HSSR Class A Top 15 Ranking (Pre-Season)

HSSR - Class A Top 15 Ranking - (Pre-Season)

1. Abbeville (12-2)

2.  Cross (11-2)

3. Lake View (7-4)  

4. Bamberg-Ehrhardt (12-2)  

5. Blackville-Hilda (10-3)

6. Johnsonville (10-3)

7. Latta (9-2)

8. Lamar (9-4)

9. Calhoun County (10-2) 

10. Lewisville (10-2)

11. CA Johnson (6-5)

12. Wagener-Salley (7-4)

13.Baptist Hill (3-7)

14. Carvers Bay (5-7)

15. McBee (7-5)

Abbeville Clear Cut Team To Beat In Class A Football In 2024

By Billy G. Baker

Publisher

Moncks Corner — With the realignment defending Class A state champion Christ Church has moved up to 2-AAA while traditional power house Abbeville has moved down to Class A, where they should totally dominate the competition this season.

Abbeville head coach Jamie Nickles has won 8 state titles with the Panthers and last year his team went 12-2 losing to Gray Collegiate in the upper state AA finals. 

Top players returning for Abbeville include senior quarterback/free safety Demarkus Leach (891 total yards and 8 picks on defense) who is a verbal commitment to South Carolina as a DB. Leach is 6-3, 185 and runs in the 4.5 area. Other talented returning seniors include running backs Karson Norman (1,650 total yards) , Altavious Patterson and Jha’Louis Hadden (891 total yards). Hadden is 6-0, 213.

On defense Abbeville will be led by senior linebacker Na’Gavin Calhoun (5-11, 215) who had 131 tackles as junior and linebacker Thomas Booth (5-11, 170 who had 115 tackles last season.

Cross, ranked number two appears to be in a position to compete for a Class A state title this season. Head coach Shaun Wright told the HSSR in recent days, “I am expecting to be competitive on defense and we return all of our linebackers and two defensive linemen up-front,” said Coach Wright. “Most of our skill guys return so we are hoping we can continue our strong defensive play.

“We will need that until our young linemen in the offensive line gel,” said Coach Wright. “We are expecting our skill guys to make plays as the majority of them are back including both running backs who rushed for over 700 yards each.

Lake View holds down the number three Class A ranking going into the 2024 season under the direction of veteran head coach Daryl King. 

Wild Gator running back Tyrell Foxworth returns after leading the team in rushing last season with 1,300 yards. Veteran quarterback Kason Herlong also returns and he is described as being like a “coach on the field.” Three starting offensive linemen also return in the persons of Chris McGill, Lance Floyd and Tyree Ford. 

On defense Lake View returns all three starting linebackers, Landon King, Seth Deese, and Dawson Hunt. The trio combined for more than 200 tackles last season.

In mid-June Coach King told David Shelton of the HSSR, “Piecing together the back end has been the focus,” said Coach King. We had a lot of experienced guys back there last year.” Lake View will open the 2024 season on Aug. 22 hosting Marion.

Bamberg-Ehrhardt holds down the number four ranking right now. Corey Crosby’s 12-2 team last year graduated a ton of talent at running back and linebacker last year. The Raiders return Region Player of the Year Chanston Crosby (6-3, 190) at quarterback, rated among the top QB’s in the 2025 class in South Carolina. He completed 177 of 218 passes last season for 3,358 yards and 25 TD’s. He added six rushing touchdowns.

Tristian Jenkins (6-1, 285) returns to lead the Raiders  offensive line and senior Jarvis Logan (6-3, 285) will be a key defensive lineman back.  Colt Bunch (5-10, 150) will be a solid player back in the secondary and he had 57 tackles and four interceptions last season.

Anytime a team is fortunate to have an athlete like Blackville Hilda’s Jaquel Holman (6-2, 200) on their roster, a deep playoff run should be expected. The Hawks are currently ranked 5th in Class A and they were 10—3 a year ago under head coach Kevin Jones.

Holman won the 100 and 200 meter dashes the Class A state track meet in May and over the summer the top five player in the 2025 HSSR Top 100 committed to South Carolina as a linebacker prospect. Holman runs a 4.43 forty. Holman rushed for 1,610 yards on 153 carries as a junior with 26 touchdowns. On defense he had 76 total tackles.

“We have a ton of returning starters and are blessed with a lot of team speed,” said B-H head coach Kevin Jones. “All of skill players on offense run a 4.7 or faster in the forty. Our offensive and defensive lines, while not big in stature they are really strong nd play with a mean streak. We return 8-of-11 starters on defense.”     

One should never count out a team coached by Ken Cribb at number six ranked Johnsonville. The Flashes played for back-to-back state titles the past two seasons. They were 11-3 a year ago.

The Flashes return six starters on offense but only four starters on defense. A huge graduation loss was QB Malik Shippey who produced over 2,000 yards for the team a year ago. Hoping to step into the shoes of Shippey is sophomore QB Larkin Powell.

Coach Cribb tells the HSSR, “The biggest thing is for Larkin to be Larkin, don’t try to be Malik,” said Coach Cribb in early June. “Larkin is going to be a good player. We have confidence in his abilities. He just needs some game experience.”

The Flashes return three starting OL. They are third -year starter Bubba Tapia at left tackle, along with juniors Jason Brigham and Braydon Baxley. On defense senior LB Landyn Cribb returns after compiling 117 tackles last season including 19 TFL. Tayshawn Brown returns at FS and he tallied 110 tackles with 29 TFL. Junior LB Bricen Howell is back after 88 tackles last season while junior FS Clovell returns after making 82 tackles last season. CJ Woodberry and Quantrell Woodberry return in the secondary after starting last season.

Coach Cribb also said, “We have some experience back on defense we need them to work hard and this summer and improve,” he said. “This summer is all about getting stronger and improving.”