Junior Spotlight/Coastal/August 2013
Stevie Powers
Benedictine Military School
Savannah, Georgia
Robert Preston Jr.
Powers ready for junior year after breakout sophomore campaign.
The 2012 football season started well enough for then-sophomore quarterback Stevie Powers. The 6’, 165-pounder had been groomed to play quarterback his whole life. On August 31, 2012, he was supposed to take the field as the starting quarterback for the Benedictine Cadets. It was a moment he had been working for since his football career began at age five. Here is where one might expect tales of greatness, of years of preparation finally paying off with a storybook season.
In a way, that very thing happened. But not in the manner one would imagine.The Cadets came out of summer workouts with Powers at the number-one spot on the quarterback depth chart. He thought the job was his, that his work was done. The quarterback’s job is coveted, and there was somebody out there who wanted the position more than Powers – Miles McGinty, one of Powers’s best friends and a talented player in his own right. McGinty outworked Powers early in the season and earned the starting job under center.“It was tough when I lost the job. I was very disappointed in myself but I was happy for Miles. We were good friends and we had decided a long time ago that we wouldn’t let football get in the way of our friendship. He wanted the job and worked harder than me to get it. It pushed me more, and I just kept telling myself that anything could happen,” recalls Powers.
A couple of weeks into the season, something did happen. McGinty went down with an ankle injury in the fourth game of the year against Vidalia. Powers went in and never looked back. He had learned an enormous lesson during his time as the number-two quarterback, and he wasn’t about to let the job slip away again. The Cadets lost to Vidalia but won their next three straight and finished the regular season winning four out of their last six games, earning a spot in the playoffs, and advancing to the second round after topping Laney 24-20 on the road in the first round. Powers had a breakout year under center, completing 92-of-154 passes for 1,502 yards, 11 touchdown passes, two rushing touchdowns, and just six interceptions. He was named All-State Honorable 
Mention and staked his claim as the Cadets quarterback for the next two years.The ankle injury kept McGinty out of the lineup most of last season. He is starting this season as a linebacker.Powers is a talented young man who, despite his youth, has a keen understanding of the nuances of sport. He works hard, never again taking his starting spot for granted, and he has great understanding of the game. Powers can see the field very well and anticipates developing plays well. It doesn’t hurt that he has a cannon for an arm and is always in fantastic shape.
In 2013, he would like to see his team improve each week and remain focused on each game, one at a time. “You win football games after school from Monday to Thursday. We need to take each game week by week and not get ahead of ourselves. Last year, we got ahead of ourselves at times and looked beyond the next game. We have some great things happening at Benedictine and we need to remain focused,” he says.Benedictine football has certainly made a turnaround. In 2010, the Cadets were a dismal 1-9. Two years later, the Cadets went 8-4 and won a playoff game. As much fun as it was to be a part of that transformation, what happened in the spring was even more fun for Powers. The lefty expected to have a pretty good baseball season for the Cadets. He had no idea just how good pretty good would be.As a freshman, Powers posted a 3-1 record, mainly as a relief pitcher. His sophomore year, he broke into the starting rotation and finished the season 11-0 with 71 strikeouts and a 2.18 ERA in 70 2/3 innings for a Benedictine team that advanced to the Final Four of the playoffs before losing to eventual state champion Lovett. Powers was named Region 2AA Pitcher of the Year as a result. His was a season full of big moments. The biggest came in the second game of Benedictine’s Final Four series against Lovett. The Cadets had lost the first game and were facing a do-or-die situation in game two. Powers started and enjoyed a 2-0 lead early on. Then he gave up a two-run home run to tie the game. He remained calm and kept Lovett’s offense in check for the remainder of the game. In the meantime, his hitters went to work and managed to score a run to go up 3-2. In the seventh inning, Powers, who was trying to go the distance, found himself in trouble. There were two outs but Lovett had runners on base. Powers, who admits that at times he has trouble staying relaxed on the mound, managed to keep his emotions in check. He worked the count in his favor and was ahead 1-2. He got the call for a high fastball and delivered. The pitch was just too pretty for the batter to resist. He swung mightily but came up empty for the final out of the game. Powers had stopped the rally and forced game three. “The place just went crazy,” he remembers.As Powers’s junior season begins, he and his Benedictine teammates have a bright future ahead of them. The football team is headed in the right direction, and most of last year’s baseball team will be back again for 2014. He would like to one day play either football or baseball (perhaps both) in college. Powers is already preparing for the day when he will be able to talk to college coaches. He isn’t looking too far ahead but he is already working on a preliminary map for his future. “I have a list of colleges I would like to attend. I hope a few of them will like me for football, baseball, or maybe even both. Right now, I’m just keeping my eyes and my options open.
Stevie Powers also plays basketball at Benedictine. It’s the sport in which he sees the least amount of playing time but the one he calls the most fun. “I enjoy going to the gym each day and playing with my friends. It keeps me in shape and it’s something I’m good at,” he says. Last year, the Cadets basketball team made the playoffs but suffered the same fate as its football team at the hands of the Laney Wildcats. “We’re not the biggest, fastest, or strongest basketball team, but we are the most disciplined. We are very sharp and we play great defense. Nobody is in better shape than we are.”
• Subject: History
• Sport to watch on TV: College/NFL football
• College team: University of Georgia
• College player: Aaron Murray
• Pro team: Atlanta Falcons
• Pro player: Matt Ryan
• Musician: Florida-Georgia Line
• Who would you most like to meet? Michael Jackson
• What Sport do you wish you could play? Volleyball
• Place to travel: Europe
• Superpower: “Wings so I could fly.”
