Photo Gallery: Northwood Academy Sails Past Heathwood Hall for SCISA Class AAAA Title

Batesburg – Seeking the completion of an undefeated season, the W.W. King Academy takes on rival Laurens Academy in the 2025 8-man state championship game at Greenwood Christian on Nov. 21. King already owns two victories over Laurens Academy this season but beating a team three times is said to be difficult. The game also pits mentor versus student as King’s first-year head coach Brian Kneece, a 2010 graduate of the school, played high school football for Jolly Doolittle, who is now the head coach at Laurens Academy. Doolittle and Kneece coached together at Greenwood Christian before both coaches took new positions. For Kneece, his opportunity as a head coach came after serving a five-year stint as a middle school coach and varsity assistant. “I am very fortunate and blessed to be a part of this school and this program,” Kneece said. “I owe a lot to coach Doolittle. He is someone I have great respect for as a coach and a human being. But we’re competitive and we both want to win a state championship so we’re going out to try to win the game. Laurens will have the same goal. It should be a great game.” Only once during their 11-0 season have the Knights scored less than 40 points. They put up 74 points in the semi-final win over Jefferson Davis Academy. In the two regular season wins over Laurens Academy, the Knights won 60-34 and 44-22. “Coach Doolittle is a great coach and I am sure he will have some new wrinkles that we haven’t seen,” Kneece said. “We have to be ready for anything and bring a tough, physical mindset into the game. They (Laurens) played in the state championship game last year so they have the edge in experience. We just have to be mentally ready for a battle. We can’t get complacent and we must remain humble.” The Knights make most of their living offensively in the run game but have been very successful when they need to throw. Junior quarterback Elijah Hutto has completed 75 percent of his attempts with 1,064 yards and 20 touchdowns. He only has thrown one interception. Senior Dallas Hill has 17 receptions for 483 yards with 12 touchdowns while junior Landell Anderson has six touchdown catches among his 13 total receptions for 386 yards. Anchoring the running game is sophomore Joseph Morse with 1,721 yards and 29 touchdowns. He averages 12.3 yards per carry. Freshman Blake Rabar adds 587 yards and five scores on the ground. Seniors Smith Kirby and Wyatt Burbank, along with sophomore Josh Oswald, form the interior offensive line. Hill sees a lot of time as a tight end and is a good blocker as well as receiver. Landell, Ty Doolittle, Jacob Clamp, Luke Harvey, and Jacob Bussey all work as fullbacks and/or receivers. Several players also start or play extensively on defense but depth has improved over the course of the season. Bussey, a freshman linebacker, has 129 tackles and junior Caden Buzhardt has 91 tackles and nine tackles for loss. Hill, a lineman, has 19 tackles for loss and three sacks while Anderson has 54 tackles at linebacker. Sophomore lineman Josh Oswald has 53 tackles and freshman Tucker McGinty has six interceptions on the back end. Kneece says a key to the success this season has been a renewed commitment by the players to put in the work in the weightroom. Assistant coach Dennis Gibson coordinates the strength program and the defense. “We are a lot stronger and physical,” Kneece said. “They kids bought in and coach Gibson has been awesome with training them. I can see the strength paying off, and it has helped some of the younger guys develop physically to where we can use them on the field.” Though he has only three seniors (Hill, Kirby, Burbank) on the team, Kneece says the leadership of those three seniors has been another key to this season’s success. “We’re pretty young overall,” he said. “We have 15 varsity players who are either freshmen or sophomores. Our seniors have stepped up and helped bring those younger guys along. The seniors want to go out with a championship and they knew they would need the young guys to step up.” Offensive Starters QB – 11 – Elijah Hutto RB - 5 – Joseph Morse TE – 55 – Dallas Hill TE – 12 – Landell Anderson WR – 2 – Luke Harvey/6 TY Doolittle FB – 23 – Jacob Clamp/17 Jacob Bussey OL – 72 – Smith Kirby OL – 62 – Wyatt Burbank OL – 50 – Josh Oswald Defensive Starters DL – 55 – Dallas Hill DL – 50 – Josh Oswald/58 Grayson Rikard DE – 5 - Joseph Morse/56 Blake Rabar LB – 17 – Jacob Bussey LB – 12 – Landell Anderson LB – 2 – Luke Harvey DB – 7 – Tucker McGinty DB – 11 – Elijah Hutto SCISA Championships AAAA Friday at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium in Orangeburg Heathwood Hall (9-3) vs. Northwood (10-1), 7 p.m. 8-Man Friday at Greenwood Christian W.W. King (11-0) vs. Laurens Academy (9-2), 7 p AA Saturday at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium in Orangeburg Pee Dee (8-3) vs. Bethesda (11-0), noon Class A Saturday at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium in Orangeburg Williamsburg (10-1) vs. Colleton Prep (9-2), 3:30 p.m. AAA Saturday at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium in Orangeburg Wilson Hall (11-1) vs. Pinewood Prep (9-3), 7:30 p.m.