OCA Senior Peyton Shaw making a catch in the Class AAA state title game.

By WORTHY EVANS Contributing Writer ORANGEBURG – Moving up to 3A in the South Carolina High School League’s classification system didn’t bother Oceanside Collegiate . Neither did losing the head coach who led the Sharks to the 2A state championship last year. What mattered for Oceanside Saturday afternoon at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium was the steady guidance of interim head coach John Patterson , and sophomore quarterback Aidan Manavian connecting regularly with senior wide receivers against Belton-Honea Path . Manavian was 21-for-26 in passing for 326 yards and four touchdowns in the Shark’s 35-17 victory over the Bears to capture the 3A state championship. “It feels good. It beats the alternative, losing, I don’t like that,” Patterson said with a laugh. “It was a lot of adversity, but that’s what football is, that’s what life is. That’s what football teaches. You’ve got to keep showing up every day, grind, and if bad stuff happens you’ve just to to overcome it.” Oceanside Collegiate (11-3) moved up to 3A this year when the High School League instituted a student multiplier for charter schools that had the ability to recruit athletes outside of their school zones. The Sharks had beaten Gray Collegiate 35-28 for the 2A state championship the year before, but opened the season with a 35-7 loss at Irmo in August. After that defeat, head coach Chad Wilkes resigned for personal reasons. Patterson, an assistant with nearly 40 years of coaching experience, including head-coaching stints at Providence Day School in North Carolina and at James Island from 2007-2011, took over the Sharks. After that loss at Irmo, which played Northwestern Saturday night for the 5A Division 2 state championship, and a loss at Dutch Fork , which won its 9th state championship with a 5A Division 1 victory over Summerville , Oceanside Collegiate caught fire. The Sharks reeled off 10 straight victories and claimed a second-straight crown with the win over BHP (13-2). “We knew how good Dutch Fork was, one of the top 15 teams in the country,” Patterson said. “We were outmanned and didn’t have all our ammunition either. We kind of flushed it: ‘there’s the game, and it’s over, flush it.” Patterson added that the team asked him what he was happy about, “and I told them, hey, it’s like butter, because we’re ready to go on a roll, baby. That’s how that went down.” Oceanside stayed on that roll Saturday, moving the football up and down the field with ease, Manavian’s chief target among his seniors was Will Virgilio , who had five catches for 134 yards. Peyton Shaw had five catches for 66 yards, and Gavin Gasper had four catches for 65 yards and two TDs. Junior Terrence Johnson had five receptions for 57 yards and a score. “We come out every day to work as hard as we can, stay late, getting extra routes in,” Manavian said. “When you come out here and get a Dub, we’re already here, we’re on time, we’re ready to go. It feels great.” On defense the Sharks absorbed the furious running of BHP running back and Clemson commit Marquise Henderson . Henderson came into the game with 1,934 yards and finished the day with 188 yards and a touchdown on 42 carries. He even filled in for quarterback Noah Thomas , who went down with an injury in the first half. “Unbelievable player. Best to ever come through BHP,” Bears head coach Russell Blackston said. “He has 104 (career) touchdowns, I believe. The kid’s an unbelievable player, a Mr. Football candidate. A good player, man.” Oceanside built a 21-7 lead in the first half, scoring first on Manavian’s 9-yard touchdown strike to Johnson in the first quarter. Belton-Honea Path responded in the second quarter with Henderson’s 3-yard TD run, but the Bears gave up back-to-back scores before the half. Manavian connected with Shaw for a 25-yard touchdown art the 7:41 mark, and after BHP botched a pooch kickoff reception, the Sharks recovered and Johnson closed out the short drive with a 1-yard plunge into the end zone at the 5:58 mark. “They got an extra possession after we lost it in the sun,” Bears head coach Russell Blackston said. “We’d worked on that type of stuff all week, we just lost it in the sun.” The Bears drove to midfield on a clock-draining possession, but turned the ball over on downs. Oceanside Collegiate eventually punted to the BHP 1-yard line, where the Bears ran two plays and called it a half. Belton-Honea Path started the second half down 21-7 to the Sharks, and without Thomas at quarterback. Henderson shifted from tailback to quarterback and kept the Bears running. BHP moved downfield for most of the third quarter with Henderson running on most of the plays. On first and goal at the Oceanside 5-yard line he gave the ball to Justin Lathon , who barreled into the end zone at the 2:26 mark to cut the lead to 21-14. BHP defender K.J. Miles picked off a Manavian pass on Oceanside’s next possession, which led to Bears kicker Christian Bridwell’s 42-yard field goal with 26 seconds left in the third. That was as close as Oceanside would let the Bears come. Manavian closed out the victory with fourth-quarter touchdown passes of 19 and 13 yards to Gavin Gaspar . “We practiced for this every week. We’ve been ready for this, and we know what it’s like to be here,” Gaspar said. “I can’t say nothing bad about this team. I love everybody. No better way to go out.” BHP was looking to win its first state championship since 2004, when the Bears beat Dillon for the 3A title. Unfortunately, the school will have to try again. “I told them I loved them, told them that they had a good year,” Blackston said. “That a lot of teams would love to be where we’re at.” WIth two straight state championships in hand, Oceanside is in an enviable position itself. Patterson spread the wealth of victory among the entire team. “It means a lot, but I’m just a guy on a team, man, seriously,” he said. “I don’t think my role on the team’s any different than anybody else’s. Sometimes you play, sometimes you film, sometimes you manage the trainers, sometimes you’re the assistant coach or the head coach. And the head coach gets way too much credit, honestly. All the credit should go to the assistant coaches and certainly the kids.” Belton-Honea Path 0 7 10 0 – 17 Oceanside Collegiate 7 14 0 14 – 35 First Quarter O - Terrence Johnson 9 pass from Aiden Manavian (Nate Sturm kick) 4:47 Second Quarter B - Marquise Henderson 3 run (Christian Bridwell kick) 9:15 O - Peyton Shaw 25 pass from Manavian (kick failed) 7:41 O - Johnson 1 run (Kyle Baldwin pass from Manavian) 5:58 Third Quarter B - Justin Lathon 5 run (Bridwell kick) 2:26 B - Bridwell 42 field goal :26 Fourth Quarter O - Gavin Gaspar 19 pass from Manavian (Sturm kick) 11:40 O - Gaspar 13 pass from Manavian (Sturm kick) 4:07 BHP OCA First downs 17 16 Rushes-yds 59-234 14-22 Passing yds 16 326 Att-Com-Int 7-4-0 26-21-1 Fumbles-lost 2-1. 1-0 Penalties-yds 6-49 4-30 Punts-avg 2-32.0 3-36.7 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING B - Marquise Henderson 42-188, Noah Thomas 5-30, M.J. Earl 5-19, Justin Lathon 4-6, Tajeh Watson-Martin 1-2, Ty Parnell 2-7. O - Aiden Manavian 7-14, James O’Connor 4-9, Terrence Johnson 1-1, Team 2-2 PASSING B -Noah Thomas 3-4-0, Marquise Henderson 1-1-0, Ty Parnell 0-1-0, Tajeh Watson-Martin 0-1-0. O -Aiden Manavian 21-26-1. RECEIVING B -Tajeh Watson-Martin 4-16  O -Will Virgilio 5-134, Peyton Shaw 5-66, Gavin Gaspar 4-65, Terrence Johnson 5-57, James O’Connor 1-4, Kyle Baldwin 1-0.

Oceanside Collegiate Landsharks survived the battle with the BHP Bears in their 35-17 win to capture the Class AAA State Title. 

By Dennis Brunson hssr.com Associate Editor Mt. Pleasant – Even though it had taken the jump from AA to AAA because of reclassification and had to deal with a head coaching shakeup early in the season, Oceanside Collegiate Academy will be playing for the AAA state title on Saturday. And Landsharks interim head coach John Patterson isn’t surprised. “I don’t want to sound arrogant, but no, not really,” Patterson responded about getting to face Belton-Honea Path for the title. “Our non-conference schedule was so hard, and we won two of those five games. We knew if we could weather that storm, and we could get to playing schools our own size in AAA, we felt like we had a chance to be very, very, very good. “After (AAAAA juggernaut) Dutch Fork beat us (51-0), I told the kids we just played a game with none of our top four receivers against one of the top teams in America. I told them. ‘We’re ready to go on a roll. Are you ready to go rolling? Are you ready to rip off some in a row?’ They weren’t sure what to think of that.” Patterson knew what he was talking about as OCA hasn’t lost since. It will go for its ninth straight victory – and its second straight state title – on Saturday at noon at South Carolina State University’s Oliver C. Dawson Stadium in Orangeburg . Oceanside, which won the AA state championship last season, brings a 10-3 record into the contest against 13-1 BHP. In the playoffs, the Sharks have defeated Fox Creek 56-14, Waccamaw 36-6, Dillon 28-21 and Loris 42-7. OCA has a high-octane passing attack on offense led by sophomore quarterback Aiden Manavian . He has completed 213 of 310 passes for 3,181 yards and 38 touchdowns against just five interceptions. He had a 6-touchdown-pass game against Orangeburg-Wilkinson as well as a pair of games with five TD tosses. The four starting wide receivers are senior Gavin Gaspar , senior Kyle Baldwin , senior Peyton Shaw and senior Will Virgilio . Virgilio is the leading receiver with 65 catches for 1,030 yards and 10 touchdowns. Shaw has 50 catchrs or 849 yards and 10 touchdowns, Gaspar has 24 receptions for 330 yards and four touchdowns, and Baldwin has 10 catches for 135 yards and one touchdown. Junior running back Terrence Johnson is an integral part of the passing attack as well. He has 36 catches for 608 yards and 10 touchdowns. The Landsharks don’t run the football often, but when they do sophomore James O’Connor does most of the work. O’Connor has 570 yards and four touchdowns on 121 carries. Blocking up front is junior Mike Jones at left tackle, sophomore Grant Castellow at left guard, senior Charlie Bean at center, junior JB Crady at right guard and senior Carson Lee at right tackle. The tight end is junior Jake Thomas . The Oceanside Collegiate defense operates out of a 4-man front. That includes junior Sawyer Arnold at left end, junior Joey Harriott at right end, Jones at defensive tackle and sophomore Jaxson Bean at noseguard. Arnold is having a monster season as a pass rusher with 23 ½ quarterback sacks and six more tackles for loss among his 55 total tackles. Jones is also a pass rushing demon with 16 ½ sacks. He also has 45 tackles and four TFLs. Harriott has 42 tackles, one TFL and seven sacks. The linebacking corps is made up of all seniors in Kael Gilchrist , Max Moorman and AJ Zarzaca . Gilchrist is the leading tackler with 107 stops to go with one TFL and two sacks. Moorman is just behind in tackles with 105, but leads the way in tackles for loss with 25. He also has three sacks. Zarzaca has 65 tackles. Three-fourths of the secondary are seniors as well, both of the cornerbacks in Jack Wattie and Nate Sturm and strong safety Grayson Freeling . Sophomore Michael Strickler is the free safety. OCA has 15 interceptions with Sturm leading the way with five. Freeling and Wattie both have three, and Strickler has two. Strickler has 83 tackles and two TFLs, Freeling has 74 tackles, Sturm has 58 and Wattie has 50. Sturm also handles the placekicking and punting chores. Patterson accepted the interim role after Chad Wilkes resigned as head coach after the first game of the season. Patterson said his players handled the situation very well. “I think the kids handled it better than the adults,” said Patterson, who was the offensive line coach before accepting the interim role. “Kids are resilient; they just want to play ball. They were thinking we’ve still got a season to play. “You kind of get territorial as an assistant, so a lot of the kids I didn’t really know. What I did off the bat was meet with the kids that I didn’t think knew me. I asked them about their goals, about their parents, their brothers and sisters, and we just got to know each other. I think that helped a lot.” Patterson expects a tough game against Belton-Honea Path. “They’re a great team that is well coached,” he said. “They have tough kids, a marquis running back with a great pedigree (in Clemson signee Marquise Henderson ). It should be a great game. “We’ve got to execute what we do. We have to control us, we can’t control them. We’ve got to make plays when we can, not turn the ball over. We’ve got to be smart with the football. “The defense cannot give up big plays. We cannot let any one player beat you. We have to find a way to make them not do what they want to do.”

A championship season deserves championship recognition when your school makes it to the biggest game of the season. This past Friday, the Upper State Champions and Lower State Champions were decided. Now, these teams go to SC State University’s Oliver C. Dawson Stadium for “the cherry-on-top” of an already successful season and compete for the title of State Champion . Every school playing this week is a Champion. Now is the time for schools and parents to celebrate making it to the State Championship Game. After all, your team made it further than any other team in your region and classification. Every team and every player earned their spot in State Championship game. The Championship Game Programs capture those life-long memories made during this season, culminating in getting to the state title game. Let’s celebrate the achievement of your student athletes. The SCHSL has the HSSR produce the official, full color, championship game program. This is a valuable keepsake for parents and students to mark the conclusion of a great football season. For each game, the HSSR produces two unique programs that are tailored to the Upper State Champion and Lower State Champion with ad from their supporters and the opposing team’s roster included to know who is on the field. In previous years and in addition to the parents, businesses, and alumni supporting the school, other sports have used half or full-page ads to show their support and highlight their own accomplishments along with a team photo. We have ads from baseball, softball, basketball, and cheer to mention a few that congratulate the football and show their support. The official game program ads earn double credit so your ad supporting your school, your team, and your student athlete also supports continuing sports coverage for your school and all other student athletes for another school year. The High School Sports Report monthly edition goes to over 250 colleges and universities athletic departments.

OCA's Sophomore QB Aiden Manavian threw for over 200 yards and 3 TDs in the win over Dillon.

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).

Oceanside Collegiate's senior WR Gavin Gaspar

Loris RB Deuce Stephens