Oceanside Collegiate gets past BHP to claim 3A state championship
Worthy Evans • December 14, 2024
By WORTHY EVANS
Contributing Writer
ORANGEBURG – Moving up to 3A in the South Carolina High School League’s classification system didn’t bother Oceanside Collegiate. Neither did losing the head coach who led the Sharks to the 2A state championship last year.
What mattered for Oceanside Saturday afternoon at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium was the steady guidance of interim head coach John Patterson, and sophomore quarterback Aidan Manavian connecting regularly with senior wide receivers against Belton-Honea Path.
Manavian was 21-for-26 in passing for 326 yards and four touchdowns in the Shark’s 35-17 victory over the Bears to capture the 3A state championship.
“It feels good. It beats the alternative, losing, I don’t like that,” Patterson said with a laugh. “It was a lot of adversity, but that’s what football is, that’s what life is. That’s what football teaches. You’ve got to keep showing up every day, grind, and if bad stuff happens you’ve just to to overcome it.”
Oceanside Collegiate (11-3) moved up to 3A this year when the High School League instituted a student multiplier for charter schools that had the ability to recruit athletes outside of their school zones. The Sharks had beaten Gray Collegiate 35-28 for the 2A state championship the year before, but opened the season with a 35-7 loss at Irmo in August.
After that defeat, head coach Chad Wilkes resigned for personal reasons. Patterson, an assistant with nearly 40 years of coaching experience, including head-coaching stints at Providence Day School in North Carolina and at James Island from 2007-2011, took over the Sharks.
After that loss at Irmo, which played Northwestern Saturday night for the 5A Division 2 state championship, and a loss at Dutch Fork, which won its 9th state championship with a 5A Division 1 victory over Summerville, Oceanside Collegiate caught fire. The Sharks reeled off 10 straight victories and claimed a second-straight crown with the win over BHP (13-2).
“We knew how good Dutch Fork was, one of the top 15 teams in the country,” Patterson said. “We were outmanned and didn’t have all our ammunition either. We kind of flushed it: ‘there’s the game, and it’s over, flush it.”
Patterson added that the team asked him what he was happy about, “and I told them, hey, it’s like butter, because we’re ready to go on a roll, baby. That’s how that went down.”
Oceanside stayed on that roll Saturday, moving the football up and down the field with ease,
Manavian’s chief target among his seniors was Will Virgilio, who had five catches for 134 yards. Peyton Shaw had five catches for 66 yards, and Gavin Gasper had four catches for 65 yards and two TDs. Junior Terrence Johnson had five receptions for 57 yards and a score.
“We come out every day to work as hard as we can, stay late, getting extra routes in,” Manavian said. “When you come out here and get a Dub, we’re already here, we’re on time, we’re ready to go. It feels great.”
On defense the Sharks absorbed the furious running of BHP running back and Clemson commit Marquise Henderson.
Henderson came into the game with 1,934 yards and finished the day with 188 yards and a touchdown on 42 carries. He even filled in for quarterback Noah Thomas, who went down with an injury in the first half.
“Unbelievable player. Best to ever come through BHP,” Bears head coach Russell Blackston said. “He has 104 (career) touchdowns, I believe. The kid’s an unbelievable player, a Mr. Football candidate. A good player, man.”
Oceanside built a 21-7 lead in the first half, scoring first on Manavian’s 9-yard touchdown strike to Johnson in the first quarter.
Belton-Honea Path responded in the second quarter with Henderson’s 3-yard TD run, but the Bears gave up back-to-back scores before the half.
Manavian connected with Shaw for a 25-yard touchdown art the 7:41 mark, and after BHP botched a pooch kickoff reception, the Sharks recovered and Johnson closed out the short drive with a 1-yard plunge into the end zone at the 5:58 mark.
“They got an extra possession after we lost it in the sun,” Bears head coach Russell Blackston said. “We’d worked on that type of stuff all week, we just lost it in the sun.”
The Bears drove to midfield on a clock-draining possession, but turned the ball over on downs. Oceanside Collegiate eventually punted to the BHP 1-yard line, where the Bears ran two plays and called it a half.
Belton-Honea Path started the second half down 21-7 to the Sharks, and without Thomas at quarterback. Henderson shifted from tailback to quarterback and kept the Bears running.
BHP moved downfield for most of the third quarter with Henderson running on most of the plays. On first and goal at the Oceanside 5-yard line he gave the ball to Justin Lathon, who barreled into the end zone at the 2:26 mark to cut the lead to 21-14.
BHP defender K.J. Miles picked off a Manavian pass on Oceanside’s next possession, which led to Bears kicker Christian Bridwell’s 42-yard field goal with 26 seconds left in the third.
That was as close as Oceanside would let the Bears come. Manavian closed out the victory with fourth-quarter touchdown passes of 19 and 13 yards to Gavin Gaspar.
“We practiced for this every week. We’ve been ready for this, and we know what it’s like to be here,” Gaspar said. “I can’t say nothing bad about this team. I love everybody. No better way to go out.”
BHP was looking to win its first state championship since 2004, when the Bears beat Dillon for the 3A title. Unfortunately, the school will have to try again.
“I told them I loved them, told them that they had a good year,” Blackston said. “That a lot of teams would love to be where we’re at.”
WIth two straight state championships in hand, Oceanside is in an enviable position itself. Patterson spread the wealth of victory among the entire team.
“It means a lot, but I’m just a guy on a team, man, seriously,” he said. “I don’t think my role on the team’s any different than anybody else’s. Sometimes you play, sometimes you film, sometimes you manage the trainers, sometimes you’re the assistant coach or the head coach. And the head coach gets way too much credit, honestly. All the credit should go to the assistant coaches and certainly the kids.”
Belton-Honea Path 0 7 10 0 – 17
Oceanside Collegiate 7 14 0 14 – 35
First Quarter
O - Terrence Johnson 9 pass from Aiden Manavian (Nate Sturm kick) 4:47
Second Quarter
B - Marquise Henderson 3 run (Christian Bridwell kick) 9:15
O - Peyton Shaw 25 pass from Manavian (kick failed) 7:41
O - Johnson 1 run (Kyle Baldwin pass from Manavian) 5:58
Third Quarter
B - Justin Lathon 5 run (Bridwell kick) 2:26
B - Bridwell 42 field goal :26
Fourth Quarter
O - Gavin Gaspar 19 pass from Manavian (Sturm kick) 11:40
O - Gaspar 13 pass from Manavian (Sturm kick) 4:07
BHP OCA
First downs 17 16
Rushes-yds 59-234 14-22
Passing yds 16 326
Att-Com-Int 7-4-0 26-21-1
Fumbles-lost 2-1. 1-0
Penalties-yds 6-49 4-30
Punts-avg 2-32.0 3-36.7
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
B - Marquise Henderson 42-188, Noah Thomas 5-30, M.J. Earl 5-19, Justin Lathon 4-6, Tajeh Watson-Martin 1-2, Ty Parnell 2-7.
O - Aiden Manavian 7-14, James O’Connor 4-9, Terrence Johnson 1-1, Team 2-2
PASSING
B -Noah Thomas 3-4-0, Marquise Henderson 1-1-0, Ty Parnell 0-1-0, Tajeh Watson-Martin 0-1-0.
O-Aiden Manavian 21-26-1.
RECEIVING
B -Tajeh Watson-Martin 4-16
O-Will Virgilio 5-134, Peyton Shaw 5-66, Gavin Gaspar 4-65, Terrence Johnson 5-57, James O’Connor 1-4, Kyle Baldwin 1-0.
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By Billy G. Baker Publisher Moncks Corner —With thanks to the web site “High School Football America’s Draft Tracker” the HSSR is very proud of the 8 young men who played high school football in the state of South Carolina who had their names called in the recent NFL draft, held in Green Bay Wisconsin. While we already knew the majority of these athletes drafted, based on watching the draft in real time, this wonderful “High School Football America’s Draft Tracker” allows us to verify which states had the most players drafted, and share our own feelings about how the state of South Carolina stacks up against the rest of the nation based on sheer population numbers among other factors. In the recent draft the top 10 states in players drafted from high schools in each state included: Texas (36), Florida (24), Georgia (22), California (15), Virginia (10), with Michigan , Alabama , and North Carolina next with 9 each, while South Carolina and Maryland closed out the nation’s top 10 states at 8 each. As someone who has followed the NFL draft closely for the past 40 years, this reporter was a bit surprised at some of the NFL numbers produced by states who use to average more drafted high school players, than they produced in the 2025 draft. For example, the state of Ohio, with a population of 11.88 million people had just seven home grown players drafted in 2025. Pennsylvania, with a population of 13.8 million people had just five former high school players drafted! The 8 players from South Carolina include three from the Gamecocks. They include former Irmo FS Nick Emmanwori , (pick 35 by Seatle), former Marion star DL T.J. Sanders (pick 41 by Buffalo), and former Conway stand-out Tonka Hemingway (pick 135 by Las Vegas). Former Hammond five-star rated DL Jordan Burch , who spent the past two seasons at Oregon, after starting his career with South Carolina was pick 78 by Arizona. Former Clover High WR and Virgina Tech player Jaylin Lane went to Washington with the 128 th pick. Louisville’s Quincey Riley, a CB who played at AC Flora was drafted by New Orleans with pick 131. Former Gaffney stud and Georgia DL Tyrion Ingram - Dawkins was chosen by Minnesota with pick 139. The 8 th and final player drafted from the state of South Carolina was former Rock Hill and current Alabama tight end Robbie Ouzts. Based on a per capita formula, factored mainly on population and number of high schools in each state fielding a varsity football team, the state of South Carolina must be considered one of the top states in the nation for producing NFL talent year-end and year-out. Let’s compare the bordering states of North and South Carolina to document real data. The state of North Carolina produced 9 NFL signees in the recent draft, one more than South Carolina. They have a population of 11 million people, with nearly 525 high school varsity football programs. (Both public and private schools) The state of South Carolina has a population of 5.4 million people with around 252 public and private varsity football programs in the Palmetto State. On this per capita formula one would have to give the edge to South Carolina is the actual production of NFL talent based on the criteria used. The aforementioned information is a key reason the HSSR continues to complain about the accuracy of national recruiting services, who put out lists, in advance of the upcoming May Evaluation football recruiting period. As of April, 27 th 247 Sports listed 15 2026 players from the state of North Carolina in their national Top 247 Player list while only listing three players from the state of South Carolina! If this does not confirm a bias towards the state of South Carolina we hardly know what would! The facts are the facts. Going back 40 years there has only been an average difference of around two players a year difference between the two states in prep players going on to be drafted in the NFL despite the fact the state of North Carolina has twice the population and twice the number of high schools playing football. If you currently have 15 players in their Top 247 from North Carolina, the state of South Carolina should have at least 12 players in the current 2026 class on their list based on real data over time! The three prep players listed from South Carolina include South Pointe FS J’Zavien Currence , committed to South Carolina and Dorman FS Kentavious Anderson , a hard lean-to Clemson, along with Dutch Fork DE Julian Walker who is uncommitted. Numerous players in South Carolina, with 10 or more major college offers did not make the national 247 list headed up by Timberland OL Desmond Green who will come into the May recruiting period with 21 major college offers. Finally, there are only 20 players from South Carolina currently listed on the 247 state-by-state list, despite the fact the Palmetto State had 40 players sign on with major college football programs in 2025! At the same time, 247 Sports lists 54 players on the North Carolina state-by-state list for May evaluation. Does this seem fair? Three months ago, the HSSR pointed out that six of the 80 players invited to participate in the Next Level Under Armour All-American game, for rising freshmen were from the state of South Carolina. This all-star game was played in Orlando, Florida and witnessed by numerous national scouting services, If the 2030 football class from South Carolina does not have five or six players on All National Top 300 list we should all throw up our hands and wonder who is behind a bias that is not properly promoting the talent level of high school football in South Carolina.
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