Latta football opens season with a bang
Vikings outscore opponents 96-27 in first two games
Latta – There’s obviously still a very, very – very – long way to go, but Brandon Iseman is more than pleased at how the 2025 season began for his Latta High School football team.
The Vikings rolled to an easy 42-8 victory over East Columbus from Lake Waccamaw, North Carolina on August 22. They followed that with a 54-19 victory over Marion.
“I’m happy for the kids,” said Brandon Iseman, who began his 10th season as head coach with the triumph. “It shows that all the hard work they did in the summer and fall paid off.
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“There are things that we need to clean up, that we need to improve on, but I think overall we executed vert well. We protected the football and got turnovers on defense. I’m happy with the kids.”
Latta has five starters back on defense and six on offense from last season’s 5-6 squad. The Vikings finished 4-2 in Region 6-Class A, good for third place. They lost to Baptist Hill in the first round of the state playoffs.
LHS will have a new starting quarterback in Kyle Huggins. He is a freshman.
“Honestly he’s probably the very first pure quarterback we’ve had in a very long time,” Iseman said. He’s going to drop back and throw the football. He’s not an athlete back there playing quarterback. He plays with confidence, and he’s controlling the offense and the huddle. I’ve been impressed with him so far.”
The running backs will be Xy’Mri Bethea and Fischer Richardson. Jayden Alford will be the lone wide receiver as Latta utilizes two tight ends. They will be Dustin Parker and Mason Weatherford.
There are three starters returning on the offensive line in left tackle Logan Byrd, left guard Zack Page and right tackle Javonte Kollock. The newcomers to the O line are Jackson Horne at right guard and Nate Barrentine at center.
Several of the offensive starters will be pulling double duty on defense. Page will be on the line while Bethea will start at linebacker and Alford in the secondary.
The rest of the 4-man front will include Noah Alford, Anthony Williams and Zamarion Monroe. The other three linebackers are Rion Gurley, Gavin Aubin and Crishawn Kollock.
Joe’Maurie Galloway will start in the secondary along with Hayden Bullard.
The placekicker is Irangebea Johnson and Jayden Alford will do the punting.
Iseman hopes opening the season with a dominating performance will carry over the rest of the way.
“We talk all the time getting over the hump,” he said. “We’ve just seemed to come up short so many times. We want them to be going into a football game not hoping to win but expecting to win, that we know that we’re as good as anybody.”
