Batesburg-Leesville football looking for another big season
Panthers open season with a 49-6 triumph over Wagener-Salley
Batesburg-Leesville – The Batesburg-Leesville High School football team didn’t play a game on August 22, which was Week Zero. Well, at least not an official game.
The Panthers did play host to a live scrimmage against Woodland, like them a AA school. B-L came away with a 49-0 triumph.
“It wasn’t a real game, but you wouldn’t know that by the people that were there,” said Batesburg-Leesville head coach Greg Lawson. “We sold tickets, we had vendors there. It was a real game except it didn’t go down in the record books.”
B-L opened its season on August 29 with a 49-6 home victory over Wagener-Salley. The anticipation around B-L is high as it had an undefeated regular season a year ago on the way to a 12-1 record that ended with a loss to eventual AA state champion Clinton in the third round of the state playoffs.
Batesburg-Leesville returns seven starters on offense and six on defense. One of the missing starters on offense though is graduated quarterback Tanner Watkins.
Junior Reese Boinke and sophomore Trey Smith have been engaged in a battle for the job. Lawson said it is one that will carry over into the start of the season.
“They played about the same number of reps against Woodland, and no one is standing out about the other one right now,” Lawson said. “We’re just going to see which one steps ahead. Both are pretty even right now. If one of them is not getting the job done then we’ll get the other one in there.”
The Panthers do have two dynamic playmakers back in senior running back Amadre Wooden and senior athlete KD Whitt.
Wooden rushed for 2,138 yards and 26 touchdowns on 248 carries. He also caught four passes for 88 yards. Whitt was a threat whenever the ball was in his hands. He had 27 catches for 475 yards and 10 touchdowns, carried the ball 12 times for 132 yards and four TDs, returned two kickoffs for touchdowns and one punt for a touchdown.
“I told Amadre he’s not going to sneak on anybody this season. They will all know who 22 is,” Lawson said. “The first thing they’re going to do is trying and stop you. He’s going to have to be patient, but he’s going to have the chance to do something that not a lot of people get to do: become their school’s leading rusher. He’s about 1,500 yards shy.
“KD, he’s just a great athlete. You can line him up in the slot and throw it to him in the flat or you can throw it to him down field. He makes people miss. He’s one of the weapons the other teams wish they had.”
The other wide receivers starting with Whitt are senior Jeremiah Merritt and senior Jayden Milhouse. Tyler Kneece, a standout baseball player for B-L’s state championship baseball team, came out for football in his senior year. He is gong to see time at tight end.
The Panthers are having to replace three offensive linemen. The two returning starters are on the left side in senior tackle Preston Smith and senior guard Moises Gonzales.
Junior DeMarcus West is the right tackle, junior Cam Jay the right guard and sophomore James Sawyer the center.
Three of the four defensive linemen are returning starters. They are senior Travis Gates, senior JaQuan Corley and senior Tyler Walton. The other D line starter is junior Robert Matthews.
Senior Jack Bouknight is the only returning starter at linebacker. The other linebackers are junior Bryan Hartley and Milhouse. Senior Drew Centella is a returning starter in the secondary along with Whitt The other defensive backs are senior Nesean Stewart and Merritt. .
Smith will be handling the placekicking and punting.
