Chester – Victor Floyd is set to begin his ninth season in his second stint as the football head coach at Chester High School when the Cyclones play at Lancaster on August 18. In 13 seasons overall for Floyd, CHS has won one state title, played for another, had three seasons of double-digit wins, three others with either eight or nine wins and just two losing seasons.
Needless to say, Floyd is happy with the system he and his staff have in place.
“We're pretty much the same,” was Floyd’s response when asked if he and his staff implemented anything new during the just completed spring practice. “The system doesn’t change, but the people do.”
However, there won’t be nearly as much turnover for Chester this season than what often takes place. The Cyclones return seven starters on both sides of the ball from a team that went 7-5 and lost to eventual AAA state champion Powdersville in the second round of the state playoffs.
CHS got in 12 days of spring practice, five of them in full pads. Floyd thought much was accomplished over that period of time.
“I thought we had a good spring with what we were able to get in,” Floyd said. “Our goal was to continue to develop in different areas. We were able to make some strides and get better in areas such as tackling, route running.”
Chester has the coach’s son, Trooper Floyd, returning at quarterback. Trooper completed 150 of 245 passes for 2,011 yards and 19 touchdowns against just interceptions as a sophomore.
The younger Floyd is coming off of shoulder surgery in December so his practice time has been very deliberate since getting clearance to throw the second week in April. The limitations have come more so in attending summer camps as opposed to work with the Cyclones.
Trooper will have his top two targets from a year ago returning in seniors Reggie Heath and Kyan Kennedy. Heath had 56 catches for 1,004 yards and five touchdowns, while Kennedy had 23 catches for 320 yards and six touchdowns.
The Cyclones have lost Shydem Malik McCullough, who rushed for 1,102 yards and 13 touchdowns. However, Coach Floyd is excited about senior Elijah Coleman, who comes to CHS after playing for Legion Collegiate in Rock Hill the last three years. Coleman averaged over 100 yards a game rushing last season.
“He’s a really good player,” Coach Floyd said. “We’re excited to see what he can do.”
Chester returns four starters along the offensive line. There are two 3-year starters returning in senior left tackle
Travanti Weldon and senior right tackle
CJ McCree. Junior
Jeremiah Gladden will return at right guard and junior
JaBrell White is back at center.
Senior middle linebacker Antonio Hopkins returns to lead the defense. He led in tackles last year with 113 and had 15 tackles for loss. Also back is sophomore defensive lineman Terry Radford, who had 83 tackles with 27 of them being TFLs.
While excited about what the season might hold, Coach Floyd isn’t making any grandiose predictions.
“If we can stay healthy we have a good shot to win the region,” he said.
The Cyclones finished second to 13-1 upper state runner-up Clinton in Region 4. The other members of the region are Woodruff, Emerald and Union County.
All Rights Reserved | The High School Sports Report 1986-2021