David Prince new defensive coordinator for Batesburg-Leesville football

           Batesburg-Leesville – Having lost 24 seniors from a football team that went 8-4, there can’t help but be plenty of change for Batesburg-Leesville High School.

           There will be change taking place on the coaching staff as well. The Panthers will have a new defensive coordinator. David Prince will move from coaching wide receivers to the DC role after Gary Adams left for Emerald.

           B-L head coach Greg Lawson said moving Prince, who is also the strength coach, into the DC role was an easy decision.

           “He’s been a head coach, and we’ve just got a lot of experience with him,” Lawson said of Prince, who was a defensive coordinator and head coach at South Florence. “We’re really excited he’s taking the defensive coordinator job.”

           Arromus Harris, who coached defensive backs last season, will handle wide receivers. Rob Bouknight, the baseball head coach, will return as the offensive coordinator.

 Brandon Cumbee returns to coach the offensive line and will be joined by newcomer Rick Snelling. Bryan Cotney will coach the running backs.

 Defensively, Shane Bryant and Andy Harris will coach the linebackers, Jake Getson the defensive backs and Lane Janney and Chris Whitt the defensive line.

        “I feel real good about our staff,” said Lawson, who is preparing for his fifth season as head coach. “We still have a core of Batesburg-Leesville people, who played there, had success there. who have roots there.”

           Batesburg-Leesville, which will drop from AA to Class A following the South Carolina High School League’s biannual reclassification, offers its student-athletes a wide array of sports. There are eight boys sports, 11 girls sports and two co-ed sports.

 B-L will offer two new girls sports in golf and flag football, according to athletic director Eric Gambrell. Jim Iacuone will coach the golf team, while Erica Gambrell, the AD’s older sister, will be in charge of the flag football team.

           The coaches for the other fall sports are Johnelle Bell in boys cross country, Heather Eargle in girls cross country, Eric Shick in volleyball, Micah Bolen in girls tennis, and Presley Mabus in competition cheer.

           William Ash and DeVeto Johnson return to coach the boys basketball and girls basketball teams, respectively. Batesburg-Leesville will have both boys and girls wrestling again this winter. Ryanne Hall will coach the girls, while AD Gambrell is in the process of finalizing the hiring of a wrestling coach for the boys.

           “We have a great coach,” he said. “We’re just waiting on all the paperwork and formalities.”

 Alex Richardson will be the archery head coach over the winter and the clay targets coach in the spring. Claudia Pollard will be the sideline cheer head coach for both football and basketball.

 Bouknight will once again lead the Panther baseball team. After taking B-L to the 2025 AA state title, Bouknight had it two wins away from going back to the title series. The Panthers reached the championship round of the upper state tournament, losing to eventual state champion Clinton.

 Amber Hartley will be back in charge of softball after leading the Panthers to a big turnaround in 2026. They finished 14-6 after winning just three games the previous season.

 “This season certainly met my expectations,” Hartley said. “I knew we had a very talented team that could compete in a strong region (2-AA, which included state champion Saluda). Although we fell short of my playoff hopes, facing high-caliber opponents taught us valuable lessons and provided experience we will build on moving forward.”

            Batesburg-Leesville was led by All-State selection and Region Co-Player of the Year Ainsley Minchew. She had 226 strikeouts and a 1.25 earned run averaged in 106 2/3 innings pitched.

 Minchew was joined on the All-State and All-Region teams by Kate Shealy. She had a .395 batting average, an on-base percentage of .495, a .987 slugging percentage, 12 home runs and 33 runs batted in.

Chandler Bouknight was also an All-Region pick. She batted .416, had 37 hits and 19 stolen bases.

 The other spring sports coaches are Paige Scruggs for girls soccer, Charles Holloway for boys soccer, Erica Gambrell for girls track and field, Harris for boys track, Lawson for boys golf and Taylor Jeffcoat for boys tennis.