By Donald Heath
Special for the Effingham Herald
GUYTON – From the wrestling mats to the hardwood courts to the stadium turf, South Effingham’s athletes surfaced as winners in 2024.
“We’re ordinary people doing extraordinary things,” said Mustangs wrestling coach Christopher Bringer, who has built an extraordinary program in just five years.
South wrestlers have won back-to-back dual state championships. The softball team won its third straight region title and continued to be a regular guest in Columbus.
Boys’ soccer made another run forward with a school-record 15 wins and a spot in the state Sweet Sixteen and the girls flag football team also set school records with 12 wins, its first area championship and its first two state tournament victories.
And kudos to the boys basketball team, making fastbreak strides this season toward ending long losing streaks, including a 17-year skid to its county rival.
Here are some of the moments in sports that made Guyton great in 2024.
Wrestling team continues state domination
It wasn’t unexpected, but winning a state championship – even as a big favorite – is hardly a sure thing.
But with nine returning starters from the 2023 title team, the Mustangs produced a repeat performance during the dual season with a razor thin victory over Glynn
South concluded the dual season with a 37-0 record and was a runaway winner in team points in the traditional state tournament which was again rewarded. Twelve SEHS advanced to state (among the 14 weight classes) – two won state titles, four finished second, two finished third and another sixth.
SEHS’ wrestling success, along with the school’s game day state title champion cheerleaders (from December, 2023), was recognized at the Georgia state capitol.
State Rep. Bill Hitchens (R-Rincon) read a proclamation in the chamber of the state house of representatives.
Softball team wins region title
It sounds like a broken record to the Mustangs softball team. A heralded group graduated and the fall season started a rebuilding process with unknown potential to those outside the program.
But South returned to familiar surroundings, perched atop its region for the third straight year.
The Mustangs went undefeated in their subregion, but the task of knocking off two top-10 teams in the region tournament seemed as unlikely as a novice bowler picking up a 7-10 split.
SEHS, with five sophomores and a freshman in the starting lineup, got both kingpins on the same day. The Mustangs won a come-from-behind 9-8 eight-inning thriller against fifth-ranked Greenbrier before stunning third-ranked Effingham County 8-5 on Alyssa Martin’s dramatic eighth-inning three-run home run. Her two-home run, seven RBI game will live on as one of the most memorable offensive clutch performances in the series between the county rivals.
South (25-7) won two state tournament series before finishing fifth in the Elite Eight tournament in Columbus.
Nine Mustangs earned subregion postseason honors. Martin was named the Class 5A Region 1 South Player of the Year. Izzy Wilkins captured subregion Pitcher of the Year accolades.
Boys’ basketball snaps losing streaks
The boys’ basketball program has had little to cheer about in recent years, but erased long losing streaks during the first month of the season.
South ended a 38-game losing streak by defeating Woodville-Tompkins 77-73 on Nov. 15. About three weeks later, the Mustangs ended their 17-year suffering to rival Effingham County with a 63-62 win on Dec. 7.
The SEHS boys finished the 2022-23 season winless (0-22) and lost their last 15 games of the 2021-22 season and dropped their first game this season before stunning the Wolverines, a state playoff team a year earlier, in a rematch.
The victory against Effingham County snapped a 34-game losing skid to the Rebels dating back to Jan. 6, 2007. Marcus Campbell’s two free throws with 13.6 seconds left provided the edge as ECHS’ layup in the final seconds wasn’t enough.
This season, South has a 4-9 record heading into the new year.
Boys’ soccer scores big season
A talented returning group of soccer players received a boost with the addition of standout Edson Escobar and the Mustangs became one of the best teams in Class 6A.
Behind Escobar’s 15 goals and 17 assists, South (15-3-1) posted a school-record 15 wins and advanced to the second round of the state playoffs.
It was a continuation of the program’s upward climb under Coach DaKota Paradice. The seniors finished their careers with a four-year total of 55 wins and two state Sweet Sixteen appearances.
The high-scoring Mustangs, with 66 goals during the season, opened the spring campaign with seven straight wins.
Desmond Prince, JP Alonso and Cole Hoffman joined Escobar as double-digit goal scorers.
Freshman goalie Ryan Ellwood had a solid season, allowing one goal or less in 10 of 18 contests.
Escobar, Prince. Alonso, Devin Corley and Kyle Hickman on the all-region team. Hoffman was a second-teamer.
Flag football reaches new heights
Flag football just finished its fourth season as a girls' sport sanctioned by the Georgia High School Association and the South Effingham girls are surging ahead of the learning curve for players around the state.
The Mustangs improved from eight wins in 2023 to a school-record 12 this fall and captured their first area championship.
The area title allowed South to host its first state playoffs games in the GHSA Division 3 State Flag Football Championships on Dec. 5.
And the Mustangs claimed more milestones with their first two wins at state – defeating Hiram 7-0 in the first round and Southwest DeKalb 18-0 – at the Corral.
Lineman Allie Grassi and defensive back Morgan Hetzel spearheaded a defense that registered eight shutouts. Quarterback Arden Thompson and wideout Malaya Signal were keys to a productive offense in Coach Turner Davis’ second season.
