Junior Maricious Dawson has led Fort Dorchester in scoring this season. 

Ft. D's Cailyn Webber pulls up for a shot during the Patriots’ game at Goose Creek last month.

Hannah Wallace makes a dig for Fort Dorchester during its match at Ashley Ridge.

Banks Wickersham and Jay Hollington are two promising linebackers the Patriots have this season.

Senior running back Jayden Acosta chewed up a lot of yards for Ashley Ridge on Aug. 16 during the annual Dorchester County Showdown.

By Neill Kirkpatrick Special to the HSSR Summerville – Sunday afternoon the Post and Courier held its annual football media at Cane Bay High School and despite a week that saw tropical storm Debby wreak havoc with practice schedules several of the low country’s top players and coaches showed up to talk and get their picture taken. “We were only able to get in three practices this week so like a lot of teams we are behind in what we need to do to get ready for the opener,” said Cross High School head coach Shawn Wright . The media day is held by long time Post and Courier and HSSR senior writer David Shelton . Shelton has been one of the top Prep writers in the state for over three decades and before pictures and interviews began he had a powerful message for all the young men, “Football is what you do and not who you are.” Shelton shared with the players and coaches his personal tragedy of the loss of his two sons to the fentanyl problem plaguing our country. He let the players know that if you are having issues or other problems in your life there are always other solutions that will not end your life. He has a web site “1team1cause.com” which has the sole purpose to educate and help young people. The HSSR’s top ranked junior prospect Desmond Greene of Timberland was in attendance. The 6-5, 335 five-star prospect has over 20 offers to date with no favorites at the present time. His biggest concern right now is to get ready for the season. “I just keep grinding, keep working every day to get better. I want to embrace every challenge and every criticism to get better. I have heard from a lot of people and some stand out more than others but I am still feeling things out,” said Green. The James Island Trojans are coming off the best season in school history since James Island and Fort Johnson merged, finishing the year at 12-1 and advancing into the third round had several players in attendance including HSSR Top 100 Prospects Dalton Woodall (28 th ), Gray Dangerfield (48) and Hendrix Beran (54). Woodall (6-3,295) and Beran (6-4,252) anchor the Trojan defensive line and both are being recruited by several schools with Woodall holding an offer from the University of Toledo . On the upcoming season Woodall said, “We like to push each other a lot especially in the weight room. We have a lot of confidence and we know that if we continue to work hard and follow the plan we can go farther than we did last season.” Dangerfield is the top ranked kicker in the state and recently picked up an offer from Virginia Tech to add to the four offers from Army , Navy , Georgia Southern and Charleston Southern . When asked about being the top ranked kicker in the state Dangerfield replied, “It felt good to be recognized as the top kicker. I just get some touchbacks and score some points for the team.” Fort Dorchester’s Jalen White checks in the 65 th ranked player in the HSSR’s Top 100 . The 5-9, 170 defensive back will be playing for his third head coach in three years. Despite the turnover Jalen is still getting a lot of looks from college coaches among them are Wingate University, Georgia Southern and Coastal Carolina . Presently Wingate is in the lead. “I am just trying to help the new players get ready for the season. We have kept the same defense so we feel good about that but we are working hard to get back to our legacy,” said White. The HSSR always talked with a couple of players from the host school Cane Bay ; defensive back Malachi Dickerson (6,170) and defensive end Joshua Frost (6, 220). Both are senior leaders for the Cobra’s and they are looking to lead the team to its first region championship in school history this year. “My role on the team is to lead by example and to help the younger kids get used to how we practice and get ready to play,” said Dickerson.

By Roger Lee North Charleston – Fort Dorchester entered the Region 7-AAAAA Boys Golf Championship Match at the Wescott Plantation a bit of an underdog but finished as the 2024 Region Champion . The Patriots finished with a team score of 312 to capture the region title. West Ashley placed second with 318 points, followed by Ashley Ridge with 324 and Summerville with 330. While the Patriots have had success in the past, and even qualified for the state tournament last season, it had been several years since Fort Dorchester finished on top of the region. “Four years ago we had five seniors graduate and our coach stopped coaching golf so when Coach (Steve) LaPrad asked me to take over we didn’t know if we were going to have anyone show up for tryouts,” Fort Dorchester coach Kenny Walker said. “We had six kids tryout and ended up with five and three of them are still with us. We started at zero and have been able to get a little better each year. We took our lumps for a few years, but these guys worked hard at it and they’ve surprised me with how much they’ve improved so I’m ecstatic for them.” Junior Lucas Johnson finished with an impressive round of 70 to claim Low Medalist honors and be named the Region 7 Boys Golfer of the Year. Jon Graham finished only two strokes behind. Trailing for the Patriots were Trip Walls (78), Christian Thibault (92) and Parav Patel (94). Graham and Walls were also named to the 2024 All-region Team. “We’ve been competitive all season but we were always like two strokes off,” Johnson said. “These guys work their tails off but things just weren’t clicking in matches. Finally we just had everything click and it couldn’t have come at a better time.” Fort Dorchester went on to qualify for the 5A Boys Golf State Championship, but didn’t have its best performance there. The Patriots finished in 16 th place. Graham led the Fort with a two-round score of 158 to place 36 th individually. Track and Field Fort Dorchester placed 11 th during the Class 5A Boys Track and Field Championships. Jalen Barry, a Gamecock commit, won the Javelin with a 192-05.00 mark. Monty Johnson placed second in the 200-meter Dash with a 21.48 time and placed sixth in the 100. Micah Anderson placed 10 th in the 100 and seventh in the 200. Charles Watson placed sixth in the Javelin. The Patriots placed seventh in the 4x100 Relay. The Fort Dorchester Girls placed 12 th . Lailah Holman placed second in the High Jump with a 5-01.00 mark. Malayia Morrow placed third in the 400 with a 56.54 time. Kyleigh Moore placed third in the Javelin with a 121-01.25 mark. Dalayasia Dotch placed ninth in the 400 Hurdles. Saniyah Joyner placed fifth in the Discus. Leah Nugent placed ninth in the Shot Put. Fort Dorchester was the runner-up for both the boys and girls Region 7 Championships. Claiming an individual region championship for the Patriots were: Women’s 100 Hurdles: Cailyn Webber Men’s 100: Monty Johnson Men’s 4x100 Relay Team Women’s 400: Malayia Morrow Women’s 400 Hurdles: Dalayasia Dotch Men’s 200: Micah Anderson Women’s High Jump: Lailah Holman Men’s Pole Vault: Christian Krueger Women’s Shot Put: Leah Nugent Women’s Discus: Saniyah Joyner (FD) Men’s Javelin: Jalen Barry (FD).