Florence – The South Florence High School football team is in the midst of a 26-game winning streak and is just four victories away from winning the AAAA state championship again.
The first 15 of those victories of that streak came during that championship round. The other 11 have come this season, the most recent a 42-0 triumph over Lugoff-Elgin on November 3 in the first round of the state playoffs.
Of course, last season South Florence was led by superstar quarterback LaNorris Sellers, now at South Carolina. He took advantage of all of his physical abilities and made great use of the talented athletes lining up around him.
The Bruins lost a lot of pieces from that team that was so explosive offensively. This year they are riding an awesome defense.
South Florence head coach Drew Marlowe said it has definitely been a team effort.
“We've played really well as a team,” said Marlowe, who is in his fourth season as head coach. “We are very good on defense. Our offense has done a good job this year allowing our defense to dominate games. In turn, our defense has given the offense good field position and opportunities to score points.”
South Florence, which is ranked No. 2 in the High School Sports Report AAAA Sweet 16 poll, has allowed just 98 points while scoring 458. Amazingly, the Bruins have scoring nine defensive touchdowns and two safeties, giving it 58 points, over half of the number they’ve allowed.
Senior Chantwan Harkless Jr. has three of those touchdowns to go along with 38 tackles, a team high five quarterback sacks and seven tackles for loss heading into the playoffs.
Junior Camarion Coe and senior Kemonte Rose both have two touchdowns while sophomore Amare Reaves and senior Dirrick Goodman have one apiece.
Sophomore Terry Gordon was leading in tackles with 70 and shared the team lead in TFLs at nine with senior Terrance Moorer. Rose has four interceptions and 145 in return yards while senior Quincy Rhodes Jr. had three picks.
Anchoring the South Florence defense is junior tackle Amare Adams, one of the top defensive line prospects in the country. The 6-foot-5-inch, 290-pounder had 37 tackles, two sacks, eight tackles for loss and two forced fumbles.
While the offense has scored its share of points, Marlowe said it isn’t anywhere close to being a finished product.
“Our offense has been and still is a work in progress,” he said. “We have played 4 QBs this year and we have used a number of packages in order to try and create ways to manufacture points.”
Senior Bryan Mccart has seen most of the time are quarterback. He had completed 60 of 115 passes for 806 yards and seven touchdowns.
The Bruins were averaging over 274 rushing yards a game with four players over 400 yards.
Zion Gilbert was leading the way with 833 yards and eight touchdown on 105 carries. Raleigh Jett had 633 yards and four touchdowns on 95 carries. Sy’Ree Livingston has come on as of late and had 496 yards and nine touchdowns on 59 carries while Latrelle McClary had 427 yards and six touchdowns on 72 carries.
LaNorris’ little brother, Jayden Sellers, was the leader of the offense before going down for the year with an injury. Jayden, a junior who recently committed to join his brother at USC, still led the Bruins in receptions with 18 for 225 yards and one touchdown. He’d also rushed for 295 yards and six scores.
South Florence has been able to produce points on special teams as well. Rhodes had returned both a kickoff and a punt for a touchdown while Reaves had a kickoff return for a score.
Marlowe said his team has been focused on one thing since winning the state championship last season: winning the 2023 crown.
“We do not believe in the idea of ‘defending state champion.’ There is only one championship that matters, and it is the 2023 championship. We are working to improve every week so that we might earn the right to win that one.
Again, we cannot defend what we do not have. The "key" to winning the 2023 title will be to focus all of our efforts on continuously improving. We must continue to improve in order to win the next one.”
All Rights Reserved | The High School Sports Report 1986-2021