Bobcats Get Mcclam His First Career Win As Head Coach
By David Shelton
Senior Writer
Lake City – After failing to get his first win as a head coach in the season opening game, Carolina Academy’s first-year head football coach Tyler McClam was able to claim that victory in week two of the 2026 season.
The Bobcats lost to Thomas Sumter, 44-0, in the opener but bounced back with a 22-8 win over Holly Hill Academy on Aug. 27. McClam, a former assistant who replaced David Rankin when the former head man left for Laurence Manning, was never worried much about when his first win would come. He was more happy for his young team to experience early success.
“I’m just happy for these kids to get rewarded for all of the hard work they put in over the summer,” McClam said. “We were sort of shell-shocked in the opener. Thomas Sumter was a lot more experienced and really took it to us. We weren’t ready to play. We have so many new guys on the field and they just needed to get some experience.
“In the second game, we played much better, more relaxed. We executed better and we were physical. Holly Hill is a good team and we did a good job overall. We were just ready to plod to see.”
The Bobcats are indeed a very young team. McClam says only two seniors start and the third senior on the roster is injured for the season. Most of the players that see the most action are sophomores.
One of those sophomores is starting quarterback Holden Carsten. Junior Luke Cook and senior Carson Hanna will handle most of the running game. Senior Ryker Rhodes and Tanner Floyd are the leaders at receiver with sophomore Kingston Cox working as the tight end.
Along the offense line are tackles Cole Elmore and Connor Mixon. Elmore is a freshman and Mixon is a sophomore.
Working at guard are sophomore Matthew Beard and junior Raylen Parkhurst, while sophomore Kyle Cox is the starting center.
Most of the same names appear as starters on the defensive side of the ball. Beard, Mixon, and Parkhurst are on the front, with Collin Nail and Kyle Cox working in a rotation as well.
Kingston Cox and Hanna are the starting linebackers. Carsten, Rhodes, Floyd and Britton Johnson are in the secondary. Burlen Frye and Cook are at outside linebacker.
“We’re looking forward to the rest of the season. I think we are going to be a team that improves each week,” McCLam said. “I’m sure we will have some tough battles along the way but I like this team’s competitive attitude.”
