By Billy G. Baker Publisher Florence —Newcomer Loris High went up against seven-time state championship coach Zach Norris and Keenan (21-8) in the AAA boy’s lower state basketball finals at the Florence Civic Center on Feb., 28 and after this “scrap on the court” the Raiders prevailed 42-39 in a game that had several lead changes. Keenan will now rest their legs and get ready to play Powdersville High on Thursday March, 6 at 6 p.m. in the same arena. Powdersville nipped Christ Church 58-57 to advance. After this “every shot contested, every point earned game”, Coach Norris shared some thoughts with the HSSR, “It was that type of game for sure,” said Coach Norris. “It was a battle start to finish. We like to score inside and their zone defense made it a challenge for us. “I thought Antoine Caughman knocked down some big jumpers for us today,” said Coach Norris. “This was one of my more -prouder wins. You know our players could have hung their heads and said this is not our day, but they kept battling and battling, until we got it over the top, I felt like in the second half we played a lot better defensively. I also think we turned it over less.” With history making hanging in the balance against Powdersville next week, what does Coach Norris feel like his team needs to improv on? “We just need to execute better in all phases of the game,” said Coach Norris. “We just need to develop a plan to attack packed in zones better. In this game they were doubling up Brian Sumpter every time he had the ball.”  Loris head coach Andrew Eads told the HSSR after the game, “I thought we played well enough to win and I thought we had a really good game plan,” he said. “I am incredibly proud of the effort my team put out there. Sometimes the ball bounces off the rim in strange ways as it did for us several times in this game. “We knew coming into this game it was going to be physical and contested the whole way,” said Coach Eads. “We were ready for it. We were right there but we just could not get it done.” Loris has just one senior starter moving on in B.J. Johnson . “He could not find his footing at the start of the season but he kept working and improving and I could not be prouder of him,” said Coach Eads. This state championship game will have a lot of attention drawn to it as Keenan High will be going for their 10 th state boy’s state title, and should they defeat Powdersville, it will tie the school with Great Falls and Hall of Fame coach John Smith for most state titles by a SCHSL member. Coach Norris has played in 11 state finals to date, winning seven of them. Loris started out with a 10-5 lead over the Raiders after the first period. Khalid Sherman made two free throws and scored on a driving lay-up to put Loris up 4-1 at the 3:50 mark of the first period as both defenses dominated. The second period produced more offense with Keenan leading 20-16 at the half. The Raiders used a 7-1 run to build an 12-11 lead with 4:39 left in the second period. Broderick Anderson hit three-point shot and Ny’Keim McNeil scored off a steal-lay-up, and then Noah Smith added the 7 th point of the run on a put-back shot that gave Keenan their first lead of the game. In the third period both teams battled like an Ali-Frazier prize fight. After Loris guard Nigel Miller hit a floater to cut the deficit to 21-20 Khalid Sherman made two free throws to give the Lions the lead at 24-23 with 4:24 left in the quarter. Then Keenan’s Brian Sumpter scored on a put-back and Antoine Caughman scored on a twisting lay-up to put the Raiders back up 27-25 with 3:06 to play in the third. The third quarter ended in a 31-31 tie after Loris junior forward Jacobien Lewis converted one of two free throws with 2.5 seconds left. Keenan had pulled ahead 31-30 with 31.8 seconds left when Caughman made two free throws. In the fourth period, the intensity of the game reached a feverish pitch, with every steal, soft dunk, and foul whistled by the officials drawing either cheers or boo’s depending on what fan base benefitted. With 2:53 left in the game, Keenan took a 41-35 lead after a three-point shot by Caughman and a put-back by Marcus Simmons . In the final two minutes of the game Loris saw two lay-ups fall off the rim in near misses and neither team scored a basket in the final minute of the game. The closest Loris got was 41-39 with 1”31 left when Khalil Sherman converted two free throws. The final point of the game was claimed by Keenan on a free throw with one minute left. For the game Keenan was l din scoring by Caughman with 17 points followed by Andrson and Simmons with 8 points each. Sumpter contributed five points, McNiel three points, and Ty’Heim McNeil added one point. Loris had 8 players scored one point or more. Khalil Sherman led the team with 10 points followed by Khalid Sherman with 8 points. BJ Johnson contributed six points while Miller, Tyler Brown , and Lewis each had four points. Jay Stevenson scored two points and Mykhei Bell had one point.

By Billy G. Baker Publisher  Moncks Corner— For the majority of the 2024 football season BHP, and first year charter school Mountain View Prep were the top two teams in the weekly HSSR AAA football rankings and one of the them is heavily favored to compete in the gold medal round hosted at South Carolina State University on Saturday December, 14 at noon. In the HSSR final AAA ranking Mountain View Prep has moved to number one in the ranking with BHP a close number two led by Clemson running back commitment Marquis Henderson (5-11, 179). With their 48-7 win over Broome last week, they finished the regular season as the only undefeated team in AAA. The Stars simply have too many offensive weapons (roster boasts 72 players) to be denied an opportunity to win a AAA football championship in their first year of playing varsity football. They are led by Broome running back transfer Jaylin McGill who went into the game this past week with 1,237 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns on 108 carries. McGill is among the top running backs in the Southeast area in the Class of 2026. MVP senior quarterback Bryson Drummond went into the final regular season game having completed 99-of-142 passes for 1,807 yards and 22 touchdowns. His top targets have been junior WR Kadarius Hainsworth (37-903-15 TD’s) and senior WR Kaevon Washington (18-426-2 TD’s). McGill is right behind with (19-385-7 TD’s). Senior RB T.J. Gassoway provide depth at running back for MVP and he had 245 rushing yards on 28 carries and 3 TD’s going into the Broomer game. This first year charter school is simply loaded with a team of transfers with a roster loaded with potential next level players for head coach Grey Ramsey . This team’s mascot is “Stars” for a reason. On defense MVP is led by senior LB Eli Smith with 57 tackles, 6 TFL and two interceptions. Senior DL Quay McCauley has 38 tackles on the hit index with 11 TFL including a team leading seven sacks. Senior DL Shannon Whiteside has 36 tackles, 9 TFL and four sacks. Junior DB Jacobe Smith has 30 tackles, three TFL also. MVP will host Carolina High School this week at Newberry College in the first round of the AAA play-offs. With either top ranked MVP, or second ranked BHP favored to emerge as the AAA upper state champions the AAA lower state is not as predictable but the favorites at this point are region rivals Loris, ranked number three in AAA and Dillon ranked number four. When the two teams met earlier in the season at Loris, the Lions pulled out a 30-27 win and neutral observers at the game were quick to point out that Dillon was flagged around 18 times to only four penalties for the Lions. “It seemed every time we got a drive going, we had some odd penalties called that killed our scoring opportunities, and after we looked at the film on Saturday, we wondered why several of them were called at all,” said Dillon head coach Kelvin Roller . (No doubt a highly rated crew of officials will call the next game if these two teams meet in the play-offs and the HSSR predicts the penalties will not favor either team 18-5. (See in-depth story on Dillon on page 14 of this issue) No doubt, Loris has one of the better defenses in AAA. Their 14-13 lost to Socastee is the only blemish on their Lions season to date. Loris (9-1) have defeated teams 363-83. The Lions have three talented running backs and none of them are seniors. Sophomore Makel Stephens (5-8,175) finished the regular season with 642 yards and 13 TD’s while soph Roderick Purcha (5-10, 160) contributed 478 yards and seven TD’s. Junior Khalil Sherman (5-11, 175) has contributed 438 yards and seven TD’s. Loris has a junior QB Zamire “ Moon ” Gerald who has a strong arm. He finished the regular season completing 109 passes for 1,298 yards and 16 TD receptions. His top targets are senior Quantez Dyson (6-11, 165) who has 382 reception yards on 17 catches and five TD’s to date. Junior Jacobien Lewis is next with 14 catches for 287 yards and fie TD’s. Senior Zhimir Herring has caught 13 passes for 205 yards. On defense, Loris is led by three veteran seniors. Senior MLB Avery Todd (6-0,185) has 70 tackles along with two TFL. The most impressive head hunter for the Lions has been senior OLB Javon Johnson (5-10, 210) who also has 70 tackles, but his 19 TFL and a team leading seven sacks are very impressive. Senior ILB Patrick Bellamy is third on the hit index with 60 tackles and three TFL. Loris also gets additional defensive support from junior DE/LB Landon Connor ((6-0,225) who has 56 tackles and 8 TFL along with junior DE Damarea Thurmond who has 53 hits and seven TFL. Woodruff is also having an outstanding season from the up-state and lower state foe Oceanside Collegiate won the AA state title a year ago, and they could be a spoiler in the play-offs. (See story on Oceanside on page 45 of this issue).

Loris RB Deuce Stephens

Wayne White Special to the HSSR Myrtle Beach – The North Myrtle Beach Chiefs (0-3) will host the Loris Lions (3-0) on Friday, Sept. 13 th with the kick off at 7:05pm. This makes the 54 th game of this rivalry. Last season, this game went to double overtime before Loris got the 27-21 win. Fans will be able to hear this game on the Charlie Stuart State Farm Chiefs Sports Network and watched live on the NMB Chiefs Facebook page as well as the Chiefs Sports Network's YouTube channel. The Chiefs come into this game winless for the season, with a tough loss to Goose Creek in Week Zero, followed by two close but losing effort games to Darlington then West Brunswick (NC) to put their record at 0-3. For this game, NMB’s third year head coach Greg Hill will count on senior Drew Prince RB (5-11, 170) to continue his 7.8 yards per carry average and add to his 3 TDs for the season. The Lions come off a 7-3 season last year and got to the first round of the playoffs. This is the fourth season for head coach Greg Mance who has 14 starters returning. Junior QB Zamire “Moon” Gerald and senior RB/WR/FS Quantez Dyson (5-11, 160) and junior WR/DB Jacobian Lewis (6-2, 170) are their keys on offense, while the defense is solid with junior HB/LB/DE Landon Connor (6-0, 225), junior DE Damarea Thurmond , and senior OLB/RB Javon Johnson (5-10, 210) anchoring the Loris defense. The Chiefs are playing their first season in Class 5A. Loris is in Class AAA. So far this season, the Lions are score over 30 points per game while NMB is putting up 20s. With a rivalry this long term and a double OT game last year, this should be an exciting game.  Loris will have a bye week for 9/20 and NMB will host Marlboro County that day.