Florence – The thought was the South Florence High School football team would take a step
back after winning the 2022 AAAA state championship. After all, the Bruins lost Mr. Eve3rything,
quarterback LaNorris Sellers, and several other key contributors to graduations.
The naysayers were everywhere, including here. SFHS started the season ranked No. 9 in the
High School Sports Report AAAA Sweet 16 poll. All South Florence has done is win 14 straight games
and is a win away from a second straight 15-0 state championship season.
The Bruins, who finally moved to the top of the HSSR poll after preseason No. 1 Northwestern
lost in the third round of the state playoffs, will meet Westside for the title on Saturday at noon at South
Carolina State’s Oliver C. Dawson Stadium in Orangeburg.
SFHS head coach Drew Marlowe said getting back to the title game, much less with a perfect
mark, has been a true collaboration of his players.
“One of the things that’s really special about this team in particular is I feel like we’ve won as a
team,” said Marlowe. “We’ve got three guys who are at or close to a 1,000 yards rushing, we’ve been able
to create explosive plays in the passing game when we’ve had to have them. We do a really good job of
winning as a team, and our guys have been unselfish and have really bought into it’s going to take all of
us.
”Even the guys who don’t get into the game as much, what they do in practice to help us win has
been so important. This has been an unselfish group and that is what I’m proud of. We don’t have just one
standout, shutdown guy. We’ve won as a team and hopefully we can do that one more week.”
While the Bruins had a dynamic offense last season led by Sellers, the defense has been stout –
and dynamic – this year.
Not only has SFHS allowed opponents to just over 200 yards of total offense per game and 161
total points, the defense has scored 77 points.
“I will definitely say our defense’s ability to score points for us was not expected,” Marlowe said. “You
don’t go into a year expecting your defense to average about a touchdown a game. In terms of how
they’ve played, how physical they’ve been, how dominant they’ve been for most of the year, we expected
that part. But for them to have scored as much as they have, that’s something that is very, very rare.”
The Bruins have a dominating 3-man front of ends Amare Adams and Deshaun Carroway with
Mason Mudge at nose tackle. Adams, a junior who is rated as one of the top D linemen in the country,
has 52 tackles, nine tackles for loss, two quarterback sacks and three forced fumbles. Carroway has 20
tackles and eight TFLs, while Mudge has 28 tackles and three TFLs.
Terrance Moorer also sees regular time at end, leading the team in sacks with seven to go with
49 tackles, 11 TFLs and one interception.
Inside linebackers Terry Gordon and Noah Moore are the leading tacklers. Gordon has 98
tackles and 15 TFLs, both team highs, to go with five sacks. Moore has 97 tackles, 10 TFLs and six sacks.
The outside linebackers are Chantwan Harkless Jr. and Brian Brownlee. Harkless has scored
three defensive TDs and recovered three fumbles to go with 51 tackles, six sacks and eight TFLs.
Brownlee has 27 tackles, two sacks and five TFLs.
The secondary is made up of cornerbacks Amare Reaves and Keomonte Rose with Quincy
Rhodes Jr. and Dirrick Goodman the safeties.
Reaves has two defensive touchdowns to go with 30 tackles, a pick and two TFLs. Rose leads the
team in INTs with four and has two TDs as well. He also has 35 tackles and three TFLs. Rhodes has 30
tackles and two INTs, while Goodman has 62 tackles, five TFLs, three picks, four FFs and two FRs.
The offense has been a work in progress the entire season, according to Marlowe. Starting
running back Roderick McRae was lost for the year on the second play of the season and top receiver
Jayden Sellers was lost for the year at the beginning of the first Region 6 contest. Also, the Bruins have
used as many as four quarterbacks in the same game.
Messiah Jackson will start behind center on Saturday. He has completed 21 of 40 passes for 210
yards with three touchdowns. Sy’Ree Livingston will see a lot of time at QB as well, mainly in the
Wildcat formation. Livingston has rushed for 1,193 yards and 22 touchdowns on 117 carries.
“After Jayden Sellers went down we just lost really any explosiveness we had on offense,”
Marlowe said. “We gave Sy’Ree the ball in some of those Wildcat heavy packages. Sy’Ree has done a
really, really good job for us. When Sy’Ree is in there at quarterback, we’ve got 10 people blocking for
him. His ability to create explosive runs comes from the fact we’ve got 10 blockers in front of him.”
The leading rusher is running back Zion Gilbert with 1,309 yards and 12 scores on 161 carries.
Raleigh Jett has 751 yards and six TDs on 110 carries.
Rodney Lesane is the starting H back, and he has 17 catches for 205 yards. Livingston also plays
wide receiver and has six catches for 65 yards and one TD, and Lennix Valarie has 13 catches for 200
yards and two TDs. Tight end Felder Gibson has two catches for 34 yards and two scores.
Doing the work in the trenches for South Florence are Barry McLaughlin at left tackle, Justin
Joe at left guard, Ethan King at center, Connor Jones at right guard and Tyler Cockfield at right tackle.
“We lost three offensive linemen from last year, so we knew early that we were going to have to
kind of find our way and get those guys to learn and how to play at the level we needed them to in order
to win,” Marlowe said. “The most important thing is they’ve gotten better each week and really done a
good job for us.”
Evan Holland is the placekicker, having connected on 62 of 70 extra point attempts. Rhodes is
the punter.
Offense
9 -- QB – Messiah Jackson and
12 – QB – Sy’Ree Livingston
22 – TB – Zion Gilbert
8 – H Back – Rodney Lesane
12 – WR -- Sy’Ree Livingston
18 – WR – Lennix Valarie
55 – LT – Barry McLaughlin
75 – LG – Justin Joe
56 – C – Ethan King
68 – RG – Connor Jones
71 – RT – Tyler Cockfield
83 -- TE – Felder Gibson
Defense
23 – DE – Deshaun Carroway
77 – NT – Mason Mudge
91 – DE – Amare Adams
1 – OLB – Chantwan Harkless
10 – ILB – Terry Gordon
11 – ILB – Noah Moore
25 – OLB – Brian Brownlee
2 -- CB – Amare Reaves
27 – CB – Keomonte Rose
3 – S – Quincy Rhodes Jr.
13 – S – Dirrick Goodman
Special Teams
99 – PK – Evan Holland
3 – Punter – Quincy Rhodes Jr.
28 – Holder – Ben Tyner
54 – Kick Snapper – James Jones
11 – Punt Snapper – Noah Moore
3 – Kick Returner – Quincy Rhodes Jr.
2 – Kick Returner – Amare Reaves
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