South Florence Appearing in Third Straight Title Game

By Dennis Brunson

Hssr.com Associate Editor

Florence – South Florence High School is playing in its third consecutive AAAA football state championship game. Bruins head coach Drew Marlowe said this is the most unexpected of the three.

Two years ago, SFHS was led by current South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers and went 15-0 on the way to its first state title. Last year, South Florence brought a 14-0 record into the title game before losing to Westside 34-32.

On Friday, the Bruins will be trying to keep Westside from winning two in a row as they battle in a rematch at South Carolina State University’s Oliver C. Dawson Stadium in Orangeburg beginning at 7:36 p.m.

“They’re all a little different,” said Marlowe, whose team brings an 11-3 record into the contest. “This one is a lot different than the ones we had in the past. At the beginning of they year if you had told me we would play for a state championship I wouldn’t have believed you. We’ve really improved throughout the year. They’ve shown the most growth of any team I’ve ever coached.”

Marlowe said an inexperienced squad had to grow up in quick fashion because of the early schedule.

“Last year we graduated 29 seniors, had five guys that were 4-year starters,” Marlowe said. “We were not necessarily playing a lot of freshmen or sophomores, we just had a lot of guys who had not played a lot of football. Two of our first three games were against Summerville and Northwestern, and both of them are stilly playing (Summerville for the AAAAA Division I title, Northwestern for the AAAAA Division II title). That was a major learning experiences for us. Those were games where, quite frankly, they kicked our butts. We were forced to grow up quickly.”

The Bruins like to control the football offensively with a powerful running game. They have a 2-back set that features senior Zion Gilbert and senior Tre Leonard. Gilbert has rushed for 952 yards and nine touchdowns on 113 carries. Leonard has 1,287 yards and 15 touchdowns on 120 carries.

Junior quarterback Messiah Jackson has carried the ball 92 times for 324 yards and nine more scores.

They are running behind a line that has senior Jayden Granger at left tackle, senior Barry McLaughlin at left guard, senior EJ King at center, senior Tyler Cockfield at right guard and junior Josiah Mason at right tackle.

Also playing major roles in the blocking scheme are junior tight end Ethan Cash and junior H-Back Bruce Thompson.

While the main focus of the offense is the run game, that doesn’t mean SFHS can’t move it in the air. Jackson has completed 124 of 211 passes for 1,933 yards and 27 touchdowns against eight interceptions.

He has two outstanding wide receivers to throw it to in senior Jayden Sellers and senior Lennix Valarie. Sellers, who has signed to join brother LaNorris at USC, has 52 catches for 888 yards and 11 touchdowns. Valarie has 40 catches for 785 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Sellers also has 472 rushing yards and 10 scores on 54 carries.

The defense is led by senior 5-star recruit Amare Adams at one end. The Clemson signee has 73 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, five quarterback sacks and five QB hurries.

Senior Jeremiah Mitchell and junior Brenden Williams share time at noseguard while junior Marquez McKithen is the other end. Mitchell has 22 tackles and two TFLs, Williams has 24 tackles and one TFL, and McKithen has 21 tackles and two TFLs.

Senior Cameron Coe and sophomore Terry Gordon are the outside linebackers while junior Willie Kennedy is at the Will and freshman Warnell Prew at Mike. Coe has 85 tackles, three sacks and six TFLs, Gordon has 84 tackles, four sacks and 13 TFLs, Kennedy has a team high 108 tackles to go with four TFLs, and Prew has 77 tackles and three TFLs.

The cornerbacks are junior Will Wilson and senior Avon Rosado while the strong safety is junior Amare Reaves and the free safety is junior Gerkeimn Hall is the free safety. Wilson has 42 tackles, Rosado has 62 tackles and two TFLs, Reaves has 51 tackles and one TFL and Hall has 52 tackles and a team high four interceptions.

Senior Evan Holland is the kicker for extra points and field goals. He has connected on 65 of 68 PAT attempts. Junior Bryson Brockington is the snapper while junior Ben Tyner is the holder.

Coe and Jackson share punting duties with Tyner serving as the snapper.

Sellers returns both kickoffs and punts. He is averaging 26.2 yards per return on nine punt returns, taking three of them back for touchdowns. Leonard and freshman Semaj Parker return kickoffs and Reaves returns punts.

Improved tremendously in the off season, Jackson started working in January to be a great QB and leader for us working hard every Saturday in January until season started. Emergence of Lennix Valerie who only played in only 4 games last year is healthy this year. These two guys push hard and are showing dedication to be play their best.

I think really Jayden didn’t play last year 7-7 over summer. Lead receiver spring and summer. His confidence has grown big-bodied receiver 6-3, 175 go et it and great ball skills. He plays with energy and a lot of toughness this year.

This year, we've had some outstanding plays by the offensive line. Early on and banged up weren’t able to play all five from beginning of year. We also got great play by our tight ends and our H-backs who believe in hard physical running of the football.

TRre and Zion are in a lot of ways a blessing, they seem to great success, pull for each other and they feed off each other, pull each other, and working stronger together.

This team has improved a lot. Been really good, really blessed. Especially young on defense. They struggled early until last couple of weeks. Freshman middle linebacker is one of nine guys started very first varsity game this year. These players grew and developed as the season progressed.   they started playing to win and not to lose, that seems to be how they turned corner on this season. Coach Marlowe told the HSSR that he is proud of how these guys stuck with it and worked through the early struggles to get better.

Certainly toughest challenge this work is being aggressive on defense and maintaining ball control on offense.

This South Florence team brings to the state title game lots of experience and one of best leaders, not because of being a great football player. It's about their hard worker and team development. This is a great example of what want the whole team to be.