Seckinger boys punch their ticket to Georgia state tournament

First year program clinched its spot with a win over Cherokee Bluff; Madison County, which routed North Hall, is up next

IV Redmond soared through the air, slamming home a dunk as the buzzer sounded, appropriately adding an exclamation point on the night.

By the time he landed back on the ground, it was official: he and his teammates had made history.

Seckinger High School’s Boys Basketball team is headed to the state tournament in the program’s first year of existence after defeating Cherokee Bluff 65-54 in the second round of the Region 8-AAAA Tournament. The school played its first ever game just over three months ago.

Finishing the game in style, IV Redmond ends the game with a dunk, starting the celebrations for Seckinger High School, who clinched its first ever state tournament berth with the win / Photo by Jake Cantrell

For first-year head coach Nate Hamilton, leading a team to the state tournament as the head coach is something he’d always dreamt of.

“It’s pretty surreal,” Hamilton said. “As a high school player growing up, that’s your dream, to play in the state tournament. To do it in your first year as a head coach feels surreal, but I learned from the best.”

Hamilton worked under his mentor Eddie Martin for four years at Buford and credits him with teaching him the formula for being a great coach.

“Eddie Martin is the greatest coach to ever do it and I got to work with him for four years and see how he works, how he approached his business and there’s no other way to do it in my opinion,” Hamilton said. “You can see the results from it. I’m staying by the book, exactly how he taught me and it’s been great. I have great assistants and great players and it’s just been awesome.”

Despite Seckinger’s short time in existence, the program already has a lot of support that Hamilton feels is at the heart of their success.

“It’s huge for the school,” he said of the team’s state tournament berth. “Our support has been awesome. Everybody today at school was wishing us luck and they love our kids. Our kids are such a big and positive presence in our school so they have a lot of support and it’s just awesome. Our AD believed in what we were doing, she took a chance on a young, never-been-a-head-coach guy that’s high energy and she believed in what we were doing and we were able to get it done. All the credit goes to the kids, they went out and executed.”

The Jaguars took an early 3-2 lead and never looked back, leading pretty much the whole game. Seckinger senior Dominic Dupigny got the Jaguars started with the first of four first quarter threes the team would hit in the first few minutes of the game. Hamilton said Dupigny has become somewhat of a spark plug for Seckinger late in the season.

“Our senior Dominic Dupigny really stepped up tonight,” he said. “He’s a guy that was coming off the bench for us most of the year. We loved the energy he gives us, the pop he would give us off the bench and now he’s started the last three games for us. He was electric defensively.”

Domnic Dupigny commanded the entire attention of the Cherokee Bluff defense, surrounding the senior in the post. Dupigny still managed to score often for Seckinger, compiling 12 points for the Jags / Photo by Jake Cantrell

Cherokee Bluff managed to keep up for most of the first quarter, thanks to nine points from Boston Kersh to open the game. But Seckinger started to pull away, ending the quarter on a 6-0 run that gave the Jags a 20-13 lead. 

That run continued into the second quarter, where things really began to fall apart for the Bears of Cherokee Bluff. 

A strong drive to the basket from Dupigny drew a foul and two free throws. After making the first, Cherokee Bluff head coach Josh Travis was given a warning by one of the officials for arguing that Dupigny went to the ground untouched. Seconds after the second free throw went through, Travis was given a technical, that resulted in two more made free throws, extending Seckinger’s run from the first quarter to 10-0. 

Taking an 11-point lead off the four-straight free throws, Seckinger remained a nuisance to the home crowd, ending any momentum gained by the Bears before they gained substantial ground. After the deficit grew as large as 16 points, Cherokee Bluff ended the first half on an 11-2 run to draw back within seven thanks to the heroics of Cooper Glover who had six points during the stretch.

Seckinger never let the Bears get closer than a seven-point deficit the remainder of the game.

The third quarter belonged to the Jags, outscoring Cherokee Bluff 16-10 behind scoring bursts from Carter Watkins and Tony Wells who had six points each. Watkins and Wells finished with 15 and nine points respectively. 

Carter Watkins couldn't be stopped, driving to the rim with authority and putting up high percentage shots from close range throughout the game on his way to a game-high 15 points / Photo by Jake Cantrell

Entering the fourth down 13, Cherokee Bluff’s last gasp came from its senior Carlos Marlow, who took over, desperately trying to extend his high school basketball career. Marlow scored eight in the quarter, constantly working to the basket and getting to the free throw line. The senior’s nine second-half free throws pushed his total to a game-high 15 points, tying the efforts of Watkins for Seckinger. 

Marlow’s late push wouldn’t be enough as a 12-2 run by the Bears only brought them within seven at 58-51 and they were held to just three points over the final three minutes. 

Hamilton credited the tough journey his team has been through to get to this point of the season as to why they were able to hold on in the end.

“Our guys have been through it. Our sub-region was so difficult,” he said. “North Oconee is loaded, Madison’s loaded, Walnut Grove is loaded. We played a very tough schedule so we were ready for a moment like this.”

Hamilton recalled a seemingly similar situation in a hostile road environment that proved to be a lesson for the Jaguars.

“We actually went up to North Hall a couple weeks ago and got our brains beat in,” he said. “That press, that atmosphere, all that stuff prepared us for this moment.”

Seckinger hit the free throws necessary to clinch the game before Redmond’s emphatic end to the game, a left-handed dunk, swinging his body to the side on the rim to face the faithful few supporters that traveled with the team and sending them into a frenzy. 

As Hamilton celebrated by hugging his athletic director who jumped into his arms and revving up the crowd, his team ran for the visiting locker room where they began their celebration. Moments later when they emerged, assistant coaches instructed them to enjoy the win for the night, but to be reset and refocused by midnight, as the team is still two wins away from achieving the next milestone.

“Obviously our goal is to win the Region Championship and be able to host a playoff game,” Hamilton said. “That would be awesome for our community. Our gym at night is amazing, which would give us an advantage for sure. And our whole goal is to advance to the state tournament. We just want to take it one game at a time. Madison is really, really good so we have to be ready to go on Thursday.”

In the game before, Madison County, No. 4 in AAAA, took care of business against North Hall with a definitive 76-54 win. 

The Red Raiders’ three-headed monster of Grant Smith, Chris Rhodes and Mason Smith nearly kept pace with the entire North Hall team by themselves, combining for 52 of the team’s 76 points despite barely seeing any minutes in the fourth quarter. 

Seckinger will play Madison County on Thursday at Chestatee High School with the winner advancing to the Region Championship. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.