Clarendon Hall xtarts 0-2 but has solid performances
Saints all to Spartanburg Christian 27-12, Patrick Henry 29-27 after winless 2024
Summerton – All things considered, Shane Wallace’s first game as the football head coach at Clarendon Hall went pretty well. The Saints didn’t come away with a victory, but they held up against Spartanburg Christian Academy in a 27-12 home loss on August 22.
Clarendon Hall is coming off of a 0-10 season in which it scored just 42 points. It was taking on a team in the Warriors who not only had a game under their belts, but an impressive victory at that, 34-14 over perennial SCISA Class A power Lee Academy.
Still, Wallace isn’t quite sure what to make of all of it.
“I have mixed emotions,” said Wallace, who has previously coached in Texas, Alabama and North Carolina. “I feel like I failed them, that I didn’t have them quite prepared. That was a tough team we played. Those boys were tough. One of my biggest problems is the fact I’m not used to South Carolina (SCISA) ball. I’ve had people telling me how well we played them and they beat Lee.
“I was proud of our kids. We didn’t quit. We played hard for four quarters. We had the opportunities to score several times, but we just couldn’t do it.”
Wallace said the final score was a bit deceiving as one of Spartanburg Christian’s touchdowns was an interception return for a score.
Wallace had no complaints about the Saints’ offensive performance.
“I thought our offense did well,” he said. “I thought our running backs did well. We do have to get in front of the defenders and block them a little bit better.”
The Saints lost their second game as well, but it was another strong performance. They fell to Patrick Henry Academy 29-27.
Senior Graham Lee is starting at quarterback while the running backs are senior Grayson Elliott and senior Bryce Yates. Senior Josh Hodge and sophomore Joey Hatchell at the wide receivers while junior Cole Richburg is the tight end.
Wallace wsa happy with the performance of Lee and how he carried himself.
“Graham did well controling the offense,” Wallace said. “He hit receivers several times with one dropped in the end zone on a fourth-down play. He stepped up and took control of the offense. He never lost his cool or got a negative attitude. He went back out to the receiver who dropped the ball and talked to him. He stepped up and led really well.”
The offensive line has senior Tommylei Atkinson at left tackle and junior Jake Roberson at right tackle. The other starters are all sophomores in left guard Wyatt Simpson, right guard Fisher Horton and center Devam Patel.
A lot of the same names appear n the defensive side of the ball as well. Clarendon Hall is operating out of a 4-man front. Filling those spots are Simpson, senior Jacob Morris, Atkinson and Richburg.
The linebackers are Yates, junior Zander White and Hodge. The secondary is made up of Hatchell, Elliott, senior Thomas Shorter and sophomore Bobby Singleton.
Wallace said the Saints must become more fundamentally sound to continue to improve.
“Defensively, we made the tackles but we were giving up too many yards,” he said. “We’ve got to improve on playing downhill more.
“Blocking and tackling is our weakness right now. Most of our players are sophomores. I thought my sophomores did good, but going forward they’re going to have to continue to move forward. They’re working hard, they want it as bad as I do. I think we’re going to turn it around.”
Richburg will be handling the placekicking and punting duties.
