Summerville knocks off rival Berkeley, 36-20
Summerville - The longest and most intense high school football rivalry in the Lowcountry rekindled on Friday night as the Summerville Green Wave hosted the Stags of Berkeley.
Both teams came into the game as ranked teams in Class AAAAA. Summerville was ranked sixth and Berkeley was ranked 10th.
Friday’s contest before a sold out Memorial Stadium was the 92nd game played in the series that began in 1923. Summerville has had their way overall, winning 64 of the previous contests with four ties. Berkeley’s last win came in 2019.
This year’s game was expected to be the most competitive meeting in several years with both teams loaded with explosive players. However, Berkeley’s most explosive player, junior quarterback Henry Rivers, did not play due to injury. Without their leader, the Stags struggled offensively and the Green Wave rolled to 36-20 win.
Summerville improved to 2-1 while Berkeley dropped to 2-1. The Stags were seeking their first 3-0 start since 2018.
Summerville used two quarterbacks, seniors Max Stafford and Cooper Kafina. Stafford started and played most of the snaps in the first two games but Kafina took advantage of his opportunity, throwing touchdown passes to Terue Davis (44 yards) and Jaiden Kelly-Murray (20 yards) in the first half as the Green Wave built a 20-0 lead by halftime. Kafina finished the night with three touchdown passes and 239 yards.
“We feel like we have two quarterbacks who can lead our team,” Summerville coach Ian Rafferty said. “Max took a hit and could not return so Cooper played most of the game and did a great job.
“It’s a good win for us but we still need to clean some things help. Too many penalties and mistakes, but if we can clean it up, we have a chance to win a lot of games.”
Running back Jayven Williams (113 yards rushing) scored Summerville’s first touchdown on a 10-yard run midway through first quarter. The opening half was fairly sloppy, full of penalties, punts and turnovers.
Williams opened the third quarter with Williams going 54 yards for a 27-0 lead.
A few minutes later, Berkeley recovered a fumble on their own five-yard line and quarterback Keller Wofford connected with Johnathan Williams on a 95-yard scoring pass, cutting the lead to 27-7 with more than nine minutes left in the third.
Summerville added a field goal and an 82-yard touchdown pass from Kafina to Kelly-Murray to push the lead to 36-7 late in the third. Murray had six receptions for 180 yards in the game.
Wofford threw a second touchdown pass, a 23-yarder to Jordan Livingston. Later on the fourth, LJ Washington capped the scoring with a three-yard run with 4:27 left in the contest. Washington rushed for 127 yards while Wofford threw for 165 yards.
Summerville will have a bye next week before traveling to Chapin on Sept. 19. Berkeley will host West Ashley next Friday night.
