LAURINBURG — Scotland High School hosted its annual fall banquet Monday night, where coaches from each fall sport honored their student-athletes with end-of-season awards.
The proceedings opened with athletic director and football coach Richard Bailey thanking the student-athletes, parents and coaches for their hard work and dedication during the year.
Girls golf coach Sam Marsh was supposed to be the first coach to hand out awards; however, a family emergency kept him from attending the banquet. The three members of this year’s girls golf team were also unable to attend due to conflicts with other commitments, according to Bailey. Despite their absence, Bailey announced that Abigail Gibson was this year’s MVP.
Girls tennis coach Atondra Ellis reflected on her team’s successful season. The Lady Scots finished the year 9-4 overall and 6-3 in the Southeastern conference to finish in third place after losing a tiebreaker to Richmond.
“We beat every team in the conference, expect Pinecrest,” she said. “But we did win some matches against them, I have the records I can show you.”
For the second year in a row, Camryn Ellis was named MVP while Brooke Bathie took home Most Improved and Anna Griswold took home the Coach’s award. All three represented the Lady Scots in the 4A East individual regionals. Ellis and Griwold played doubles while Bathie battled the singles bracket.
Cross country coach Greg Wrape kept his speech short and sweet. He credited his team for sticking with the sports, despite his at times grueling training schedule.
“You have to give credit to kids that are willing to run 20 to 25 miles a week,” he said.
Scotland’s boys team finished second in the SEC behind Pinecrest. For their efforts, Zak Moore won Male Runner of the Year. For the second year in a row, junior Mylasia Pratt won Female Runner of the Year. Freshman Tanner Lynn took home the Most Improved award and senior Jaylaan Poe earned the Coach’s Award.
Adam Romaine presented the volleyball awards for a Scotland team that finished 12-9 overall and 5-4 in the SEC this season. The Scots tied for second in the conference standings and appeared in the first round of the 4A state playoffs.
“We had some extreme highs this season where the girls played amazing, and we also had the opposite of that at some games,” Romaine said. “I appreciate them putting up with me for an entire season.”
All-SEC senior Emma Gray Beacham was named the team’s MVP for the second year in a row. Fellow All-SEC selection Kandon Lequer took home the Most Improved award. Juniors Mason Roberts and Macie Gibson also took home some hardware. Roberts received Most Dedicated for battling through injuries the entire season and Gibson won the Coach’s Award.
Scots soccer coach Danny Gallagher took the podium next to talk about his team and their accomplishments. The Scots finished 6-10-2 this year, 3-7 in the SEC, and had two players selected to the all-conference squad in McKenzie White and Nyjel Collins-Jackson.
“Our season was a roller coaster — we’d go on a streak where we’d a bunch of goals and then there would be three or four games where goals were hard to come by, it made for an interesting season” said Gallagher.
White, the team’s leading goal-scorer, was named MVP. Former football player Isaiah Fields earned the Most Improved award. Gallagher gave the Coach’s Award to Nyjel Collins-Jackson and Shane Dubbs took home the trophy for Best Defensive player.
Bailey rounded out the coaches by handing out a dozen football trophies. The Scots finished 14-1 this year and won their sixth straight SEC championship. The Scots advanced to the 4A East Regional Championship game before falling to Cape Fear. Bailey mentioned that the 2016 senior class set has managed to compile a 53-5 record during their four years, a mark unsurpassed by any other class in Scotland history.
“Anytime you play 15 games in a year that’s a great season,” Bailey said. “A 14-win season is the second most in Scotland High School history. I wish I had awards to hand out to all these guys, because they all worked incredibly hard this year. But they know that’s not what our program is about, it’s you get what you earn.”
A total of 15 Scots were selected to this year’s All-SEC team — Zamir White, Syheam McQueen, Tim Williams, Niga Hailey, Darrian Reeves, Garrett Beach, Octavis McLaurin, T.J. Smith, Karfa Kaba, Chris Williams, Javon Ratliffe, Keante McNair, Amir McNeill, Manny Smith and Alston Smith.
Seven Scots earned All-SEC honorable mention: Tyler Smith, Alston Smith, Sergio Gibson, Redric McLean, Grant Ciarrocca, Kalish McNair and Donta Green.
Syheam “Smiley” McQueen was named the SEC’s Offensive Player of the Year — after a stellar sophomore season. McQueen lead the Scots with 172 carries for 1,323 yards and 23 touchdowns. McQueen also had six catches for 79 yards and one more touchdown.
For his efforts, McQueen received the Running Backs Award. Also taking home hardware for the Scots offense was center Niga Hailey with the Offensive Linemen Award; senior Alston Smith with the Wide Receiver Award and Zamir White again was named the Offensive MVP.
Senior Octavis McLaurin won the Defensive Linemen Award. Fellow seniors Chris Williams and Donta Green also received trophies. Williams earned the Linebacker Award and Green received the Defensive Back Award. Senior kicker and punter Grant Ciarrocca was named the Specialist MVP and senior Amir McNeill took home the Defensive MVP award.
The final three awards went to three deserving players according to Bailey, that stepped up to become leaders and worked hard to achieve their goals. Junior linebacker Javon Ratliffe won Most Improved while senior lineman Karfa Kaba took home Most Dedicated. Bailey couldn’t forget his leader, senior quarterback Sergio Gibson, who ended his career with a 17-1 record, took home the Coach’s Award.
The banquet concluded with SHS Principal Corey Satterfield presenting Bailey with his fifth consecutive SEC Coach of the Year award to end the evening.
Scotland will have an end-of-the-year banquet when winter and spring sports wrap up in May.
Amber Hatten can be reached at 910-506-3170.
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