Photos from March 8th, the SCHSL Class AAAAA Div. 2 Boys Championship Game between Greenville and Goose Creek . Enjoy this sample of images, follow this link for the full gallery

By Neill Kirkpatrick Special to the HSSR Florence – Since February 28 th, the Florence Center played host to the best SCHSL basketball teams in the state as it ended the best game was saved for last, not only did we get a great game between Goose Creek and Greenville but it took two extra periods for the Red Raiders to finally prevail 81-71 to capture their first AAAAA state championship. The state championship is Greenville’s sixth overall moving them into a tie for fourth on the all-time state championship list with Lower Richland , Gaffney , Irmo and fellow Greenville County school Southside . They won five at the AAA before moving up in classification. They finished the year 28-2. “This is special is very special to me but I am just happy for the guys. We ask a lot of them year-round sometimes it is not fun and it is hard. We have been chasing this moment for a long time,” said Greenville Head Coach Mike Anderson . “It was a heck of a game Goose Creek wouldn’t go away and we made a couple of mistakes. But in the end they were able to make the plays to win the game.” The Gators end the year at 25-4 with their fifth lower state championship in school history but for senior Shane Potts and junior Ja'Quell Brown it was bitter sweet as they were part of the team that came up short against Dorman 2022-23 season. “It is disappointing ending to the season but I am very proud of my guys. They are champions on how they behave in the community, on campus and on the court. I love this guys and the result of a game does not change that,” said Goose Creek head coach Blake Hall. The two biggest difference in the game both went Greenville’s way as they dominated Goose Creek on the boards, out rebounding the Gators 39-18 with half being on the offense. The second was the foul discrepancy and free throw shooting. The Gators were whistled for 29 fouls while the Red Raiders were whistled for 13 despite being the more physical all night. Greenville shot 36 free throws to Goose Creek’s 16 and the Red Raiders made 27 of those free throws which turned out to the difference in the game. Goose Creek made more threes and two-point basket but the free throw line was the difference in the game. If you were a Gator fan you thought the officials were wearing red and white striped shirts instead of black and white. Gator head coach Hall said, “You can’t beat a team when they shoot almost 40 free throws. I told our guys you have no control over the officiating but you have to play through it. For the most part I thought we did but it was too much to overcome.” The first quarter was a harbinger of how the game would play out. Goose Creek’s points came from the field as they hit three-pointers with Ja'Quell Brown nailing two of them. Meanwhile the Red Raiders went 8 for 10 from the line as Caden Coleman went 3 for 4 from the line and had a two-point basket to help the Red Raiders lead after one 14-13. The second quarter saw the Gators continuing to hit three pointers as they had for in the quarter with Shane Potts hitting two and Brown and Terrell Johnson Jr. hitting the other. They helped the Gators go on an 8-0 run to start the quarter to go up 24-16. For Greenville, they countered by going inside to Franklin Whitley and Roman Cooley scoring 13 of the Red Raiders 16 points in the quarter and lead them on a 9-0 run to wipe the Gator lead. The teams went to the half with Greenville still on top by one at 30-29. The third quarter was the only one where the Red Raiders did not go to the free throw. Instead, they attacked on the inside for all of their points in the quarter. Potts dominated the third quarter for the Gators scoring 11 of his game high 29 points and Johnson Jr. added another three as the Gators took a 45-42 lead into the fourth quarter. Leading by three the Gators took their biggest lead of the game after Potts scored in the paint at 47-42. From there you saw Greenville march to the free throw line for most of the quarter as they scored 9 of their 16 points from the charity stripe. The biggest shot of quarter came from Greenville senior Israel Deaver. Setting up in the left corner he hit the first three of the night for the Red Raiders to tie the game. Also, Coleman had a big quarter scoring seven points helping them to a three-point lead 58-55 with 10 seconds remaining in the contest. Needing a three to tie the game and force overtime coach Hall called time out to set up a final play for the Gators. They were inbounded the ball under Greenville’s basket and after getting the ball past half court they ran a play for Brown, who dribbled to the left and then launched a three the hit nothing but the bottom of the net to tie the game at 58-58. Greenville was unable to get a shot up and we were headed to overtime. The Gators found themselves down by three at 65-62 but Potts scored down low and then hit a free throw to send the game into a second over time. The second overtime was all Red Raiders as Deaver hit his second three, this time from the right side to start a 7-0 Red Raider run that the Gators had no answer for the run. The Red Raiders would hit 9-10 free throws to close out the game and bring the championship trophy back to Greenville. Greenville was led by Whitley with 24 points while Coleman dropped in 23 and Coleman and Tucker Scholl scored 12 and 11 points, respectively. Brown finished with 27 points to join Potts as the only Gators in double figures.

Andrew Jackson To face Eau Claire In SCHSL AA Girl’s basketball Finals While High Point Academy Meets Atlantic Collegiate In AA Boy’s Action, In Div. II AAAAA the Berkeley Girl’s Confront Greenwood In The State Finals While The Goose Creek Boys Play Greenville In Div. II AAAAA By Billy G. Baker Publisher Florence —In Div. II AAAAA basketball action on Wednesday at the Florence Center the Berkeley girl’s defeated North Myrtle Beach, 67-32 to win the lower state title while in upper state action Greenwood came back from an early deficit to defeat Greenville in over-time 49-45. In the AAAAA Div. II boy’s lower state game at the same venue Goose Creek defeated Berkeley County rival Berkeley 58-45 to advance to the state finals. Later that day in upper state action Greenville rallied to defeat Fort Mill 46-44 in a game that went down to the wire. The Berkeley girls will now face Greenwood in the Florence Center at 4 p.m. on Saturday March, 8 while the Goose Creek boys will challenge the Greenville boys at 6.m the same day. Goose Creek defeated Greenville at home in a game played back in the early season. In semi-finals SCHSL AA action on Tuesday the Andrew Jackson girls advanced to the finals in SCHSL AA competition with a 96-33 win over Lake City and the Lady Volunteers will face-off against Eau Claire after their come-from-behind win over region foe Clinton , 41-30 to earn upper state AA girl’s honors. These two teams will compete for the AA girl’s state title at noon on March 8 in the Florence Center. In AA boy’s action on Tuesday, Atlantic Collegiate (from Conway) defeated the Andrew Jackson boy’s 45-40 in a highly competitive game to take lower state honors. In the upper state AA boy’s action High Point Academy defeated Cinderella Liberty High 62-41. Liberty came into the game with a record of 13-15 and the Red Devils had caught fire in the play-offs starting with a road win over number one seeded Fairfield Central to start the play-offs. On a side note, High Point is coached by Lee Sartor who won three state championships at Spartanburg Day where he coached former number one NBA pick Zion Williamson . Atlantic Collegiate will compete against High Point Academy in the AA boy’s finals at 2 p.m. on Saturday March, 8 at the same venue. Here are some random quotes from some of the winning coaches on Tuesday and Wednesday: Atlantic Collegiate boy’s coach Tanner Massey : “We get after it with game day practices and we practice hard to get ready to play in games,” he said. “We have six seniors and three of them start so we are a veteran team. Our senior starters are Jaylen Bellamy, Clayton Hemingway and Jamie Brooks and Brooks should be the AA Player of the Year.” High Point Academy’s Lee Sartor : “It is always an honor to get to this point in the season and I am so proud of my team, and so proud of our school,” said Coach Sartor. “We didn’t come here just to play in the upper state championship and win it. We came here to win a state championship. So, we have one more game and we are playing a very talented Atlantic Collegiate team and I know they will be ready and we will be ready.”  Eau Claire, head coached by Ashley Patterson - Gilmore , will be making their first state title appearance since 1998. “We are excited and I am over-whelmed right now,” she said after the big win. “The girls said when the season began, they wanted to go to Florence and compete for a state title. Their work ethic was there all season and now we have come here and we are going to the state finals and our school has not done this since 1998. We are focused on this next game and we are looking forward to the challenge of playing a very talented Andrew Jackson team.” Goose Creek head coach Blake Hall : “I asked the team just what do you want,” said Coach Hall. “Is winning the lower state what you want; is that enough? If you want more we have to play hard in one more game. Really, I think this game (win over Berkeley) was about stamina. Our guys have worked really hard and if your players have to have the will not to give in when you get tired on the court.” Greenville High head coach Mike Anderson: “I am just so proud of our guys and we have been knocking on the door for the past five years being in the game three different times. It was an absolute battle night. Fort Mill is really good and well coached and they controlled most of the game. We have a little bit of nerves early and we tried to clam everyone down. We told them to stay the course and that the game was for four quarters. The game came down to one play and they had a good shot but missed. We are just thankful to be playing one more game.” An emotional Berkely High head coach Crystle Peace after Berkeley’s win: “It’s been a 15- year journey and I am just thinking about my Mom right now (passed away in March, 2024),” said Coach Peace. “I am just thinking about my Mom. ”So many times I wanted to give up and she was there for me. I just feel her presence right now. I am so proud of our group, our coaching staff, and never giving up. Even when I played, we never got to this point so I am just thankful to God and God is so awesome.”

Berkeley junior Donovan Green about make a fade away jump shot.

Berkeley junior, Aiyanna Moses finished with a team-high 15 points for the Stags. (Photo courtesy Rob Gantt)

Goose Creek's Shane Potts in action.

By Billy G. Baker Publisher  Moncks Corner —The region winners in the AAAAA SCHSL football classification all received byes for the first round of the play-offs that started on November, 15 th so if any upsets are brewing involving the top seeded teams in the two divisions we will have to wait until Nov., 22 nd for that to possibly happen. In the Upper State AAAAA D-1 a bye went to number one rated Dutch Fork (9-0) and they will play the winner of the Boiling Springs (6-3) versus Dorman (6-3) in a week two in Irmo. Rock Hill (5-5) received a bye and they will play the winner of the Mauldin (2-8) versus River Bluff (8-2) game in week two. JL Mann (8-2) got a bye and they await the winner of the Blythewood versus Clover (7-3) game on Nov., 15. Number four- rated Spartanburg , fresh off a close game loss with rival Gaffney awaits the winner of Lexington versus Byrnes in week one. In Lower State Div. I Summerville (10-0) has a bye and they await the winner between Fort Dorchester and Stratford. Cane Bay , a winner over Berkeley last week, received a bye and they await the winner between Spring Valley and Ridge View. Carolina Forest has a round one bye and they await the winner between Wando and James Island . Highly regarded Sumter (9-0) has a first- round bye and they will host the winner between West Ashley and Ashley Ridge on Nov. 15. Now, we move on to Div. II AAAAA: In the Upper state number one rated Northwestern (10-0) will host the winner between Eastside and Indian Land on Nov., 15. Greenwood received a first- round bye and they will host the winner of the nation Ford versus Hillcrest first round game on Nov., 15. T.L Hanna earned a bye and they await the winner of the Woodmont versus Catawba Ridge winner in round two. Gaffney , fresh off of a come from behind win over Spartanburg that clinched the region title, awaits the winner of the Greenville versus Riverside game. In the Lower state Div. II AAAAA: Irmo (9-1), fresh off of a loss to Dutch Fork , awaits the winner between Goose Creek and Chapin in week one. West Florence has a week one bye and they will host the winner between Lucy Beckham and North Myrtle Beach in round two. Berkeley has earned a bye and they await the winner between Socastee and Westwood in round one. Finally, Myrtle Beach earned a first- round bye and they await the winner between Lugoff - Elgin and White Knoll from first round action. The HSSR predicts that Dutch Fork and Summerville will emerge as respective bracket winners in Div. I AAAAA and will meet in the gold medal round at South Carolian State University on Friday Dec., 13 at 2 p.m. Tom Knotts , the head coach at Dutch Fork, told the HSSR after his 24-14 big win over Irmo last week, ““I pay attention to Dutch Fork, but now that I’ve played Irmo, these are the two best teams in the state,” said Coach Knotts after the Irmo win. “They’re going to be in the smaller (school size) 5A and we’re in the larger 5A, so thank goodness we don’t have to play them again and they’re probably saying thank goodness they don’t have to play us again. “We like to get to this time of year, the kids behave better, they focus better, they lift better, they meet better,” Knotts said. “This is our time of year. We’re used to it.” Summerville head coach Ian Rafferty shared these thoughts about the play-offs, ““Unfortunately we will have to play some teams we’ve already seen in the playoffs but it is what it is,” said Coach Rafferty. “Against Fort Dorchester we did some uncharacteristic things on special teams and turned the ball over near the goal line, but moving forward the key is the way our guy’s work. We have kind of built a good mentality throughout the season and just work and show up to play on game night. Basically, we just need to be the Green Wave.” The Summerville offense spreads the ball around and the team suffered some key injuries on both sides of the ball this season so a lot of players have seen action and contributed to the second consecutive undefeated regular season. In Div. II AAAA, the HSSR predicts a Northwestern versus Gaffney final in the gold medal round scheduled for 06 p.m. on December, 14 at South Carolina State University. Gaffney head coach Dan Jones told the HSSR after his win over Spartanburg last week, “Coach Jones said that during the bye week Gaffney would stay focused on getting ready to compete in the second round of the play-offs on November, 22. “We will study film and lift weights on Monday but we will have three full practices on Tuesday through Thursday,” said Coach Jones. “We will be hard-at-work getting ready to play wither Greenville or Riverside.” For the regular season, the Gaffney offense produced 1,423 yards rushing and 1,849 yards passing and that defines a balanced attack on offense. Gaffney out-scored teams 275-139. Northwestern , led by veteran QB Finley Polk has dominated teams 514-158 this year. Head coach Paige Wofford has done a great job coaching the Trojans for the past several years and his team is expected to plow through the competition in the play-offs on the way to the finals.

By Rob Gantt Special to the HSSR GOOSE CREEK – Goose Creek High School’s football team pulled out a victory in its Region 7-5A opener Oct. 4, holding off visiting Wando High School, 21-20. With the win, Goose Creek improved to 3-3 overall and moved to 1-0 in the region. The Gators travel to Berkeley Oct. 11 before hosting Lucy Beckham and Cane Bay Oct. 18 and Oct. 25. They complete the region slate Nov. 1 at defending league champion Stratford . “The goal is to win the region and go undefeated in the region,” Gators coach Jason Winstead said. “We’ve been better on defense this season and if we keep playing that way, we’ll give ourselves a chance on Friday nights.” Against the Warriors, running back Trevon Goss rushed for 82 yards and scored a touchdown. Jahvae Bowman added 58 yards on the ground. Through the air, quarterback Kymani Clary threw for 144 yards and connected with Teru Davis and Micah Adams on touchdown passes. Davis led Gators receivers with 72 yards. Adams finished with 46 yards and Jaylin Grant chipped in 26 yards. Wando rallied from a 21-6 deficit in the fourth quarter to make it close. Winstead was impressed with the improvement the Warriors have made under first-year coach Isaiah Perrin. “Wando is playing hard and they’re a much better football team than they were last year,” Winstead said. “I’m really impressed with their quarterback. We have some good quarterbacks in the Lowcountry. We have played at least three games just like Friday night and lost the first two at the end. I was proud of the guys for making the plays we needed to win.” Winstead was referring to a 21-20 loss to Fort Dorchester and 10-7 loss to James Island. Goose Creek is still playing without reigning region player of the year, running back Meliq McGowan . The junior has been out with an injury. Winstead hopes to get McGowan back soon. “Meliq is such a playmaker and it’s been a struggle without him,” Winstead said, “but Trevon has stepped up and done a good job.” Goss leads the Gators with 406 yards rushing on the season. He’s scored three touchdowns. McGowan had 274 yards rushing and five touchdowns before his injury. Clary has passed for 708 yards and six touchdowns, while rushing for 289 yards and three scores.

Goose Creek – Sometimes a coaching staff needs a little shakeup. Goose Creek head football coach Jason Winstead looked into his program and made what he feels are necessary changes to his 2024 coaching staff. Winstead is not one to pass blame around but says he felt the need to change some coaching personnel in hopes that the Gators will be improved this fall. “It happens sometimes,” said Winstead, heading into his seventh season as head coach. “I have to look at what’s available and decide if the new guys can make a difference. Sometimes it works, sometimes it don’t. I just felt we needed to be a better team if we want to compete for a region title and beyond.” The biggest changes on the football staff will come on the defensive side. The Gators gave up more than 30 points per game last season. Stepping in as defensive coordinator is Ben Lailson, a well-known defensive coach in the area. Lailson spent several years at Timberland High and also coached at Philip Simmons. He was most recently the head coach at Stall but had little to no success. “The guy can coach defense,” Winstead said. “He will coach the linemen and call the shots. He has a very good football mind and I think our defense will be improved.” Lailson also will take over as the varsity softball coach in the spring, according to athletic director Troy Johnson. Another new defensive coach, Lee Taylor, brings more than 30 years of experience and will coach outside linebackers. Taylor, a former player at Charleston Southern, has spent the majority of his coaching career at several prominent programs in the Upstate. “We got lucky with Lee,” Winstead said. “He has grandkids down here and he and his wife wanted to be closer to them. It worked out great for us.” Returning assistant Joe Marion, another veteran, will move to coach inside linebackers this fall. DeAndre Daniels, a former star player at Goose Creek, is joining the varsity staff in the secondary. Another returning coach, Booker Peake, is moving up from the jayvee program and will coach running backs. That position includes junior Melig McGowans, one of the top 2026 backs in the state. Joey Still returns as the offensive line coach with four returning starters. Johnson also announced the hiring of Vincent Messineo as the new varsity girls soccer. Returning as varsity head coaches are Blake Hall (boys basketball), Jabari Deas (girls basketball), Kirk Rebuck (baseball), Chris and Amanda Cooper (cross country), Joey Still (boys golf), James Taylor (girls golf), Nick Brammer (boys soccer), Paula Spagnolia (girls tennis), Willie Nearhood (wrestling) and Irish Bamba (volleyball).