridge began the cross-country season by claiming the Rebel boys’ 5-kilometer record with a time of 16:41.0 at the Frazier-Hite Invitational hosted by Southeast Bulloch on Aug. 29. Levi Thomas held the old record of 16:54 in 2022.
Claridge broke his own record two more times in 2024, including the standing mark of 15:58.5 at the Class 5A Sectional 1 on Nov. 2.
