Match Point

The 11th annual Special Olympics North America National Invitational Tennis Championships (SONA) concluded with its medal ceremony this afternoon at Van Der Meer Shipyard Racquet Club.

Beaufort County athletes proved up to the task at the two-day event hosted by Professional Tennis Registry. A year after claiming 15 medals at the event, 23 athletes from the area combined to take home 30 medals.

Seventy players — representing eight different states — competed in the tournament.

Here are the list of medal winners from Beaufort County...

Singles Match Play:
Wallace Gamble, gold

A day after confirming his resignation from Bluffton High School, Jeremy West was officially named the head coach at South Aiken on Friday afternoon.

West spent the day at South Aiken meeting with the district’s superintendent and other administration before getting the opportunity to talk with some of the players on his new team.

Greg Cox will send in a formal request Wednesday morning to appeal his dismissal as the Hardeeville High School girls basketball coach, he said.

Cox’s appeal, written through the Jasper County School District’s grievance policy, claims he was unfairly fired as the team’s coach by John Taylor, the district’s interim superintendent, and therefore deserves to be reinstated as the Hurricanes coach.

Hilton Head High has finally dethroned the Eastside wrestling dynasty. Well, on paper at least.

In the new SCMAT.com wrestling rankings, released today, the Seahawks have claimed the top spot for the first time in school history.

Eastside, the six-time defending state champions, dropped to seventh. Bluffton High School fell from third to fifth. Battery Creek is at No. 12.

"It's nice to have the recognition that we're one of the top teams in the state," Seahawks coach Mike Newton said. "But I'd rather not have it. It's the same old cliche — it's how you finish that matters."

A rivalry game is always going to have flare. Players, students and fans alike are always going to be up for it.

But still, the hope — no matter who you’re pulling for Friday night — is that the game is a meaningful one for each team.

Well, we’ve got more than we could ask for.

Although I think I’ve pretty much already beaten the tread off the storyline tires in Thursday and Friday’s editions of the Island Packet, the game has too many implications not to mention them here. So before I get into the matchup, let’s break that down further.

The World Series begins tonight with Philadelphia traveling to New York in search of its second consecutive title. Now just hours before we get under way, the Beaufort Gazette/Island Packet sports staff will tell you which team will win it all and why.

Sam McDowell (Beat Reporter)
Phillies in 7; MVP — Ryan Howard

With two weeks left in the Region 8-AAA season, what's left is nothing short of a jumbled mess.

On the bright side — well, for me at least — it looks as if my prediction of North Charleston to win the region is still the best bet (although you can bet Bluffton will try to change that tonight). But anything beyond that is up for grabs.

After a Region 8-AAA win for both Bluffton and Hilton Head High last Friday night, things are setting up for an interesting final three games of the regular season.

In case you missed it — and how could you — the Bobcats won in overtime against Stall, 21-14, while the Seahawks knocked off Lake Marion, 31-22.

With the second week of Region 8-AAA play comes must-win games for Bluffton and Hilton Head High after each lost its conference opener last Friday night.

The pair of schools appeared to be heading in opposite directions in last week's defeats. Bluffton played what coach Jeremy West called his team's best game of the season in a 26-25 loss at Lake Marion. And, from the sounds of it, it doesn't seem the Bobcats caught many breaks in that one.

This is the week I’ve been looking forward to more than any other this high school football season. Region play begins tonight for Region 8-AAA teams — and thus it’s almost like the true season opener for Bluffton and Hilton Head High.

Sure, each of the teams has played five games. But with the way football is organized in this state, you might as well throw out those results. Tonight, as they say, it counts.