Ousmane Dirra blocks for quarterback Mesiah Rivers during the Patriots’ game against Berkeley.

Senior Eli Pressley is one of the anchors for the Green Wave defense.

AAA Player of the Week: Loris junior QB Ayden Scott (6-2, 190) passed 344 yards and 4 TDs last week. Photo courtesy of Marissa DaPonte.

Matchups listed by classifications as well as out-of-state matchups

Doodle's Doodle was 89-40 last week, how did your team do?

Irmo senior Nate Carson, committed to South Carolina, an elite prospect on the O-Line.

Dutch Fork senior QB Jaxon Knotts returns after passing the 2,000-yard mark last season.

Charles (Chaz) Breland of Class A Bamberg-Ehrhardt is the only kicker/punter on the publication’s 2027 Top 100 Football Prospects list.

Irmo senior DE Jaiden Bryant (6-4, 246), a 5-star recruit, originally committed to LSU in January but flipped to the Miami Hurricanes.

Defensive Backs like Irmo senior Jamar Grissett In SC getting looks from colleges all across the nation.

Hammond senior Jackson Ross. (6-4, 215)

Gray Collegiate’s Jack Armstrong (6-2, 265), a Citadel commit, plays on the offensive line as well, and had 37 tackles, eight for loss, two sacks and three hurries for the War Eagles in 2025.

The HSSR congratulates the team on their return to high school football and their first SCISA varsity football win since 1979.

Hanahan junior QB Tripp Gallus (6-5, 230) having strong early season results this year.

Denmark-Olar Viking football program looking to make great strides this season.

Northwood Academy senior Drew Wolfe (6-1, 165) returns its top receiver from last season, this photo from the 2025 SCISA state title game.

WA's senior RB Grant Small (5-11, 185) carries the ball. Photo by Mara Feagin.

Ethan Moody is a dedicated senior student-athlete challenging himself academically, and as a football and baseball player for the Dillon Christian School.

Lily King is a senior four-sport athlete at Dillon Christian School, where she plays Volleyball, Basketball, Soccer, and cheers.

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Gaffney —After two impressive Gaffney wins, to start the 2026 season, over Spartanburg (24-20) and J.L. Mann (43-10) it just felt right to rank the realigned Class AAAA Indians number one until further notice. This week the Indians are hosting Lancaster (2-0) team who have wins over Chester (49-21) and York to start the season (30-23). “Lancaster is on a roll having defeated two quality teams,” said head Gaffney coach Donnie Littlejohn, starting his second season as the head coach at his alma mater. “We are anticipating a very competitive game with them. “ Coach Littlejohn is a native of Gaffney and former outstanding player for the Indians. “We know what the expectations are from our very supportive community and it is our goal to win the class room first and foremost, win in the weight room, and then go win on the football field,” said Coach Littlejohn. “It is our strong goal to keep working hard and getting our 19 th state championship trophy on display at Gaffney High School is our focus this season. We just need to stay healthy and keep believing.” Coming into the season Gaffney was looking for a new QB due to graduation losses. Coach Littlejohn has been very pleased with sophomore Corey Taylor (6-0,170) who transferred from Goose Creek to Gaffney two years ago. “He is doing a great job managing the game and while he is more of a drop back passer, he does run a 4.7, and he can use his feet when he needs to,” said Coach Littlejohn. “We have playmakers around him so we are not asking him to feel like he has to win a game by himself. We just need for him to not put us in negative plays and to not do something that will cause us to lose a game.” The transfer of former Irmo RB Amire White (5-11, 200) filled a need in the back field for the Indians. After two games White has rushed for 212 yards on 32 carries with two TD’s. Coach Littlejohn is the chairman of the Kendarius “ Peanut ” Bailiey (6-0,215) appreciation club. “I am getting ready to nominate him for the AAAA Defensive Player of the Week for his play against JL Mann last week,” said Coach Littlejohn. “He makes plays on either side of the football. When he makes up his mind to shut you down, on either side of the ball, he is going to blow up plays. I still say he is the best football player in the state of South Carolina.” Bailey is a running back on offense and a LB on defense. Against J.L. Mann, Bailey had four solo tackles, two assists, 1 pile on –got to the ball on every play, 1.5 sacks, q pass break-up, 1 QB KO, 1 Big hit, 4 QB pressures, 0.5 Big play for a total of 29 defensive points. Gaffney’s top WR’s after two games are junior with TE Hank Davidson with four catches for 89 yards and two TD’s. Senior HB-TE Trason Smith has three catches for27 yards and junior RB Dylan McKey has 9 catches for 40 yards. The Gaffney OL is anchored by senior LT CJ Brooks (6-5, 320) who is committed to UAB. The RT is senior Landon Bailey , and the RG is junior Raashad Fitzpatrick. The LG is junior Derrius Littlejohn (6-0,250) who has been a three-year starter. The center is senior and three- year starter Tre Dawkins . Sophomore Tripp Peltry also sees a lot of action in the OL. The defensive line is a three- man front. Senior Marquell Smalls (6-5, 260) is one DT, Jeronte Kimbrough is a nose guard, while Sidney Lattimore (6-0,215) is a DE. Soph Kiante Morgan is a key reserve on the DL. The linebackers are AJ Logan , TY McGill , Peanut Bailey , and senior Karein Good. The secondary is led by highly touted junior Zion Dawkins (5-11, 175) who currently holds offers from Virginia Tech , Duke , and Syracuse among others. Money Monroe, Kareem Shaw, and Ayden Montgomery round out the back end. Gerado (Gu Gu) Segura is the teams place kicker while Shaw is the punter. Coach Littlejohn also wanted to give a shout-out to two number varsity assistant coaches. They are RB coach Jason Winstead , formerly head coach at Goose Creek High along with new specialty team coach Brandon Thoms .  Gaffney also has one of the best football stats perrons in the state in veteran Kinnett Phillips.

By David Shelton Senior Writer Walterboro – Rome was not built in a day and the Colleton County football program will need time to grow into a consistently competitive entity.  The man put in charge of the rebuilding project is Bradley Adams , who was hired earlier this year. He inherits a program that has struggled to find any measure of success over the last decade, posting only 22 victories since 2016. However, the program has experienced some success before and Adams is working to instill a level of confidence, day by day. “I feel like we have made some strides but it’s a long process,” said Adams, who has previous successes at Woodruff, Union County and Georgetown. “It’s been a lot of teaching and getting them to understand what we have to do to get the program where we want it to be. I think little by little this team is understanding and they have been working hard. Our commitment level has improved and that will continue as we have some success on the scoreboard.” The Cougars opened the season with a loss to Hampton County. Adams says the team responded well in the practices that followed the loss. “We did some positive things in that game and we pointed those things out,” Adams said. “I thought we came back out and practiced well, put in some good work. We’re learning how to prepare each week and just trying to be 1-0 each week.” Offensively, Adams has handed the reins to junior Keno Nixon at quarterback. Working as a trio at running back are Christian Brown , Trevy Manigo and Ja’Kell Jenkins . At wide receiver are Justus Jamison , Keandre Allen , Kareem Kelly and Galil Frazier . Along the offensive line are Chase Jones and Jaden Jenkins at tackle, another Jaden Jenkins and Jeremy Bright at the guards, and center Christopher Corbett . “I think the line is making good progress and the better they can become as a unit, the better we are going to be offensively,” Adams said. On the defensive line, Ziair Holmes returns as an all-region performer last season. He is joined by Melvin Ancrum and Jermaine Green . O’keefe Martin returns at linebacker, joined by Andrew Yates and Shykeem Williams . Frazier and Jestin Fryar are the starting corners, with Christian Mitchell and Manigo at safety. “We are still a work in progress, moving guys around to get the best combinations on the field,” Adams said. “We have some underclassmen that are going to help us grow as a program. We are seeing positive results in the weight room and that’s going to be huge for us as we move forward in the future.” Colleton County was scheduled to play Woodland on Sept. 4.

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Dillon Wildcats sitting at 2-1 with a home game against Cheraw coming up.

Harrison tosses four touchdown passes to lead Dillon to a 32-28 win over Cheraw

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New Rankings as of 6 Sept 2026!

The Iron Horses were looking to tie the all-time series record at four wins apiece but the Battling Bishop’s got the win, giving them a 5-3 lead.

James Island junior wide receiver Raphael Suiu with the reception against Gray Collegiate Academy.

By Worthy Evans Contributing Writer Columbia – The Next Step for the White Knoll football program came as a 31-21 season-opening loss to A.C. Flora at Columbia’s Memorial Stadium Aug. 21, but longtime head coach Victor Floyd , who is in his first year at the school, said that the Timberwolves will use that loss to keep moving forward. “It was a tough loss, but we’re going through some growing pains and the kids are upbeat,” he said. It will be a big jump from game one to game two, and hopefully we’ll be better.” White Knoll trailed the Falcons 10-7 at halftime and 17-14 going into the fourth quarter. A.C. Flora scored on a pass play to go up 24-14, but Timberwolves quarterback Brayden Cress hit running back Christian Chisolm for a 70-yard touchdown pass play to cut the lead back to three. The Timberwolves got the ball back late in the game on a Falcons’ missed field goal attempt, but could not muster a scoring drive and turned the ball over on downs inside their 10-yard line. A.C. Flora scored on a 2-yard TD run in the closing seconds for the final score. Last week the Timberwolves traveled to Sumter and fought hard but fell short in a 34-27 loss to the Gamecocks.  White Knoll’s home opener against T.L. Hanna comes next, followed by a home game against North Augusta Sept. 11, a trip to Goose Creek Sept. 18 and a home game against Ridge View Oct. 2 before opening Region 3-AAAAA schedule against Lexington Oct. 9. Depth will be a big challenge as the schedule plays out, but Floyd said he likes the way the Timberwolves have put in the offseason work and are responding to the season’s tests. “I think we’ll be fine,” he said. “The nucleus of our group is playing hard and working hard and that’s going to benefit us. You can’t get bent out of shape after one game. One game doesn’t determine the season.” Besides juniors Cress and Chisolm, the Timberwolves offense includes senior H-back Kirkland Day , in the backfield. Wide receivers Tyler Brown , Kyle Griffin and tight end Kentrell Bonnette are juniors. Senior left guard Ritchie Setzer leads the line that includes junior left tackle Caleb Mack , sophomore right tackle Jacob Whyte , junior right guard Braydon Weston and junior Joseph Delle Ross . Seniors Jah’Mauri Davis at linebacker and Jonathan Keith at defensive back lead the defense. Other standouts include junior linemen Jhovani Mpumbu , Nathanial Johnson , Noah Mar , and senior Evan Pierce . Sophomore linebackers Adrian Ellsworth and Cyrus Evans join Davis, and junior Cl’Menta Crosby , and sophomores Chisolm and Elijah Frazier join Keith in the backfield. Cress is also the team’s placekicker and punter. “Young and eager,” Floyd described the team at a practice leading up to the A.C. Flora game. “That’s the exciting part of it. When you get a young group that hadn’t played a lot, they’re eager, they do what you tell them, they’re working extremely hard because there’s the unknown for them. When you get an older group, they feel like they’ve arrived, they know what’s going on. The excitement of the unknown is what’s really good about this group.”

By David Shelton Senior Writer Walterboro – Though his team is off to a 3-0 start in 2026, Colleton Prep football coach Greg Langdale is not quite sure how good his team is this fall.  The three early wins were expected, and one was a forfeit. The tougher tests will come later in the season and in the postseason, but it’s likely the Warhawks will make a good run at the state title. Last year’s team lost in the state championship game, finishing with a 9-3 record. The Warhawks have several key returning players, which should lead to a good postseason run. “I think we have a good group but we really don’t know how good we are just yet,” Langdale said. “We do have some experience at some key positions but we also have some new guys in some spots. We will see how much we improve and how hard we will work. That will determine the type of season we will have this year.” Perhaps the biggest returning player is at quarterback where senior Cale Owens runs the show offensively. Owens accounted for 21 passing touchdowns and 19 rushing scores last season. He threw for 2,116 yards and added 1,253 yards rushing. In the two games played this season, Owens has 455 yards and six touchdown passes, adding three rushing scores. The Warhawks also are loaded at receiver with the return of Perry Corbett , Charlie Walker and Hartman Fisk , along with tight end Kaiden Kinard . Corbett caught 41 passes for 828 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2025. Fisk added 42 grabs for 494 yards while Kinard had 18 catches for 256 yards. Walker chipped in 12 catches. Sharing duties at running back are sophomore Jaxson Jones, Lucas Pellum and Trey Ferguson . Their roles are primarily short yardage situations and blocking. Speaking of blocking, the offensive line returns three starters in tackle Aden Willis , guard Austin Murdaugh (center last year), and guard Fripp Smoak . Junior Ben Cain is starting at the other tackle and Tristan Layden is now the center. Junior Gray Marvin and sophomore Efe Bolukbasi also get some time up front. Kinard at end and Cain at linebacker are two leaders defensively. Working along the front also are Pellum at noseguard and end Tylor Riesner . Smoak is a starting linebacker, as is Baines Pierce . Fisk and sophomore Dallas Pooser are the corners while Corbett and Jones are the safeties. The Warhawks were scheduled to play St. John’s Christian on Sept. 4 at home. The remaining games are Carolina Academy, Beaufort Academy, Hilton Head Christian, Dorchester Academy, Patrick Henry Academy, Calhoun Academy and Cross School.

Last four schools to win AAAA state championships remain in class after reclassification

Emerald's Beau Hite and York's Ryan Brucha receiving a lot of attention as well

Byrnes' Segarra committed to LSU, Irmo's Phillips to Alabama and Summerville's Williams to JMU

By Neill Kirkpatrick Special to the HSSR Dillon – Dillon Christian went 3-7/2-2 in head coach Chris Alphin first season with a very young team with most of the players returning expectations are high and coach is excited to see to see how his young players have grown. “We need to stay health and play our game. We feel like the kids that are juniors now, were going to be our corner stone to flip the culture here. They are a year older and they gained valuable experience last season so we feel really good heading into the season,” said coach Alphin. Coach continued, “We go to camp every year. This year we did a spiritual isolation camp in the mountains of North Carolina and we did it with church. We set all of our season goals but we also had team devotions. I feel this has made our team closer together and the teams knows while we love to play the game. There is a higher purpose,” Coach said. The Warriors evened their record at 1-1 after beating Orangeburg Prep 45-14. Blackmon had 384 yards of offense and passed for three touchdowns and ran for two more scores while the defense held OP to 204 yards of offense We The Warriors have only five seniors led by all region kicker Scott Burgarin . He has already hit from 39 yards out. Middle linebacker Ethan Moody , defensive end Lincoln Dial , guard Chandler Rogers , and wide receiver Rilee Martin. Moody was the team’s leading tackler last season with 65 and a whopping 22 tackles for loss. The junior class is loaded with talent starting with the offensive line in right guard CJ Alford (5-10,275), right tackle John Walker (6-3,235), and quarterback Jordan Blackmon (5-10,155). They are returning offensive starters. Blackmon accounted for over 2200 yards of offense and 19 scores. New junior starters are defensive back Blake Hunt (5-11, 135), WR/DB Gray Easterling (5-10,165), running backs Terry Knight (5-8,145) and Mills Wallace (5-7,140). Knight and Wallace start at linebackers also with Knight leading the team in tackles with 19. Left Tackle is freshmen Bradley Collins and left guard is an eighth grader Chase Huggins. While several players play both ways there are few players that play one side of the ball. Junior Keylan Oxendine (5-9,270) plays just defensive line and sophomore Bentley Clark (6-2,175) only plays defensive end. “To challenge for the region championship, we need to stay healthy and not forgot what got us here. We do those things and give glory to God we will be okay,” said coach.

Quarterback Mason Crout hopes to make the most of his senior season with Ashley Ridge.

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Summerville —The Northwood Academy (1-1) Chargers football team has been fighting the injury bug so far in the ’26 football season, and after two games the Chargers have a 21-14 win over Heathwood Hall to their credit but they suffered a 60-28 loss to Bethesda Academy in the season opener.  “Not making excuses but we had seven starters out when we played Bethesda and they are a solid program,” said Northwood Academy head coach Johnny Waters . “They have great athletes running all the place. I have not seen a SCISA team with that much in quite a while.” Coach Waters is entering his 4 th season as the head football coach at Northwood Academy and he helped lead the team to the SDCISA 2025 AAAA state championship. He has been a head coach for a total of 13 years and he has three state titles on his resume. This week the Chargers are planning a road to play traditional power Charlotte Latin on the road. “They are a prominent private school in the Charlotte area with a rich athletic tradition in both football and basketball,” said Coach Waters. “We feel like we are going to be near full strength as a team in about two weeks. It can’t come fast enough.” In the win over Heathwood Hall last week senior QB Kevin Johnson (6-1. 195) completed 9- of -16 passes for 133ards and one TD. RB Mike Polite rushed 22 times for 167 yards and one TD. WR Amire Simmons caught three passes for 44 yards and one TD. After two games Johnson has completed 18-0f-42 passes for 283 yards and four TD’s. “Kevin got started a little slow last year too but he gets stronger as the season goes along and he will be just fine.” said Coach Waters. Drew Wolfe leads Charger receivers so far this season with 9 catches for 167 yards and three touchdowns. Against Heathwood Hall, WR Tourance Johnson caught two passes for 38 yards and Bryce Jenkins had a 96-yard school record pick six, and he caught two passes for 25 yards. The Charger offense produced 293 yards against the Highlanders while the Charger defense allowed just 193 yards. The defense gave up 77 yards rushing and 116 yards passing. The defense is led by CB Bryce Jenkins who has five tackles to date while DE Mitchell Lanier and Max Pascazio are next on the hit index with four tackles each. The OL consists of senior center Kenneth Robbins , four-year starter Kaeden Wagner (6-2, 270) is a prospect at LT and he gas some college offers. The RT is junior Brayden Andy , and the RG is senior Justin Watson who can also play in the DL. The LG is 6-3 senior Jacob Harrelson. The Chargers have two newcomer freshman players who will contribute right away. They are WR C. Johnson and WR Amire Simmons .

Fort Dorchester freshman QB Landon Freeman had a big night for the Patriots on Sept. 4.

Summerville's senior RB Jayven Williams.