Mountain View Prep favored To Take AAA Football Title Entering the Play-offs
By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
Moncks Corner—For the majority of the 2024 football season BHP, and first year charter school Mountain View Prep were the top two teams in the weekly HSSR AAA football rankings and one of the them is heavily favored to compete in the gold medal round hosted at South Carolina State University on Saturday December, 14 at noon.
In the HSSR final AAA ranking Mountain View Prep has moved to number one in the ranking with BHP a close number two led by Clemson running back commitment Marquis Henderson (5-11, 179). With their 48-7 win over Broome last week, they finished the regular season as the only undefeated team in AAA.
The Stars simply have too many offensive weapons (roster boasts 72 players) to be denied an opportunity to win a AAA football championship in their first year of playing varsity football. They are led by Broome running back transfer Jaylin McGill who went into the game this past week with 1,237 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns on 108 carries. McGill is among the top running backs in the Southeast area in the Class of 2026.
MVP senior quarterback Bryson Drummond went into the final regular season game having completed 99-of-142 passes for 1,807 yards and 22 touchdowns. His top targets have been junior WR Kadarius Hainsworth (37-903-15 TD’s) and senior WR Kaevon Washington (18-426-2 TD’s). McGill is right behind with (19-385-7 TD’s).
Senior RB T.J. Gassoway provide depth at running back for MVP and he had 245 rushing yards on 28 carries and 3 TD’s going into the Broomer game.
This first year charter school is simply loaded with a team of transfers with a roster loaded with potential next level players for head coach Grey Ramsey. This team’s mascot is “Stars” for a reason.
On defense MVP is led by senior LB Eli Smith with 57 tackles, 6 TFL and two interceptions. Senior DL Quay McCauley has 38 tackles on the hit index with 11 TFL including a team leading seven sacks. Senior DL Shannon Whiteside has 36 tackles, 9 TFL and four sacks. Junior DB Jacobe Smith has 30 tackles, three TFL also.
MVP will host Carolina High School this week at Newberry College in the first round of the AAA play-offs.
With either top ranked MVP, or second ranked BHP favored to emerge as the AAA upper state champions the AAA lower state is not as predictable but the favorites at this point are region rivals Loris, ranked number three in AAA and Dillon ranked number four.
When the two teams met earlier in the season at Loris, the Lions pulled out a 30-27 win and neutral observers at the game were quick to point out that Dillon was flagged around 18 times to only four penalties for the Lions.
“It seemed every time we got a drive going, we had some odd penalties called that killed our scoring opportunities, and after we looked at the film on Saturday, we wondered why several of them were called at all,” said Dillon head coach Kelvin Roller.
(No doubt a highly rated crew of officials will call the next game if these two teams meet in the play-offs and the HSSR predicts the penalties will not favor either team 18-5. (See in-depth story on Dillon on page 14 of this issue)
No doubt, Loris has one of the better defenses in AAA. Their 14-13 lost to Socastee is the only blemish on their Lions season to date.
Loris (9-1) have defeated teams 363-83.
The Lions have three talented running backs and none of them are seniors. Sophomore Makel Stephens (5-8,175) finished the regular season with 642 yards and 13 TD’s while soph Roderick Purcha (5-10, 160) contributed 478 yards and seven TD’s. Junior Khalil Sherman (5-11, 175) has contributed 438 yards and seven TD’s.
Loris has a junior QB Zamire “Moon” Gerald who has a strong arm. He finished the regular season completing 109 passes for 1,298 yards and 16 TD receptions. His top targets are senior Quantez Dyson (6-11, 165) who has 382 reception yards on 17 catches and five TD’s to date. Junior Jacobien Lewis is next with 14 catches for 287 yards and fie TD’s. Senior Zhimir Herring has caught 13 passes for 205 yards.
On defense, Loris is led by three veteran seniors. Senior MLB Avery Todd (6-0,185) has 70 tackles along with two TFL. The most impressive head hunter for the Lions has been senior OLB Javon Johnson (5-10, 210) who also has 70 tackles, but his 19 TFL and a team leading seven sacks are very impressive. Senior ILB Patrick Bellamy is third on the hit index with 60 tackles and three TFL.
Loris also gets additional defensive support from junior DE/LB Landon Connor ((6-0,225) who has 56 tackles and 8 TFL along with junior DE Damarea Thurmond who has 53 hits and seven TFL.
Woodruff is also having an outstanding season from the up-state and lower state foe Oceanside Collegiate won the AA state title a year ago, and they could be a spoiler in the play-offs. (See story on Oceanside on page 45 of this issue).
