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All good things must end and my time as the Washington Daily News Sports Editor is no different. After a thoroughly enjoyable four years covering Beaufort County athletes giving their best and playing for the love of the game, enough is enough.

It’s time to spend Friday nights doing something else besides standing under the football lights and indoors at basketball games. Not to mention the other nights of the week that it takes to provide the coverage you’ve grown accustomed to.

You might have noticed Jason Boyd’s name on most of the sports stories recently. He is a Pinetown native, Bath High School graduate and accomplished media professional who will assume the day-to-day responsibility of making sure we don’t miss a beat with our sports coverage.

I step back knowing sports is in his extremely capable hands, but I’m not going away entirely. I have plenty of other responsibilities here at the paper and will continue to fulfill them and will write an occasional sports article or column, but Jason is your go-to guy for story ideas and tips.

I’m very grateful to the many people who helped me over the last four years, which started in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the group most responsible for whatever success I’ve had here are the coaches in every sport who bent over backwards to make me feel welcome and gave me the access I needed to tell our athletes stories. I’ve been in the sports media for a long time, but this was my first experience writing for a newspaper. Close to 1,500 stories later, it’s time to switch it up.

There are over 50 different high school teams to cover during the fall, winter and spring seasons. Think about how many sports Washington, Northside and Southside have and multiply by three. Throw in coverage of Pungo Chrstian, Terra Ceia, Unity and Washington Montessori plus the middle schools and trying to cover it all quickly becomes overwhelming.

Thanks to the coaches’ consistent, cheerful cooperation, it wasn’t all that hard. We are fortunate to have the many dedicated coaches in Beaufort County who put the athletes first. They do their best to make the high school sports experience a positive one and I thank them for their effort.

There are plenty of highlights to look back on, including state playoff runs by multiple teams, but the thing I will take with me is the reaction from the senior athletes when I asked them what they remember most from their years of playing high school sports. Far and away, they said hanging out with their friends and coaches while going through a season together and just having fun every day at practice was what they would remember most. Not winning, not making All-Conference, not individual accomplishments during certain games, but just having fun. That to me is what high school sports should be about.

It’s time for a fresh look, which Jason has already provided. It’s also time for a different personal routine. Who is that new guy on Wheel of Fortune anyway?