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A year ago, a 2-8 Seahawks team was led by underclassmen in the majority of the statistical categories. After a promising start to the season with three close-fought matchups, South Walton couldn’t seem to get over the hump towards the end of the year. Now, those players return with a chip on their shoulder heading into the 2025 campaign.
There will be the debut of a brand new facility when the Seahawks take the field against Gulf Breeze in just 20 days, but what won’t be brand new is Head Coach Phil Tisa. Tisa enters year number 14 as the man in charge of South Walton football and will look to lead his team to a third district championship in the last six years.
After being thrust into the starting role as a sophomore, quarterback JD Brown is expected to return as the lead signal-caller in 2025. Taking over for senior starter Carson Hawk, Brown showed great promise despite the team’s record. In his second season with South Walton, he threw for over 100 yards in seven of his 10 games and over 200 yards in four contests.
Brown finished the year eight passing yards shy of 1,600. Scoring the ball at an extremely high rate, he was involved in 20 of the Seahawks’ 24 touchdowns, throwing 12 and running for eight.
Returning a player of Brown’s caliber should prove to be big for Coach Tisa’s turnaround efforts in 2025, with the rising junior already showing growth and further improvement during fall practice.
One of Brown’s favorite targets in 2024, rising senior Grant Gilmore, is slated to be a big pass-catching threat for South Walton again in 2025. Hauling in 49 receptions for 619 yards, the chemistry between the quarterback and receiver duo should be on full display this season. A tough tackle, Gilmore will also return kickoffs and punts, finishing second on the team last year behind senior Cannon Page with 118 kick return yards.
After Brown, the Seahawks’ top returning rusher was slated to be rising sophomore Baker Giles. Giles ran for 125 of South Walton’s 564 yards on the ground, but announced his transfer to IMG Academy in late May. Now the question at running back remains for a team that threw for three times the amount of yards they ran for last season.
Rising senior Will Justiss looks to be the leading candidate to get reps at RB1 this season, as well as rising junior Gabe Parenton. Justiss and Parenton played in eight and four games, respectively, a season ago. In his junior year, Justiss received 23 touches while Parenton ran the ball four times.
On the offensive line, rising junior Brennan Downing has had a tremendous offseason. Downing shined in South Walton’s spring game and will be a key piece in the pass block this season.
In July of last year, construction began on South Walton High School’s new $18-million football stadium and track facility. With the new stadium under construction and the old stadium demolished, the Seahawks were forced to play their three home games at Emerald Coast Middle School.
The turnaround for the new ground was quick, and now Coach Tisa and his team will be able to enjoy seven home games in 2025 at the new state-of-the-art stadium. The field, which was played on for the first time in South Walton’s spring game vs. Bay, is synthetic turf, surrounded by a brand new rubberized track.
As the new season gets underway, the Seahawks will boast one of the best facilities in the Panhandle, and one that is sure to be a fan-favorite to visit.
The Seahawks will benefit from solid continuity, as they will return over half of their defensive starters from 2024.
Preston Hernandez enters his season having made a big jump in the 2024 season. After totaling 12 tackles his freshman year, he exploded onto the scene last year, leading his team in tackles with 77, and tackles for a loss with seven. Hernandez also contributed 2.5 sacks and will be a big piece of Coach Tisa’s defense in 2025.
Finishing second and third on the team in total tackles a year ago were linebackers Connor Rooney and Seth Gilmore. Both will be returning to the Seahawks’ defense this year with 97 career tackles between the two under their belts.
A top returner on the defensive line and at inside linebacker, Kylan Diver is poised for another big season in 2025. The two-year varsity athlete has 6.5 sacks and 59 tackles in his time at South Walton.
The safety and corner positions will see almost completely new personnel this season, with the Seahawks graduating JD Coleman, Tucker Tommey, Winston Harstvedt, Will Turner, Brady Smith, Drew Brewer and Cannon Page. That group combined for all four of South Walton’s interceptions and 19 of their 27 pass deflections.
After being able to host just three “home games” at ECMS last season, South Walton now gets to benefit from seven matchups at their new home. They open the season with three of those in a row against Gulf Breeze, Fort Walton Beach and Arnold. After beating Arnold and falling in close games against Gulf Breeze and Fort Walton Beach a season ago, those are games to circle for a potential 3-0 start to the season for the Seahawks.
They have their first two district matchups against Walton and Freeport in Weeks 6 and 8, with a tough contest against Choctawhatchee sandwiched between them in Week 7. Their final district matchup comes against the reigning district champions, Pensacola Catholic, in Week 10 before closing their 2025 campaign away at Marianna.
Battling a stadium renovation and fielding a team of mostly young, underclassmen starters in 2024, the 2-8 record is not as glaring as it seems at first glance. With more winnable games on the schedule this year, experienced starters and a beautiful new home to play those games at, expect the Seahawks to be playoff contenders in 2025.
