By Neill Kirkpatrick Special to the HSSR St. Stephens – The Timberland Lady Wolves have gotten off to a slow start in the 2024 season but that has not tempered expectations for the AA softball power as head coach Alexis Rio expects big things for her squad. “I am expecting a season of growth and rebuilding. This team, for this year, is a melting pot of talent and experience. We have a wide range of ages and softball knowledge. I see us being very successful in our region,” said coach Rio. “Right now, we are struggling to score runs but this team has a lot of fight, and they compete at every at bat so I feel that we will eventually start scoring more runs,” Coach said. “I expect that to change so we can make a run at the region championship. One thing the Lady Wolves can fall back on is four senior All-Region players who have been through the grind and know what it takes to win a region title. Of course, it helps when these four seniors are all headed to play at the next level. Senior pitcher and infielder Jordyn Carr . She has a career batting average of .382 to go with twenty doubles. She is also a perfect twenty-eight for twenty-eight in steals heading into the season. She has committed to Columbia College . Madison Graham has committed to USC-Union . She has been a rock behind the dish for coach Rio. She is a solid hitter and has good speed on the base paths as she led the Lady Wolves in steals last season. Israel Cleveland plays third and has committed to St. Andrews University and Skylar Litchfield has committed to USC-Salkehatchie . Litchfield is a career .300 hitter for coach Rio. Juniors’ outfielder Natalie Dukich and flex Rilee Waters bring experience to the diamond as both saw a lot of playing time last season. Dukich hit .300 last season and led the team in doubles and triples. Sophomore Lainey Nichols starts in the outfield after playing a lot as a freshman. Freshmen Emilee Waters plays first base for the Lady Wolves after batting .340 to go with a team high six doubles last season as an eighth grader. Two eighth graders Kylee Moody and Kaytie Googe round out the starting nine. Moody plays in the out field while Googe is the team’s shortstop and sees time in the circle. Moody is in her first year with the Lady Wolves. Freshman: Janiyah Harrell and eighth grader Rylan Wadford are in their first year on the varsity squad.

By Neill Kirkpatrick Special to the HSSR St. Stephens – Over the past three season Timberland has established themselves as one of the top-class AA wrestling programs in the lower state finishing with a lower state title and a lower state runner-up finish in that time while Head Coach Ryan Rhodes has had to tweak and reload his roster each year. “I really didn't know what to expect with only one returning state qualifier and a lot of first and second-year wrestlers,” coach Rhodes said. “We were a work in progress as a team for most of the year, as half of our starters were inexperienced and our schedule this season was rigorous, as we wrestled a lot of 5A and 3A/4A schools.” Coach continued, “Overall I am incredibly happy with the season. The guys understood it would take a lot of work and sacrifice if we were to have a successful season.” The Wolves entered the state dual tournament as the number four seed. After a bye in round one they beat Cheraw 58-24 and then dominated the top seed North Central 51-18 to advance to the lower state finals. Unfortunately, they in the lower state finals to Buford 39-30. Leading the way for the Wolves was senior Alex Rush at 120. He won his second consecutive state title in dominating fashion posting the fastest pin (19 secs) and winning the championship match 14-1. Along the way he set a school record for most wins in a season with fifty-one and career wins with fourteen. Senior Gavin Lewis (126) had a solid year and won a match at the state individual meet while fellow Senior Robert Brown Jr. placed fourth at state individual meet in a very tough 138-pound weight class Seniors Robert Munn (144), Nicholas Shurlknight (152), and Caden Hawkins (157) also were starters and provided leadership all year while senior Steven Prioleau (175) was a big surprise as a first-year wrestler. Hawkins was a state qualifier. Coach Rhodes has solid group returning in juniors Avery Thames (132) and Nickolas Musgrave (215), and Aiden Shelley (113), Nicholas Ireland (165), Aiden Berrios (175) and Jerek Brixey (Heavyweight). All were experienced coming into the year except Shelley who was in his first year. Musgrave was a state qualifier. Other first year wrestlers are freshmen Avery Thames (106), Antaun Faison (150), Micah McHoney and Anthony Peeples (165), sophomore Owen Berrios (132/138) and eighth graders Lloyd Bone (135) and Michael Middleton (190). The Wolves had four female wrestlers this year Samantha Williams (106), Brooke Brown (113), Riley Morris (113), and Zyona Bartley (165). Coach is roaming the halls looking for more girls so they can have their own team. “I was happy with the season and am looking forward to the challenge of building a team with a new roster for next season. I have a good group returning, so hopefully we can surprise a lot of people next year too,” the coach said.

By Neill Kirkpatrick Special to the HSSR Goose Creek – The Timberland Wolves opened region play Friday night with a 35-14 win over Bishop England to improve to 2-5/1-0 and while their overall record is not where they want it to be a tough early season schedule has them ready for what lies ahead. “We told the guys to keep plugging. We scheduled some tough non-region games that will help us down the road. I told the guys do not listen to the outside noise; we just need to stay focused on our goals and continue to improve each week,” said head coach Greg Wright . “It is always my plan to schedule up to help us down the road in region play and the playoffs. No disrespect to anyone but I feel we have a good shot at the region championship and those early games will have us ready,” Coach Wright said. The Wolves opened the season dropping their first four games but three of those losses were by a total of nine points and the fourth was to a Phillip Simmons team that is 7-0 and has outscored their opponents by a 194 points. The last three weeks have seen the Wolves beat area rival Hanahan (28-24), a tough loss to AAAAA West Ashely and the region opening win over Bishop England . Senior quarterback Kylen Brown has been solid all year but is starting to get the offense running on all cylinders. Friday night against Bishop England he accounted for all five touchdowns and over 250 yards of total offense. He is closing in on 2000 yards of total offense on the year. “Kylen is a three-year starter for us. He is our leader. He is playing better each week,” said coach Wright s. While Brown does a good job of spreading the ball around, he has found a favorite target in junior wideout J’Vaarez Sumpter . Sumpter had 9 receptions for 127 yards and three touchdowns Friday night. He can turn a short throw into six points. He makes people miss and has the speed to run away from defenders. “J’Vaarez is a special player, and he can play at the next level,” coach Wright said. Senior wide receivers Rashod White and Xavier Hampton have also been big in the Wolves passing game while senior running backs Damarion Hampton and Amir Millegan have been solid in the run game. White and Hampton also play in the secondary. Hampton had an interception Friday night. Defensively the Wolves have been led by senior linebacker Kavon Green and junior lineman Laseam Liferidge and sophomore linemen Desmond Green. Liferidge and Desmond have also been solid on the offensive line. .

Wolves' Kalen Brown connects with J'Vaarez Sumpter for three touchdowns

Berkeley County matchup has cousins Shawn Wright of Cross and Timberland's Greg Wright coaching against each other

Coaches pleased with performance and effort, but still in search of improvement

Gray Collegiate, Oceanside Collegiate 1-2 In HSSR AA Pre-Season Ranking With Abbeville & Marion In The Hunt Also By Billy G. Baker Publisher Moncks Corner — Year-end and year-out the AA football classification is perhaps the most competitive classification in the state of South Carolina and the 2023 season will be no different. The HSSR is honesly not trying to fuel anti “Charter School” issues by having sister schools Gray Collegiate (8-4) and Oceanside Collegiate (12-2) ranked 1 and 3 in AA in the pre-season. We are just simply following the information available to us. Rounding out the top five in the HSSR AA pre-season ranking is second ranked Abbeville , Marion is 4 th and consolidated Hampton County (Estill and Wade Hampton have merged) rounds out the top five in a very competitive AA field. The HSSR went face-to-face with Gray head coach Adam Holmes gazing out at the brand- new turf stadium on the school campus, being used for the first time by the soccer team in the upper state championship game on May, 8 th . Coach Holmes said that he and his staff were working out 65 varsity and junior varsity candidates during Spring drills at the time. “We are super excited to have our own facility now and we worked out on it earlier this afternoon before the soccer match,” said Coach Holmes, a Manning High graduate who went on to play football at South Carolina . “We only had five seniors on our team last year, so we do not really lose a lot.” One key player for Gray in 2022 was junior QB Riley Staton (6-2, 185) who passed for 2,126 yards and 24 touchdowns. Staton transferred to Gaffney after the season and he did not participate in Spring drills with the War Eagles. However, Gray will return six other players who were either AA all-state or all-region in 2022 that saw the War Eagles lose to Saluda 23-16 in the second round of the playoffs. Among the six next level prospects returning are senior OL J.T. Sowell (6-4,265) who is pledged to Appalachian State and he has been a four-year starter up-front. Speedy senior WR Zai Offord (5-10, 170) has several offers also. “Zai is a most electric player on the field with the ball in his hands,” said Coach Holmes. Any time you have your quarterback back after an outstanding junior season, teams are usually a leg up in offensive preparation. Thus, third ranked Oceanside Collegiate is fortunate to have the services of senior Edward Reidenbach (6-1, 190) who completed 131-of- 187 passes thrown for 2,012 yards and 16 touchdowns last season. Reidenbach was also a true dual threat, rushing for an additional 595 yards adding 19 rushing TD’s to the stat sheet. While the Landsharks better QB’s in AA, the 13 talented and graduated seniors they had on the team a year ago, accounted for nearly 70 per cent of the rushing yardage. On defense, the seniors made nearly 65 per cent of the tackles, as many of these players performed double duty as two-way starters. Oceanside will return five players from the state championship roster on offense and they have seven starters back on defense. Last year the team also had 10 juniors, 24 sophomores, and 8 freshmen on the championship roster. Oceanside returns three senior OL in the persons of guard Owen Millard , RT Ben Britton (6-3, 250), and guard Phen Johnson (6-2, 265). Highly regarded left tackle Monroe Freeling is now at Georgia where he is expected to see early playing time for the Bulldogs. Trey Brown (5-11, 220) will be a senior returning tight end. Graduated RB Vaughn Blue has taken his 1,266 yards and 9 TD’s of last season to (missed five games due to injury) Appalachian State. The top returning RB is senior William Virgilo (6-1, 170) who gained 167 yards last season with three TD’s. The top WR back is Brown who had 24 catches for 237 yards and two TD’s last season. On defense, the top returning tacklers are Britton, two-way lineman who had 77 tackles and 17 TFL last year along with junior LB Max Moorman who had 68 tackles and 5.5 TFL last season. Other defensive starters back include sophomore DL Michael Jones , junior DL AJ Johnston , Brown and Moorman two way at the LB slots, and junior DB Grayson Freeling and senior DB C.J. Moskos . In 2022, the HSSR made the trek to McCormick for a sideline “up-close” look when Abbeville , ranked number two in the HSSR pre-season ranking, started the season in mid-August defeating the Chiefs 40-3. Veteran head coach Jamie Nickles came into the season with 198 wins and it would the 5 th game of the year before he earned the milestone. After what Abbeville accomplished last season, overcoming the lost of their most talented player for the majority of the season ( Antonio Harrison ) due to injury, and then dominating a very talented Oceanside Collegiate team in the AA state finals with 275 yards of rushing offense that produced 35 points, pollsters will just have to understand that this tradition rich program can start off the season at 2-2 and still be in the hunt for a championship every season. This fact was verified last year. The Panthers was the top scoring offense in AA in 2022 with 663 points while giving up 198 points on defense, tying for 6 th best scoring defense with Andrews . The best scoring defense in AA last year was Central who allowed just 145 points all season but the Eagles finished with a 6-5 record. After the McCormick win, Coach Nickles shared these thoughts: “I consider Harrison among the top 15 skilled athletes in the state and we are hoping to have him back by mid-October,” said the coach. (Harrison had an ACL injury playing AAU basketball in the Spring and his injury since shock waves through the Abbeville community). “I thought we started slow but that is not unusual for our first game of the year,” said Coach Nickles. “On defense I felt like we were solid all night.” In the first game of the season McCormick stacked the box to stop the run and senior QB Zay Rayford completed four passes for 128 yards and three touchdowns. Highly regarded (then) sophomore fullback Jha’Louis Hadden (6-0,213) rushed for 50 yards against McCormick scoring a TD on a 29-yard run and he later scored on a 21-yard pass reception. After head coaching in his 8 th state title since taking over the program 13 years ago, Coach Nickles said this after his team’s gold medal win, “Nobody is in Abbeville right now, everybody’s out here,” said Coach Nickles. “This is emotional for me because these kids believed in us back in August when we were losing games, and that is not easy to deal with, but they kept believing in what we were doing, and our coaches do such a great job of coaching.” Abbeville’s state championship season was fueled by the play of 23 dialed in senior’s last season. The Panthers had 9 juniors, 17 sophomores, and one freshman on the state game roster last year. They also have one of the best feeder programs in the state and wearing that “A” on your helmet challenges you to give your all each and every game. The Panthers return three starters on offense and four starters on defense. Altavious Patterson and Hadden both return as potent junior RB’s. Hadden rushed for around 835 yards and scored 12 TD’s a year ago while Patterson averaged 8.9 yards a carry in gaining around 675 yards and scoring 12 TD’s. Jay Hill will also return as a senior WR. The Woodland defense will be led by junior Migule Rhodes (5-9,165) and Lavont Furray in the secondary. Jerrell Sullivan is a sophomore newcomer that will contribute at free safety. Sophomore Jaemin Pinckney (6-2, 170) is another strong candidate at free safety. Jaylen Samson will be a sophomore strong safety/nickel back. Jarvis Guest (6-0,210) is a junior returnee at one outside linebacker slot. The Panther defense returns senior DL Jae Harris along with junior DL Gage Evans . Senior LB Nikelyn Bowie returns along with junior LB Demarcus Leach . Only seven teams in AA had double digit wins in 2022. Abbeville had the best over-all record at 13-2. Barnwell won 12 games in a row before playing very flat on the road at Andrew Jackson (11-3) to conclude the season 12-1. Former Warhorse head coach Dwayne Garrick has moved over to head coach at Aiken High this season. Former RSM head coach Brian Smith is now in charge of the Barnwell football program. The 11 th ranked Warhorses will be led by junior QB Cameron Austin (6-1,180) who is a two- sport prospect in both football and baseball. The Warhorses are likely to rely on the pass more as 2,000-plus rusher Tyler Smith is now at SC State . Austin, who has a strong accurate arm, completed 50 of 88 passes for 878 yards and 13 TD’s last season. Other starters back on offense include WR’s Jaquan Peeples and Logan Sturkie along with highly regarded OL prospect Slaton Ragsdale . On defense, only three starters return for Barnwell. They are LB’s Lex Thomas and Clayton Zissett along with DB Jordan Peeples . PK Lane Evans also returns for Barnwell. The Warhorses will be fielding one of their youngest teams in quite some time this season but they are expected to improve with every game. Saluda , loaded with senior leadership last season, finished with an 11-3 record. Oceanside Collegiate finished 12-2 but it be a while before the Land Sharks forget the 35-20 loss to the Panthers at Benedict College last season. Fairfield Central and Andrews each had 9 wins last season. Gray Collegiate , which could be a contender once again this season finished 8-4 over-all, but 6-0 in their region, and the War Eagles are excited about playing home games in their new stadium this season. The HSSR is also high on the deep playoff run potential of Woodland High coached by Eddie Ford . “We had a good group to work with in grades 9-12,” said Coach Ford who will be starting year five at Woodland this August. “Finding a quarterback to replace Sudarian Harrison (headed to Virginia) was one of our major focus points during our work-outs. I feel like we accomplished a lot over the two-week period.” Kam Pringle (6-7, 330) is a big- time four star OL who has committed to South Carolina and he will open up holes for talented RB’s . Joining Pringle in the offensive trenches are junior LG Antonio Ford (5-11, 320), and RG Xavier Green (6-3, 303). The top QB candidate coming out of Spring drills is soph Jaden Cato (6-0,180) who is moving up from junior varsity. “He is more of a runner but he has a decent arm,” said Coach Ford. “Our other candidate at quarterback is senior Tyree Edwards who has been a wide receiver. If Edwards does not become the quarterback, we know we will have an excellent receiver.” The RB position should be one of the strengths of the team. Senior Jayden Gardner was an all-region performer a year ago when he rushed for 700 yards and had 500 yards in receptions. Cane Bay RB transfer T. J. Wright (5-10, 205) has joined the Wolverines after he rushed 1,200 yards last season. Marion , at number four, is head coached by Brian Hennecy (31-13), and he has a team that could win it all in 2023. The Foxes return seven players on offense and 9 players on defense plus their combo kicker Cameron Felder returns. Over the summer Marion WR/DB Quay’sheed Scott (6-0,186, 4.3) committed to Kentucky after running 4.3 forty at every camp he went to. Scott has been compared to Deebo Samuel , former USC playmaker who is an all-pro with the 49’ers in the NFL. Also, WR/DB Tyshawn Sanders (5-11, 166) committed to Appalachian State over the summer. Coach Hennecy says coming into the season Marion is strong at all skill positions and in the secondary. He reports his team is still working on the kicking game and building team depth. Over the summer QB Gabriel Cusack (6-0,200) and WR/DE Jamorius Wilson (6-3, 200) also received a lot of recruiting attention from colleges. Marion will start the season on August, 17 against Lake View. Rounding out the AA top 5 is consolidated Hampton County and several next level players have come over from Estill that shut down to merge with Wade Hampton to form the new country wide public school this year. Last season, QB Xavier Garvin (6-0,165) and DL Ka'von Chisolm were HSSR all-state players at Estill. Chisolm has camped at FSU and is a top prospect in the defensive front. The team will also be supported by RB Zion Dobson . Head coach Rob Hanna says the strength of his team is at skill positions with good play makers. He says developing depth in both lines is a challenge coming into August drills. Hampton County will start the season away at Colleton County on August, 18. In Class AA there is parity and balance this year. The race for the gold is wide open! HSSR Class AA Pre-Season Ranking (As of July, 23) 1. Gray Collegiate 2. Abbeville 3. Oceanside Collegiate 4. Marion 5. Hampton County 6. Woodland 7. Fairfield Central 8. Silver Bluff 9. Andrew Jackson 10. Strom Thurmond 11. Barnwell 12. Saluda 13. Buford 14. Andrews 15. Keenan 16. Kingstree 17. Timberland 18. Central 19. Batesburg-Leesville 20. Lake Marion