Islands has not won a football game since 2021. That’s a streak of three-consecutive winless seasons for a program that’s been playing football since 2014. And turning the program around is the tall task that Savannah-native Perry Russell will take over when he arrives at Islands High School.
The team has had four coaches in that span and Wednesday, the school announced it hired Russell Perry as its fifth.
Islands was coached by Karl Demasi in its first two seasons, building the junior varsity program before Chris Simpson led the team to a 1-9 record in his lone season at the helm in 2014. Robert Zoller coached the Sharks from 2015-2018 with a 4-7 record and first-round playoff loss in 2016, which marked the Savannah program’s best season, at the time.
In 2019, DeShawn Printup took over alongside Zoller and in 2020, Printup’s first full season as head coach, he led the Sharks to the second round of the playoffs, finishing 7-2, the school’s best-ever season. Printup coached the Sharks to a 4-6 record in 2021, but those were his last victories there. Printup, a Savannah State alumni who played defensive back there, stepped down after last season.
Islands High School is located on Whitemarsh Island on the southeastern side of town, in between Wilmington Island and downtown Savannah.
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