Chimney Sweep in Wando, SC

Wando High School named Isaiah Perrin as its new head football coach Thursday, Dec. 14

Perrin, who has strong ties to Berkeley County, has multiple years of experience as a coach at the high school level. Perrin was a standout lineman at Timberland High School and earned a scholarship to Presbyterian College in 2007. Most recently, he was the offensive coordinator at Stratford High School.

Perrin’s mother, Joan Perrin, has been a Berkeley County teacher for more than 20 years.

“After a diligent search and interview process, we are excited to announce Isaiah Perrin as the next head coach here at Wando,” Wando Principal Chas Coker said in a press release by the Charleston County School District. “Coach Perrin has the skills, dedication and ability to lead our Warriors to new heights as a program and community. I am excited to see how he will transform our football program and pour into our players in field skills and character development. I cannot wait for our community to meet this amazing football coach and man.”

Before Wando and Stratford, a pair of Region 6-5A programs, Perrin worked on the football staffs of Wilson High School (run-game coordinator and offensive line), Swansea High School (co-offensive coordinator) and Lower Richland High School (offensive line).

He has also served as the head boys golf coach at Stratford High School for the past two years.

“I would like to thank the Wando administration and faculty for giving me the opportunity to join the Warrior family,” Perrin said. “I’m excited to join the Mount Pleasant community and look forward to building a rich tradition of success at Wando.”

Perrin takes over for Rocco Adrian, who went 8-28 in four seasons. This past fall, the Warriors finished 1-9 and failed to win a Region 6-5A game.

Perrin and Stratford scored 39 points on the Warriors in an 11-point victory. The Knights won the Region 6-5A crown and advanced to the second round of the Class 5A playoffs.

“Coach Perrin is an awesome guy,” said Stratford football coach Dennie McDaniel. “We were fortunate enough to get him with us. From the first time I talked to him, I knew he was somebody on the rise. I knew the day I hired him I wasn’t going to have him long. I’m really happy for him and proud of him. He coaches the right way. I think they made the right selection. I wish him the best except for one week a year.”

The new Wando River bridge on S.C. Highway 41, connecting Mount Pleasant to the upper Cainhoy Peninsula in Berkeley County, opened for traffic early Friday.

"My kiddos were super excited to go over it for the first time after waiting so long," said Shea Gibson, who posted a photo of the smiling children on Twitter.

The new bridge is, like the old one, a single lane in each direction, but it was built wide enough to become a four-lane bridge when the roads leading to it are widened to four lanes.

On the east side of the bridge is Mount Pleasant, one of the nation's fastest-growing cities, and traffic-choked Highway 41. A $130 million plan to widen the less than 5-mile section of the highway in Mount Pleasant is years away from construction.

On the west side, plans are under way for a city-size development off Clements Ferry Road called Cainhoy Plantation that eventually could have as many as 45,000 residents. Plans to widen Clements Ferry to four lanes all the way to the bridge are under way.

The bridge itself cost $45.8 million.

S.C. Department of Transportation Project Manager Daniel Burton said that with traffic switched over to the new bridge, demolition will begin immediately on the old one.

"Freakin' finally, I've been threading the needle on Gauntlet Bridge for decades," said Twitter user @theactualevan.

Traffic bound for Berkeley County began using the new bridge around 11 p.m. Thursday, while traffic bound for Mount Pleasant switched to the new bridge at 5 a.m. Friday.

"I’ve been out there since before 5, and everything went fairly well," he said. "We’ve gotten lots of horn beeps. I think it’s been well-received by the public."

Today's Top Headlines

There's still plenty of work to go on the project. There's paving work to do on the roads leading to the bridge, and an intersection to complete where Clements Ferry Road meets Highway 41. Currently, traffic lanes on the new bridge are shifted to the north side of the bridge, with rows of barrels blocking the other side.

"The reason it’s like that is because of how the roadway comes to the bridge," Burton said.

The coming road work should provide the finishing touches. The entire project has a completion deadline in November.

The old swing-span bridge was a low, narrow two-lane span. The new bridge is 55 feet tall, and its width allows for a 15-foot center median and shoulders at the roadside.

"The existing bridge didn’t have any shoulders," Burton said. "You were right there, with the guard rail."

The old bridge, built in 1939, was opened manually for boats and was deemed "structurally deficient" and "functionally obsolete." Federal regulations required the new bridge to be 55-feet tall, over widespread local objections.

Work has already started on the old bridge to demolish the fenders, meant to keep boats from hitting the bridge supports, and the steel truss structure for the turning segment of the bridge.

The region’s artificial reefs will benefit from the demolition of the old bridge with the swing span and concrete slabs being donated to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources for placement off the coast, according to DOT.

Three of the top high school athletic programs in South Carolina are located in the Charleston area.

The S.C. Athletic Administrators Association recently announced the winners of the Carlisle Cup in each of the state’s five High School League classifications. The Carlisle Cup recognizes the top athletic programs each year, based on state championships and playoff success.

Prep Zone

Wando is the Class AAAAA winner for the 2020-21 school year. The athletic program captured state titles in volleyball, girls swimming and girls soccer, and was the state runner-up in boys swimming, boys tennis and girls lacrosse. Wando also was Lower State runner-up in girls basketball and girls tennis, third in girls track and fourth in boys track.

Bishop England was the top program in Class AAA this year. The Bishops won state titles in girls tennis, boys cross country, girls lacrosse and boys lacrosse, and were state runners-up in girls basketball, boys golf and boys swimming. The girls cross country team finished third in the state meet, and the girls golf team was third in the AAA state tournament.

Philip Simmons earned the award for Class AA. The four-year-old Berkeley County school won state titles in boys tennis, boys track and girls track, while finishing second in boys cross country and girls cross country. The girls tennis team was AA state runner-up as well. The volleyball and girls basketball teams reached the AA Lower State finals.

High school coaches on the move

Summer is often the time for movement among the prep coaching ranks, and this summer is no different.

Oceanside Collegiate recently announced the hiring of two new varsity head coaches, while an assistant at Berkeley has landed his first head coaching gig.

OCA filled openings in baseball and softball in recent days. Alecia Robinson will assume duties as the head softball coach next spring. Robinson comes to Oceanside Collegiate from Blue Ridge High School in Greer. Robinson served at Blue Ridge for the last three seasons, guiding the Tigers to an undefeated region record and a Lower State appearance in Class AAAA.

Robinson is a former two-time all-state performer at Tuscola High School in Waynesville, North Carolina, where she holds the school’s career home run record.

Richie McCullough will take the reins of the successful baseball program. McCullough replaces Jerry Stoots, who was not retained after the 2021 season. McCullough has been an assistant on the varsity team for the last two seasons. Oceanside played for the Class AA state title in 2019 and won 20 games this spring but failed to make the state playoffs.

McCullough is a native of Columbia and a 1990 graduate of Columbia High. He was a four-year all-region selection who was also was named all-state and played in the North-South all-star game.

Prior to his move to Charleston, McCullough spent 11 years as an assistant coach in Lexington.

Sports

“I am very appreciative for the opportunity here at Oceanside and would like to thank Mrs. (Brenda) Corley and Coach (Mark) Meyer for putting their trust in me," McCullough said. "I love everything about this school.”

Zach Jacobs, who was Berkeley's junior varsity baseball coach and an assistant coach for the varsity team, was hired as the varsity head coach at Beaufort High School. Jacobs is a graduate of Berkeley and was an All-Lowcountry selection as a player. He inherits a program that played for the Class AAAA Lower State championship this past spring. The Eagles lost to James Island in the best-of-three Lower State series.

When it was too hot or cold to play outside, young Kaleb Jenness would grab a volleyball and his sister for a game of pepper in the front hall. If the two younger siblings also wanted to play, the four kids would blow up a balloon, shove a couple of chairs to the middle of the floor and stage a game of "balloon volleyball."

"Anything to play volleyball," said Kaleb's mom, Lisa.

It's a long way from balloon volleyball in the foyer to starting as a freshman for a ranked NCAA Division I men's team — especially for a kid from South Carolina, where boys' volleyball is not a high school sport and barely exists in the recruiting plans of Division I programs.

But that's exactly where Kaleb Jenness' love of the sport has taken him. The 6-foot-6 graduate of Wando High School is the first Division I men's volleyball player from the state, starting for 11th-ranked Ball State and leading the Cardinals in kills and points scored so far this season.

In a 3-1 upset of No. 12 Ohio State last weekend, Jenness had 12 kills and scored 13.5 points in the four-set match, second on the team in both categories. He even spiked the ball off the head of a hapless Buckeye.

"Kaleb is doing a really good job for us, certainly beyond what a typical freshman does for our program," said Ball State coach Joel Walton. "And his story is so unique, because of where he's from. We really don't see a whole lot of boys' volleyball in the southeast United States, and to get a kid who comes in like he has is very unusual."

Team manager

Jenness' love of volleyball comes naturally. His mom and aunt were both standouts at Wando under renowned coach Alexis Glover.

Lisa Kimbrell Jenness was an all-conference player at Presbyterian, and aunt Laura Kimbrell Togami was all-ACC at North Carolina State. His uncle Craig Togami coached at N.C. State, and his father Norm, a Citadel graduate, is a formidable foe in beach volleyball at 6-foot-6. Younger sister Haley plays for Wando.

Kaleb also comes from one of Mount Pleasant's most accomplished sports families. Grandfather Roy Kimbrell was a multi-sport standout at Moultrie High School, and his son Mike pitched at Clemson and is a member of the Charleston Baseball Hall of Fame.

Mike's son Tyler pitched at Furman, and Kaleb's cousins Jonathan and Hannah Togami are among the top pole-vaulters in the state for Wando's track and field team.

Needless to say, the family's Christmas volleyball games were at a fairly high level.

"Our family is pretty competitive," Kaleb Jenness said. "We like to win."

But when Kaleb got to high school at Wando, there was no boys' team for him to play for. Glover invited Kaleb to be the manager for the girls' team, and in the bargain got a standout practice player for her squad. Wando won back-to-back state titles while Kaleb was team manager.

"He was our manager, but he ran with us, he drilled with us, he played with us," Glover said. "And here he is at 6-foot-6, playing for the scout team and hitting against our team from the other side of the net. When we had to prepare for a specific player, he was that player on the scout team. He was great in every aspect of practice.

"He made our team so much better, because he was so good at practice. He really loves the game; he eats, sleeps and breathes the game. If we had boys' volleyball in South Carolina, he would have been all-world."

For Kaleb, practicing with the girls' team kept him connected to the sport in between weekend trips to Atlanta and Charlotte for practices and games with his club teams, Carolina Union and A5. Almost every weekend during his junior year, some combination of the Jennesses made the drive to Atlanta, sometimes just for a practice session.

"That was my first experience with indoor volleyball," Kaleb said of Wando's girls' team. "So that's where I learned about positioning and being in the right spot and reading the game from there. That's where I got a lot of the basics and fundamentals of volleyball that Coach Glover taught me."

Varsity sport?

Jenness' success might be a boost to a recent drive to make boys' volleyball a high school sport in South Carolina. As many as 40 schools have shown interest in sponsoring boys' volleyball at least at the club-sport level, much like rugby and ice hockey are played at high schools in the state.

Glover said she recently took part in a conference call about starting boys' volleyball in South Carolina.

"There's a big move in the state to have inaugural club teams," Glover said. "They would not be under the athletics' umbrella, but would be club teams like rugby and hockey. We're going to try to do one here at Wando to see who is interested in doing it."

Glover said that S.C. High School League rules require 16 participating teams to become a sanctioned sport. Boys' volleyball would probably have to be a spring sport because gyms are so heavily used in the fall and winter.

"That would be a great thing," said Ball State's Walton. "The more areas that we have like that, the better it will be for the sport in our country. It would encourage more Division I and II teams to become sponsoring men's volleyball."

Walton said there are about 350 women's teams at each of the NCAA Division I, II and III levels for a total of more than 1,000. But in men's volleyball, there are only 22 men's Division I programs, 25 in Division II and almost 100 in Division III.

College programs in South Carolina include Division II teams Erskine, Limestone, North Greenville and Coker.

Olympic dreams

So how far can Kaleb take his volleyball dreams from the family foyer? Walton says he's just "scratching the surface" of his ability.

"I think he's got a really high ceiling," Walton said. "He's already at the collegiate level, playing really well as a freshman. Getting to the those other places — playing professionally, playing for the national team — really gets back to how hard Kaleb is willing to work while he's in college.

"How willing is he going to be to do the extra things that will enable him to compete at that elite level? I think there's a possibility there. I think he's still a little immature, because if you look at him, it looks like he's going to continue to grow and to fill out. Already, we've seen a big change in him over the last year."

For his part, Kaleb — known as "Beach" by his Ball State teammates — says he wants to take volleyball as far as he can: All-America status, the Olympics, professional volleyball.

The Olympics include both indoor and beach volleyball. In pro volleyball, the AVP Tour features two-person beach volleyball, and there are pro indoor leagues around the world.

Last summer, Kaleb teamed with North Greenville's Christian Phung to win the U18 national title at the USA National Beach Tour Junior Championships.

"I plan on taking volleyball all the way to the end, as long as I can," he said. "I want to go to the Olympics for beach or indoor. It doesn't matter which, I just want to play at the highest level. And I plan on being a pro player overseas somewhere."

In the meantime, finally being able to play for his school is a dream come true.

"It's a lot of fun because you are representing your whole school," he said. "When you are out on the court, you feel like you are out there for your teammates and your school, and that's a good feeling."

Learn where South Carolina’s three top inshore species live and catch them all

“You’re gonna have to horse him out of there. Don’t give him any slack,” said Capt. Addison Rupert of Charleston’s Lowcountry Outdoor Adventures, coaching a client who was hooked up with a bull redfish around some wooden structure in the Wando River. A few minutes later, Rupert hoisted the 42-inch redfish aboard, then asked his client if she was ready to go for the speckled trout and flounder. They were after an “inshore slam.”

Rupert said the Wando is one of many places in the Lowcountry where a fisherman has a chance to catch a slam this month: redfish, speckled trout and flounder.

“Redfish love to hang out along grass lines and in deep holes near wooden structures. Speckled trout like moving water, especially areas with cross currents. Flounder prefer smooth sandy or muddy bottom with structure nearby,” he said. “The Wando has all of these, and it has them all close together.”

A moving tide is preferable for all three species, said Rupert, but he said flounder bite on a slack tide more readily than redfish or trout, so he concentrates on those two species when the tide is moving, then targets flounder at ebb tide.

This month, redfish are all over the Lowcountry, and they are feeding aggressively. Rupert targets them with live or cut bait.

“I know I’ll find some redfish near wooden structures, especially ones that are near deep holes, and the Wando is full of such structures,” said Rupert, who fishes with live mud minnows on jigheads, and with cut blue crabs. With a quarter of a crab threaded onto a 3/0 circle hook at the end of a Carolina rig, Rupert anchors down or ties up within casting distance of docks or old bridge pilings. He fan-casts a spread of several rods — some with blue crab and some with mud minnows — then waits for a bite.

If nothing bites in 15 or 20 minutes, Rupert moves, but sometimes it’s a very subtle move.

“Sometimes I’ll just move a few feet so I can reach another side of whatever structure I’m fishing. Other times, I’ll run downriver to another piece of structure,” he said.

When it’s time for trout, Rupert focuses on moving water. Points on the main river often feature different currents that collide, and Rupert targets them with popping corks and mud minnows. He casts into one current, lets the current carry the cork into the other, then reels the rig back in, making it pop all the way back, often drawing strikes from trout.

When using popping corks, Rupert likes to have an 18-inch leader under the cork; he said many anglers are too shy when it comes to popping the rigs.

“I want it moving the whole time. I let it settle, then pop it across the water. The trout come to check out the noise, see the bait, then hopefully bite it,” he said.

Flounder, Rupert said, are the most challenging of the three inshore slam species.

“They are more particular about where they hang out, and they are finicky biters compared to redfish and trout, especially this month when those two species are pretty aggressive,” he said.

But the Wando has plenty of spots where flounder like to gather, said Rupert, who looks for shallow water with a smooth bottom. A black, muddy bottom is good, but a white sandy one is just as good. He uses a Carolina rig with a 12- to 18-inch leader and a mud minnow for bait. He sticks with 12- to 15-pound test line and suggests casting the minnow out, then slowly working it back toward the boat. He cautions anglers not to set the hook too quickly.

“If they run away with it, then you need to set the hook right away, but if you just feel a slight tick, just be patient and let the fish take it in. Flounder don’t bite like other fish; they take longer to work the bait into their mouths,” Rupert said.

In the Wando, Rupert said it’s easy to find flounder spots. Some are between the docks of riverfront homes. Look for areas that have very gentle slopes from shore to deeper water. At low tide, some of this water is inches deep, even 30 or 40 feet from the shore. It’s flat and sandy, a welcome habitat for flounder. He finds other flounder spots with flat, muddy bottoms where undeveloped land meets the river, mostly along the left bank of the river heading upstream from Remley’s Point.

Rupert said other inshore slam hot spots this month include creeks around the Isle of Palms Marina and the grass-lined banks in the harbor out of Shem Creek’s public boat ramp.

Another Charleston-area guide, Capt. Amy Little of Fine Lines Charters, likes pursuing the inshore slam, often out of the Breach Inlet boat ramp on Isle of Palms. Many of her favorite redfish and trout holes are within sight of the ramp and include some of the old wooden pilings near private docks. She likes to tie up or anchor within casting distance of these structures, then uses corks to suspend her bait above the bottom. She also likes to target grass lines, especially ones with shell banks nearby.

“When I see a grass line near a shell bank, then notice a jut in the grass line that creates a hole or opening in the grass, I will give that area special attention. I expect to catch redfish tight to the grass there, and trout are usually hanging out just off the grass, between the grass and shell bank,” Little said.

When fishing these shell banks, Little almost exclusively uses corks, suspending her bait with 12- to 15-inch leaders.

“You want to keep your hooks off those shell banks to keep from getting hooked on the shells. The trout sometimes bite very lightly too, so the cork helps detect bites,” said Little, who doesn’t impart a lot of action into the popping corks when her bait — usually live mud minnows or live shrimp — is fresh. “Once the bait gets a little sluggish, I’ll start popping it some, but I usually let the bait do its own thing.”

Aside from areas around Breach Inlet, Little said the waters around the Pitt Street bridge are productive for the inshore slam.

“The bull redfish hang out along the pilings of the bridge, and the grass lines all around the bridge are good spots for redfish and trout,” she said. “Water flows under the bridge to the main waterway, and the bottom there is a combination of shell banks and smooth sand. Anchoring in one spot can be productive for all three inshore slam species.”

Castle Pinckney is another productive spot for Little. Letting her cork float along with the tide on the outskirts of the island is a good tactic for trout, but she also catches flounder on the bottom between the island and a nearby cluster of pilings. She said flatfish love hugging the bottom close to the rocks that line the island, looking for an easy meal to ambush.

“They like a flat bottom, but they like it even better if it’s near some sort of change in structure like rock piles or even shell banks,” she said.

Aside from live mud minnows, Little likes using artificial lures for redfish and flounder, especially soft plastics like Vudu Shrimp.

“These baits are really good. They work well and they stand up to abuse. You can catch dozens of redfish and trout on one of these without them tearing up,” said Little.

Like Rupert, Little prefers a moving tide for this type of fishing,and said the incoming is almost always best.

“At low tide, these fish are ready to move into the areas they haven’t had access to in several hours. They know food is waiting for them, and once the tide starts rising, these fish will come in and hit the shell banks, grass lines, and dock pilings to look for food that is only available on the incoming or high tide,” she said.

DESTINATION INFORMATION

HOW TO GET THERE/WHEN TO GO — The Charleston area is blessed with dozens of public boat ramps that allow great access to productive waters like the Wando River. The Remley Point ramp is on the Cooper River at the foot of the US 17 bridge in Mount Pleasant; it is close to the mouth of the Wando River. The Paradise Island landing is on CR 1453 off US 17 on the Wando. The Breech Inlet ramp is a pay ramp at Isle of Palms Marina. June is a great month to target an inshore slam because flounder and trout have arrived, and along with redfish, they are very active before water temperatures warm to true summer levels.

TACKLE/TECHNIQUES — Medium-action spinning or baitcasting tackle will get the job done on trout, reds and flounder. Carolina rigs are most-often used when targeting flounder using live bait. For trout, a live bait suspended under a popping cork can do the trick. Reds will also hit live bait on a jighead or under a cork, or crab chunks on a Carolina rig.

GUIDES/FISHING INFO — Capt. Addison Rupert, Lowcountry Outdoor Adventures, 843-557-3476, www.lowcountryoutdooradventures.com; Capt. Amy Little, Fine Lines Charters, 843-345-1310, www.finelinescharters.com; Haddrell’s Point Tackle, Mount Pleasant, 843-881-3644; Charleston Angler, Mount Pleasant, 843-884-2095; Isle of Palms Marina, Isle of Palms, 843-886-0209; Atlantic Game & Tackle, Mount Pleasant, 843-881-6900; Henry’s Sporting Goods, Mount Pleasant, 843-881-0465. See also Guides & Charters in Classifieds.

ACCOMMODATIONS — Hampton Inn & Suites, Mount Pleasant, 843-856-3900; Holiday Inn, Mount Pleasant, 843-884-6000; Seaside Inn, Isle of Palms, 888-999-6516; Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina, Mount Pleasant, 888-856-0028; Shem Creek Inn, Mount Pleasant, 843-881-1000.

MAPS — Capt. Segull’s Nautical Charts, 888-473-4855, www.captainsegullcharts.com; Sealake Fishing; Guides, 800-411-0185, www.thegoodspots.com; Maps Unique, 910-458-9923, www.mapsunique.com.