A school year that started with a debilitating injury will last one more day for Dawson Shaw.
Today, the Columbus Christian Academy senior will be one of a handful of local standouts who will play in the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) Senior All-Star games at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson.
Shaw will play on the A-AA White team, while Oak Hill Academy’s Ken Dill and Powell Tabor and Central Academy’s Preston Dawkins will play on the A-AA Blue team, which will be coached by Oak Hill Academy’s Mitch Bohon.
Heritage Academy’s Logan Sneed and Starkville Academy’s Carter Roach, Codie Futral, Dillon Carrell, and Landen Rogers will play for the AAA Blue team. Starkville Academy coach Brooks Rogers will be an assistant coach on the team.
In March, Shaw earned a spot in the MAIS Senior All-Star Soccer game. The honor came after Shaw, who suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the football team’s season opener in August, returned in a little more than three months from the injury. He ran in the cross country team’s state championship and also played an integral role in boys basketball team’s run to a district title. He played sweeper on the soccer team. He is a pitcher on the school’s baseball team.
At the time, Shaw said God had blessed him with a speedy recovery. He complemented that blessing with hard work in recovery to aid his return. On Thursday, he and his teammates practiced at Pearl High School, for today’s game, which will be at 12:30 p.m. The higher classification games will follow.
“I think it will be a fun atmosphere,” Shaw said. “I think everybody there realizes this is it. I think they realize this will be the last time to play high school ball of any kind, so we’re going to enjoy it and make the most of the moment.”
Shaw will look to continue his baseball career at Mississippi University for Women as a member of the school’s first baseball program. He will bring multiple intangibles any coach would love because he has been a leader, mentor, friend, coach, and cheerleader as a member of all of the teams at CCA. He said his injury helped him to realize sports is more of a team thing than an individual chase for glory. As a result, Shaw said he has taken a lot of pride in building friendships with his teammates and showing them they can count on him to do whatever is needed.
“Nobody can do it by themselves,” Shaw said. “The injury made my mind-set change from a selfish attitude to a humble, team-effort attitude.”
Shaw said he realized early in his senior year while he was standing on the sideline watching the CCA football team that he had to appreciate the team he had left with his teammates. He said he was blessed to have been surrounded by so many talented and fun to be around throughout his prep career.
When asked if he had considered how many ways he contributed to the athletic success of CCA’s programs in the last few years, Shaw said it hadn’t dawned on him. Instead of the trophies, Shaw said he would remember the friendships he built that he hopes will last forever.
In MHSAA, Caledonia High School’s Logan Suggs and Spencer Unruh and New Hope High’s Thomas Stevens and Peyton Buckner were selected to play in the Northeast Mississippi Coaches Association for Better Baseball (NEMCABB) All-Star games. New Hope High baseball coach Lee Boyd said Buckner won’t be able to participate in the game, which will be at 4 p.m. tomorrow at Corinth High. Boyd will be a coach in the game.
Suggs and Unruh will play in the Class 4A/6A game at 6:30 p.m. The Class 1A/2A game will be at 1:30 p.m.
Suggs and Stevens also were picked to play in the Crossroads Diamond Club D.M. Howie High School All-Star Games June 3 at Trustmark Park in Pearl. West Lowndes High’s Marcus Farmer also was selected.
n In related news, Dill, who will move on to East Mississippi Community College in Scooba to play baseball, recently was a finalist for the Don Souder Award, which is given annually to the Outstanding Male Student-Athlete in the MAIS.
Oak Forest Academy’s Dalton Brabham won the award. Centreville Academy’s Austen Addington was the other finalist.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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