Pamplico – Hannah-Pamplico High School didn’t get a whole lot done in spring football practice in preparation for the Raiders’ first season with Trey Woodberry as head coach. There were two very good – and happy – reasons for that though.
The H-P baseball team, whose roster was made up mainly of football players and Woodberry was the head coach, advanced to the championship round of its district tournament. Meanwhile, the softball team was winning the first state championship in the school’s athletic history, and all of the Class A state playoff games were must-see events for supporters of the Florence County school.
“We gave them days off so they could go to the games of our state championship softball team,” Woodberry said. “We're real happy with what we've seen so far though. We're excited about the summer and getting better. We made some really good hires with assistant coaches. We're excited to see the growth with them and to see our growth throughout the summer.”
More good news for Hannah-Pamplico is it isn’t a case of Woodberry and the players having to familiarize themselves with each other. Woodberry was an assistant coach for five years on the staff of Jamie Johnson, the man he replaced. Johnson stepped down after eight years to become the head coach at Darlington High.
Also, Woodberry is a veteran head coach. He was a head coach at McBee High for four years before serving as the head coach at West Florence High for 13 years, the final season coming in 2017. Woodberry has a career record of 77-114.
H-P went just 4-7 last season and 1-3 in Region 6. However, the Raiders were so close to having a tremendous season. Six of their seven losses were by eight points or less. They ended the year with a 60-56 shootout loss to Estill in the first round of the playoffs.
Woodberry believes some good things can await Hannah-Pamplico this season as long as it can avoid a rash of injuries.
“If we can stay healthy we can be really competitive, I think,” Woodberry said. “We've got some really good skill guys, our offensive line is not bad at all. We just don't have a lot of depth, which most 1A schools don't. We've just got to avoid injuries. If we can avoid injuries we can have a really good season. At a 1A school, if you have a lot of injuries, it can be really bad for you.”
Two of the key returnees are juniors Jamarcus Williams and Wade Poston. Williams was named the Region Player of the Year after rushing for 2,006 yards and 15 touchdowns on 211 carries. He also scored on 10 2-point conversion attempts, caught seven passes for 40 yards and a score and returned a kickoff for a score.
As a cornerback on defense, Williams had 43 tackles, two tackles for loss and two interceptions.
“Our running back is a stud,” Woodberry said.
The quarterback, who is Poston, isn’t bad either.
Poston completed 118 of 204 passes for 1,754 yards and 15 touchdowns while rushing for 534 yards and eight scores on 85 attempts. He also ran for 14 2-point conversions.
Poston accounted for all eight of the Raiders’ touchdowns in the loss to Estill. He passed for four TDs, ran for three more and also caught a touchdown pass.
Poston will enter the season rated as one of the top 200 quarterbacks in the country by a couple of websites.
The Raiders will have to replace two All-Region wide receivers in Josh McNeil and Tae Sellers, but they do returning their entire offensive line. The quintet is led by juniors Brandon Cox and Will Faulkenberry, both All-Region picks last year.
H-P will run out of a spread formation on offense and will run out of a 3-4 formation on defense.
The defense will be led by linebacker Logan Bass, an All-Region pick last year.
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