Batesburg-Leesville football team has tremendous season
Panthers win 12 straight games before falling to eventual AA state champion Clinton
Batesburg-Leesville – The Batesburg-Leesville High School football team had an outstanding
season. It just wasn’t as outstanding as the Panthers, head coach Greg Lawson and his coaching staff had
hoped it would be.
B-L rolled through the regular season undefeated at 10-0 and then whipped Columbia 42-6 and
Andrew Jackson 49-14 in the first two rounds of the AA state playoffs. However, the season came to an
end in the third round when it lost to eventual state champion Clinton 31-14.
“It’s always hard to lose in the playoffs, especially when you haven’t lost all year,” said Lawson,
who just completed his third season in charge. “If you lose during the season, you get to play the next
week. You lose in the playoffs, you’re done.
“You’ve got to be very proud of all of the things we accomplished this season. I’m proud of the
way we played, the way we conducted ourselves, even after the Clinton game. It was tough to swallow.”
Batesburg-Leesville had several players have tremendous seasons and they were recognized as
such. The Panthers had six players chosen for the South Carolina Football Coaches Association AA
All-State team. Those six were joined by four other teammates on the All-Region 2=AA team.
The All-State selections were senior quarterback Tanner Watkins, junior running back Amadre
Wooden, senior defensive end John Sawyer, senior wide receiver Jamerius Clark, junior athlete KD
Whitt and senior linebacker Christian Burkett.
Watkins was selected as the Region 2 Player of the Year. He completed 81 of 127 passes for 1,441
yards and 18 touchdowns. He also rushed for 246 yards and four touchdowns on 80 carries.
Watkins finished his career with 3,354 yards and 34 touchdowns, both new school records.
“Tanner Watkins had a great year, better than I thought,” Lawson said. “He did a great job leading
the team, not trying to do things on his own, but managing the game. He would do things not to hurt us
and keep us in the game.”
Wooden was selected as the Region Offensive Player of the Year after rushing for 2,138 yards and
26 touchdowns on 248 carries. He also caught four passes for 88 yards.
Sawyer was selected as the Region Defensive Player of the Year and was also chosen to play in
the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Bowl all-star game. Sawyer had 38 tackles, seven tackles for loss
and three quarterback sacks going into the playoffs.
Clark was B-L’s leading receiver with 31 catches for 623 yards and eight touchdowns and also
had three interceptions playing in the secondary. 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 13 yards and four TDs,
returned two kickoffs for touchdowns and one punt for a touchdown.
Burkett had 77 tackles and eight tackles for loss entering the postseason.
The other All-Region selections were junior offensive lineman Moises Gonzales, junior
defensive tackle Travis Gates, junior defensive tackle Ja’Quan Corley and senior strong safety
Clarence Springs. Prior to the playoffs, Gates had 47 tackles, one sack and five tackles for loss, Corley
had 50 tackles, two sacls and five TFLs and Springs had 49 tackles, two interceptions and one TFL.
