Florence – The high schools in Florence 1 Schools of South Florence, West Florence and
Wilson will be doing more than breaking in a few new coaches in the upcoming school year. They’ll be
starting a new sport as well.
Each school will have a boys volleyball team. Warren Coker, the longtime girls coach at West
Florence, will be the Knights’ boys coach. John Davis will add the boys team to his duties along with
that of the Wilson girls volleyball team, and Demetric Russell will be the South Florence boys coach.
The South Carolina High School League will be holding the first ever sanctioned state
championship for the sport this fall. Coker said there are around 60 high schools that have boys volleyball
teams.
“We have practiced all summer learning the fundamentals of volleyball,” Coker said. “The focus
this summer has been on passing and serving. I am also excited that South Florence and Wilson high
schools will have teams. A group of us started pushing men’s volleyball back in 2015 and to have it come
to fruition is exciting.”
LeighAnna Driggers will be taking over girls volleyball at West. Coker will continue to serve as
West’s boys tennis coach.
All three schools will again have the same swim coach in Janmarie Chatlosh. The West
Florence girls finished ninth in the AAAA meet last year while Wilson finished 15th . The West Florence
boys placed 24th .
SOUTH FLORENCE
Cody Slaughter returns as the athletic director at South Florence. He will have Drew Marlowe
back as head football coach. The Bruins went 15-0 in capturing the AAAA state championship last season
with quarterback LaNorris Sellers leading the way.
Bobby Jones will return as the softball coach after taking the Lady Bruins to the state
championship series against Catawba Ridge. David Robinson returns as the girls basketball coach after
going 24-2 and winning the Region 6 title. Longtime baseball head coach Kenny Gray will be back after
taking the Bruins to the lower state championship series against region foe North Myrtle Beach.
Dominique Harris is now the official boys basketball head coach after serving as the interim
head coach last season. Alexis Morris will coach both the boys and girls cross country teams, Kim
Osborne is the girls tennis coach, Talor Hewitt the girls volleyball coach, Trent Clary both the girls and
boys golf coach, Marcus Montgomery the wrestling coach, Zacharias Giles the girls track and field
coach. Christiaan Storm the boys soccer coach, Kailey Varney the girls soccer coach and Caitlyn
Cooper the cheer coach.
Slaughter is still working on filling vacancies for boys tennis and boys track and field.
WEST FLORENCE
Greg Johnson returns as the athletic director. Jody Jenerette returns as football coach after two
tremendous seasons, leading the Knights to the lower state championship game two years ago and to an
11-2 record and the third round this past season. Aundres Perkins led the softball team to a region title
and to the championship series of the lower state tournament.
Kevin Robinson will be the boys basketball coach, while Kedral Timmons will be the girls
hoops coach. Josh Brown will be the baseball coach, Billy Andrews will be the boys soccer coach, Alex
Shortall the girls soccer coach, Phillip Barr the boys track and field coach, Rich Wideman both the
girls track coach and the boys and girls cross country coach, Andrew Cummings the wrestling coach,
Jason Brewer the boys golf coach, Chris Wegmann the girls golf coach, Abby Sullivan the girls tennis
coach and Kelsey Cagle the cheer coach
WILSON
Derrick McQueen returns as the Wilson athletic director. Ricardo Powell will return to lead the
always strong Wilson boys basketball program. The Tigers won the state title two years ago and reached
the third round this past season.
Rodney Mooney is back as the football coach after the Tigers went 5-6 last season. Frank
Williams will be the girls basketball coach, James “Chippa” Smith will be back as the baseball coach,
Tim Fitzwater will be the boys soccer coach while Robert Sloan will be the girls coach, Brittany
Sehnke will be the softball coach, Valarie Paul will be the boys and girls track coach, Jackie Foxe Jr.
will be the boys and girls cross country coach, Nicholas Yock will be both the boys and golf coach, Fred
Davis will be the head coach of both the boys and girls tennis teams, Ernest Barksdale the wrestling
coach, Kacie Mangler will be the competitive cheer coach, and Eric Matthews will be in charge of the
bass fishing team.
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