Hilton Head Christian has a new coach, positive outlook
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fifth in a series of previews of area high school football teams. Miss the first four? Visit islandpacket.com/sports for those previews.
Five years removed from their last state championship, the Hilton Head Christian Academy football team is looking to return to prominence. As middle school students, many of the current football players watched the Eagles punish their opponents.
Daniel Harrington and Maximilian Lowrey remember it like it was yesterday.
“I came here in sixth grade knowing the tradition,” Harrington said. “We slowly started falling down, but it will be great to get back to where we were. It would be an honor to restore this program.”
The decade-long run of success came to a halt several years ago, and after a 1-7 finish last season, the Eagles are hungrier than ever. However, head coach Ronald Peduzzi said his guys are still learning the ropes.
“We’re young in football experience,” Peduzzi said. “Our success and our abilities will be in running and spreading the ball out.”
Peduzzi is in his first season at the helm for the Eagles. After spending several years as an assistant, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to become the head coach.
“I’ve lived here for 20 years,” Peduzzi said. “The former athletic director at Hilton Head Prep came here and asked me if I was interested in coming over as an assistant. The head coaching job then opened up, and they asked me if I wanted it.”
So what’s it going to take for the Eagles to return to glory?
“It takes a culture,” Peduzzi said. “This school was at its best when football was at its best. It’s my job to return it to that place.”
The Eagles will be one of the youngest teams in their league.
Sophomore quarterback Harrington started at defensive back as a freshman until Peduzzi offered him the QB position.
“It really helps coming into this year, having a year of experience,” Harrington said. “I switched over because my coach asked me too, and I wasn’t going to turn that down.”
“Daniel is our guy,” Peduzzi said. “He’s a great person, Christian and a great leader. The good thing is he will have some good weapons with him. We’re not going to be a one-dimensional team.
“Dargan Cherry is going to be a beast at defensive end,” Peduzzi said. “He’s everything you want in a defensive end: long, rangy, athletic, a guy that can move, a guy that can figure things out, and he’s very aggressive.”
“I think we’ve been clicking really well defensively,” Lowrey said. “That’s our strong point this year. We have a lot of people coming out here, and the people that are out here want to be here.”
Peduzzi hopes to lead the team to a winning season in his first year as coach.
“You want to be the man,” said Peduzzi. “You better believe it, but you can’t just show up and be the team to beat. There’s a lot of work that goes into it.”
Hilton Head Christian Academy Eagles
- Region: 1, Class 2A
- Coach: Ronald Peduzzi (first year; 0-0 overall)
- 2016 record: 1-7
- Playoffs: None
- Best-case scenario: There’s a fire burning deep inside the heart of the Hilton Head Christian football team. The desire to win is there, but an undersized bunch playing both ways all season could weigh them down. Conditioning is going to be vital to the team’s success. If the Eagles have enough stamina, they may be able to withstand four quarters of football on Friday nights, but it’s too early to tell whether or not they’ll have a winning season.
Key returners
- Chandler Edmonds – FB/MLB
- Daniel Harrington – QB
- Maximilian Lowrey – LB
- Dargan Cherry – DE
Schedule
- Aug. 18: at John Paul II
- Aug. 25: First Presbyterian Christian Academy
- Sept. 8: at First Baptist School
- Sept. 15: at Colleton Prep
- Sept. 22: Northwood Academy
- Sept. 29: at Thomas Heyward Academy
- Oct. 6: at Laurence Manning Academy
- Oct. 13: at St. Andrews
- Oct. 20: Bethesda Academy
- Oct. 27: Hilton Head Prep
Coaches, report your scores
A reminder that our policy is to print all fall sports scores and game recaps submitted to us by coaches or their designee. Results must be typed and sent by email to sports@islandpacket.com. No phone results will be accepted. Results sent in publishable form — complete sentences, athletes’ first and last names, etc — will be published online the following day and in the soonest possible print edition.
This story was originally published August 15, 2017 at 6:43 PM with the headline "Hilton Head Christian has a new coach, positive outlook."