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
Regional Championship Preview
It's an exciting time for South River High School's basketball program as both the girls' and boys’ varsity team approaches a monumental achievement—securing a regional championship. With an unprecedented 20 wins and only 3 losses this season, the boys' team is set up for an exciting playoff showdown. Coach Darren Hall shares the ups and downs of the season, including a recap of their powerful victory against JW Bennett, earning a remarkable record that places them in Seahawk history.
Tune in now and let’s cheer on the Seahawks as both our girls' and boys' play tonight, March 6th vs Stephen Decatur (Boys on the road and Girls at home) for a chance at a regional championship.
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. Please reach out, send updates after games, let us know about fundraisers, big events, 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. Hawk Talk is brought to you in conjunction with the Athletic Department at South River High School. Merrick Creative your end-to-end creative agency dedicated to amplifying brands' authenticity through branding, marketing and public relations. Chad's Barbecue and Maryland Remodeling Expert. Today we have a Hawk Talk short because there's no time to spare when we have playoff action in the works. So let's say hello to our head boys basketball coach and Hawk Talk regular.
Speaker 2:Darren Hall, I love being here. Appreciate you having me, tom.
Speaker 1:So we got to start here because you got to answer a question for me. You had a bye and you played last night as the second seed, so it's a two-part question. First of all, who in the world is the first seed and why did we not play for the county championship?
Speaker 2:Well, first question is Stephen Decatur is the one seed? Okay, so they're from the shore and they finished the regular season, I believe. I think they had three losses, like us, but two of their losses were in their holiday tournament and they do not count against you in terms of the state seating. So technically they were 20 and one, I. I believe in games that count towards the state seating what were we?
Speaker 1:and we were 19.
Speaker 2:We were 19 and 3 going into oh because you won.
Speaker 1:You won all your games in that holiday tournament we.
Speaker 2:We went 3 and 0 there that's right, that's right, we had three losses throughout the season.
Speaker 2:So we were two seed. They were the one seed. Jay and Bennett, who we played last night, was the three seed, and one, two and three all got first-round buys. Four and five, which was Severna Parker-Rundle, had the play-in game or the first-round game and then Arundel went to Stephen Decatur last night and Stephen Decatur won that game and you know, obviously we were able to pull out a win against a really good jay and bennett team who, even though they were the three seed they were 16 and five and two of those five losses were to steven decatur.
Speaker 1:So oh, because they're in the same.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they play the same conference.
Speaker 1:Okay, and how did we not get in the county championship?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's so, even though.
Speaker 1:Even though we're the best team in the county.
Speaker 2:Right, I'm with you, all right, Even though we had, and Meade finished with the same record we did and we split with them. We beat them in December and then they beat us in early February. Yeah, so we split with them and you know we had the best record in the county. But the way they do the county championship now is the games that count towards that game. The county championship standings are the games that are played after January 1st, where everybody in the county plays, everybody once at that point. So even though we beat Meade, brawnack and Harwood in December, those three county games we didn't get credit for towards the county championship standings. Now, all those games still count towards our state standings and our, our seed in our region.
Speaker 1:But that doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's. I guess it's one of those things where if it works out for you because of the way it works out, then you like it, and if it doesn't, you don't but, you know, we.
Speaker 1:uh, then you like it, and if it doesn't, you don't. But you know, we certainly wouldn't like to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I hear you I don't like it we wouldn't like to have an opportunity to defend our county championship from the year before. But so we ended up, you know, one game on the outside of that, because one of our other losses was to North County. So, even though we had a better record than north county, they beat us in the county standings and so they had that head-to-head.
Speaker 1:So all right, all right. Well, let's talk about last night's win. You won 70 to 61 over jm bennett, which, by the gets you to 20-3. And correct me if I'm wrong, but is that the best record in school history?
Speaker 2:That's the best record in school history 20-3. Previously it was 19-4. So going into last night we knew we would at least have a tie last night. We knew we would at least have a tie. But uh, you know, with a win last night you know we got to 20 wins first team to win 20 games in a season and it's the best record in school history. So we told the guys after the game in the locker room that you know we have. We have a lot more celebrations ahead of us this year. That's the plan and that's what we're focused on. But you know, sports are tough, competition, competition is tough and you can't miss opportunities to celebrate accomplishments like that. Well, congratulations. It's definitely something that yeah.
Speaker 2:That's a big mark. It's a big mark. It's something that the guys will be able to carry with them, and it's big.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I tell you what will be bigger. Carry with them and uh, it's big. Yeah, I tell you what will be bigger if we get our first region championship tomorrow night and we try, when we drive two hours up to stephen decatur and that's certainly the plan um so south river has never had a regional championship we've never had a regional championship in boys basketball wow you.
Speaker 2:You know the formats have changed along the way, but we've never been a region champion. And you know, with a win tomorrow and again I say that as if we just got to make the drive we're playing a very good basketball game.
Speaker 1:That's a big game. I could go either way.
Speaker 2:They're very good, they're very good but but with a win tomorrow we're down to the final eight in the state, which would be the furthest any south river high school team is done in the state playoffs all right.
Speaker 1:So before we basketball, before we talk about tomorrow's game, explain this to me then. So there, there are eight regions. Is that how it works, then? Because if you win your region, you're one of eight.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. You have eight regions and tomorrow night is the region finals. Yeah, and then after tomorrow night, what they will do is they're down to eight and they will reseed teams based on record from there.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So we certainly can't get ahead of ourselves. But if we get to that point and we're fortunate enough tomorrow to win, there's a very high chance, because of our 20-3 record, that we would be in the top four, which means Saturday we would have a home game.
Speaker 1:Oh, it would be, saturday.
Speaker 2:We can't get ahead of ourselves. We can't get ahead of ourselves. No, absolutely.
Speaker 1:You would be 21-3 if you win that game, right? So you've got to think that puts you in the top four.
Speaker 2:Yep, I think we would have a really good chance of being in the top four, which would give us a home game for the round of eight being in the top four, which would give us a home game for the round of eight.
Speaker 1:And would that be a Saturday afternoon, Saturday night?
Speaker 2:How does that work? Again, we got to go, do we got to?
Speaker 1:we got to do. Yeah, I'm allowed to look ahead, you can't.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know, and exactly, and it's. It's a tall task, but I've heard. I've heard the timeframe of three o'clock, Saturday afternoon, 3.30, 4 o'clock being thrown around.
Speaker 1:That would be interesting, but the first thing comes first. You got to go play Decatur. Tell me, what do you know about Decatur?
Speaker 2:What's their record? No-transcript.
Speaker 1:They're 21-3.
Speaker 2:They played two really good teams over their holiday tournament, the Governor's Challenge, and lost those. But they've only lost one other game the rest of the way and that was to a really good Cardoza team from DC. But I mean they're very talented. They have a guard, david Chandler, number zero. He's a handful, he is a physical, he's very physical. He's extremely athletic. He is going to Vanderbilt for football oh wow, we've got to get up there and play him. But on film he looks to be one of the better guards that we faced all year. I mean, he's just, he's really strong and physical and he gets downhill and he's able to finish at the rim. He's really crafty. But then I mean that's not.
Speaker 2:They have a 6'6 kid in the middle who's long, he's athletic, he protects the rim. He's got real good hands. He's athletic, he protects the rim. He's got real good hands. He finishes around the basket. They have a shooter number 23, that he hit nine threes in a game about two weeks ago. He's certainly capable of getting hot. They're a very good basketball team. They've had a really good program, especially here in the last four or five years, where they're very well respected. They've got several kids on their team that get a lot of press and have made a mark for themselves in the winter season and in the travel world. They're organized and very well coached. I mean, coach Johnson does a great job with them and it's going to be a war.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it sounds like it. Wow, it's going to be two good games Now. The unfortunate thing for us Seahawks fans is the girls and the boys are going to play at the exact same time because of this crazy non-weather issue.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's tough, I know exactly yeah yeah, they uh. I'm not even sure what they got over on the shore, but I know, you know, I get over the bay bridge being closed I guess, ultimately, it's better to be safe than sorry.
Speaker 2:it was probably the right decision, but it's certainly uh, we're not happy about it because our, our girls and their families and their fan base you know we're all connected, they support us and we're upset because we're not going to be able to to support them tomorrow night. You know, winning a region championships are really big deal. It's a really big deal. So you know, if one of us and hopefully both of us were to get it done, the other one won't be there to kind of be there and support. But it's just the way it shakes out and we both got to go make the most of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so two big regional championships. I might have to put this out before I collectively put this together with Zivic. This might have to go out right away. We got to hear about this game. We got gotta get people excited about it. People can watch this though. Right, it's gonna be on. Uh, whatever our network thing is, is that right?
Speaker 2:well, so I know the uh. I know our girls will be on the nfhs network.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because, we have the camera here now up on the shore. They do not have the nfhs cameras. Um, they have a different thing not have the NFHS cameras, they have a different thing. They have the Delmarva Sport Network, so that's a whole different gig. So they're interesting up there because they have games that will show up on YouTube for literally an hour and then the next thing you know they're taken down. So it's been a challenge to get some film on. I mean, we have it, but we've had to work for it on Decatur and Bennett from last night. But in terms of people who can't make the trip to the shore tomorrow night to see us, I would say the Delmarva Sport Network or you might be able to find it being streamed live on youtube, um, is the best bet, interesting all right, we're gonna have.
Speaker 1:We're gonna find a way to keep people updated. I'm gonna I'm gonna most likely be at the girls game tomorrow night, but right, I gotta I gotta, I gotta know what's going on.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and if we yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, coach, good luck tomorrow, let's bring one home.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Man.
Speaker 2:We're excited, our guys are ready and you know, we were tested last night and I think that kind of had two weeks off and last night I think it was good for us to get back and it was a hard-fought game. I think it was good for us to get back and it was a hard fall game and and I think our guys are ready to go up there tomorrow and compete. So we're excited.
Speaker 1:It's going to be a good one. We have a chance at two regional championships. Now can I ask you this Did the girl, have the girls, ever won a national regional championship? They have they have Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it's been a while. I want to say 2005.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 2:Don't quote me on that. You'll have to confirm. I'll confirm, I want to say, yeah, 2005 may have been the last one.
Speaker 1:Wow, so we got a chance at two tomorrow.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:All right, people, anybody listening make sure you figure out. Either get to that game or we're going to find a way. We're going to find a way, if you're at the girls game, to figure out the score and keep people updated.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. There'll be people texting, I'm sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all right coach, go get them. Either way, we'll have to have you on afterwards. Give us the full story.
Speaker 2:Will do. Thanks, tom, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Good luck. That's Darren Hall, our varsity boys head coach. Two big games tonight, both for us to cater for regional championships. Boys are on the road and our girls are at home. Both games tip off at 6 pm. We'll be back tomorrow with girls varsity coach, mike Zivick, and a full recap of what is sure to be two exciting state regional championship games. Go Seahawks.
