Lake City disappointed with 1-5 start

Dennis Brunson • October 16, 2024

Mail

By Dennis Brunson

hssr.com Associate Editor

Lake City – Lake City High School football head coach Jamison Estep understands the adage, “You are what your record says you are.” Still, he would beg to differ just a little bit.

“We’re 1-5, but we could easily be 5-1 with a play here and a play there,” said Estep, who is in his second season as acting head coach due to major injuries suffered by head coach Ronnie Baker in an automobile accident. “We’ve really been self-sabotaging.”

Estep had to look back no further than the Panthers’ 16-14 home loss to Kingstree played in a downpour on September 26.

“We thought we had a game-winning touchdown but it was taken away on a holding call,” he said. “We keep tripping our own selves up.”

The only blowout loss for AA LCHS was a 41-6 defeat to AAAA May River. Lake City lost to AAAAA Myrtle Beach 21-6, Class A Lamar 21-14 and Region 7-AA foe East Clarendon 28-12 and Kingstree, another region foe.

The most points the Panthers have scored came in their only victory, 28-26 over AA Timberland.

“We’re disappointed definitely, frustrated,” Estep said. “The kids have, talent, have the ability. It just seems we take one step forward, another step back. We can’t get out of own way at times.”

LCHS is averaging just over 200 yards of total offense a game. Quarterback Amari Hanna has completed 55 of 97 passes for 710 yards and five touchdowns. Blayne Edwards has all of the touchdown catches on 17 overall catches for 397 yards, an average of 23.4 yards per catch.

Fernandez Witherspoon has 12 catches for 141 yards, and Treshon Burgess had 13 catches for 75 yards.

Lake City is averaging less than 100 rushing yards a game. Raheem McCray had 165 yards and a TD on 23 carries. Hanna had 139 yards and four scores on 30 carries.

Estep said the Panthers have to get better in the trenches if they hope to make a run into the playoffs.

“It starts up front,” he said. “You win and lose with the bigs. We’ve got to get better on both sides of the ball. We’ve got to clean up some minor details. We’ve got to be able to finish. In five of the first six weeks, we just didn’t finish.”

Shayon Shavers led Lake City in tackles with 20 through six games. Hunter Blanchard had two tackles for loss, a quarterback sack, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. Kenjae Burgess had 15 tackles, one TFL, forced a fumble and recovered a fumble.

< Older Post

Newer Post >

Gators’ Hall has built consistent winner on Redbank Road

By Rob Gantt • July 30, 2025

Blake Hall has coached the Gators since the 2012-13 season and consistently produced winning teams over the years.

Hanahan volleyball program under new leadership

By Rob Gantt • July 30, 2025

Hanahan High School promotes Jamie Kock to head coach of the girls varsity volleyball. Koch, who has moved up from the junior varsity, takes over for former coach Sheena Lanham.

First Baptist Hires New AD and Football Coach

By David Shelton • July 30, 2025

By David Shelton Senior Writer Charleston – First Baptist School has new leadership within its football program and athletic department for the coming 2025-26 school year. Kevin Mapp was hired as the new head football coach in the early spring and Jay Godbolt was hired as the new athletic director at the start of the summer. Mapp has extensive coaching experience on both the college and high school levels while also working in law enforcement. First Baptist is his first head coaching position. Mapp last coached defensive linemen at James Island Charter High and has had coaching stints at James Madison, Hampden-Sydney, Georgetown, Marshall, Missouri State and Coastal Carolina. Mapp graduated from James Madison and was a defensive lineman on the 2004 Division I-AAA (now FCS) national championship team. “Coaching has always been my passion,” Mapp said. “Ever since I was playing, I wanted to be a coach. I have always found a way to coach while working in law enforcement. I’ve been fortunate to have had the opportunities to do both.” Mapp has been with the Charleston County police department for the last 10 years. He took some time away from coaching to start a family. “I felt like First Baptist was the perfect fit for me and my family,” Mapp says. “It’s a great opportunity at a great place. The kids here work hard and there is a lot of support from the administration. I’m excited to be the head football coach at First Baptist.” Mapp has hired coordinators on both sides of the ball. Will McCombs , once the head coach of the program, will call the offensive plays. Chris Hart comes over from James Island as the defensive coordinator. “Our numbers are improving and the kids are working hard,” Mapp said. “I feel like we can be a competitive team. It’s year one of the building process.” Godbolt has been a coach and athletic director in the Charleston area for nearly two decades. As the boys basketball coach at Charleston Collegiate, Godbolt coached three state championship teams. He also has been a coach and athletic director at Lowcountry Leadership Academy. Godbolt has more than 450 career victories as a head basketball coach. Current First Baptist basketball coach Antoine Saunders was Godbolt’s assistant at Charleston Collegiate.