Often time a season goes by and we neglect to mention some of the remarkable things that go on. I just wanted to list some positive accomplishments for the season including some “awards,” or in some cases another way of saying “thank you.” These will be specific to our team’s experiences, so I hope other coaches will add their own experiences.
Team Awards
Friendliest Fans—Jasper County: even though we were late they were friendly with smiles and waves from beginning to end. A reminder that though we compete, as people we are all actually on the same team.
Most Intensity—Academic Magnet: From start to finish the most intense team we played. The intensity stays positive as they always play a fairly clean game.
Never Out Award—Socastee: In three games that I’ve heard about, the Braves tied or won in the last 5 minutes of regulation (Lincoln, NMB, BC)
Four-timer award—Christ Church. I can’t omit the team that has beaten my best team 4 times in a row.
Coaches Awards
Leader Award--Coach Merricks, NMB. Always coaches a good game, gives lots of help, and never runs up a score.
Leave it on the field Award—Coach Suarez, Socastee. One of the toughest/most intense game time coaches, one of the friendliest/straightforward coaches off the field.
Genuine Care Award—Coach Porter, Branchville and Coach Todd, Loris. Always positive, hard workers, and it shows in their kids play and their attitudes.
Lincoln Awards—these are remarkable feats from my own team.
Best game—Myrtle Beach. After going down 1-0 from a long floater in the first half, Terrence scored two twenty yard shots from opposite sides of the goal. We gave up a PK on a handball from a wall to tie the game. On a free kick from our defensive half the ref called under a minute, we sent the ball forward and the goalie came out to beat Terrence to the ball, Terrence won by a second and crossed to Preston in front of the goal for the game winner. Our best defensive game and the most exciting regulation game I have been a part of. I still love the PK shootout games though and we won two of those this year for close seconds.
Best individual performance—traffic kept Terrence 20 minutes late for our first game with Pinewood and by the time he arrived we were down 4-0. Terrence scored 5 goals to give us the lead late in the game. Unfortunately we couldn’t hold it, but his performance was the first in years to show a weakness in Pinewood that was later exploited in the Palmetto Cup.
Best individual improvement—Nick Steed had been a forward for 2 ½ years for me. After our defense suffered this season I asked him to play sweeper for the playoffs, a hard move for anyone used to scoring goals. After 2 shutouts, he led the defense to hold Academic Magnet to 1 goal, its lowest output of the season and he kept us in the game with Christ Church despite the loss of our leading scorer. I deserve an idiot award for not making the change earlier in the season.
Most overworked individual—Rodney Dewitt, Asst. Coach, AD, Bus Driver, Game Administrator. He traveled from Wando every day to fulfill all of these duties for our understaffed athletic department. Most of his duties are unpaid, and the ones that do receive pay are more like a tip than a salary. Yet his relationship skills with the students, parents, and fans are priceless.
Program starters—Lincoln started the program 4 years ago. The first week of practice we had 2 freshmen and a sophomore. The freshmen were Darwin Deas and Gerald Alson who both graduate this year. Since a team has to have a goalie, Gerald volunteered from those three and is the only player who played in every game this year. Our first game against Andrews in 2003 was a PK win with us having 7 players that jump started the program to back to back state championship appearances. I cannot applaud these young men enough for their character and hard work.
Team award—Our team’s goal was the state championship and we were willing to go through a rough season to achieve it. After not attaining our goal, I looked for the positives and found that the kids had all grown more into young men and women in the course of the season. The character they have developed will last a lifetime while championships will fade, and I am proud of every one of them.
