By Justin Jarrett
LowcoSports.com
When Antwaun Wade left Whale Branch’s basketball program after one highly successful and extremely energetic season in Seabrook, the Warriors took a big swing at finding a successor who would continue the momentum.
They found him waiting one county over.
Legendary Jasper County and Ridgeland-Hardeeville coach Jeremiah Faber will end his four-year retirement to return to the bench at the helm of the Whale Branch boys, taking over a program that is on steady footing despite Midland Valley plucking the rising star Wade as its next head coach.
It’s a big-splash hire for new Whale Branch athletics director Kaysee Sullivan and ensures one of the area’s most consistently successful boys basketball programs remains a contender. The Warriors lose leading scorer Queashawn Fields but return their next nine top producers, including five players who averaged at least 7.8 points last winter.
Faber has a proven track record of winning with a style reminiscent of Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson’s “40 Minutes of Hell,” marked by swarming pressure defense resulting in transition buckets, and the Warriors have the right personnel — and the right mindset instilled by Wade — to flourish under his tutelage.
Faber compiled a 560-265 record across parts of four decades in Jasper County, claiming 11 region titles and taking the Jaguars to the state title game in 2016, 2018, and 2019, but a state title has eluded him — and that was just enough to lure him back to the bench.
The Warriors have come close, too, reaching the SCHSL 2A final in 2020 behind star Nick Pringle, who is now making his name with the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Perhaps Faber and the Warriors can get back to the pinnacle together and finish the job.
Justin Jarrett is the sports editor of The Island News and the founder of LowcoSports.com. He was the sports editor of the Island Packet and the Beaufort Gazette for 6½ years. He has a passion for sports and community journalism and a questionable sense of humor.
