Savannah’s Stillwell Towers could have competition one day as the city’s tallest building. That is, if Gil Werntz IV has anything to say about it. The eighth-grader at St. Peter the Apostle Catholic School in Savannah has aspirations of one day being an architect and “building skyscrapers in Savannah.”
Werntz plays football, basketball, and St. Peter’s newest sport, lacrosse. “Hooper,” as friends call him, is the son of Gil and Alice Werntz of Savannah, and he stays busy year-round with athletics, except for when he is studying. With a 3.7 grade point average, his plans to major in architecture at Georgia Tech could become a reality in the near future.
His school, St. Peter’s on Wilmington Island, plays in the Savannah Parochial Athletic League, a collection of private schools that compete in several different sports at the middle school level.
“Athletically, he’s strong as an ox,” said St. Peter’s football coach Tommy Harrison. “He’s done a good job for us.”
Werntz slugs it out in the trenches for the Rams on the football field, playing offensive and defensive line. He has a combination of strength and work ethic that make him a playmaker for the Rams. His first big play came in his very first middle school game on the very first defensive series he played. “I tackled a running back for a safety during the first opposition possession of my first middle school game.”
On the basketball court, he hustles up and down for Coach Ed Chapman’s team on the hardwood as a forward, and in lacrosse he has found his home as a defender. One of his most memorable moments was scoring his first goal this season. His ultimate sports dream would be to play lacrosse at the collegiate level. His favorite part of the game just happens to fit well with both football and lacrosse. “Being able to hit people.”
He also has a creative side; he wants to build tall buildings and take photos. Werntz received photo credit for taking the cover shot for In the Game Magazine featuring Benedictine winning the state championship. Like many young men, Werntz got his start playing t-ball and basketball at the YMCA when he was four years old. When he was seven, he started playing basketball and baseball for Coach Scooter Ducey and football for the Talahi Tigers of Coach Johnny McIinnis and Coach Jerry Dobbins. “I began playing at fullback and linebacker on the other side of the ball,” Werntz said. “Later on I moved onto the offensive and defensive line after I broke my foot at a practice in 2009.” The injury does not seem to have slowed Werntz who continued to play for the Tigers through fourth grade. He started playing for St. Peter’s in fifth grade and has played for Coach Tommy Harrison ever since.
He also continued playing basketball for Coach Chapman at SPA, and the seventh-grade tea
m finished the season as runner-up in the Savannah Parochial Athletic League.
Last year, Werntz made the switch in spring sports from baseball to lacrosse. St. Peter’s fielded its first lacrosse team but didn’t have enough to play both baseball and lacrosse in 2014, so Werntz and others learned the game while playing for Coastal Empire Lacrosse with Coaches Dan Umbel, Mike Pavlis, and Billy Groves.
Werntz was a member of the first St. Peter’s lacrosse team playing for Coach Pavlis.
“Lacrosse and football are my favorites, and I hope I can play them both at Benedictine.”
That should not be a problem, according to Coach Pavlis, who says Werntz is a student of the game and very coachable whose drive makes his teammates stronger.
Along with being a three-sport athlete, Werntz is also the co-President of the SPA Student Council. He is also in the Robotics Club and on the yearbook staff. After graduating St. Peter’s, Werntz will follow in his father’s footsteps and become a Cadet at Benedictine Military School.
“Being part of good teams and bad teams has taught Gil how to handle adversity, win with character, and that being a part of a team helps accomplish goals he can’t do alone,” said father, Gil Werntz, III.
When Gil IV does get a break, he attends football games at Georgia Southern University and, like any other teenager, plays video games between pickup games with friends in the neighborhood.
Rising Star/ Coastal / August 2014
Gil Werntz IV
St. Peter the Apostle School
Savannah, GA
By Rob Asbell
