Hawk Talk
Seahawk Nation… Welcome to Season 3 of Hawk Talk, a podcast dedicated to talking South River High School Sports all season long. Join host, Tom Frank as we talk to school administrators, coaches, players, alumni and fans throughout the season as we breakdown last week’s games and take a look ahead to next week’s.
Hawk Talk is recorded live from Chad’s BBQ in Edgewater, Maryland. Since 2013, Chad’s Bar-B-Cue has been delighting visitors with great food, fun atmosphere, and excellent customer service.
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Hawk Talk
Let's Go Snowhawks!
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
Welcome back Seahawk Nation. I'm Tom Frank, this is Hawk Talk and we're talking all things South River High School sports. Seahawk fans. Hawk Talk is brought to you by Chad's Barbecue, merrick Creative and our newest sponsor, maryland Remodeling Expert a one-stop shop for all of your roofing and repair contractor needs. Call now for a free home consultation at 410-507-9031. Welcome back to the Yacht Nation. It's 2025. There's a ton of snow on the ground. We're probably out of school for at least the next two days. So go out, shovel, make a snowman, hit your neighbor with a snowball, then come inside by the fire, pour yourself some hot cocoa and let's talk winter sports at South River High School. Listen, comment on Instagram. Let's talk wrestling, swimming, hockey and basketball, where we're coming off two more great wins by our boys and girls basketball teams on Friday night. But before we get to that, and to talk to today's guest, aaron Hall, how are you coach?
Coach Hall:Good, and how are you doing, tom?
TOM:All right, we're going to give a quick snapshot of where we are with our South River teams. Let's start with cheer. Our winner, south River cheer comp is coming up very soon. Mark your calendars for Wednesday, january 15th. If you've not been out to one of these cheer comps, please get out. It's a great time. Let's pack the nest.
TOM:South River hockey sits in an impressive 6-0, with a big win on Friday night. Their next game is this Friday at Piney Orchard Ice Rink versus the Annapolis Arundel team. Let's get out there and cheer on this team too. It's always a good time at the ice rink and wrestling Varsity record is 14-1. Their team is currently in Ocean City for War on the Shore. I kind of just like that name. It's one of the toughest individual bracket tournaments on the East Coast 64-man bracket. As of this morning, saturday January 4th, they are in day two, with 12 wrestlers still competing. South River took second at our invitational tournament this week before Christmas and it should be noted right before Christmas. Coach Klesinger, I think we talked about this last time. He hit his 500th win, which is a crazy accomplishment. How many wins?
Coach Hall:do you have Coach Are?
TOM:we anywhere near 500?.
Coach Hall:Oh no, Are we anywhere near?
TOM:200? I don't even think we're at 100 you gotta be close to 100. Uh, you figure how many games you got a year 25, 20, 25 I mean, you can play 22, then you get some playoff games all right, you might not be as far as I think you are we'll get you.
Coach Hall:Yeah, yeah, we'll get you. I got, you got a long way to go. I got a long ways to go.
TOM:You got a long way to go. I did do a little time researching it and across the country, I can only find 14 active high school wrestling coaches with more wins, and none of them are from the state of Maryland. Wow, so I don't know if this is true or not. I got to get Coach Kless on to dive further. I'm putting him at number one active coach in the state of Maryland.
Coach Hall:Yeah, I mean, like I said, I don't know the nuts and bolts of it, but I would not be shocked. He's got to be there. He's got to be there.
TOM:We're going to put him there. It's impressive. We've just put him there. All right, let's talk basketball. Our girls varsity had a nice win last night over Annapolis 65-45, to bring their overall record to.
Coach Hall:Oh, yeah, absolutely.
TOM:Right, I mean they're too good.
Coach Hall:They had a tough stretch.
TOM:Tough stretch.
Coach Hall:But I tell you, they played some really good teams, I mean some really good teams in our holiday tournament. I mean they played St Mary's John Carroll before that.
TOM:Yeah.
Coach Hall:And games, where I mean they all came down to one or two baskets. And I know I've talked to Coach Zivick and I know he wanted to pull some of those out or all of those out. They'll be okay, he knows it's going to pay dividends being in those tough games down the stretch. I mean their record is not. I mean they're a really good basketball team and they're going to find ways to win those close games when they matter the most in March. But they're going to go on a great run in the county.
TOM:They got all county games well for the most in March, but they're going to go on a great run in the county. They've got all county games well for the most part coming up. We've got Tuesday night at home versus North County, tip off at 5 o'clock. Unless snow gets us, we'll be all right. And then we've got to just mention the JV team, because the JV team sits at an impressive 6-0. Their game today was canceled but they're coming off impressive wins versus Glen Burnie, st Mary's and Crofton. They'll play on Thursday night at Arundel.
Coach Hall:Absolutely. They're playing well. They're fun to watch. They're fun to watch.
TOM:I like watching them. All right, let's talk boys basketball. You're sitting at 9-0. Do I have that right?
Coach Hall:We are we're 9-0.
TOM:9-63. Your big three. I'm calling them now Jaden, jamie and Jonah. I like that they all start with J's.
Coach Hall:Exactly, it makes it tough drawing up plays on the sideline.
TOM:That's true.
Coach Hall:Because you put J's everywhere and I get confused, they get confused.
TOM:I've seen you do that before. We had a lot of m's on on our girls 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: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 think that adds up to like 69.
TOM:Yeah, they had a lot of the points.
Coach Hall:They did. Yeah, offensively those three can really score the ball and I don't even think they've hit their stride yet, and we're going to have some games where they're all on and shooting at a high clip and it's going to be fun to watch and they're all juniors. They're all juniors.
TOM:yeah, that's kind of exciting.
Coach Hall:Absolutely, yeah, absolutely. And there's some young guys there Jackson Suggs, hank Devin, ben Kay, ben Keith, stephen Carr, and we've got three really good sophomores that are up on varsity varsity with us cory henson and wes and, uh, jack mcgrath. I mean there's, there's a lot, of a lot of youth in the lineup and, of course, uh, you know our seat, our seniors liam, jake and, you know, alec, they're, they're, they're helping us now and they're making the most of their senior year. But, yeah, it's a fun team to watch.
TOM:It is we got back to Friday night basketball. I kind of missed it. We hadn't really had a lot of Friday night basketball yet, right.
Coach Hall:Was that the first one of the year? It was our first Friday night game of the season. First Friday night of the season. Yeah, it seems like we've been going at it for a while and that's our first one.
TOM:Yeah, we've got a lot more to come.
Coach Hall:Absolutely.
TOM:But let's rewind. I want to hear all about the holiday tournament you were down in.
Coach Hall:We went to.
TOM:Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston, South Carolina. How did this all go down? What is this tournament about?
Coach Hall:It's the Coach Civic, the girls' varsity and the boys' varsity. We traveled down, we traveled down. It's called the Carolina Invitational. I mean it was a great four or five days on the court. Off the court there's 150 teams from 12, 13 states. Wow, there was two teams from Australia that were in the tournament and you know it was a great tournament.
TOM:It was run really well.
Coach Hall:You know both of our teams played in one of the top brackets and we played some really good competition. It was good for both of us because we saw different styles of play and you know we each played three games and you know it was really good. I mean, besides the growth on the court that I think we'll walk away with because, like I said, it was some tough competition down there. We you know the time that kids get to spend together off the court. I mean I think the parents had a good time. I mean Seahawk Nation represented we had over 120 people travel. Wow, and yeah, I was telling Mr Klingle the other day. I mean it was really cool to see we're traveling over 500 miles and our fan support outdid even some of the local teams that were playing there, that's impressive.
Coach Hall: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:Oh, so you always played boys-girls or girls-boys right back-to-back?
Coach Hall:Yeah, oh that is cool. So we were able to be there and support each other. How does it work.
TOM:It wasn't like a bracket where they had a champion at the end of it right, it was just more of like—.
Coach Hall:It was showcase style. Okay, they put you in a division and your three games are determined ahead of time. So the girls played a team from Texas, a team from South Carolina and a team from Georgia. We played a team from Ohio and two teams from South Carolina. Yeah, but it was great. I mean, we did some activities, we got to explore downtown Charleston. I think everybody had a great time.
TOM:Yeah, not a place to spend a little break between Christmas and New Year's.
Coach Hall:Eve. Yeah, not bad at all, right yeah.
TOM:So let's go down through the games. Give us a rundown of the individual games. What happened? Because a lot of people didn't get to see all the Right, didn't get to see the games didn't get to hear about them.
Coach Hall:Right about them. Right, we uh, you know, on the boys side, we played, uh, ashley ridge, which actually we were playing in their gym oh, they were the home team in so in the division we were in we played all of our games there and they were in that bracket it was in their home gym. So we actually we played them on friday night and, uh, they're a very good basketball team.
TOM:They're did they get a big crowd there?
Coach Hall:I mean, it's a home game for them yeah, it was pretty but, like I said, we, we were 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 and 2 and um, that was, honestly, was probably our best win of the season because they were a really good basketball team. We beat them on their court on friday night yeah, that's a huge win yeah, and they uh, yeah, that they're.
Coach Hall:Uh, that was a really good win for us, um, especially, you know, traveling on thursday and yeah waking up and going from there their girls team, I think, is ranked like three, so did the boys and the girls play the same teams each time, or no? No, no we both played ashley ridge on friday night, but then on saturday we played different teams and the same thing on monday.
Coach Hall:So, um, yeah, then after that on the boys side we played another south carolina team called stall high school which uh, um, they, you know they were an athletic and we shot the ball really well, jumped on them early and kind of got a real good win there as well. And then on Monday we played a team from Ohio, which is just a completely different style of play. I mean, they were big, they were strong, they were physical and we didn't expect them to shoot the ball like they did, because we, you know, we we watched their games in advance, trying to get a scout on them and we knew they wanted to pound the ball to the post. But against us, I mean, they hit 11 threes but we found a way to pull that out at the end and we hit some big shots late and we won that game by four. But it was great for us, just because it was a style of play that we haven't seen, and I think, as we get down the road, that'll really pay dividends.
TOM: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:Nor do they in South Carolina, so we played.
TOM:Did you play with or without one?
Coach Hall:The girls' team and the boys' team. We both played without a shot.
TOM:Clock which is kind of different. You don't usually come close to using your whole shot clock anyway.
Coach Hall:Right, exactly, and so the team and the two teams, Ashley Ridge and Stahl High School really didn't come into play. But the team from Ohio, I mean they executed really well, they were really disciplined and they would run the whole quarter off, I think, if you let them, that's a different kind of basketball it is.
TOM:I don't know if I like it. I don't know why you don't have a shot clock yeah correct.
Coach Hall:I mean, it's definitely. The approach is just completely different. No shot clock, it's like well, let's just keep Just hold the ball. Well, let's move the ball until we get a completely wide open layup or just a perfect shot, Whereas with a shot clock it's like if you pass up a pretty good shot, it might be the best shot you were going to get as opposed to being able to wait to get you know the best shot so definitely a different approach, but I'm glad we have a shot clock, to say the least.
TOM:Oh, I am too. I think the games are kind of boring, right? Yeah, I like the fast tempo.
Coach Hall:Yeah, and not to mention at the higher levels, college and beyond. I mean everybody mention at the higher levels, college and beyond. I mean everybody plays with a shot clock, so why not play with it now? Yeah, interesting. So good trip, great trip, great trip. Really appreciative of mr klingel, miss smith and the administration for putting faith in us to go down and do that and then supporting us to to make it happen. So our, our families and our players and our coaches just it's a couple years in a row we've done something like that. It's something we look forward to and we're just very thankful we're able to do it. Not many teams are able to do that.
TOM:How about off the court? What fun activities? Oh yeah.
Coach Hall:We went to Topgolf one day and all the kids played and competed, which was really cool, and then we did this. It was an activity center. The adults were happy because it was attached to a brewery.
TOM:I was going to say. What was it attached to?
Coach Hall:Exactly Skipping my mind, bull, I don't know, but it was a brewery slash restaurant and a big warehouse and they had all.
TOM:They had a, I guess, a game room you can call it attached to it where they had like axe throwing I saw some of the saw some of the video people throwing when I say axe, I mean like real access, yeah like I mean yeah I always find it funny that axe throwing is right next to a brewery. Doesn't seem like an equation for success. Trust me.
Coach Hall: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 smashing Plate smashing that was an activity. It was an activity where you could write some things on the plate and they had this big wall and you, just you put on some goggles and you just smash it I don't release some frustration.
Coach Hall:Uh, they had a bunch of stuff like that. I mean, they had, uh, a couple like connect four basketball games, so many golf. Uh, they had this little punching thing. Um, I wasn't sure how it would go over, but our kids had a blast I think anytime you get to smash plates, it's going to go well yeah. I mean the parents. They were competing with the axe-throwing games. Everybody had a blast. Everybody had a blast, so we spent a few hours there. We got to spend our off day on Sunday downtown Charleston.
TOM:Great area.
Coach Hall: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 local food. It was good. So Sunday rained a little bit, but everybody kind of just went downtown and explored the city.
TOM:Yeah, I like it. So 3-0 at there, 6-0 back here, 9-0 overall. What do we got coming up?
Coach Hall:We got a really tough stretch coming up. We talked to our guys last night about just we can't become complacent. I mean, it's just what happens, especially in sports. You become comfortable and we got to really keep our head down, focused on improvement. But we have eleanor roosevelt, which they have a tremendous program. We're supposed to play them monday night, hopefully here here, all right, monday night at home, and then we go to north county um on tuesday, which is going to be a really big game because they're playing really good basketball. They picked up a couple high-profile kids that have really made a difference in that program and they're going to make a difference within our county. So they're giving teams a lot of trouble. So we play them on Tuesday and then we travel to Arundel on Friday, when they've got a really good team as well. So we have three tough games this week. That's a big week, very big week, very big week.
TOM:All right, what else? What else have we got? What are we looking forward to the rest of the year?
Coach Hall:Well, I mean, obviously we're off to a great start, but I think our room for growth is still there. There's just a lot of areas where 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 both ends of the court with more consistency over longer periods is what we're really shooting for, and we'll get there. But it's been. You know, the guys have worked hard. It's a fun start.
TOM:It's a fun start.
Coach Hall:It's a fun start. I mean, I love the togetherness and our guys get along with each other and they're a fun group to be around. They're very coachable and you know we're having a great time.
TOM: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:I think it will be even bigger coming up, though this was a weird friday because you're coming off the holidays and all that, but well, yeah, and it was still a good crowd yeah, I felt like it was a really good crowd and then, of course, I think, um, I think we might have been close to a sellout if it wasn't for the snow last night yeah, yeah I think right around 5, 30, 6 o'clock started snowing.
Coach Hall:It started snowing pretty hard, which probably kept some people away from showing up for the boys' game. But it was a great crowd last night. It was a lot of good energy. We're away Friday. The following Friday we're at Saverna Park, but then after that I think we have a stretch of six straight Friday night home games.
TOM:It's been a weird season because you had a lot of away games and now you have a lot of home games. Exactly.
Coach Hall:As we get into January and into February it's going to be a lot of Friday night home games and hopefully we can keep it rolling. I'll mention real quick on January 24th we're playing Severn Run, we're going to do Alumni Night.
TOM:Alumni Night. Yeah, we're going to do it up again, right, absolutely, I think we should do something a little bit wacky.
Coach Hall:I don't know what the wackiness is yet, let's talk. But I want something wacky. I like it. Let's talk.
TOM:Maybe we'll do a roving report in the crowd. Maybe we'll do. Okay, maybe we'll cover the game live.
Coach Hall:I love it.
TOM:I don't know?
Coach Hall:Yeah, I'm up for something different, exactly.
TOM:Yeah, I want to see it make a run here. I'm going to look your stats up because I think you've got to be close to 100. I don't know If not, we're going 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 pretty good right now.
Coach Hall:Yeah.
TOM:Let's keep it rolling. Yeah, all right, folks. Thank you, coach.
Coach Hall:Hey, thanks for having me, Tom.
TOM:All right. Please don't hesitate to contact us through Instagram at SRHawkTalk. Let me know what you think of the show and who you want to see in a future episode. Subscribe to the show on Apple Spotify. Wherever you listen to podcasts, leave us a rating on Apple and spread the word Seah, I'm Frank. That was your boys basketball coach, darren Hall, and until next time, I leave you with a cheer from our South River cheer team. Go Seahawks, h-a-w-k-s Ready, h-a-w-k-s Hawks, we are the best.
