Cheraw Ranked Number two In AA Baseball Ranking As Braves Host Diamond Classic Event By Billy G. Baker Publisher Cheraw -With the return of three all-region players, the Cheraw High baseball team (13-3, 10-0), under the tutelage of 27- year baseball coaching veteran David Byrd, is ranked second in the latest HSSR Class AA ranking with two weeks left in the regular season. Cheraw’s three losses have been to bigger schools North Myrtle Beach (9-5), Fort Dorchester (3-2) and Sumter (9-4). The Braves have wins over Palmetto (4-2), Waccamaw (7-4), Central (12-2 & 10-2), Andrew Jackson (11-1 & 8-3), Darlington (12-0), Buford (3-0), York Prep (6-4 & 7-5), and Chesterfield (10-0, 7-6). It was the 7-6 Braves win over Chesterfield on April, 9 that raised concerns for Coach Byrd as his team gets ready to host the Foundation Diamond Classic on April 14-15 in Cheraw. Cheraw will be joined in this event by Sumter High , McBee High , Central of Pageland , and North Central . “After we had defeated Chesterfield 10-0, the very best day we are in a dog fight with them, and we actually trailed in the game with two-out in the 7 th inning, and we felt fortunate to have won the game 7-6,” said Coach Byrd. “We still need to clean up some things on defense, and hit a little better before we can start thinking about a deep playoff run.” The three returning all-region players include senor second/baseman-outfielder Jackson Byrd who is batting .326 with 8 RBI’s coming into the Classic. Senior Brayden Michael is also back and he is leading the team at the plate with a .378 average including 12 RBI’s and 15 stolen bases. The third all-region returner is talented three sport athlete sophomore Anthony Strong who is batting .312 with 8 stolen bases. Strong, who plays at short or second base, is also the Braves number one pitcher. “Anthony is a three-sport athlete at Cheraw and he is a good football prospect for sure,” said Coach Byrd. “He is just a natural athlete with a lot of talent.” Strong is 4-1 on the mound and in 23.2 innings pitched he has 25 K’s with a 0.00 ERA. The team’s number two pitcher is Michael who is 3-1 with a 0.98 ERA. Michael has 31 K’s in 28.2 innings of mound duty. Senior Charlie Phillips , who is 6-6, provides pitching depth and he is 2-0 with 16 K’s in 16.2 innings of work. Senior Tyler Gordon adds pitching to the team and he is 1-1 with a 2.40 ERA. Other starters include senior shortstop Kaden Johnson (.262) along with senior third baseman Will Quick , second on the team in hitting at .352 with 15 RBI’s and a homer. Junior Tyler Tolson starts at either first or the outfield and sophomore Brenden Pace is doing a good job catching and he hitting .294 with 13 RBI’s. Sophomore Nick Gordon is also a top receiver on the football team and he starts in the outfield. He bats in the 6 th hole and he now hitting .286. Senior Demaris Ellerbe starts at first and he also been a designated hitter. “We are still not totally committed to one starting line-up and we have been playing around seven players up-and-down this season,” said Coach Byrd. “We hope to get everyone in the right positions once the playoffs start. “I would say in my 27 years at Cheraw, talent wise this team is one of our top five teams but we still need to clean up things on both offense and defense,” said Coach Byrd. “We are capable of a deep playoff run but we are still working hard to get several things corrected.” Three players having joined the varsity now that the junior varsity season is over. They are out-fielders Crawford Poole , Terrence Blackmon , and Kaden Thomas . Coach Byrd is assisted by Tristian Campbell , Jordan Melton , Kevin Hardee , and Rodney Byrd .

Barnwell senior, Cameron Austin

Cheraw’s Reagan Freeman Named “NETC” Female Student Athlete Of the Month  Cheraw—Reagan Freeman is a junior honor student at Cheraw High School, where she batted nearly .500 as a sophomore on the softball team, before suffering a season ending elbow injury. Very early in her junior season Freeman is batting .400 and she is completely recovered from the injury she sustained as a sophomore. She is also a very good defensive first baseman and rarely makes an error in the field. She was also a member of the volleyball team at Cheraw this past season. In the class room this honor student carries a 4.56 GPA, and to date she has benefitted from taking six online dual credit courses from the “NETC”, based in her home town of Cheraw. For all her athletic and academic accomplishments, Freeman has been chosen the “NETC Female Student Athlete of the Month.” This honor is bestowed through a partnership between the Northeastern Technical College and “The High School Sports Report” with the publication communicating with athletic directors at high schools in the counties of Dillon, Marlboro, and Chesterfield, where NETC serves the needs of high school students seeking to earn dual credits in various subjects that can be transferred to colleges after a student’s high school graduation. The ”NETC” is currently offering over 44 online dual credit courses for the 2024-25 school year to students in the three counties they serve. Freeman is currently taking Growth & Human Development along with Computer Programing as online dual credit courses offered by the “NETC.” As a sophomore she took dual credit online courses in Psychology 101, Sociology 101, Spanish 101 and Introduction to Criminal Justice offered by the “NETC.” “I enjoy taking online dual credit courses through the NETC because they are local, and my grades with the online courses helped improve my GPA for academic scholarships I am applying for,” said Freeman. “Taking online courses also teaches me the importance of time management and gives me an idea for what I will be preparing for, once I get to college. “The main difference in taking courses in a class room setting, versus online, is that you feel like in the class room setting your teacher seems to always be pushing you to learn as if you are up against a deadline,’ said Freeman. “With online courses it is much more self-paced, and you can work around your schedule to complete the courses you are taking online.” Freeman hopes to become an athletic trainer once she completes her college education. At the present time her top three college choices are Coastal Carolina , the University of North Carolina or Clemson . In travel softball, she played third base for the “Hot Shot’s” but she enjoys playing first base on her high school team. “My goals in softball are to help the team win, and I would like to improve my batting average and also make all-region,” said Freeman. “I enjoy playing softball at Cheraw High because my head coach Kevin Thurman is the best coach I have every played for, and he cares about his players.”

Cheraw’s Kadin Thomas Named “NETC” Male Student Athlete of the Month Cheraw — Kadin Thomas is a junior two-sport athlete at Cheraw High, where he earned all-region honors this past season as a quarterback on the football team. He is currently playing in the outfield for the AA state ranked Braves high school baseball team. He threw for over 2,000 yards on his football team with 17 passing touchdowns this past season. Thomas is currently being recruited by The Citadel , Charleston Southern and Elon for football . He will visit Charleston Southern on March , 29 th and The Citadel on April 5 th , In the class room he carries a 3.95 GPA and he has a strong desire to play football at the next level. For all his athletic and academic accomplishments, Thomas has been chosen the “NETC” Male Student Athlete of the Month.” This honor is bestowed through a partnership between the Northeastern Technical College and “The High School Sports Report” with the publication communicating with athletic directors at high schools in the counties of Dillon, Marlboro, and Chesterfield, where NETC serves the needs of high school students seeking to earn dual credits in various subjects that can be transferred to colleges after a student’s high school graduation. The ”NETC” is currently offering over 44 online dual credit courses for the 2024-25 school year to students in the three counties they serve. Thomas is currently enrolled in two dual credit online courses offered by the :NETC.” They are Probability & Statistics along with Spanish 101. Thomas has a strong desire of majoring in Sports Management in college. “Taking online courses through the “NETC” I feel like I am being prepared for what my actual experiences could be once I get to college,” said Thomas. “I am really enjoying the two online courses I am involved with right now, and I plan on taking two more online courses from the “NETC” next semester. “Taking online courses through the “NETC” not only helps me bump up my GPA, that will help me with my college recruitment, but is teaches me how to manage my time better and learning time management is so important once you get to college,” said Thomas. Thomas said thar while football is his favorite sport he has been playing baseball since he was 8-years old. “Playing baseball helps me to be a better quarterback in many ways,” said Thomas. “For example, playing baseball, hip rotation is very important when you are batting, or running down a fly ball in the outfield, and good hip rotation is also vital to a quarterback,” said Thomas. “Playing baseball keeps me in shape for football and vice versa.” Thomas has a favorite play involving himself from this past football season. “We are at Barnwell in the third round of the play-offs and it is like two minutes left in the game,” said Thomas. “I am under pressure from the defense so I roll out of the pocket. On the dead run I threw a 60-yard touchdown pass to one of my receivers (Nick Gordan) in stride for a touchdown.” Although Cheraw lost the evenly matched game 28-27, Thomas was the star of the game for the Braves. He passed for 274 yards and two touchdowns and he added 63 yards rushing on the ground.

By David Shelton Senior Writer Moncks Corner – At long last, the regular season came to an end and the Class AA state playoffs are upon us. The brackets are set and the fans of the favorites are hoping to make plans in mid-December for Orangeburg and the state finals scene. Who are the favorites in AA? Is there a sleeper or two that may surprise everyone and get to the title game. Most of the time, the teams that survive the grind and reach the fifth week of the playoffs, the title game, are teams that everyone who follows the sport predicts will be there. Let’s have a little fun and handicap the AA field. My process is to list my top four teams in the Upper State bracket and top four in the Lower State, as I see it. Any team not in my top four would be considered a sleeper to make it through the bracket. But, it can be done. In the Upper State, my No. 1 team is Batesburg-Leesville . I know, shocker. The 10-0 Panthers have answered every challenge and have proven to be quite formidable. They allow seven points per game with a defense that has speed and physicality. Nearly half of the total points they have allowed in 10 games came in one game, to Abbeville, in a two-point win. Abbeville is the top-ranked team in Class A and their coach , Jamie Nickles , is a believer. “They are certainly capable of winning the state championship,” he said. Running back Amadre Wooden and quarterback Tanner Watkins are a solid one-two punch offensively. Wooden has rushed for more than 1,500 yards and Watkins has passed for more than 1200 yards. My No. 2 pick to win the Upper State is Clinton. The 7-2 Red Devils have lost only to Woodruff and Daniel. Each of those teams has just one loss this season. The tough non-region schedule makes me feel the Red Devils are battle-tested for close, big games. Quarterback Tashawan Richardson makes it all go for the offense with James Cook adding a major threat in the run game. My No. 3 pick in the Upper State is Fairfield Central . The Griffins lost their season opener to Ridge View and have won nine straight games since. The scouting report needs just one word – speed. The Griffins can run and are explosive. Running back Tydarion Grier has gained more than 1.400 yards and averages 9.3 yards per carry. And, my No. 4 is Saluda . The Tigers’ only loss came to Batesburg-Leesville and they would love another shot at their region rivals. Saluda is another of the top defensive teams in AA and defense wins championships. Tahe your pick as the favorite in the Lower State cause several teams have a shot. My No. 1 going in is Barnwell . While not flashy or dominant, the Warhorses are solid and athletic. Senior Cameron Austin is a great leader at quarterback and if they have success on the ground, game over. No. 2 is Barnwell rival Hampton County . Again, the Hurricanes run the football and have good solid play at quarterback. They made a good run a year ago and I think their confidence level is high. The last two favorite picks are difficult and I ended up with three teams for two spots. At No. 3 I am going with Cheraw . The 8-2 Braves are not great at anything but very solid at most. Running back Cam McClendon is a threat to score from anywhere and the defense gets after it pretty good. For No. 4, I am sharing the spot between Manning and Philip Simmons . Manning has just one loss, the season opener to Crestwood, but their schedule and region was not overly difficult.  Philip Simmons went undefeated in a tougher region and seems to be peaking at the right time. The Iron Horses have a veteran quarterback and they really play hard on defense. Class AA state playoff first-round pairings Upper State Pelion at Clinton Strom Thurmond at Chester Columbia at Batesburg-Leesville Andrew Jackson at Liberty Chesterfield at Fairfield-Central Ninety Six at Chesnee Landrum at Central Mid-Carolina at Saluda Lower State Academic Magnet at Barnwell Lake City at Timberland Edisto at Cheraw Andrews at East Clarendon North Central at Manning Woodland at Hampton Co. Mullins at Philip Simmons Kingstree at Whale Branch

Dillon FB players at the HSSR Media Day 2024

By Billy G. Baker Publisher Cheraw — David Byrd will be starting his 24 tth season as the athletic director at Cheraw High School this school year, and he has been at the school as a teacher and head baseball coach for 29 seasons. After thoughtful prayer last November, Coach Byrd decided to run for Mayor of the town of Cheraw, literally paying his filing fee five minutes before time expired to file. “I finally got an answer from our school district that they had no issues with me deciding to run for mayor on the final day of filing,” said Coach Byrd. “So, I hung up the phone, rushed home, changed into a pair of Kakis and got to the office to file for mayor five minutes ahead of the deadline.” Coach Byrd won the election 2-to- one. The outgoing mayor was retiring after 35 years on the job and very few people had applied to run for mayor, but Byrd did face opposition. “I will be honest with you, going door-to-door, campaigning for support, it reminded me of what I do promoting our athletic teams at Cheraw High,” said Coach Byrd. “The more I got around the community, I actually started liking campaigning.” Coach Byrd also said it helped that with the retirement of the out-going mayor, the town voted to have a city administrator led form of government, doing away with the strong mayor form of government that had bene in place. “While I am still involved in all major decisions in the town, I do not have to serve as a full-time mayor, and I stay in close communication with our city administrator,” said Coach Byrd. Of all the direct phone calls “Mayor Byrd” has received from Cheraw citizens, since becoming Mayor, one call will always stick in his mind. “We have an ordinance that you can own up to four chickens, or four ducks, per house hold within the city limits and one caller asked if I could get the ordinance increased to 12 per house hold,” said Coach Byrd. “So far, we have not taken action on that request.” Coach Byrd said he stresses to his coaches several key points. “Any athletic director that says he does stress the importance of competing and preparing your teams for success, and wins, is not being honest, and at Cheraw we hope to be successful every time we compete,” said Coach Byrd. “I stress to our coaches the importance of networking, and having good relationships with the both the high school coaches they compete against, and also college coaches we hope take an interest in our athletes for potential scholarships. “However, the bottom line is we want our student athletes to display good sportsmanship at all times and to represent themselves, their families, and Cheraw High in a first- class manner,” said Coach Byrd. Coach Byrd’s Cheraw baseball team finished 20-8 this past season and lost in the District finals to Oceanside Collegiate , 7-6. During the 2024 season Coach Byrd won his 400 th career game and he will enter the 2025 season with a career record of 403-101, including state championships in 1999 and 2004. “We are only losing two starters off a 20-win team this past season,” said Coach Byrd. “We have a lot of players who have been competing together since the 8 th grade. I would say that expectations for us having a very good season this year is quite high. We should have an opportunity for a deep run in the play-offs.” Andy Poole will return to his alma mater as head football coach, and he will be starting hit 9 th season with high expectations for his team that returns around 17 starters. Cheraw has the majority of their OL back. Coach Poole has adopted a “Banners Or Bust” mantra for the upcoming season. The slogan is plastered throughout the locker room. Coach Poole recently told the HSSR, “We anticipate competing for a region title, and we expect a deep play-off run. Anything less, we will feel like we had a disappointing season.” Damien Ashe returns for his 5 th season as head boy’s golf coach. Tyonne Harrington will pull double-duty as the head boy’s tennis coach, as well as becoming a first-year head coach of the boys’ basketball team. Andre Garvin will coach both the boy’s and girl’s cross-country teams. The adult head trainer will be Amanda Ozolins. The competition cheer team will be under the direction of third year coach Elicia Quick . The new head volleyball coach will be Barry Driggers a Cheraw graduate who played football and baseball for the Braves. Coach Driggers has a talented daughter who plays volleyball on a year-round basis. One of the most successful coaches at Cheraw High is head softball coach Kevin Thurman who completed the 2024 season with a 347-234 career record including a past state title at Central High School. Thurman had a very young team in 2024. The Cheraw wrestling team will once again be headed up by second year head coach Jeremy Mabry a Cheraw graduate who played football, baseball, and compete in wrestling in high school.

Door is Wide Open for Class AA Football State Championship in 2024!