January 6, 2025 • 19 mins
Although the snow is piling up outside, winter sports at South River High School are heating up. Join us as we dive into the achievements of the Seahawks’ winter teams, including the hockey team’s undefeated 6-0 record to the wrestling team celebrating Coach Klesinger’s milestone 500th win, there’s no shortage of excitement.
We also break down the basketball action, with the girls team’s victory over Annapolis and the boys team’s impressive 9-0 record, fresh off a competitive holiday tournament in Charleston. Coach Hall shares insights on game strategies, the value of diverse competition, and how team bonding activities are fostering a strong sense of community.
Tune in for an inside look at how South River is focusing on perseverance, continuous improvement, and growth to keep the momentum going. Hawk Talk is hosted by Tom Frank and brought to you by Chad's BBQ, Merrick Creative, and Maryland Remodeling Expert. Don’t hesitate to contact us through Instagram @SRHawkTalk or by email at SRHawkTalk@gmail.com. We want to report on all sports and all the great stories happening throughout the season. Please reach out, send updates after games, let me know about fundraisers, big games, etc. This show is only as good as what we know. So get involved! Subscribe, Listen and Share the show on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts, leave us a rating on Apple, help support the show at https://srhawktalk.buzzsprout.com, and spread the word Seahawk Nation. #WERSR
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
TOM (00:00):
Welcome back Seahawk Nation .
I'm Tom Frank, this is HawkTalk and we're talking all
things South River High Schoolsports.
Seahawk fans.
Hawk Talk is brought to you byChad's Barbecue, merrick
Creative and our newest sponsor,maryland Remodeling Expert a
one-stop shop for all of yourroofing and repair contractor
(00:22):
needs.
Call now for a free homeconsultation at 410-507-9031.
Welcome back to the YachtNation.
It's 2025.
There's a ton of snow on theground.
We're probably out of schoolfor at least the next two days.
So go out, shovel, make asnowman, hit your neighbor with
a snowball, then come inside bythe fire, pour yourself some hot
cocoa and let's talk wintersports at South River High
(00:43):
School.
Listen, comment on Instagram.
Let's talk wrestling, swimming,hockey and basketball, where
we're coming off two more greatwins by our boys and girls
basketball teams on Friday night.
But before we get to that, andto talk to today's guest, aaron
Hall, how are you coach?
Coach Hall (00:58):
Good, and how are you doing, tom?
TOM (00:59):
All right, we're going to give a quick snapshot of where
we are with our South Riverteams.
Let's start with cheer.
Our winner, south River cheercomp is coming up very soon.
Mark your calendars forWednesday, january 15th.
If you've not been out to oneof these cheer comps, please get
out.
It's a great time.
Let's pack the nest.
South River hockey sits in animpressive 6-0, with a big win
(01:19):
on Friday night.
Their next game is this Fridayat Piney Orchard Ice Rink versus
the Annapolis Arundel team.
Let's get out there and cheeron this team too.
It's always a good time at theice rink and wrestling Varsity
record is 14-1.
Their team is currently inOcean City for War on the Shore.
I kind of just like that name.
It's one of the toughestindividual bracket tournaments
on the East Coast 64-man bracket.
(01:39):
As of this morning, saturdayJanuary 4th, they are in day two
, with 12 wrestlers stillcompeting.
South River took second at ourinvitational tournament this
week before Christmas and itshould be noted right before
Christmas.
Coach Klesinger, I think wetalked about this last time.
He hit his 500th win, which isa crazy accomplishment.
How many wins?
Coach Hall (02:03):
do you have Coach Are?
TOM (02:04):
we anywhere near 500?
.
Coach Hall (02:05):
Oh no, Are we anywhere near?
TOM (02:07):
200?
I don't even think we're at 100you gotta be close to 100.
Uh, you figure how many gamesyou got a year 25, 20, 25 I mean
, you can play 22, then you getsome playoff games all right,
you might not be as far as Ithink you are we'll get you.
Coach Hall (02:20):
Yeah, yeah, we'll get you.
I got, you got a long way to go.
I got a long ways to go.
TOM (02:23):
You got a long way to go.
I did do a little timeresearching it and across the
country, I can only find 14active high school wrestling
coaches with more wins, and noneof them are from the state of
Maryland.
Wow, so I don't know if this istrue or not.
I got to get Coach Kless on todive further.
I'm putting him at number oneactive coach in the state of
Maryland.
Coach Hall (02:44):
Yeah, I mean, like I said, I don't know the nuts and
bolts of it, but I would not beshocked.
He's got to be there.
He's got to be there.
TOM (02:51):
We're going to put him there.
It's impressive.
We've just put him there.
All right, let's talkbasketball.
Our girls varsity had a nicewin last night over Annapolis
65-45, to bring their overallrecord to.
Coach Hall (03:07):
Oh, yeah, absolutely .
TOM (03:08):
Right, I mean they're too good.
Coach Hall (03:10):
They had a tough stretch.
TOM (03:11):
Tough stretch.
Coach Hall (03:11):
But I tell you, they played some really good teams,
I mean some really good teams inour holiday tournament.
I mean they played St Mary'sJohn Carroll before that.
TOM (03:20):
Yeah.
Coach Hall (03:21):
And games, where I mean they all came down to one
or two baskets.
And I know I've talked to CoachZivick and I know he wanted to
pull some of those out or all ofthose out.
They'll be okay, he knows it'sgoing to pay dividends being in
those tough games down thestretch.
I mean their record is not.
I mean they're a really goodbasketball team and they're
(03:46):
going to find ways to win thoseclose games when they matter the
most in March.
But they're going to go on agreat run in the county.
TOM (03:49):
They got all county games well for the most in March, but
they're going to go on a greatrun in the county.
They've got all county gameswell for the most part coming up
.
We've got Tuesday night at homeversus North County, tip off at
5 o'clock.
Unless snow gets us, we'll beall right.
And then we've got to justmention the JV team, because the
JV team sits at an impressive6-0.
Their game today was canceledbut they're coming off
impressive wins versus GlenBurnie, st Mary's and Crofton.
(04:11):
They'll play on Thursday nightat Arundel.
Coach Hall (04:15):
Absolutely.
They're playing well.
They're fun to watch.
They're fun to watch.
TOM (04:18):
I like watching them.
All right, let's talk boysbasketball.
You're sitting at 9-0.
Do I have that right?
Coach Hall (04:24):
We are we're 9-0.
TOM (04:33):
9-63.
Your big three.
I'm calling them now Jaden,jamie and Jonah.
I like that they all start withJ's.
Coach Hall (04:40):
Exactly, it makes it tough drawing up plays on the
sideline.
TOM (04:44):
That's true.
Coach Hall (04:45):
Because you put J's everywhere and I get confused,
they get confused.
TOM (04:51):
I've seen you do that before.
We had a lot of m's on on ourgirls team so that that messed
you up.
I can only imagine that.
But yes, but 79, 63 when, uh,darian carter for annapolis had
a big game.
Coach Hall (04:59):
31 points for him, but then your big three, just
just put him away yeah, I think,uh, I think jamie had 28 jaden
with 23, jonah with 16.
Not great at math, but I thinkthat adds up to like 69.
TOM (05:13):
Yeah, they had a lot of the points.
Coach Hall (05:15):
They did.
Yeah, offensively those threecan really score the ball and I
don't even think they've hittheir stride yet, and we're
going to have some games wherethey're all on and shooting at a
high clip and it's going to befun to watch and they're all
juniors.
They're all juniors.
TOM (05:33):
yeah, that's kind of exciting.
Coach Hall (05:35):
Absolutely, yeah, absolutely.
And there's some young guysthere Jackson Suggs, hank Devin,
ben Kay, ben Keith, stephenCarr, and we've got three really
good sophomores that are up onvarsity varsity with us cory
(05:56):
henson and wes and, uh, jackmcgrath.
I mean there's, there's a lot,of a lot of youth in the lineup
and, of course, uh, you know ourseat, our seniors liam, jake
and, you know, alec, they're,they're, they're helping us now
and they're making the most oftheir senior year.
But, yeah, it's a fun team towatch.
TOM (06:16):
It is we got back to Friday night basketball.
I kind of missed it.
We hadn't really had a lot ofFriday night basketball yet,
right.
Coach Hall (06:22):
Was that the first one of the year?
It was our first Friday nightgame of the season.
First Friday night of theseason.
Yeah, it seems like we've beengoing at it for a while and
that's our first one.
TOM (06:29):
Yeah, we've got a lot more to come.
Coach Hall (06:30):
Absolutely.
TOM (06:31):
But let's rewind.
I want to hear all about theholiday tournament you were down
in.
Coach Hall (06:37):
We went to.
TOM (06:37):
Charleston, South Carolina.
Charleston, South Carolina.
How did this all go down?
What is this tournament about?
Coach Hall (06:42):
It's the Coach Civic , the girls' varsity and the
boys' varsity.
We traveled down, we traveleddown.
It's called the CarolinaInvitational.
I mean it was a great four orfive days on the court.
Off the court there's 150 teamsfrom 12, 13 states.
Wow, there was two teams fromAustralia that were in the
(07:08):
tournament and you know it was agreat tournament.
TOM (07:13):
It was run really well.
Coach Hall (07:13):
You know both of our teams played in one of the top
brackets and we played somereally good competition.
It was good for both of usbecause we saw different styles
of play and you know we eachplayed three games and you know
it was really good.
I mean, besides the growth onthe court that I think we'll
(07:33):
walk away with because, like Isaid, it was some tough
competition down there.
We you know the time that kidsget to spend together off the
court.
I mean I think the parents hada good time.
I mean Seahawk Nationrepresented we had over 120
people travel.
Wow, and yeah, I was telling MrKlingle the other day.
(07:55):
I mean it was really cool tosee we're traveling over 500
miles and our fan support outdideven some of the local teams
that were playing there, that'simpressive.
Yeah, I mean our games.
They did a great job scheduling.
They put our games back-to-back, so there was no conflicts
there.
TOM (08:14):
Oh, so you always played boys-girls or girls-boys right
back-to-back?
Coach Hall (08:16):
Yeah, oh that is cool.
So we were able to be there andsupport each other.
How does it work.
TOM (08:21):
It wasn't like a bracket where they had a champion at the
end of it right, it was justmore of like—.
Coach Hall (08:25):
It was showcase style.
Okay, they put you in adivision and your three games
are determined ahead of time.
So the girls played a team fromTexas, a team from South
Carolina and a team from Georgia.
We played a team from Ohio andtwo teams from South Carolina.
Yeah, but it was great.
(08:45):
I mean, we did some activities,we got to explore downtown
Charleston.
I think everybody had a greattime.
TOM (08:53):
Yeah, not a place to spend a little break between Christmas
and New Year's.
Coach Hall (08:56):
Eve.
Yeah, not bad at all, rightyeah.
TOM (08:58):
So let's go down through the games.
Give us a rundown of theindividual games.
What happened?
Because a lot of people didn'tget to see all the Right, didn't
get to see the games didn't getto hear about them.
Coach Hall (09:07):
Right about them.
Right, we uh, you know, on theboys side, we played, uh, ashley
ridge, which actually we wereplaying in their gym oh, they
were the home team in so in thedivision we were in we played
all of our games there and theywere in that bracket it was in
their home gym.
So we actually we played themon friday night and, uh, they're
a very good basketball team.
TOM (09:27):
They're did they get a big crowd there?
Coach Hall (09:29):
I mean, it's a home game for them yeah, it was
pretty but, like I said, we, wewere there representing the
forest, but you know it was uh,yeah, it was a real good crowd.
You know, beautiful facility,um, and their their boys team
coming into the game was 10 and2 and um, that was, honestly,
was probably our best win of theseason because they were a
really good basketball team.
(09:50):
We beat them on their court onfriday night yeah, that's a huge
win yeah, and they uh, yeah,that they're.
Uh, that was a really good winfor us, um, especially, you know
, traveling on thursday and yeahwaking up and going from there
their girls team, I think, isranked like three, so did the
boys and the girls play the sameteams each time, or no?
(10:10):
No, no we both played ashleyridge on friday night, but then
on saturday we played differentteams and the same thing on
monday.
So, um, yeah, then after that onthe boys side we played another
south carolina team calledstall high school which uh, um,
they, you know they were anathletic and we shot the ball
(10:30):
really well, jumped on themearly and kind of got a real
good win there as well.
And then on Monday we played ateam from Ohio, which is just a
completely different style ofplay.
I mean, they were big, theywere strong, they were physical
and we didn't expect them toshoot the ball like they did,
(10:52):
because we, you know, we wewatched their games in advance,
trying to get a scout on themand we knew they wanted to pound
the ball to the post.
But against us, I mean, theyhit 11 threes but we found a way
to pull that out at the end andwe hit some big shots late and
we won that game by four.
But it was great for us, justbecause it was a style of play
(11:15):
that we haven't seen, and Ithink, as we get down the road,
that'll really pay dividends.
TOM (11:20):
How do teams like that, like the state of Ohio, correct
me if I'm wrong here?
They don't have a shot clock.
Coach Hall (11:25):
Nor do they in South Carolina, so we played.
TOM (11:28):
Did you play with or without one?
Coach Hall (11:30):
The girls' team and the boys' team.
We both played without a shot.
TOM (11:33):
Clock which is kind of different.
You don't usually come close tousing your whole shot clock
anyway.
Coach Hall (11:39):
Right, exactly, and so the team and the two teams,
Ashley Ridge and Stahl HighSchool really didn't come into
play.
But the team from Ohio, I meanthey executed really well, they
were really disciplined and theywould run the whole quarter off
, I think, if you let them,that's a different kind of
basketball it is.
TOM (12:00):
I don't know if I like it.
I don't know why you don't havea shot clock yeah correct.
Coach Hall (12:08):
I mean, it's definitely.
The approach is just completelydifferent.
No shot clock, it's like well,let's just keep Just hold the
ball.
Well, let's move the ball untilwe get a completely wide open
layup or just a perfect shot,Whereas with a shot clock it's
like if you pass up a prettygood shot, it might be the best
(12:29):
shot you were going to get asopposed to being able to wait to
get you know the best shot sodefinitely a different approach,
but I'm glad we have a shotclock, to say the least.
TOM (12:38):
Oh, I am too.
I think the games are kind ofboring, right?
Yeah, I like the fast tempo.
Coach Hall (12:43):
Yeah, and not to mention at the higher levels,
college and beyond.
I mean everybody mention at thehigher levels, college and
beyond.
I mean everybody plays with ashot clock, so why not play with
it now?
Yeah, interesting.
So good trip, great trip, greattrip.
Really appreciative of mrklingel, miss smith and the
administration for putting faithin us to go down and do that
and then supporting us to tomake it happen.
(13:04):
So our, our families and ourplayers and our coaches just
it's a couple years in a rowwe've done something like that.
It's something we look forwardto and we're just very thankful
we're able to do it.
Not many teams are able to dothat.
TOM (13:20):
How about off the court?
What fun activities?
Oh yeah.
Coach Hall (13:25):
We went to Topgolf one day and all the kids played
and competed, which was reallycool, and then we did this.
It was an activity center.
The adults were happy becauseit was attached to a brewery.
TOM (13:40):
I was going to say.
What was it attached to?
Coach Hall (13:42):
Exactly Skipping my mind, bull, I don't know, but it
was a brewery slash restaurantand a big warehouse and they had
all.
TOM (13:51):
They had a, I guess, a game room you can call it attached
to it where they had like axethrowing I saw some of the saw
some of the video peoplethrowing when I say axe, I mean
like real access, yeah like Imean yeah I always find it funny
that axe throwing is right nextto a brewery.
Doesn't seem like an equationfor success.
Trust me.
Coach Hall (14:11):
When I walked in and kind of looked around before
everybody arrived, I'm like well, we'll see how this goes, but
plate smashing Plate smashingPlate smashing that was an
activity.
It was an activity where youcould write some things on the
plate and they had this big walland you, just you put on some
goggles and you just smash it Idon't release some frustration.
(14:33):
Uh, they had a bunch of stufflike that.
I mean, they had, uh, a couplelike connect four basketball
games, so many golf.
Uh, they had this littlepunching thing.
Um, I wasn't sure how it wouldgo over, but our kids had a
blast I think anytime you get tosmash plates, it's going to go
well yeah.
I mean the parents.
(14:54):
They were competing with theaxe-throwing games.
Everybody had a blast.
Everybody had a blast, so wespent a few hours there.
We got to spend our off day onSunday downtown Charleston.
TOM (15:08):
Great area.
Coach Hall (15:09):
A lot of the kids went on the USS Yorktown.
The tournament kind of set up,which was cool to see, did the
market.
Everybody tasted some localfood.
It was good.
So Sunday rained a little bit,but everybody kind of just went
downtown and explored the city.
TOM (15:30):
Yeah, I like it.
So 3-0 at there, 6-0 back here,9-0 overall.
What do we got coming up?
Coach Hall (15:38):
We got a really tough stretch coming up.
We talked to our guys lastnight about just we can't become
complacent.
I mean, it's just what happens,especially in sports.
You become comfortable and wegot to really keep our head down
, focused on improvement.
But we have eleanor roosevelt,which they have a tremendous
(15:59):
program.
We're supposed to play themmonday night, hopefully here
here, all right, monday night athome, and then we go to north
county um on tuesday, which isgoing to be a really big game
because they're playing reallygood basketball.
They picked up a couplehigh-profile kids that have
really made a difference in thatprogram and they're going to
make a difference within ourcounty.
So they're giving teams a lotof trouble.
(16:21):
So we play them on Tuesday andthen we travel to Arundel on
Friday, when they've got areally good team as well.
So we have three tough gamesthis week.
That's a big week, very bigweek, very big week.
TOM (16:34):
All right, what else?
What else have we got?
What are we looking forward tothe rest of the year?
Coach Hall (16:38):
Well, I mean, obviously we're off to a great
start, but I think our room forgrowth is still there.
There's just a lot of areaswhere I feel like we can put
more of a complete game together.
We've had really good quarters,quarters and a half but just
trying to be locked in on bothends of the court with more
(17:01):
consistency over longer periodsis what we're really shooting
for, and we'll get there.
But it's been.
You know, the guys have workedhard.
It's a fun start.
TOM (17:10):
It's a fun start.
Coach Hall (17:11):
It's a fun start.
I mean, I love the togethernessand our guys get along with
each other and they're a fungroup to be around.
They're very coachable and youknow we're having a great time.
TOM (17:23):
And we got a lot more Friday nights coming up.
Oh yes, this was our last one.
It was a good crowd coming up.
Oh yes, this was our last one.
It was a good, good crowd.
Coach Hall (17:30):
I think it will be even bigger coming up, though
this was a weird friday becauseyou're coming off the holidays
and all that, but well, yeah,and it was still a good crowd
yeah, I felt like it was areally good crowd and then, of
course, I think, um, I think wemight have been close to a
sellout if it wasn't for thesnow last night yeah, yeah I
think right around 5, 30, 6o'clock started snowing.
It started snowing pretty hard,which probably kept some people
away from showing up for theboys' game.
But it was a great crowd lastnight.
(17:51):
It was a lot of good energy.
We're away Friday.
The following Friday we're atSaverna Park, but then after
that I think we have a stretchof six straight Friday night
home games.
TOM (18:05):
It's been a weird season because you had a lot of away
games and now you have a lot ofhome games.
Exactly.
Coach Hall (18:09):
As we get into January and into February it's
going to be a lot of Fridaynight home games and hopefully
we can keep it rolling.
I'll mention real quick onJanuary 24th we're playing
Severn Run, we're going to doAlumni Night.
TOM (18:21):
Alumni Night.
Yeah, we're going to do it upagain, right, absolutely, I
think we should do something alittle bit wacky.
Coach Hall (18:27):
I don't know what the wackiness is yet, let's talk
.
But I want something wacky.
I like it.
Let's talk.
TOM (18:31):
Maybe we'll do a roving report in the crowd.
Maybe we'll do.
Okay, maybe we'll cover thegame live.
Coach Hall (18:37):
I love it.
TOM (18:37):
I don't know?
Coach Hall (18:38):
Yeah, I'm up for something different, exactly.
TOM (18:47):
Yeah, I want to see it make a run here.
I'm going to look your stats upbecause I think you've got to
be close to 100.
I don't know If not, we'regoing to do it when you hit that
100, we got to do something.
It's going to be fun, right,okay, all right, so we come back
out.
We get out for the boys game,we get out for the girls game.
Both are playing tremendous.
All our winter teams are prettygood right now.
Coach Hall (19:06):
Yeah.
TOM (19:07):
Let's keep it rolling.
Yeah, all right, folks.
Thank you, coach.
Coach Hall (19:11):
Hey, thanks for having me, Tom.
TOM (19:13):
All right.
Please don't hesitate tocontact us through Instagram at
SRHawkTalk.
Let me know what you think ofthe show and who you want to see
in a future episode.
Subscribe to the show on AppleSpotify.
Wherever you listen to podcasts, leave us a rating on Apple and
spread the word Seah, I'm Frank.
That was your boys basketballcoach, darren Hall, and until
next time, I leave you with acheer from our South River cheer
team.
Go Seahawks, h-a-w-k-s Ready,h-a-w-k-s Hawks, we are the best
(19:38):
.
Welcome back Seahawk Nation .
I'm Tom Frank, this is HawkTalk and we're talking all
things South River High Schoolsports.
Seahawk fans.
Hawk Talk is brought to you byChad's Barbecue, merrick
Creative and our newest sponsor,maryland Remodeling Expert a
one-stop shop for all of yourroofing and repair contractor
(00:22):
needs.
Call now for a free homeconsultation at 410-507-9031.
Welcome back to the YachtNation.
It's 2025.
There's a ton of snow on theground.
We're probably out of schoolfor at least the next two days.
So go out, shovel, make asnowman, hit your neighbor with
a snowball, then come inside bythe fire, pour yourself some hot
cocoa and let's talk wintersports at South River High
(00:43):
School.
Listen, comment on Instagram.
Let's talk wrestling, swimming,hockey and basketball, where
we're coming off two more greatwins by our boys and girls
basketball teams on Friday night.
But before we get to that, andto talk to today's guest, aaron
Hall, how are you coach?
Coach Hall (00:58):
Good, and how are you doing, tom?
TOM (00:59):
All right, we're going to give a quick snapshot of where
we are with our South Riverteams.
Let's start with cheer.
Our winner, south River cheercomp is coming up very soon.
Mark your calendars forWednesday, january 15th.
If you've not been out to oneof these cheer comps, please get
out.
It's a great time.
Let's pack the nest.
South River hockey sits in animpressive 6-0, with a big win
(01:19):
on Friday night.
Their next game is this Fridayat Piney Orchard Ice Rink versus
the Annapolis Arundel team.
Let's get out there and cheeron this team too.
It's always a good time at theice rink and wrestling Varsity
record is 14-1.
Their team is currently inOcean City for War on the Shore.
I kind of just like that name.
It's one of the toughestindividual bracket tournaments
on the East Coast 64-man bracket.
(01:39):
As of this morning, saturdayJanuary 4th, they are in day two
, with 12 wrestlers stillcompeting.
South River took second at ourinvitational tournament this
week before Christmas and itshould be noted right before
Christmas.
Coach Klesinger, I think wetalked about this last time.
He hit his 500th win, which isa crazy accomplishment.
How many wins?
Coach Hall (02:03):
do you have Coach Are?
TOM (02:04):
we anywhere near 500?
.
Coach Hall (02:05):
Oh no, Are we anywhere near?
TOM (02:07):
200?
I don't even think we're at 100you gotta be close to 100.
Uh, you figure how many gamesyou got a year 25, 20, 25 I mean
, you can play 22, then you getsome playoff games all right,
you might not be as far as Ithink you are we'll get you.
Coach Hall (02:20):
Yeah, yeah, we'll get you.
I got, you got a long way to go.
I got a long ways to go.
TOM (02:23):
You got a long way to go.
I did do a little timeresearching it and across the
country, I can only find 14active high school wrestling
coaches with more wins, and noneof them are from the state of
Maryland.
Wow, so I don't know if this istrue or not.
I got to get Coach Kless on todive further.
I'm putting him at number oneactive coach in the state of
Maryland.
Coach Hall (02:44):
Yeah, I mean, like I said, I don't know the nuts and
bolts of it, but I would not beshocked.
He's got to be there.
He's got to be there.
TOM (02:51):
We're going to put him there.
It's impressive.
We've just put him there.
All right, let's talkbasketball.
Our girls varsity had a nicewin last night over Annapolis
65-45, to bring their overallrecord to.
Coach Hall (03:07):
Oh, yeah, absolutely .
TOM (03:08):
Right, I mean they're too good.
Coach Hall (03:10):
They had a tough stretch.
TOM (03:11):
Tough stretch.
Coach Hall (03:11):
But I tell you, they played some really good teams,
I mean some really good teams inour holiday tournament.
I mean they played St Mary'sJohn Carroll before that.
TOM (03:20):
Yeah.
Coach Hall (03:21):
And games, where I mean they all came down to one
or two baskets.
And I know I've talked to CoachZivick and I know he wanted to
pull some of those out or all ofthose out.
They'll be okay, he knows it'sgoing to pay dividends being in
those tough games down thestretch.
I mean their record is not.
I mean they're a really goodbasketball team and they're
(03:46):
going to find ways to win thoseclose games when they matter the
most in March.
But they're going to go on agreat run in the county.
TOM (03:49):
They got all county games well for the most in March, but
they're going to go on a greatrun in the county.
They've got all county gameswell for the most part coming up
.
We've got Tuesday night at homeversus North County, tip off at
5 o'clock.
Unless snow gets us, we'll beall right.
And then we've got to justmention the JV team, because the
JV team sits at an impressive6-0.
Their game today was canceledbut they're coming off
impressive wins versus GlenBurnie, st Mary's and Crofton.
(04:11):
They'll play on Thursday nightat Arundel.
Coach Hall (04:15):
Absolutely.
They're playing well.
They're fun to watch.
They're fun to watch.
TOM (04:18):
I like watching them.
All right, let's talk boysbasketball.
You're sitting at 9-0.
Do I have that right?
Coach Hall (04:24):
We are we're 9-0.
TOM (04:33):
9-63.
Your big three.
I'm calling them now Jaden,jamie and Jonah.
I like that they all start withJ's.
Coach Hall (04:40):
Exactly, it makes it tough drawing up plays on the
sideline.
TOM (04:44):
That's true.
Coach Hall (04:45):
Because you put J's everywhere and I get confused,
they get confused.
TOM (04:51):
I've seen you do that before.
We had a lot of m's on on ourgirls team so that that messed
you up.
I can only imagine that.
But yes, but 79, 63 when, uh,darian carter for annapolis had
a big game.
Coach Hall (04:59):
31 points for him, but then your big three, just
just put him away yeah, I think,uh, I think jamie had 28 jaden
with 23, jonah with 16.
Not great at math, but I thinkthat adds up to like 69.
TOM (05:13):
Yeah, they had a lot of the points.
Coach Hall (05:15):
They did.
Yeah, offensively those threecan really score the ball and I
don't even think they've hittheir stride yet, and we're
going to have some games wherethey're all on and shooting at a
high clip and it's going to befun to watch and they're all
juniors.
They're all juniors.
TOM (05:33):
yeah, that's kind of exciting.
Coach Hall (05:35):
Absolutely, yeah, absolutely.
And there's some young guysthere Jackson Suggs, hank Devin,
ben Kay, ben Keith, stephenCarr, and we've got three really
good sophomores that are up onvarsity varsity with us cory
(05:56):
henson and wes and, uh, jackmcgrath.
I mean there's, there's a lot,of a lot of youth in the lineup
and, of course, uh, you know ourseat, our seniors liam, jake
and, you know, alec, they're,they're, they're helping us now
and they're making the most oftheir senior year.
But, yeah, it's a fun team towatch.
TOM (06:16):
It is we got back to Friday night basketball.
I kind of missed it.
We hadn't really had a lot ofFriday night basketball yet,
right.
Coach Hall (06:22):
Was that the first one of the year?
It was our first Friday nightgame of the season.
First Friday night of theseason.
Yeah, it seems like we've beengoing at it for a while and
that's our first one.
TOM (06:29):
Yeah, we've got a lot more to come.
Coach Hall (06:30):
Absolutely.
TOM (06:31):
But let's rewind.
I want to hear all about theholiday tournament you were down
in.
Coach Hall (06:37):
We went to.
TOM (06:37):
Charleston, South Carolina.
Charleston, South Carolina.
How did this all go down?
What is this tournament about?
Coach Hall (06:42):
It's the Coach Civic , the girls' varsity and the
boys' varsity.
We traveled down, we traveleddown.
It's called the CarolinaInvitational.
I mean it was a great four orfive days on the court.
Off the court there's 150 teamsfrom 12, 13 states.
Wow, there was two teams fromAustralia that were in the
(07:08):
tournament and you know it was agreat tournament.
TOM (07:13):
It was run really well.
Coach Hall (07:13):
You know both of our teams played in one of the top
brackets and we played somereally good competition.
It was good for both of usbecause we saw different styles
of play and you know we eachplayed three games and you know
it was really good.
I mean, besides the growth onthe court that I think we'll
(07:33):
walk away with because, like Isaid, it was some tough
competition down there.
We you know the time that kidsget to spend together off the
court.
I mean I think the parents hada good time.
I mean Seahawk Nationrepresented we had over 120
people travel.
Wow, and yeah, I was telling MrKlingle the other day.
(07:55):
I mean it was really cool tosee we're traveling over 500
miles and our fan support outdideven some of the local teams
that were playing there, that'simpressive.
Yeah, I mean our games.
They did a great job scheduling.
They put our games back-to-back, so there was no conflicts
there.
TOM (08:14):
Oh, so you always played boys-girls or girls-boys right
back-to-back?
Coach Hall (08:16):
Yeah, oh that is cool.
So we were able to be there andsupport each other.
How does it work.
TOM (08:21):
It wasn't like a bracket where they had a champion at the
end of it right, it was justmore of like—.
Coach Hall (08:25):
It was showcase style.
Okay, they put you in adivision and your three games
are determined ahead of time.
So the girls played a team fromTexas, a team from South
Carolina and a team from Georgia.
We played a team from Ohio andtwo teams from South Carolina.
Yeah, but it was great.
(08:45):
I mean, we did some activities,we got to explore downtown
Charleston.
I think everybody had a greattime.
TOM (08:53):
Yeah, not a place to spend a little break between Christmas
and New Year's.
Coach Hall (08:56):
Eve.
Yeah, not bad at all, rightyeah.
TOM (08:58):
So let's go down through the games.
Give us a rundown of theindividual games.
What happened?
Because a lot of people didn'tget to see all the Right, didn't
get to see the games didn't getto hear about them.
Coach Hall (09:07):
Right about them.
Right, we uh, you know, on theboys side, we played, uh, ashley
ridge, which actually we wereplaying in their gym oh, they
were the home team in so in thedivision we were in we played
all of our games there and theywere in that bracket it was in
their home gym.
So we actually we played themon friday night and, uh, they're
a very good basketball team.
TOM (09:27):
They're did they get a big crowd there?
Coach Hall (09:29):
I mean, it's a home game for them yeah, it was
pretty but, like I said, we, wewere there representing the
forest, but you know it was uh,yeah, it was a real good crowd.
You know, beautiful facility,um, and their their boys team
coming into the game was 10 and2 and um, that was, honestly,
was probably our best win of theseason because they were a
really good basketball team.
(09:50):
We beat them on their court onfriday night yeah, that's a huge
win yeah, and they uh, yeah,that they're.
Uh, that was a really good winfor us, um, especially, you know
, traveling on thursday and yeahwaking up and going from there
their girls team, I think, isranked like three, so did the
boys and the girls play the sameteams each time, or no?
(10:10):
No, no we both played ashleyridge on friday night, but then
on saturday we played differentteams and the same thing on
monday.
So, um, yeah, then after that onthe boys side we played another
south carolina team calledstall high school which uh, um,
they, you know they were anathletic and we shot the ball
(10:30):
really well, jumped on themearly and kind of got a real
good win there as well.
And then on Monday we played ateam from Ohio, which is just a
completely different style ofplay.
I mean, they were big, theywere strong, they were physical
and we didn't expect them toshoot the ball like they did,
(10:52):
because we, you know, we wewatched their games in advance,
trying to get a scout on themand we knew they wanted to pound
the ball to the post.
But against us, I mean, theyhit 11 threes but we found a way
to pull that out at the end andwe hit some big shots late and
we won that game by four.
But it was great for us, justbecause it was a style of play
(11:15):
that we haven't seen, and Ithink, as we get down the road,
that'll really pay dividends.
TOM (11:20):
How do teams like that, like the state of Ohio, correct
me if I'm wrong here?
They don't have a shot clock.
Coach Hall (11:25):
Nor do they in South Carolina, so we played.
TOM (11:28):
Did you play with or without one?
Coach Hall (11:30):
The girls' team and the boys' team.
We both played without a shot.
TOM (11:33):
Clock which is kind of different.
You don't usually come close tousing your whole shot clock
anyway.
Coach Hall (11:39):
Right, exactly, and so the team and the two teams,
Ashley Ridge and Stahl HighSchool really didn't come into
play.
But the team from Ohio, I meanthey executed really well, they
were really disciplined and theywould run the whole quarter off
, I think, if you let them,that's a different kind of
basketball it is.
TOM (12:00):
I don't know if I like it.
I don't know why you don't havea shot clock yeah correct.
Coach Hall (12:08):
I mean, it's definitely.
The approach is just completelydifferent.
No shot clock, it's like well,let's just keep Just hold the
ball.
Well, let's move the ball untilwe get a completely wide open
layup or just a perfect shot,Whereas with a shot clock it's
like if you pass up a prettygood shot, it might be the best
(12:29):
shot you were going to get asopposed to being able to wait to
get you know the best shot sodefinitely a different approach,
but I'm glad we have a shotclock, to say the least.
TOM (12:38):
Oh, I am too.
I think the games are kind ofboring, right?
Yeah, I like the fast tempo.
Coach Hall (12:43):
Yeah, and not to mention at the higher levels,
college and beyond.
I mean everybody mention at thehigher levels, college and
beyond.
I mean everybody plays with ashot clock, so why not play with
it now?
Yeah, interesting.
So good trip, great trip, greattrip.
Really appreciative of mrklingel, miss smith and the
administration for putting faithin us to go down and do that
and then supporting us to tomake it happen.
(13:04):
So our, our families and ourplayers and our coaches just
it's a couple years in a rowwe've done something like that.
It's something we look forwardto and we're just very thankful
we're able to do it.
Not many teams are able to dothat.
TOM (13:20):
How about off the court?
What fun activities?
Oh yeah.
Coach Hall (13:25):
We went to Topgolf one day and all the kids played
and competed, which was reallycool, and then we did this.
It was an activity center.
The adults were happy becauseit was attached to a brewery.
TOM (13:40):
I was going to say.
What was it attached to?
Coach Hall (13:42):
Exactly Skipping my mind, bull, I don't know, but it
was a brewery slash restaurantand a big warehouse and they had
all.
TOM (13:51):
They had a, I guess, a game room you can call it attached
to it where they had like axethrowing I saw some of the saw
some of the video peoplethrowing when I say axe, I mean
like real access, yeah like Imean yeah I always find it funny
that axe throwing is right nextto a brewery.
Doesn't seem like an equationfor success.
Trust me.
Coach Hall (14:11):
When I walked in and kind of looked around before
everybody arrived, I'm like well, we'll see how this goes, but
plate smashing Plate smashingPlate smashing that was an
activity.
It was an activity where youcould write some things on the
plate and they had this big walland you, just you put on some
goggles and you just smash it Idon't release some frustration.
(14:33):
Uh, they had a bunch of stufflike that.
I mean, they had, uh, a couplelike connect four basketball
games, so many golf.
Uh, they had this littlepunching thing.
Um, I wasn't sure how it wouldgo over, but our kids had a
blast I think anytime you get tosmash plates, it's going to go
well yeah.
I mean the parents.
(14:54):
They were competing with theaxe-throwing games.
Everybody had a blast.
Everybody had a blast, so wespent a few hours there.
We got to spend our off day onSunday downtown Charleston.
TOM (15:08):
Great area.
Coach Hall (15:09):
A lot of the kids went on the USS Yorktown.
The tournament kind of set up,which was cool to see, did the
market.
Everybody tasted some localfood.
It was good.
So Sunday rained a little bit,but everybody kind of just went
downtown and explored the city.
TOM (15:30):
Yeah, I like it.
So 3-0 at there, 6-0 back here,9-0 overall.
What do we got coming up?
Coach Hall (15:38):
We got a really tough stretch coming up.
We talked to our guys lastnight about just we can't become
complacent.
I mean, it's just what happens,especially in sports.
You become comfortable and wegot to really keep our head down
, focused on improvement.
But we have eleanor roosevelt,which they have a tremendous
(15:59):
program.
We're supposed to play themmonday night, hopefully here
here, all right, monday night athome, and then we go to north
county um on tuesday, which isgoing to be a really big game
because they're playing reallygood basketball.
They picked up a couplehigh-profile kids that have
really made a difference in thatprogram and they're going to
make a difference within ourcounty.
So they're giving teams a lotof trouble.
(16:21):
So we play them on Tuesday andthen we travel to Arundel on
Friday, when they've got areally good team as well.
So we have three tough gamesthis week.
That's a big week, very bigweek, very big week.
TOM (16:34):
All right, what else?
What else have we got?
What are we looking forward tothe rest of the year?
Coach Hall (16:38):
Well, I mean, obviously we're off to a great
start, but I think our room forgrowth is still there.
There's just a lot of areaswhere I feel like we can put
more of a complete game together.
We've had really good quarters,quarters and a half but just
trying to be locked in on bothends of the court with more
(17:01):
consistency over longer periodsis what we're really shooting
for, and we'll get there.
But it's been.
You know, the guys have workedhard.
It's a fun start.
TOM (17:10):
It's a fun start.
Coach Hall (17:11):
It's a fun start.
I mean, I love the togethernessand our guys get along with
each other and they're a fungroup to be around.
They're very coachable and youknow we're having a great time.
TOM (17:23):
And we got a lot more Friday nights coming up.
Oh yes, this was our last one.
It was a good crowd coming up.
Oh yes, this was our last one.
It was a good, good crowd.
Coach Hall (17:30):
I think it will be even bigger coming up, though
this was a weird friday becauseyou're coming off the holidays
and all that, but well, yeah,and it was still a good crowd
yeah, I felt like it was areally good crowd and then, of
course, I think, um, I think wemight have been close to a
sellout if it wasn't for thesnow last night yeah, yeah I
think right around 5, 30, 6o'clock started snowing.
It started snowing pretty hard,which probably kept some people
away from showing up for theboys' game.
But it was a great crowd lastnight.
(17:51):
It was a lot of good energy.
We're away Friday.
The following Friday we're atSaverna Park, but then after
that I think we have a stretchof six straight Friday night
home games.
TOM (18:05):
It's been a weird season because you had a lot of away
games and now you have a lot ofhome games.
Exactly.
Coach Hall (18:09):
As we get into January and into February it's
going to be a lot of Fridaynight home games and hopefully
we can keep it rolling.
I'll mention real quick onJanuary 24th we're playing
Severn Run, we're going to doAlumni Night.
TOM (18:21):
Alumni Night.
Yeah, we're going to do it upagain, right, absolutely, I
think we should do something alittle bit wacky.
Coach Hall (18:27):
I don't know what the wackiness is yet, let's talk
.
But I want something wacky.
I like it.
Let's talk.
TOM (18:31):
Maybe we'll do a roving report in the crowd.
Maybe we'll do.
Okay, maybe we'll cover thegame live.
Coach Hall (18:37):
I love it.
TOM (18:37):
I don't know?
Coach Hall (18:38):
Yeah, I'm up for something different, exactly.
TOM (18:47):
Yeah, I want to see it make a run here.
I'm going to look your stats upbecause I think you've got to
be close to 100.
I don't know If not, we'regoing to do it when you hit that
100, we got to do something.
It's going to be fun, right,okay, all right, so we come back
out.
We get out for the boys game,we get out for the girls game.
Both are playing tremendous.
All our winter teams are prettygood right now.
Coach Hall (19:06):
Yeah.
TOM (19:07):
Let's keep it rolling.
Yeah, all right, folks.
Thank you, coach.
Coach Hall (19:11):
Hey, thanks for having me, Tom.
TOM (19:13):
All right.
Please don't hesitate tocontact us through Instagram at
SRHawkTalk.
Let me know what you think ofthe show and who you want to see
in a future episode.
Subscribe to the show on AppleSpotify.
Wherever you listen to podcasts, leave us a rating on Apple and
spread the word Seah, I'm Frank.
That was your boys basketballcoach, darren Hall, and until
next time, I leave you with acheer from our South River cheer
team.
Go Seahawks, h-a-w-k-s Ready,h-a-w-k-s Hawks, we are the best
(19:38):
.
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