South Florence Makes It Two State Titles in Three Years
South Florence RB Zion Gilbert turns the corner for more yards in the 2024 State Title game.
By Dennis Brunson
hssr.com Associate Editor
Florence – After completing his first season as the football head coach at South Florence High School, Drew Marlowe seriously considered resigning.
“I took over after five straight losing seasons, and it was six straight losing seasons after my first year,” said Marlowe, who was 2-6 in that first year, 2020. “I thought about resigning because I was thinking I’m not going to be able to fix this.”
Marlowe had to put things in perspective. That was the COVID-19 season and he didn’t get to practice with the team until two weeks before the season started. He couldn’t learn players’ names much less develop a culture within the team.
Four years later, Marlowe is happy he chose to stick it out.
The Bruins have played for the AAAA state title the past three years. They claimed their second state title in that span, beating Westside 42-41 on December 13.
“It’s hard for me to think about everything in its entirety,” Marlowe said. “Every year you desperately want to go back, and when you get there you want to win it. Our players expect to play a full 15 weeks.”
This trip to the title game, much less winning again, was a bit of a surprise. Led by LaNorris Sellers, the 2022 team went 15-0. The ’23 team was 14-0 going into the title game before losing to Westside 34-32. This year? The Bruins went 7-3 in the regular season and finished second in Region 5.
“This group was special because it had a little bit of a chip on its shoulder,” Marlowe said. “They felt like they fell short of what the goal should be. They felt like last year they should have won it.”
SFHS beat Brookland-Cayce 56-20 in the first round of the playoffs and followed that with another home victory, 56-28 over Hilton Head Island. South Florence then had to face Hartsville, which beat it 54-35 for the region title in the final game of the regular season. The Bruins won 49-21.
They had to go on the road to play North Augusta or the lower state title, winning 27-20. That set up a rematch with Westside, which was undefeated and had been dominant all season. Marlowe said his players were not deterred.
“Truthfully, the kids believed we would win the whole time,” Marlowe said. “From the start of the week, they didn’t have any doubt they would go in there and win, which was good. For the coaches, maybe a little different. But they had confidence and were loose all week. This was three times in a row, so it was not anything unusual. They expect to play 15 weeks.
The Bruins had nine players selected to the All-Region 5 first team and three others to the second team. Leading the way was defensive lineman Amare Adams, who was named the Region Defensive Player of the Year.
Adams, a Clemson signee who was rated as one o the top linemen in the country, had 75 tackles, 13 tackles for a loss, six quarterback sacks and caused a fumble. He was also a Shrine Bowl selection and was picked to the South Carolina Football Coaches Association AAAA All-State team.
Wide receiver Jayden Sellers, another All-Region pick, was also a Shrine Bowl pick and a AAAA All-State selection. The South Carolina signee had 59 catches for 1,016 yards and 14 touchdowns while rushing for 485 yards and 10 TDs on 58 carries.
The other SFHS first team picks were quarterback Messiah Jackson, running back Tre Leonard, wide receiver Lennix Valarie, offensive linemen Josiah Mason and Tyler Cockfield, linebacker Willie Kennedy and all-purpose player Bruce Thompson.
Jackson completed 133 of 222 passes for 2,080 yards and 30 touchdowns while running for 369 yards and 11 TDs on 108 carries. Leonard rushed for 1,485 yards and 16 TDs on 145 carries while Valarie had 41 catches for 787 yards and 11 TDs. Kennedy had 110 tackles and four TFLs.
The second-team picks were offensive linemen EJ King and Barry McLaughlin and all-purpose player Jayden Granger.
While not selected to the All-Region team, linebacker Cameron Coe was an All-State pick. He had 88 tackles, six TFLs and two sacks.
Marlowe said the Bruins’ work ethic is why they were able to win another state title.
“As a whole, collectively, this is really by far the least talented team we’ve had over the last four years,” he said. “We were able to find a way to win it in the end. With hard work, resiliency, we continued to improve and get better, and we were able to end up where we ended up.”
