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.

North Charleston - It is not likely that either team will win the region 8-AAAAA championship this season but that did not temper the intensity level displayed as James Island visited Fort Dorchester for their week eight showdown. James Island snapped a two-game losing streak, earning their first region win of the season with a 26-7. The Trojans improved to 5-3 overall while the Patriots fell to 4-4 on the season. The Trojans have struggled to score points all season and lost their best offensive threat, Jalen Brown-Singleton, on Thursday when he unexpectedly transferred to a prep school in Florida. However, the Trojans’ offense rallied as a unit, sparked by the return of top running back Amor Scott. Scott returned to action after missing the last month with an injury. The offense did not pile up huge yardage but effectively moved the ball enough to dominate the time of possession. James Island made it look easy early on, taking their first possession of the game 66 yards on six plays with Connor Dantzler connecting with Sam Crumpton on a 14-yard touchdown for an early 7-0 lead. Gray Dangerfield added a 28-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead with 2:50 remaining in the first quarter, The James Island defense, one of the top units in the Lowcountry, kept Fort Dorchester in check throughout the first half, The offense added a touchdown on Scott’s two-yard run with :20 seconds left in the second quarter to give the Trojans a 17-0 lead. Fort Dorchester opened third quarter with their best drive as Campbell capped the initial possession with a 42-yard touchdown scamper, pushing him over 100 yards rushing on the night. After a fumble recovery gave the Trojans great field position, Dangerfield booted a 40-yard field goal to push the lead to 20-7 heading into the fourth quarter. James Island’s defense came up with three fourth down stops in the fourth quarter to preserve the lead. The last stop set the Trojans up at the Fort 15-yard line and Thomas Webb capped the scoring with a seven-yard run.

By David Shelton Senior Writer James Island – The tart of the Class AAAAA state playoffs is fast approaching and the fall sports teams at James Island are looking to make their mark in the postseason. James Island has made the move from AAAA to AAAAA this year, which means an increase in the level of competition across the board. One team that should handle the move up pretty well is the always strong girls cross country team. Coach David Lee has led the program to multiple state championships and will again race a competitive group of runners that return from last year’s AAAA state championship team. Leading the way this fall is Avery Belk , a returning all-state performer and considered a medalist contender in the state meet. Belk finished fourth in last year’s state meet. She is joined by Kirra Borg at the top of the running order. Alexandra LaRue finished 13 th at the state meet last season and Alice Taylor placed 16 th overall. Both are having strong fall campaigns. Others adding depth include Caroline Osborn , Anna Gladu and Fabiana Jennings-Perdome . On the boys side, Jackson Pearce and Jack Wallace are the top performers. Both recorded top 25 finishes in last year’s AAAA state meet. Others competing for spots in the top five include Alex Ciucci , Elias Doughty , and Lee Hilton . Zachary Osborn is an up and coming performer, having won the junior varsity division at the prestigious Lowcountry Invitational meet in late September. Bodhi Millis finished second in that event. The girls volleyball team is going through a bit of a rebuild this fall but it still quite competitive overall. Having lost several key players to graduation, the roster includes a bevy of underclassmen this season. The Trojans opened region 7-AAAAA play with a 2-3 record. Two seniors that are contributing this fall include Josie Rucker and Maddison Rigsby . Rucker has nearly 200 assists as a setter while Rigsby has more than 125 defensive digs. Eighth-grader Aubree Lanham also works as a setter and has more than 250 assists. Junior Lucy McKendrick and freshman Maddie Warthen are leading the team in kills. Freshman Addy Smith has recorded more than 100 digs, as has junior Natalie McGeorge . The Trojans football team went 4-1 in their non-region slate of games, winning four in a row after a season-opening loss to Gray Collegiate . James Island opened region play on Oct. 4 against West Ashley . The team is led by a strong defense, a unit anchored by linemen Malachi Jefferson and Hendrix Beran . Through five games, Jefferson has 32 tackles, including 13 tackles for loss and four sacks. Beran has 32 tackles, 14 for loss and four sacks. Linebacker Coleman Jones is averaging eight tackles per game as well. The big weapon offensively this season has been senior speedster Jalen Brown-Singleton , who has rushed for 200 yards and has 227 receiving yards. He also is one of the state’s top kick and punt returners. Quarterback Connor Dantzler , a first-year starter, has 700 passing yards through the first five games.

Gaffney's Jaiden McDowell on the carry.

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.

Class AAAAA will crown TWO state champions in 2024!

James Island – After posting consecutive impressive records over the last two seasons in class AAAA, the James Island football program looks to continue the growth as a member of Class AAAAA this fall. The Trojans are 23-3 over the last two seasons under coach Jamar McKoy, who enters his fifth season at the school. Gone are a lot of the players that handled the heavy lifting for the past two years but McKoy is hopeful that the recent success has instilled a strong competitive spirit in the newer crop of talent. “I see great buy-in from these guys,” McKoy said. “I think this group has seen what it takes to be successful. The guys before them set the standard. These guys know that it takes work and discipline and so far their work ethic has been on point. They’re showing up at 6:30 every morning to work and get better.” While there are significant losses in personnel, the 2024 roster does include a solid core of returners. There are holes to fill along the offensive line and McKoy is breaking in a new quarterback, but the Trojans could be strong defensively once again. A lot of the offensive success the last two years came with experienced quarterbacks and a stable of running backs and receivers. The lone returner at running back is senior Tank Scott , who gained nearly 800 yards as part of a three-headed monster in the running game. The top returner in the passing game is slot Jalen Brown-Singleton , an explosive athlete with 4.41 speed. McKoy plans to be creative in ways to get his speed involved. Brown-Singleton also is one of the top kick returners in the state. Through the summer, the quarterback position remains an open battle between Connor Dantzler , who was the backup last season, and First Baptist transfer Zacobi Riley. “Neither has really taken hold and become the No. 1 guy yet,” McKoy said. “It’s still very open but we’re hoping one of them will step up. Both are capable but we need that No. 1 guy.” Anchoring the offensive line is one of the state’s top sophomore prospects, 6-3, 320-pound tackle Israel Harris. The strength defensively is along the front with a ton of talent and experience returning, led by seniors Malachi Jefferson , Hendrix Beran and Dalton Woodal l. Tra’Sean White , a transfer from St. John’s, adds to the depth and will be a force, according to McKoy. Back at linebacker are Coleman Jones and Luke Thomas while Jamari Rivers returns in the secondary. “I feel like our defense can hold its own and then some,” McKoy said. The kicking game also will be a strength with the return of senior Grady Dangerfield , who has a huge leg and routinely lifts kickoffs through the endzone.

Trojans claim first baseball crown since 1996

Southside Christian is the 2024 Class A Baseball Champions!