PHOTOS: SCISA Basketball Tournament Action from Day 4 Games in Sumter.
Larry Gamble • February 19, 2025
SCISA Basketball Tournament Action from Day 4 Games in Sumter.
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Powdersville senior pitcher Landon Fowler
Barnwell senior pitcher Jaidyn Devore
By Billy G. Baker Publisher Moncks Corner —With thanks to the web site “High School Football America’s Draft Tracker” the HSSR is very proud of the 8 young men who played high school football in the state of South Carolina who had their names called in the recent NFL draft, held in Green Bay Wisconsin. While we already knew the majority of these athletes drafted, based on watching the draft in real time, this wonderful “High School Football America’s Draft Tracker” allows us to verify which states had the most players drafted, and share our own feelings about how the state of South Carolina stacks up against the rest of the nation based on sheer population numbers among other factors. In the recent draft the top 10 states in players drafted from high schools in each state included: Texas (36), Florida (24), Georgia (22), California (15), Virginia (10), with Michigan , Alabama , and North Carolina next with 9 each, while South Carolina and Maryland closed out the nation’s top 10 states at 8 each. As someone who has followed the NFL draft closely for the past 40 years, this reporter was a bit surprised at some of the NFL numbers produced by states who use to average more drafted high school players, than they produced in the 2025 draft. For example, the state of Ohio, with a population of 11.88 million people had just seven home grown players drafted in 2025. Pennsylvania, with a population of 13.8 million people had just five former high school players drafted! The 8 players from South Carolina include three from the Gamecocks. They include former Irmo FS Nick Emmanwori , (pick 35 by Seatle), former Marion star DL T.J. Sanders (pick 41 by Buffalo), and former Conway stand-out Tonka Hemingway (pick 135 by Las Vegas). Former Hammond five-star rated DL Jordan Burch , who spent the past two seasons at Oregon, after starting his career with South Carolina was pick 78 by Arizona. Former Clover High WR and Virgina Tech player Jaylin Lane went to Washington with the 128 th pick. Louisville’s Quincey Riley, a CB who played at AC Flora was drafted by New Orleans with pick 131. Former Gaffney stud and Georgia DL Tyrion Ingram - Dawkins was chosen by Minnesota with pick 139. The 8 th and final player drafted from the state of South Carolina was former Rock Hill and current Alabama tight end Robbie Ouzts. Based on a per capita formula, factored mainly on population and number of high schools in each state fielding a varsity football team, the state of South Carolina must be considered one of the top states in the nation for producing NFL talent year-end and year-out. Let’s compare the bordering states of North and South Carolina to document real data. The state of North Carolina produced 9 NFL signees in the recent draft, one more than South Carolina. They have a population of 11 million people, with nearly 525 high school varsity football programs. (Both public and private schools) The state of South Carolina has a population of 5.4 million people with around 252 public and private varsity football programs in the Palmetto State. On this per capita formula one would have to give the edge to South Carolina is the actual production of NFL talent based on the criteria used. The aforementioned information is a key reason the HSSR continues to complain about the accuracy of national recruiting services, who put out lists, in advance of the upcoming May Evaluation football recruiting period. As of April, 27 th 247 Sports listed 15 2026 players from the state of North Carolina in their national Top 247 Player list while only listing three players from the state of South Carolina! If this does not confirm a bias towards the state of South Carolina we hardly know what would! The facts are the facts. Going back 40 years there has only been an average difference of around two players a year difference between the two states in prep players going on to be drafted in the NFL despite the fact the state of North Carolina has twice the population and twice the number of high schools playing football. If you currently have 15 players in their Top 247 from North Carolina, the state of South Carolina should have at least 12 players in the current 2026 class on their list based on real data over time! The three prep players listed from South Carolina include South Pointe FS J’Zavien Currence , committed to South Carolina and Dorman FS Kentavious Anderson , a hard lean-to Clemson, along with Dutch Fork DE Julian Walker who is uncommitted. Numerous players in South Carolina, with 10 or more major college offers did not make the national 247 list headed up by Timberland OL Desmond Green who will come into the May recruiting period with 21 major college offers. Finally, there are only 20 players from South Carolina currently listed on the 247 state-by-state list, despite the fact the Palmetto State had 40 players sign on with major college football programs in 2025! At the same time, 247 Sports lists 54 players on the North Carolina state-by-state list for May evaluation. Does this seem fair? Three months ago, the HSSR pointed out that six of the 80 players invited to participate in the Next Level Under Armour All-American game, for rising freshmen were from the state of South Carolina. This all-star game was played in Orlando, Florida and witnessed by numerous national scouting services, If the 2030 football class from South Carolina does not have five or six players on All National Top 300 list we should all throw up our hands and wonder who is behind a bias that is not properly promoting the talent level of high school football in South Carolina.
State championship series for each of the four classes set for May 12, 13, 15
Patriots will play host to Spartanburg Christian on Monday in AAA playoff opener
Both teams 9-1 heading into final region series of the year
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Golden Eagles play host to St. John's Christian in AAA playoff opener on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
Holly Andrews leading the way for the Warriors
By Billy G. Baker Publisher Bamberg —The Class AA HSSR third ranked Barnwell Warhorses and the Class A Bamberg - Ehrhardt Raider baseball teams have both already won region titles, and they will both host four-team district play-offs in early May, so they met in a play-off tune-up game on Tuesday night with Barnwell winning 12-1. The two teams also met on April, 9 with Barnwell prevailing 3-0 in that game. Barnwell senior ace pitcher Cameron Austin, a five time all-region and four-time all-state honoree , improved his record to 5-2 on the season working five innings against the Raiders. Austin had six K’s and allowed only four hits. On the season, Austin has worked 39.1 innings with 58 K’s with a 1.23 ERA. The top hitters for Barnwell in the win were outfielder Tommy Reid with two hits, while Austin collected three RBI’s and scored two runs. Three players, Hayden Pierce, senior catcher Kaleb McCormack, and third baseman Trey Boleman , each had one hit and one RBI respectively . Carl Hines added a hit also. Bamberg was hampered by giving up 10 walks and four errors during the game. The Raiders were led at the plate by left-fielder Weston Stokes who went 2-of- three. He also saw late action on the mound. The team’s other two hits came from second baseman Dakota Black and center fielder Brent Amaker . The starting pitcher for B-E was Cooper Sandifer who worked 4.2 innings, giving up three hits with six K’s. After the game, Barnwell head coach Cody McCollum shared some thoughts with the HSSR. “We always have a good chance of winning with Cameron on the mound, especially when he is throwing strikes, and the guys are playing good defense behind him; and we are swinging the bats well,” said Coach McCollum, who played baseball at Barnwell where he graduated in 2012. “They walked a lot of guys tonight and that helped us too. “Winning the region was something I talked about with the boys at the beginning of the season because I felt like this team was good enough to go undefeated in the region,” said Coach McCollum. “We fell a little short last year, losing a region game to Edisto, and that stuck in the back of our heads, and this year our expectation was to go 10-0 in the region. “Our other internal goal is to win at least 20 games before the playoffs start and we are 18-4 right now, with four games left,” said Coach McCollum. “We need to win at least two more. We play Batesburg - Leesville tomorrow, (April, 23), South Aiken twice next week, and Woodland one more time. We are going to try hard to get two more wins.” Coach McCollum said that Austin, batting .468 with 26 RBI’s and six home runs, has played more third base, when not pitching this season. “Before I came back to Barnwell last year, I was at Hampton, and I had to coach against him, and I glad he is now on my team. He’s a very good player.” Coach McCollum said Barnwell has relied on Austin, and three other seniors for most of the load this season. “We have a sophomore and a freshman starting in the middle, and we have two sophomore starters in the outfield, and a junior started in center field tonight,” said Coach McCollum. “We are kind of young and old at the same time. “The other seniors are Kaleb McCormack , our catcher, who has improved his hitting this season along with and Trey Boleman who started at third tonight and Hayden Pierce was at first tonight, and he hit a double off the wall. Kaleb is a very good on defense behind the plate and we feel good about him, behind the plate, regardless of who is pitching.” Case Davis is a freshman starting shortstop with a .411 batting average. Pierce is at .390 and McCormick is at .289 with 16 RBI’s and a .999 fielding percentage. Joe Huggins is the DH and he is hitting .367. Sophomore Dakota Black starts at second. Tommy Reid is a junior center fielder currently batting .333. Vincent Gibson is a sophomore in the outfield for Barnwell. Jax Mead is a sophomore starting at second base. Caiden Roland is the sophomore starting right fielder. Some additional Barnwell pitching depth has come from, Pierce (5-0, 35 K’s, ERA 2.54), along with Bradley Richardson (2-0, 9 K’s), Boleman (26-K’s) and Davis (24 K’s with a 1.07 ERA). After the game, Bamberg Ehrhardt (8-6) head coach Gene Schwarting told the HSSR, “We have three 8 graders who start for us, two 9 th graders, one sophomore, a junior and two seniors so for the most part we are a young team,” said Coach Schwarting. “Our two seniors, Weston Stokes and Brent Amaker are co-captains” Stokes is the team’s number one pitcher. Stokes started in left against Barnwell and batted lead-off. Amaker started in center and batted third. Nasi Singleton, an 8 th grader , will typically start in the outfield and Garrett Wade usually starts at third base. Chip Brewer, or Stokes, will start at short and Dakota Black is at second while 8 th grader Chase Collins holds down first. Asiel Graham is usually the starting B-E catcher, backed up by Davis Ehrhardt . Singleton is the top hitter for the Raider at .477 and 8 RBI’s. Stokes is at .410 and 12 RBI’s. Black is third on the hit index at .333 and 15 RBI’s. Other top hitters include: Amaker (.317 with 17 RBI’s & a HR), Wade (.306 & 10 RBI’s) along with Cooper Sandifer (.300 & five RBI’s). Stokes has 26 innings pitched with 48 K’s. Sandifer has worked 22.1 innings on the mound with 38 K’s, and Brewer has 14 innings pitched to date with 25 K’s. “In terms of our pitching this season, it has been pretty good, but at times it has also been like a roller- coaster,” said Coach Schwarting. “We will pitch well one game, and not so well the next game. We also need to improve on our timely hitting before we start the play-offs also. “The other night we lost to Orangeburg Prep 6-3, and we left the bases loaded in the second, third, fourth and 5 th innings,” said Coach Schwarting. “”We have to get stronger in our hitting, up and down the line-up, one through nine. “Our pitching has been outstanding, our defense has been solid, and we just need to do a much better job getting hits with runners on base,” said Coach Schwarting, a Bamberg-Ehrhardt graduate now in his 7 th season as the Raiders head coach.