Irmo’s rebuild from last year ‘challenging but rewarding’

             Irmo -- Dusk at W.C. Hawkins stadium the Monday after Thanksgiving holiday was exactly what the Irmo football team wanted this year—coaches’ whistles cutting through the chilly twilight air, the Yellow Jackets spreading the field with stretches, warmups, and practicing schemes.

             In the runup to Irmo’s 5A Division 2 state championship rematch with Northwestern Friday night at South Carolina State’s Oliver C. Dawson Stadium, the mood among coaches and players was upbeat and confident.

            “Practice was real spirited, these guys came out ready to embrace the weather,” head coach Aaron Brand said. “We had a real good time. It’s the last couple of days with our seniors and having a good time at the same time, knowing what our assignment is.”

           Brand and the Yellow Jackets know that assignment well. Irmo (12-1) and Northwestern (12-1) battled down to the wire, with the Trojans winning 34-31 on a last second Matthew Fish field goal.

          While the teams are the same, Irmo had to put a lot of work in to make up for offensive losses, specifically Coach Brand’s son A.J. Brand who is playing for Virginia Tech. The younger Brand passed for 2,600 yards and 30 touchdowns and rushed for 2,029 yards and 27 TDs. Wide Receiver Donovan Murph, a junior last year, had 1,328 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns. He joined the University of South Carolina in the summer after reclassifying into the 2025 class.

         “We lost two really dynamic players, players who we thought were probably the two best players in their positions in the state,” Coach Brand said, in addition to defensive losses.

         The offseason for the Yellow Jackets was more of a rebuild than it was a reload.

         “It was a bit of an unknown,” Brand said. “We weren’t really sure where our leadership was going to come from and we weren’t sure where our playmaking was going to come from on offense.”

        Getting the team on the field in spring practice and over the summer in 7-on-7s in the summertime proved fortunate. Brand said the offense developed chemistry quickly under the lead of quarterbacks senior Dre’Von Dopson and sophomore Britt Davis.

        “We were doing that while breaking in two new quarterbacks,” Brand said. “It’s been fun, but it’s been hard, extremely hard. It’ been tough and it’s been challenging, but it’s been rewarding at the same time to get back to this position.”

        The reward for Yellow Jackets fans came throughout the season. The Irmo offense under Dopson and with the running of Amire White and Maleek Miller, who also doubled as the team’s top receiver, scored 28 or more points in 12 of 13 games. The team’s only hiccup came in a 28-21 loss to defending 5A Division 1 champion and cross-town rival Dutch Fork.

       Dopson, a transfer from Brookland-Cayce, comes into Friday’s game having completed 137 of 237 passes for 2,255 yards and 27 touchdowns to five interceptions. He also had 382 rushing yards and three TDs.

       “He's done well. He frustrates me at times, but he controls the game kind of like we want him to do right now,” Brand said. “He hasn’t turned it over but five times all year and that’s still unlike us, but with a new system, new guy, him getting healthy late because of his situation last year, he’s done a real nice job for us.”

      In the summer of 2024 as he practiced with the Bearcats, Dopson needed major surgery after a vicious bout with ulcerative colitis. He returned to the team and played eight games that year. 

      “We applaud him and we praise him, and he’s had a good senior year for us,” Brand said.

      With Dopson taking snaps, juniors White and Miller have been the top ball carriers. White has 1,275 yards and 12 touchdowns on 158 carries in 11 games. Miller has 498 yards and nine TDs on 62 carries as well as 50 catches for 883 yards and nine touchdowns.

      Irmo had to lean on Miller as a running back earlier in the season as White recovered from an injury, but the Yellow Jackets offense never missed a beat.

“Those guys have done a tremendous job,” Brand said. “We’ve been able to balance that out and split some carries between those guys with Amire dominating the carries as he’s gotten healthier. Both those guys have got to be tremendous assets for us this weekend if we’re going to come out with a victory.”

          On defense the line is stacked with senior Major Taylor (70 tackles, three for loss, five sacks, six pass break-ups) and junior Jaiden Bryant (74 tackles, 23 for loss, 11 sacks, three PBUs, six fumble recoveries, an interception, three touchdowns and a punt block) on the edges, and senior Devaughn Sutter (70 tackles, 6 for loss, a sack and a caused fumble) and junior Tyrone Jennings (78 tackles, three for loss, four sacks, 5 PBUs, a fumble recovery) at tackles.

          “Those guys, that front four will get after it,” Brand said. With Major and Boog (Bryant) on the edges, a lot of people forget about Tyrone Jennings, and I think he’s a premier defensive tackle.”

         Bryant said Jennings anchors the interior line and enables his linemen to go in for the kill.

         “He doesn’t get as much pub as those outside guys because they get to chase the quarterback all night,” Brand said. “but Tyrone’s fighting the double teams, shooting the gaps, doing all that stuff he’s been taught to do and he’s the least penalized guy on the team.”

         Brand added that the linebacker and secondary corps has done better down the stretch. The Yellow Jackets have held opponents to 15.6 points per game this year.

        Containing Northwestern’s biggest threat, junior quarterback Xavier Means, will be the challenge Friday. Means has passed for 2,687 yards and 23 touchdowns to eight interceptions, and has also rushed for 1,179 yards and 23 TDs.

        “Northwestern is Northwestern, they’re going to run their scheme and they’re going to do what they gotta do and they hope you’re in the wrong position,” Brand said. “They have a tremendous scheme, not something I would do but it’s tremendous for what they do, a well-coached ball team and we’ve got our work cut out for us.”

        This week the main focus for Irmo is Irmo. The Yellow Jackets have back-to-back appearances in the state final for the first time since the school did so three times in a row in 1978-1980. Their 1980 win over Summerville was the school’s last state football title.

        “We are trying to stay loose,” Brand said about this week’s practices. “We know the magnitude of the game but we’re trying not to put too much on the kids. We’ll let the coaches have all the stress and all the problematic things that come up. We just want the kids to pin their ears back and go play.”

State Championships

At Oliver C. Dawson Stadium

In Orangeburg

Friday, December 5

3A

Belton-Honea Path (14-0) vs. Oceanside Collegiate (12-2), 12:06 p.m.

1A

Lamar (12-2) vs. Bamberg-Ehrhardt (14-0), 4:06 p.m.

5A Division II

Northwestern (12-1) vs. Irmo (12-1), 7:36 p.m.

Saturday, December 6

4A

South Pointe (13-1) vs. South Florence (13-1), 12:06 p.m.

2A

Strom Thurmond (12-2) vs. Hampton County (11-3), 4:06 p.m.

5A Division I

Dutch Fork (11-1) vs. Summerville (12-2), 7:36 p.m.