Warhorses remain undefeated in Region 6-AA with come-from-behind win

Devore gets called third strike to end game with tying run on base

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Dorchester — The familiar drive down Highway 78, on the way to Woodland High in Dorchester County, remains a two- lane venue, dominated by dense Pined woods adjacent to the Norfolk Southern train tracks that deliver goods from the massive inland port in Greer; every day to the port of Charleston. The purpose of the drive is to meet Woodland High’s new head boys’ soccer coach, Jeff Beckworth , who just happens to also be the Dorchester Four Superintendent of Education. Beckworth is a former college soccer player from Chowan College in North Carolina where he came South from New York back in the day to fulfill his goal of playing college soccer, and also to get a college education. Arriving on the campus of Woodland High on February, 29 it is 79 degrees at 4:45 in the afternoon and Spring sports teams can be seen working out all over the land scape. The teams look vibrant, alive, energized, and hundreds of student athletes are being mentored by their coaches. Driving towards the football stadium, we can see “Coach Beckworth” busy working out 18 varsity soccer players on the turf of the football stadium. Not too far away the Woodland High baseball team is fully engaged, putting on a pre-season Wooden bat tournament involving 12 teams under the direction of Wolverines head coach Keith Lowman. The track teams (under the direction of Chaves James ) are working out 120 boy’s and girl’s track candidates, and the girls’ soccer team (coached by Wendy Lynn Riley and Andrea Stanley ) is busy practicing on a near-by field with another 20 student athletes. The softball practice, with Kim Reeves pitching batting practice in the cage, is a blend of 40 junior varsity and varsity candidates. Hannah Reeves is back home from having finished college and she is “live pitching” very hard to batters on the softball field. With all that is going on this is the greeting from Coach Beckworth when he approaches him at soccer practice: “Thought about having a drone fly over and getting some video of all our student athletes and coaches preparing their teams to participate in Spring sports,” he said greeting this reporter. “Isn’t this great. It looks like we have 50 per cent of our student body out here this afternoon.” It was a decade ago that Coach Beckworth was an elementary Principal in the area when he started a hugely popular elementary school soccer program at his school. After getting the soccer program started, he left for a few years, to pursue other educational opportunities. So, last April when he was named Superintendent in DD-4, he just knew in the back of his mind he would enjoy reuniting with many of his former elementary soccer players, who were now juniors and seniors in high school, by becoming the head soccer coach. It just seemed like the right thing to do. The 2024 Woodland High soccer team is comprised of 18 players and it is made up of six seniors, six juniors and six sophomores. They were scheduled to play in a soccer pre-season tournament hosted by Whale Branch Feb., 29-March, 2, as the HSSR was going to press. Coach Beckworth explained why he feels it is important to get out and mingle with student athletes in his role as Superintendent in DD-4. “It is all about being hands on and there is no better way to understand what the needs are of your school district then being right in the thick of things,” said Coach Beckworth. “Being out here, working with the soccer team amongst our other dedicated coaches working with their student athletes is a very positive and meaningful endeavor. “Right now, on the track, Coach Chaves James is working with 120 track athletes and his teams compete for championships year-end and year-out,” said Coach/Superintendent Beckworth. “The track team is hosting an event here this weekend involving 35 teams from all over the state with 1,400 athletes coming to our campus. Student athletes will come out and participate in sports when the coaches are good and we have some excellent coaches in all our sports at Woodland High School.” “Our baseball team (head coached by veteran Keith Lowman ) has been hosting a Wooden bat tournament the past week with 14 teams involved,” said Coach Beckworth. “There has been a lot of activity on our baseball field. “Our girls’ soccer team is busy getting ready for the season and they are coached by Wendy Lynn Riley and Andrea Stanley .” said Coach Beckworth. “Our softball team is over there working hard right now and they under the direction of Kim Reeves once again. “I can’t say enough about our hard-working athletic director Ty Sibert . We will be starting a new wrestling program next year and he will be the head coach.” Turning back to boys’ soccer; what are the goals and expectations for the boys’ soccer team this season? “You always want to compete for a region title first and foremost,” said Coach-Superintendent Beckworth. “You hope to advance past the region and compete well in the playoffs also. Success will build continuity in the program. “Right now, we have a lot of younger kids on the varsity and we have several good players coming along in our middle school soccer program right now,” said Coach Beckworth. “We need good feeder programs to be able to replace seniors when they graduate. Our varsity team this year is spread out evenly between seniors, juniors and sophomores. We have a good group of kids to work with on the varsity.” Coach Beckworth cited the names of a few of the players he helped introduce to the sport of soccer when he worked at the local elementary school a few years back. “Current players like Sideek Neals , Keyonta Britt . Alquan Cobbs , and Chance Green are a few of the players I was involved in earlier and it is great to see that they have stuck with the sport,” said Coach Beckworth. “Many of these athletes also travelled around with me in AAU basketball in the summers.” Coach Beckworth said he started in the education system as a physical education teacher. “Back in the day, here as a teacher and administrator, I felt it was important to get young students involved in sports because that is how I grew up myself,” said Coach Beckworth. “It is so important to get young people involved in after school activities, and getting them involved with coaches is so important in helping their over-all development.” Some of the team’s early soccer matches will come against Charleston Math & Science , Whale Branch , and Timberland and then region play begins. The team will also play Gray Collegiate later in the season. “The biggest challenge is to get your players to communicate well once they get on the field,” said Coach Beckworth. “They like to talk off the field but not so much on the field. They just kind of make the play and move on right now.” The team captains this season are senior marking back Chance Green and senior forward/defender Cooper Glazer . This is Glazer’s first year on the team. “It is a lot of fun playing varsity soccer for the first time and I love running around all the time, never sitting still,” said Glazer who was a quarterback on the football team in the fall. “My goal is to have a good time and win some games. “Coach Beckworth has taught me how to move my feet better and he has helped me strengthen my legs which are important for soccer,” said Glazer. “He has also worked hard with everyone on the team to improve our conditioning. You have to be in shape to play soccer effectively.” Co-captain Chance Green started playing soccer in the third grade up in Pennsylvania and he moved to the area in the sixth grade. “I play center back which is the center of the defense,” said Green. “My role is to control the entire defense and observe the entire field from the back side. I communicate with players to tell them where they need to be at on the field. “My role as co-captain is to be able to make sure my teammates are where they need to be and make sure they are doing what they need to be doing,” said Chance. “We need to make sure that we are keeping good team chemistry and not arguing amongst each other.“ Chance has been on the varsity at Woodland for four seasons. “We had a lot of seniors graduate so we are starting with a lot of younger players, so the only way for us to go is up,” said Green. “Coach Beckworth is doing a great job keeping us focused.” The starting goalie for the Wolverines soccer team will be sophomore Giovanni Hernandez. “He started in goal last year as a sophomore so we are excited to have him for the next two years,” said Coach Beckworth. “He is sort of self-taught.” Hernandez commented after one recent practice to the HSSR, “I first started playing with Coach Beckworth in elementary school,” said Hernandez. “My goal is to see the entire field and prevent goals from being scored. My job is to help out my teammates with good communication skills. I try to help them make the right plays. I have been playing for a long time.” The starting group in the midfield will be patrolled by sophomore Brayan Vivas Sanchez , junior Sideek Neals , and senior Jonathan Brown . The marking backs on defense will be led by junior Keyonta Britt , senior Alquan Cobbs as forward defenders and senior captain Cooper Glazer will hold down a Forward/Defense position. In the team’s first match of the season (Feb., 27) they played a better competitive game against Charleston Math & Science before losing 1-0. “We found out last night (versus C-M-S) that we have to strengthen the back of our line-up,” said Coach Beckworth. “We are still maneuvering guys around and we didn’t have any scrimmages so last night was our first time playing on a full field. We gave up one goal in the first minute and that was all the scoring there was in the game so we ended up losing 1-0.” Senior captain Chance Green will be a leader on defense along with Quantez White and Logan Miller . The fourth defender is still up in the air but Cooper Glazer has played in the back also. Coach Beckworth indicated he might move Glazer up more on the offense to attack. Alquan Cobbs might also see action in the back also. “Nobody is really stuck on a certain position this early in the season, so there will be a lot of versatility in our line-up from game-to-game as we look for the right combinations,” said Coach Beckworth. Bryson Cummings , is a newcomer junior forward who talked about what he has learned from Coach Beckworth after a recent practice. “He helps us with special skills like dribbling and passing the ball when we are on the run,” said Cummings. “He pushes us to do better every single day in practice. He has been teaching us a lot about how to play soccer at a higher level.” Other members of the team include: Sophomore forward Ismael Silva , sophomore mid-fielder Jaiden Dunning , sophomore mid-fielder/forward Jorge Garcia , and sophomore Midfield/Defense performer Jamie McCarthy . Juniors Logan Miller , Quantez White , and Andrew Hayes will support the team on defense. Chandler Bowman is a senior Defense/Midfield performer and junior Keyshon Westbury will see action in the Midfield while junior Bryson Cummings will hold down a forward spot. Next month the HSSR will report on the Woodland High baseball, track, and softball teams and we had a visit with all three coaches recently. Spring is nearing: time to play ball!

Hurricanes blow past Wolverines with 580 yards of total offense

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Dorchester — Woodland has played through their non-region portion of their football schedule at 5-0 and they tuned up for a region title win run with a thrilling 31-28 win over Hanahan on September, 29. “It was great to go on the road and get a win but after going into the fourth quarter with a 31-14 lead over Hanahan, I was a little disappointed about how they got stronger in the final period, and we appeared to let our guards down a little,” said Woodland head coach Eddie Ford. “We need to play stronger with a good finish in the final period in all remaining games.” This week the Wolverines are preparing to begin the region competition against Ridgeland-Hardeeville. “They are a very athletic team and they have very good speed at all skill positions, on either side of the football,” said Coach Ford. “Their quarterback is very elusive and they run well on defense. They have as many quality skilled athletes as any team in our region.” Against Hanahan, running back TJ Wright had a career night with 31 carries that resulted in 277 net yards and three touchdowns. Tyrell Sampson added 61 rushing yards on seven carries and Jaiden Gardner-Taylor contributed 46 yards on six carries. On dense the tackle leaders versus the hawks included Chance Green (11 tackles), Donovan Miles (8 tackles, three TFL, one sack, along with Travon Tate (9 tackles), Jackson Sharp (9 tackles) along with South Carolina verbal commitment Kam Pringle (7 tackles, one forced fumble). Tyree Edwards had an interception. Prior to the Hanahan game, Woodland’s other four- win shave come over Bethune-Bowman (60-20), St. Johns (42-18), Bishop England (29-3) and Colleton County (35-10). Against Colleton County Wright had another good game with 142 yards on 19 carries. He also had 8 tackles on defense. Gardner-Taylor had three receptions for 82 yards and one touchdown. Quarterback Cooper Glaze completed 4-of-7 passes for 97 yards and one touchdown. Reserve quarterback Jervaze Salley contributed 5-of-6 passing for 33 yards and one touchdown. Tyree Edwards played well on both sides of the ball against Colleton County. He caught a pass for 13 yards and one touchdown on offense. On defense, Edwards had six tackles, two interceptions and one forced fumble. Tyrell Sampson had an interception. The tackle index leaders versus Colleton County were Jackson Sharpe (11 tackles) and Miquel Rhodes (9 tackles, two TFL). “We only have four region games and it is important for us to step up our focus and intensity because winning a region title gets you a good seeding with at least two home games in the playoffs,” said Coach Ford. “You definitely start coaching much harder to win once the region portion of your schedule begins.” After playing Ridgeland-Hardeeville this week, most observers feel like the region title will be on the line the following week when the Wolverines travel to Hampton County , a team that merged with Estill after the gators were 11-2 a year ago with numerous talented junior players who now play for Hampton County. “You never want to look ahead, because all of your region games are important but Hampton County is the team to beat in our region,” said Coach Ford. “When we go over there, we will have a big challenge in beating them on their home field.” Coach Ford cited excellent senior leadership being provided by slot receiver Jaden Gardner , offensive guard Xavier Green , along with left tackle Kam Pringle . Coach Ford also cited the leadership of top tackler Chance Green (5-11, 215) who plays one of the linebacker slots. Coach Ford said the team has missed the play of linebacker Aaron Pulliam who broke his ankle earlier in the season. “We should get him back in week 10 of the season and he is a special leader for us on defense,” said Coach Ford.

Wolverines set for showdown with once-beaten Hampton County on Friday

HSSR Class AA - Sweet 16 Football Poll 1. Gray Collegiate 2. Oceanside Collegiate 3. Abbeville 4. Woodland 5. Hampton County 6. Saluda 7. Marion 8. Fairfield Central 9. Silver Bluff 10. Strom Thurmond 11. Barnwell 12. Ninety-Six 13. Edisto 14. Andrew Jackson 15. Andrews 16. Lee Central Congratulations to these two Class AA athletes selected selected to represent the state of South Carolina in the 87th edition of the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas . Marion High School - Quay'Sheed Scott , DB Silver Bluff High School - Jayden Fuller , DL The game, which pits the best from the Palmetto State against the best from North Carolina , will be played on Saturday, December 16 , at Spartanburg High School .  Top AA Ranked Gray Collegiate Playing Nationally Ranked Teams To Get Ready For AA State Title Run By Billy G. Baker Publisher Moncks Corner — With region play starting those teams who played a very competitive non-region schedule are likely to be rewarded in upcoming games where fourth quarter conditioning, and limited penalties, are rewarded with close wins in toss-up games. Whether you lose by one point, or 30 points, you still lost. Preparing for success by competing against a strong non-region schedule gives most teams a competitive edge. As the late John McKissick always said, “Winning is positive and losing is negative. Give me players who will stick their noses in the briar patch and we will find a way to win.” (That sounds painful, doesn’t it?) The HSSR’s top three teams in AA have been consistent from week-to-week since early in the 2023 season. Talking about a tough schedule let’s justify why we have Oceanside Collegiate (4-2) ranked number two behind sister charter school Gray Collegiate (8-1), even though the Land Sharks have two losses. Oceanside’s two losses were to top ranked South Florence (28-6) on August, 25. On September, 22 head coach Chad Wilkes took his team to his old work place Sumter High and the Land Sharks went toe-to-toe with a AAAAA team, before losing 17-10. Oceanside has also defeated the consensus number one Class A team in South Carolina, the Lewisville Lions by the score of 24-7. Strength of schedule benefits Oceanside for sure. So, the HSSR feels strongly that Oceanside Collegiate is ready to make a run in their region and another deep run in the AA playoffs. Abbeville , ranked number three in AA defeated Powdersville (35-34 in OT) and then played a competitive game against a 5-1 Westside team before suffering their only loss of the season 48-13. Abbeville, ranked number three, has also gained valuable experience from having played a tough non-region schedule. The Panthers defeated Powdersville and their only loss was to Westside (5-1). The HSSR’s top ranked AA team, Gray Collegiate , is mired in a charter school controversary with all fellow member schools in Region 4-AA. In an exclusive interview with Gray Collegiate head coach and athletic director Adam Holmes on October 1st, he told the HSSR, “We appealed the decision of schools in our region taking volunteer forfeits (without penalty) not to play us, to both the SCHSL and the Appellate Panel, and neither body chose to make a ruling, or get directly involved in finding a solution to what created the problem. “In all honesty, I am most surprised as to why a very competitive football program like Fairfield Central (currently 5-1) would not want to play us with a chance to win a region title and get four home games in the playoffs as region champions,” said Coach Holmes. “They are losing a lot of money and having to go on the road at some point in the playoffs.” Coach Holmes told the HSSR that Gray Collegiate has asked to be moved up to the AAA classification with realignment happening for the 2024 season. It is unclear, at this point, what controversy might lie ahead for Gray even if they move up to AAA next season. “The whole issue could be solved with an amendment to the SCHSL by-laws that would prevent any league member from participating in the play-offs in any sport if they voluntarily forfeit a region game,” said Coach Holmes. “Right now, there is no provision in the by-laws for teams who forfeit region games and hopefully after the season this situation can be reviewed.” Gray Collegiate will play a Top 70 nationally ranked team Clearwater Academy International from Clearwater, Florida on October, 6 th . The conflict forced Gray to find new teams to play, which the SCHSL has allowed. They recently travelled to Top 30 national power St. Johns High in Washington DC on September, 16 and lost 42-28. On September, 29 they Gray defeated Portal High , from Georgia 56-35. Earlier in the season Gray hosted three home games on their brand new on-campus artificial turf field with wins over Christ Church (49-21), Crestwood (62-20) and Camden (30-12). They won an away game at Hammond 52-14. Counting their forfeit wins, they are currently 8-1 on their way to play Clearwater Academy in Florida. “We are getting paid to play these out-of-state nationally ranked teams, so we are still making money,” said Coach Holmes. “We feel good about having several home games in the playoffs and we hope to compete for a state title.” Coach Holmes said that beyond the game with Clearwater this week no other games have been picked up just yet. Coach Holmes is still trying to complete a schedule to keep the team prepared for the upcoming playoffs. One idea could be to challenge the IMG Academy team in Bradenton, Florida and that team is among the best in the nation.

By Billy G. Baker HSSR Publisher Summerville — The annual Dorchester County Football Jamboree was hosted at Summerville High on John McKissick Field on August, 18 th with Ashley Ridge, Fort Dorchester, Woodland and Summerville all competing in two quarter scrimmages. Summerville won their scrimmage over Woodland 20-6 and over Fort Dorchester 7-6 in the night-cap. Ashley Ridge defeated Woodland 7-0 in the second scrimmage of the event. In the third scrimmage of the night Fort Dorchester defeated Ashley Ridge 14-0. Comments From Head Coaches To HSSR Publisher Billy Baker Following Scrimmage: Woodland head Coach Eddie Ford: “We just wanted out kids to come in and compete against some larger schools,” said Coach Ford. “We did not want to kill ourselves and have any injuries, Our goal was to come and play, do things the right way, and if we get beat, we get beat. “We have got to learn how to finish drives. We also have to learn how to quit making mistakes that kill drives. We have a young group, with a new quarterback ( ). We needed the experience of playing into two bigger schools to help our kids gain experience. “Mental toughness is definitely what we need to work on Monday in practice,” said Coach Ford. “The kids didn’t quit, and they kept fighting and played hard. I thought we could have played a little bit better but we will bounce back.” Key Woodland Players in the game: OL- Kam Pringle (6-7,325-SC) RB T.J. Wrigh t, DL Antonio Ford (5-11, 300) Season Opener: Bethune- Bowman Comments From Ashley Ridge Head Coach Jeff Tate: (Came From Wren High School) “Well, the first quarter tonight we ran two plays, and won 7-0 and in the second quarter we ran about 20 plays and had 50 yards worth of penalties so we experienced good and bad tonight,” said Coach Tate. “A few of our team leaders right now are senior tight end DC Simmons, senior receiver Derrick Salley , senior offensive lineman Isaiah Richardson , and Makhi Palmore , a senior defensive lineman. These guys have played well in our scrimmages and showed good leadership so far.” Ashley Ridge Prospects: Cody Peterson , OL (soph), Simmons, Salley Top Juniors: WR- Nivay Picou , RB Jayden Acosta Season Opener: Host Cane Bay Thursday 8-24 Comments From First Year Fort Dorchester Head Coach Joshua Smith : “It was good to get out on some live competition, somebody besides ourselves,” said Coach Smith. “We found some things that worked well and we find some thongs we need to work on. We have some good film from these two scrimmages to look at with our players and see where we can correct some mistakes. We as coaches as correct everything, we made a mistake on tonight. “I found out tonight that we keep fighting, even when we get down. It was good to see our offense come right back down the field and score when they (Summerville) went up.” Note: (Fort D will use two quarterbacks equally) “We used both of our quarterbacks tonight, Charles Watson and Bennett Riffer and right now they are like co-starters. Each of them brings a different element at different times. We are very high on our sophomore running back Ryan Campbell and he had some good runs tonight. I also love the big boys we have blocking u-front. (OL returnees include LT Tyrik Deas , RT Marquis Wilson & LG Preston Murphy ) “On defense some of our leaders are defensive linemen Jayden Acevedo and Malachi Watson long with linebacker Marcus Moon and defensive backs Jalen White and Jonathan Howard . We have a lot of guys stepping up and making plays.” Season Opener: At Beaufort 8-25 Comments From Summerville head coach Ian Rafferty Starting 4 th Season At Summerville: “We came out fast on our scoring drive against the Fort and that is how we like to play on offense,” said Coach Rafferty. “We still have a lot of work in front of us. Our defense gave up a lot of yards when they (FD) came down and scored after we scored. “We had around 10 players who missed the scrimmages tonight due to injuries, or other issues. I like our over-all talent top to bottom this season. Our new strength coach has done a very good job getting us bigger, stronger and faster over the summer.” Goals For the 2023 Season: “It has been a while since we won a region championship (2018) so that is one of our key goals, and we would like to go undefeated at home this season,” said Coach Rafferty. “Of course, we would like to take that next step and play for a state championship this season.” Key Senior Leaders For The Green Wave: WR Yannick Smith (6-3,200) (ECU Commit) DB Ryland Mitchell (6-1, 175), Army Commit , RB/FB- Trae Green (5-10,225) OL- Adam Traylor (6-1, 170), DL Jacob Cotterill (6-4,265) Army Commit, Key Juniors: DL Ray Middleton -(6-4, 315) & Dontrell Izzard (6-2, 305), OL- Jaderio Lott (6-3, 350) Ike Rutherford - LB-6-0,210 Key Transfer: QB Jaden Cummings (From Hanahan) Season Opener: At Carolina Forest 8-25

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