Pinewood Preparing To Move Up A Class

By Roger Lee

Contributing Writer, HSSR

Summerville - With a pair of SCISA 3A state championships under its belt, the Pinewood Prep Football team is in pursuit of a 4A title.

The Panthers captured their second consecutive 3A Football state championship in November. While some of the standouts from that squad have graduated, Pinewood does return a lot of experience including several All-Region athletes as it makes the jump to 4A this Fall.



“We are younger in some spots, but I think we still have a chance,” said Pinewood coach DeVonte Holloman. “You have to let young players develop and learn through experience while relying on our older guys who have championship experience to lead. They know what to expect which makes things easier. We have a pretty good group of seniors to lead us.”

Rising senior Silas Brawner, the 2025 SCISA Player of the Year and SCISA 3A Offensive Player of the Year, is the quarterback who led Pinewood to the title last year. He is receiving a lot of college interest this offseason.

He will again have some good targets as receivers Lavoris Lucas and Trey Green and tight end/H-back Heyward Moore return for their senior year.

Lucas may also see action at running back and in the defensive backfield this Fall. Green is looking to play an even larger role in the offense this year.

Rising sophomore Jeremy Kendall is back and looking to get more carries out of the backfield this season.

Pinewood is a little young on the offensive front and in the defensive secondary.

“The secondary and offensive line are two places you don’t want to be lacking,” Holloman said. “However, we have some young kids who are working hard.”

The defensive line should be a strength.

“We return all four starters up front on defense,” Holloman said. “We lost a lot in the secondary but kept Michael Williams. He is coming off a really good season so we expect him to lead our secondary and maybe play some offense.”

Rising seniors Jacob Sweet, David Harper and Preston Holliday and rising junior Mason Sumners are all experienced, proven defensive linemen.

Back to lead the linebackers are rising senior Jayden Parrott and rising sophomore Nathan Good. Parrott is a four-year starter and Holloman said Good would have been the team’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2025 if Will Watson, now a graduate, hadn’t edged him out for the honor.

The team also has its entire varsity coaching staff back.

“This is my first time in my coaching career I’ve been able to keep my whole varsity staff together,” Holloman said. “That definitely makes the learning curve a lot easier, communication easier.”

The Panthers have been active with 7 on 7 competitions and position camps this Summer.

“I’m not real big on passing competitions, but I think they have showed us we need more consistency,” Holloman said. “We’ve been hot and cold but we aren’t far off and we are learning how to compete. I think we can get to where we need to be.”

Pinewood will have to defeat some of the teams it lost to the last few years in order to win a third championship. Holloman points out all those losses were in competitive games. While he knows there is work to do, he is optimistic.