One Target at a Time
“One Target at a Time”
By: George Bradley and Jonathan Kraus- PCA Yearbook/Journalism
The 2026-2027 clay target season opened on August 29th in Savannah, Georgia. This year, the team consists of 19 people returning to represent Pinewood in this year’s season. Led by coaches Paul Straviotis, Loren Lewis, Paul Durham, Roman Dasher, and Michael Smith, along with team captain Will Durham, the team has high hopes of reaching a state title this year.
Recently, the yearbook staff interviewed Will Durham, who expressed his excitement about the remainder of this season. An avid clay shooter, Will first began shooting five years on the middle school clay target team. Will feels it was an honor to be chosen as team captain this year, and he wants to lead the team by motivating them, teaching techniques, and setting an example of hard work for teammates to follow. His advice to teammates and anyone wanting to get into the sport of shooting is, “When you miss a target, don’t worry. Keep going. Think about the next target.”
Earlier this year, Will hosted his own podcast called Sporting Session hosted on YouTube. On this podcast, he collaborated with podcaster and content creator, Benji, from England. They discussed sporting clays, different guns they like to use, and shooting strategies. In the future, Will hopes to create more clay shooting content. After his senior year at Pinewood, Will hopes to continue shooting clays at the college level.
The Pinewood clay target team has two more upcoming region competitions before they are headed to state. The clay target team will use Will’s advice, “One target at a time,” at the varsity state competition at Forest City, GA from October 30th to November 1st, where they will be competing against 20 other schools.
PCA Varsity Clay Target Team pictured left to right:
Front Row– Cason Lewis, Andrew Whiten, Nash Hodges, Chi Sittle, Will Durham, Nichole Butler, Bryson Sapp, Jacob Stavriotis, Ridge McCall, Tavern McCall, Garett Smith.
Back Row– Coach Michael Smith, Gannon Williford, Riley Dasher, Brayden Bell, Wyatt Selestock, Coach Loren Lewis, J.P. Conner, Case Fountain, Ethan DeBeltrand, Garrett Ryder, Coach Paul Stavriotis
