Gridiron 2026

2026

Season previews and schedules for all 12 high schools in Sumter, Clarendon and Lee counties

The Drew Marlowe

EFFECT

B2 | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2026

2026 GRIDIRON

THE SUMTER ITEM

Marlowe brings new energy to alma mater in first season at Sumter High

BY TIM LEIBLE tim@theitem.com

If you pull into the parking lot behind Sumter High during a football practice in the fall, on the surface, it may come with a familiar look. The practice is well-structured, and the athletes are eager to put in the work in order to win a football game on Friday night.

But when you take a few steps closer, you also might notice the head coach with his hand on the chest of a defensive lineman. It’s not because that athlete is being reprimanded; quite the opposite.

The head coach wants to teach his offensive tackle how to most efficiently block on a running play to open up a hole for their star-studded backfield.

That’s what Drew Marlowe is bringing to Sumter High.

Marlowe returned to his alma mater this year with the goal of repeating the success he had for the last six years at South Florence, where he won

two SCHSL 4A state titles and played in four consecutive championship games. He’s doing so with the lessons he learned from excellent head coaches during his tenure as an assistant at Sumter High before getting his first head coaching gig with the Bruins.

“When he was here the first time, he coached under Paul Sorrells, Reggie Kennedy and Mark Barnes, and he's taken a little bit from each of them,” noted running backs coach Corey Mitchell. “I remember Sorrells feeding the teams after games, and now Marlowe feeds our players almost daily. Kennedy was a player's coach, and the kids loved him and would run through a wall for him, and now Marlowe has the same impact on the kids. Barnes was a great X & O coach, and Marlowe is all about X's and O's and putting our players in the best situations to be successful.”

The leader of the Gamecocks is bringing the perfect blend of old and new school, with the youthful energy that gets his players amped up to come to practice every day. Barnes was extremely successful at Sumter High, winning 107 games during an 11-year tenure. Marlowe didn’t need to start from scratch when he walked in the door. Instead, he’s using what worked under Barnes’ leadership and putting his own spin on the program he grew up with.

“Coach Barnes spent a lot of time with Drew when he was on the staff before. We all knew Drew wanted to be a head coach and knew he was going to be a successful head coach. In my opinion, he’s taken traits of coach Barnes, he’s taken traits of coaches that he’s played for and taken his own, as well. I think it’s a tremendous combination of all three phases. He’s everything you would want a head coach to be right now,” said Mike Moss, who coaches defensive linemen at Sumter High. “He relates to the kids really well. We’re playing music every day at practice; everything is more upbeat and really, really positive. It’s a pleasant transition. He’s from Sumter, he knows these Sumter kids – not necessarily individually right away, but he can relate to them, and that’s important.”

The pace of practices is sharp, and the players feel that sense of urgency every single day.

“I think we do stuff a lot quicker,” said senior quarterback Frank Richardson. “Like we're going to do our work right now, we're going to do it here, here, here, and then when we're

done, we're going to be done with it. I like that part about the program.”

Perhaps most importantly, Marlowe is a doer, not a sayer.

“The first day, they did up-downs for being late to class. They had 105, and he did every single one of them with them that day,” said Jordan Gregg, who coaches defensive backs for Sumter High and worked with both Barnes and Marlowe as both a player and a coach at SHS. “Just showing them instead of telling them is a big thing for them. It’s not just him, a lot of the other coaches do. I always lace up my cleats for practice because I want to show the DBs how to do something.”

Like Barnes before him, Marlowe sets an extremely high bar. He expects to contend for a state championship in December, and he’s going to do whatever it takes to make sure his team is prepared for the moment.

“I've always just believed you chase perfection; you chase perfection every day. Now, you've got to be willing to deal with losses every day if you're chasing perfection, but to set the bar any lower than that is, for me personally, just something that I'm not willing to do,” Marlowe said. “Every day, I expect myself to be perfect. I expect every single one of these guys to be perfect. At the end of the day, we find out where we were lacking, and the next day, that's where we begin. That's why things like give a maximum effort all the time and sprinting to the ball and all the little things that we're trying to teach, that all goes into measuring how far away are we from perfection. And the next day, going back to work on the same focus and proving to become perfect in order to, at the end, win a state championship. And so that's sort of just the way we roll every single day. I have no interest in what our record may or may not be. Everything's about winning in November. Everything we do between now and the first week of November is preparation for those five weeks.”

Marlowe’s success at South Florence also gives him a certain level of gravitas with his athletes. The Gamecocks know when he says he is striving for perfection, he means it, and he intends to use that motivation to help them earn some hardware at the end of the year.

“The kids look at him and the success he had at South, going to four state championships and winning two, so they know he’s not just talking about it, he’s actually been there and had positive results. They feel confident he’s going to bring that success here,” Gregg said. “I think the players are really buying in because he’s showing them ways to win and how to finish, something we’ve struggled with in the past. He always talks about finishing, whether it’s practice, workouts, going to class, being on time, he’s always talking about finishing. They’re receiving that well, and I can see it at practice, how they are in the weight room, even stuff that’s not football related. I think he’s bringing a very positive atmosphere coming back home. He’s showing that he really cares for them, which is really a huge thing, too.”

It also helps that Marlowe is a Sumter native. He played football for the Gamecocks and came back to coach as an assistant at his alma mater before venturing out into the world for his first head coaching gig. But most importantly, he came back home with a hunger to help the Gamecocks achieve something they haven’t since 1987.

“I’m just so thankful for the opportunity to come back home and lead a program that I played for and frankly have dreamed my whole life of having the opportunity to lead,” the head coach said. “Our goal, the only one, is to win the state championship, and their focus every single day is on improvement. We really don't have anything in between just because I don't have the mental space to focus on other things in between. Everything that we do has got to be geared towards improving. And now look, it's not just improving at a specific skill in football. We've got to do a better job as a team in the way that we act in the school building. We've got to do a better job of being accountable and responsible for carrying the name of being a Sumter football player in the school, in our community. We've got to improve academically a lot.

“And so, when I'm talking about improvement, now I'm not just talking about getting better at throwing the football, getting better at getting off blocks. I'm talking about the whole person development has got to be better every day.”

Sumter High has always had former athletes on their coaching staff, but they’ve taken it to a new level under Marlowe. Most of the coaching staff came through the program as a player, and it starts at the top. That comes with a level of investment that’s hard to match.

“That just shows somebody who has deep roots in Sumter and also takes Sumter football and Sumter in general, seriously. He brought or kept coaches, where I think there’s nine of us that played at Sumter High, so that shows you that we’re not here just because,” Gregg said. “We went here, we played here, we’re from here, so we have those deep-rooted connections that give us that extra motivation to want to see the kids do better. I think his goal was to come back for a team he played for and win state championships here.”

When the Gamecocks travel to Summerville on Friday, the real journey begins, and Sumter High is ready for the challenge.

ABIGAIL PITTMAN / THE SUMTER ITEM

Sumter High head coach Drew Marlowe returns to his alma mater after a six-year run at South Florence, which included two SCHSL 4A state championships.

2026 GRIDIRON

THE SUMTER ITEM

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2026

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Sumter High embracing expectations as Marlowe returns to alma mater

BY TIM LEIBLE tim@theitem.com

Expectations are always high for the Sumter High football program, but the bar might have moved up even further when the Gamecocks hired Drew Marlowe to return to his alma mater in February.

Marlowe spent the previous six years leading South Florence, turning the Bruins into one of the most consistent football powers in the state.

They played for the SCHSL 4A state championship game in each of his final four seasons at South Florence, winning a pair of titles in the process.

Now, the Gamecock faithful hopes he can bring that level of success back in Sumter.

“That’s certainly welcomed pressure, I guess you could say. We want to be in a position where people expect us to win and expect us to win big,” Marlowe said. “For me personally, our goal is always going to be to win the state championship, but that's not our focus. My focus every day is what do I need to do to put our players in the best position so that they can improve. And so, measuring efficiency and measuring growth and finding ways to challenge them in new ways has really and truly been my focus. The outside noise is something that I've never really heard a whole lot of. I don't think anybody puts more pressure on me than myself. But we're really just focused on the things that we can control and improve on.”

Luckily, Marlowe has some experience at arguably the most important position in sports: quarterback. Frank Richardson enters his third season as the Gamecock signal-caller with his own share of expectations. He’s heavily recruited at the Division I level, earning offers from programs like South Carolina, Duke, Maryland and more. Richardson is most known for his ability to punish teams on the ground, rushing for 1,424 yards and 31 touchdowns a year ago, but SHS plans to expand their passing attack this fall with an experienced QB leading the way.

“The most important player on any team is the quarterback, so having a guy who has big game experience I think is really important. Having a guy who has a lot of confidence in himself and his ability is really important,” Marlowe said. “What I have been really impressed with with Frank is his level of humility. If you hung around Frank, you wouldn't know that he's a highly recruited guy, highly successful guy. He just wants to learn and get better. And that's sort of the traits of a quarterback who knows and understands how to win. And so that's been huge, that's been good for our team to have.”

Sumter High’s offense will have a new look this fall, shifting away from the triple option they ran a year ago.

“The offensive change both in players and in scheme, it's a really tough transition,” Marlowe said.

“When you go from being primarily a triple-option team to being what we're going to be, and that's going to be primarily a power run, play action,

RPO-type team, those two styles couldn't really be more different.”

The Gamecocks will still lean heavily on their rushing attack. Richardson is joined by two more returners in the backfield, Reggie Shannon and Cleveland Pinkney IV. Both backs surpassed 800 yards a year ago, with Shannon totaling 871 yards and 12 touchdowns, while Pinkney ran for 885 yards and six scores.

“The strength of our team is going to be in our backfield with Frank and two other very capable runners, Reggie Shannon and Cleveland Pinkney.

That's sort of what I want to do. I want to be a dominant run team,” Marlowe said. “I think any time your quarterback is a threat to run the ball and you make a defense defend 11 people, it makes it really hard to stop. We're a work in progress on offense; we will be the entire season.”

Sumter High has been extremely run heavy for the last few years, so one of Marlowe’s offensive questions coming in the door was figuring out who would be able to step in at wide receiver.

“When you're a triple-option team, you don't have many receivers. Building that room up has been a point of emphasis from us from a fundamental standpoint,” Marlowe said. “They've got to know how to run routes, where to sit down in routes, how to catch the ball, whereas primarily before they were blocking on the perimeter. Those guys have done a good job, too.”

Richardson is confident with the crew that will be on the receiving end of his passes this fall.

“We have a tight end, he's about 6'5", about 230, Ari Rendell. We have somebody, this is what, his second year? Josh Pendergrass, Chase Solomon,” Richardson said of some of his top targets throughout the offseason.

“We've always had receivers, I feel like, but we just ran the ball more.

And now that we have a passing game in, now our receivers can show that they actually are receivers.”

Up front, Sumter High has their share of returning talent in the trenches, but the coaching staff had to teach a completely new style of play after running the triple option a year ago. Cooper Ziegler returns at center, to anchor the line alongside Brian Johnson and Javon Canty, both returners for SHS. Outside of that trio, the Gamecocks are rotating through a few options to see who will thrive on Friday nights.

“Up front, we've got some guys returning, but they're playing in an entire new system, an entire new way of thinking and doing things. So, the process of their improvement on the offensive line is always going to take the longest, but I've been really pleased with how hard they've worked to improve,” Marlowe said.

“We're probably going to have a rotation throughout the first four or five weeks of the season until we can just find out who the best people are. One of the gifts we have is the ability to rotate people. We have enough good players that when you set out to play 15 games, that's a lot of football games, and it's the most taxing on the offensive line because of the way they have to practice, the nature of their job, what they have to do; the physical toll that it takes on an individual is higher on the offensive line than anywhere else.

So, the fact that we have seven guys, eight

guys, who we feel like we can rotate through, I think will be good for our longevity as we prepare to play into December.

“I'm really fortunate that I was able to bring my offensive line coach with me, who was with me for six years at South Florence.

Those guys are working really hard to improve.”

One of the reasons the offensive line has been able to grow throughout the offseason is the fact that they have to face linebacker Rashaun Dickey every day. Dickey was a standout on the defensive line last season, and the move back to linebacker is only going to open up his ability to make an impact for the Gamecock defense.

“What he's too humble to tell you is he whips our behind every day. He's the reason that I can't find a tackle that can play,” Marlowe joked about Dickey. “Coming off the edge, Rashaun is as good as they come.

What I do tell our guys every day, though, is if we can ever figure out a way to stop this guy, we can stop anybody. So, it's a blessing to have a guy like Rashaun on the edge to go against every day to sharpen and improve our guys.

Competition is how you've got to improve, and then we've got that in Rashaun.”

Dickey is a key piece in what Marlowe expects to be a strong defensive unit, led by DC Cannon Jordan.

“We're going to be very multiple.

We're going to base out of a 3-4. We'll be a reduction-based defense, primarily playing Cover 2 and Cover 3.

Again, very fortunate that I was able to bring my defensive coordinator with me, who was with me all six years at South Florence, Cannon Jordan. He does a great job of being really hard to prepare for; he's a great communicator,” Marlowe said. “We think that we're really talented at linebacker, and so we're going to be in a 3-4 where we've got four linebackers on the field. We've got a strong safety who we believe can roll down and play as a fourth linebacker type versus certain teams. A little bit different, verbiage different, certainly, but those guys are doing a really great job of learning to adapt to new verbiage, new scheme.

“At the end of the day, defense comes down to tackling people.

No matter how you get where, everybody's got to end up in a gap, and everybody's got to end up in a certain part in coverage. Defensive football is about lining up, getting to the right spot, and then tackling the guy with the ball. If you can do those two things, you can be really good on defense. I know that sounds like an oversimplification, but it's true. It's what we believe in.

It's served us well in the past, and that's what we're working towards this year.”

B3

Alongside Dickey, Nayshaun Brown is a critical part of the second level of the defense at inside linebacker. Damarion Holmes is also in the mix at linebacker.

They’ll play behind a more inexperienced defensive line, which features Aaden Addison, the younger brother of current South

Sumter High linebacker Rashaun Dickey is a key returner to the Gamecock defense at outside linebacker.

Carolina defensive lineman Anthony Addison, Dreshawn Slater, DJ Collier and Zeiveon Perrott, along with a few other defensive linemen who will rotate in. “(Brown) and Rashaun will be the heart and soul of our defense. We need them to play at a high level every single night. We need them to be good leaders for everybody else. Along the defensive front, we're very inexperienced. We're very talented, but we're very inexperienced,” Marlowe said. “I could list for you seven or eight guys but, again, it is such a trying to find the right pieces (on the defensive line), the number of groups we're going in every single day. I have no idea what we'll look like by Week 1 when we travel to Summerville, but I feel like we're going to play a lot of guys to find out. There's a difference between playing in practice every day and then getting under the lights. There's just a different thing that happens to kids, and some kids are positively impacted by it, some kids are negatively impacted by it, and so we've got to continue working on fundamentals but then get to the first Friday night to see who can play when the lights are on, who can play under pressure, who can play when things are not going well and who can play when things are going well.”

In the secondary, Samaul Montgomery, Josh Peeples, Zhyier Butler, Jaquaylen Dennis-Harriett and Larome Bradley will all play a role for Sumter High.

The regular season slate for Sumter High will look a bit different this fall. Marlowe wanted his team to be challenged throughout their non-region slate, and they’ll face some of the state’s top programs as a result. Week 1 sees SHS travel to Summerville, where they ended their season in 2024 with a loss in the SCHSL 5A-DI state semifinals. The Gamecocks will also travel to Dutch Fork, the most consistent program in the state in the last decade, while hosting both Dorman and White Knoll. That’s not to mention an extremely challenging region, which includes Ridge View and 5A newcomer Gray SHS CONT. ON PAGE B13

2026 Football Schedule PHOTOS BY ABIGAIL PITTMAN / THE SUMTER ITEM

Sumter High quarterback Frank Richardson returns for his third season as the starting Gamecock signal-caller.

8/21 @ Summerville 8/28 vs. White Knoll 9/4 vs. West Florence 9/11 @ Crestwood

9/18 @ Dutch Fork 9/25 vs. Dorman 10/2 vs. Blythewood 10/9 vs. Gray Collegiate

10/16 @ Ridge View 10/23 BYE 10/30 @ Spring Valley

B4 | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2026

2026 GRIDIRON

THE SUMTER ITEM

Knights look to charge ahead with move to SCHSL 3A

BY TIM LEIBLE tim@theitem.com

The Crestwood football team is back in SCHSL 3A after a brief foray in the 4A ranks. They charge into the 2026 season with a ton of returning talent but had to find some answers to replace a few big names.

The first change came at offensive coordinator, which led directly to the loss of a young standout player. Willie Martin left the Knights to become the head coach at Windsor Forest in Georgia and brought his son, Jayden Martin, with him. Stepping into the OC role is Willie Glover, who has been a staple of the offensive staff but now gets a shot at calling plays.

“Willie Glover, first of all, been with me for about seven years now.

He knows our program, understands our kids, understands my philosophy and whatnot,” head coach Roosevelt Nelson said. “He's bringing a little different spin offensive-wise. Still keeping some of the same things we had success with in the past, but as a new offensive coordinator, he's going to put his own stamp on things.”

The other departure comes at running back, as heavily recruited sophomore back Brayden Boults moved down to Texas near the end of the summer. Luckily, the Knights already have a stud back returning in Charlotte commit Calvin Wofford.

He rushed for 1,357 yards and scored 13 total touchdowns for the Knights last fall, earning Region V-4A offensive player of the year honors in the process.

“It's a tremendous comfort as a head coach in the program knowing you have a running back with Calvin Wofford’s quality that's in the backfield, an all-state caliber running back,” Nelson said. “He’s doing a tremendous job for us right now.”

But Wofford won’t be alone in the backfield. The Knights have some young standouts who will give the senior a chance to catch his breath, filling out what should be a talented group of skill players.

“A name that we're going to look out for is Darrell Epps; we call him Shiloh. He's had a tremendous winter for us, a tremendous spring. He’s a track kid, very, very fast, explosive.

He's going to get the ball a lot in space. With CJ, he’s going to create some mismatch problems,” Nelson said. “Chance Mack is another individual I think is going to do a tremendous job for us at a receiver standpoint, along with Silk Watlington and Sintez Durant. Those guys are doing a really good job for us this spring and fall camp so far catching the football and doing good things on

MICAH GREEN / THE SUMTER ITEM

From left, Crestwood's Ahmadre Ricks, Calvin Wofford and Yachin Gamble are the senior leaders looking to carry the Knights to contention in SCHSL 3A this fall.

the perimeter blocking, as well.”

The Knights also bring back quarterback Marek Yates, who surpassed 1,000 yards through the air and passed for 10 touchdowns last season. With another year under his belt, Nelson expects the junior QB to take a leap this fall.

“I think the game is starting to slow down a little more from now going to the second year and starting,” Nelson said. “Last year, being a sophomore at about 15 years old, everything was going very, very fast for him. He had a decent season as sophomore, maybe threw for close to 1,000 yards. But I think this year the game is going to slow down a little more for him, making better decisions with football in critical situations on the field.”

Luckily, Yates will have some continuity in front of him on the offensive line. Aiden Mack was an important graduate on the offensive line, but most of the line is back and ready to open things up for the CHS offense.

“We bring back three or four starters in terms of the line, led by Ladarius Thompson. He’s probably the strongest individual in our program, pound for pound between him and Yachin Gamble. He's an individual that took a really big step this year in his vocal leadership. He's already leading by example, but now he's doing a little more talking. He's going to lead the offensive line; he's the one that's got the most experience,” Nelson said. “We’re bringing back Kyson Rigby, our center who started for us last year. Jarius Haney started for us last year; Lathan Greene is another starter for us on the offensive line. So, we feel good about our offensive line.

We feel like we have seven offensive linemen going into a game that can play good, quality football for us.”

On the other side of the ball, the Knights return two inside linebackers who have been terrors for opposing offenses throughout their careers.

Gamble had 79 total tackles last year, 20 tackles for a loss and an interception, while Ahmadre Ricks added 88 total tackles, 10 tackles for a loss and three picks.

“These two guys have been threeyear starters. The game should slow down for them tremendously going into their senior year.

We’re going to lean on them as leaders on the

field as far as our vocal leadership, and also the way to prepare at practice every day as far as game study,” Nelson said of his linebacker duo.

“These two individuals, I’m very, very proud of the work they’ve put in from winter up to now. They're leading by example; they work every day tremendously hard. Watching film, they never loaf to the football; they’re actually one of the first ones around the football. They’re setting the example for the other guys.”

The Knights also return some beef in front of them, led by Peyton Bradshaw-Grant at nose guard.

“Peyton Bradshaw-Grant going to his three-year starting for us coming up. He occupies the big nose guard for us, doing a tremendous job keeping those guys clean and being able to make a lot of plays on the field. Marcarius Hogan, a young guy that has a tremendous upside for us. Not the tallest individual in the division world, but he's a guy that is very coachable, works tremendously hard and gets after it. Lathan Greene plays some defensive line for us, as well. Those are guys who are going to help us out on the defensive side of the ball, as far as from a box standpoint,” Nelson said. “Going to outside linebacker, Tate Haynes is very, very explosive, physical. Beans (Quezhon McMillan) is another three-year starter at outside linebacker. He’s a guy who gets overlooked sometimes, but he definitely is a ballplayer.”

On the back end of the defense, the Knights lost an important senior in Da’Shan Scriven, who represented Crestwood in the Shrine Bowl as a defensive back, but the Knights are excited about their talent in the secondary.

“The leader on the back end is Chrishaun Miller. He started for us every game last year as a sophomore.

He learned a lot from Da’shan Scriven back there. He took the biggest step secondary this year. He's being a leader back there. We talk to him a lot about leadership on the field. He's doing a tremendous job for us,” Nelson said. “And after that, it's kind of a three-four-man rotation for the best guy who's getting in right now. Knaai (Loney) is another individual doing

a good job for us. With him, Matthew Lewis, another young guy that's going to be in there playing a good bit.

Javarion Williams is another kid at the safety position that’s coming along.

Those guys in the back end are actually working their tail off to make sure they're solidifying a starting spot.”

The Knights are hopeful that they can break through a tough region, which includes Aynor, Loris, Hartsville, Atlantic Collegiate, Darlington and county rival Lakewood, as they look to compete for a SCHSL 3A title.

That process starts with a trip to Manning on Friday.

“Our team goal for the year, we kind of have these goals up: to win our opener, beat our crosstown rivals, both from Lakewood and Sumter High, win the conference and win the state championship. Those are actually our team goals,” Nelson said.

“But one goal for me as a head coach is to make sure I see my team improve week by week, make sure I'm preparing the guys to go out and play their best football.”

2026 Football Schedule 8/21 @ Manning 8/28 vs. Goose Creek 9/4 vs. Marlboro County 9/11 vs. Sumter High 9/18 @ Aynor 9/25 vs. Loris 10/2 BYE 10/9 @ Hartsville 10/16 vs. Atlantic Collegiate 10/23 vs. Darlington 10/30 @ Lakewood

2026 GRIDIRON

Lakewood ready to bounce back in under first-year head coach THE SUMTER ITEM

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2026

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B5

BY TIM LEIBLE tim@theitem.com

The Lakewood football team is ready for a fresh start under first-year head coach Jerran Devlin. The Gators were unable to win a game a year ago but have things moving in the right direction as they move back down to SCHSL 3A this fall.

“The biggest thing was getting the numbers back to where we need them at,” Devlin said of breathing life back into the program. “I think we have 64 kids in our program. And honestly, we want to get to 75 and just getting those kids back to playing Lakewood football.

“Coming in, our biggest thing was just culture and setting that standard on what we expect out of the kids from a day-to-day basis,” the new top Gator continued. “They did a great job just coming in and embracing that culture.

Our kids did a really good job of taking to the new way of kind of how we go about coaching and the daily things that we do in our program; they did a wonderful job.”

The move down to SCHSL 3A should be a massive boon for Lakewood. They go from being the smallest program in 4A to sitting on an even playing field. They also no longer have to face a team that played for four consecutive state titles in region play with South Florence no longer in the region. Along with Crestwood, the Gators now share a league with a few familiar faces, as Darlington and Hartsville make the move down with them to 3A. Atlantic Collegiate, Aynor and Loris round out the region, which means a few long road trips to the coast will be in their future instead.

Lakewood will also not open their season against county rival Sumter High. They’ll be able to focus on their rebuild by facing programs that are similar in size.

“We were playing big schools such as Sumter High, South Florence, championship-winning teams. It was a struggle,” said senior lineman CJ McLeod.

“We were a smaller school, didn't have a lot of kids on the team, barely had a JV – we had a JV for two games.

Moving back down is really exciting because we get to play against competition that's on our level.”

Offensively, Lakewood returns a

MICAH GREEN / THE SUMTER ITEM

Lakewood head coach Jerran Devlin, center, speaks at the Sumter Item Football Media Day, presented by Hines Furniture, on Saturday, Aug. 1, alongside Brian Brooks, left, and CJ McLeod.

dynamic athlete in Brian “BJ” Brooks.

Throughout his high school career, he’s played quarterback, running back and wide receiver. He’ll do all three this season.

“Being able to play multiple positions, it helps everybody else around me thrive. At the end of the day, that's a goal,” Brooks said. “Winning is a team thing, and everybody thrives with me.”

But Brooks won’t be the every down signal-caller for Lakewood. That duty lands on the shoulders of sophomore Justin Wilder, a southpaw with a solid arm and excellent athleticism.

“He played sparingly as a freshman. He has the talent to be really good. As he goes, our offense will go,” Devlin said. “But he wants the ball in his hands; he hasn't shied away from the spotlight. He's going to be really good for the Gators.”

Jamodicus Nesmith will pair with Brooks out at wide receiver, while Lakewood plans to use a variety of guys in the backfield to keep their legs fresh.

Isaiah Evans, Jordan Butler and Josh Lawson are

among the backs that will tote the rock, alongside Brooks and Wilder.

“It's still going to be running back by committee,” Devlin said. “We want to try to get the ball to as many guys as we can; it's not just going to be one guy who we're looking to tote the rock all the time. It's going to be multiple guys.”

As far as the style of offense Lakewood plans to run, Devlin is trying to streamline things for his squad this fall.

“We want it to be simple to us but complicated to the defense,” the Lakewood HC said. “We want them to spend Sunday into the wee hours trying to figure out what we're doing. It's a lot of motions, a lot of shifts, making them align right. And when they aren't aligned right, we want to take advantage of it, and hopefully we can have big gains.”

Devlin’s biggest offensive question during the summer was the offensive line. The Gators were able to get a couple of linemen to return to the program after stepping away last fall, and that unit is starting to find itself as the season approaches.

“We know we had the skill guys out wide who could really do things for us, but the big question mark coming in was, was our offensive line going to gel and come together?” Devlin said.

“Corbyn Zimmerman is going to play guard for us. Shon Maple is coming off for injury last year; he'll be a rising junior. Connor Lee is playing guard for us, and our right tackle is still kind of a question mark. I think I have a good idea who it's going to be, but we're not ready to kind of pencil him in yet, but that guy could be really special when it's all said and done.”

The “simple for us, complicated to them” approach carries over to the Gator defense under new defensive coordinator Elmer Bench.

“We're based on alignment and effort,” Devlin said. “I feel like if we can align right and once their ball is snapped, know our assignment and just run our behind to the ball, we have a chance. It's simple. Again, kind of the same thing on offense as it is on defense; we're going to look complicated, but to our kids, it's simple. Because I feel like if our kids know their assignment and they can line up right, they're going to play fast.”

One noteworthy change on defense is moving Dorian Dingle from safety to linebacker, where he can get his hands dirty every play. Dingle helps round out the box for the Gator defense, which Devlin expects to be a strong group.

“He's a really good athlete, really good kid. He understands the game of football,” Devlin said of Dingle. “Our two inside linebackers are Christopher Adams and Demarion McDowell.

They're young in the sense that they haven't played a lot of varsity football, but they're eager to get coached up. Our front three, Shon Maple, Eric Consuegra and Corbyn Zimmerman, they're really talented. You're not going to find three as talented up front as those three.”

Lakewood returns a little bit more talent at the third level of the defense.

Nesmith and Kenyon Cooper are the starting corners, while Jahmari Witherspoon and Zakari Boulware are the starting safeties as Lakewood’s last line of defense.

“They're probably our most experienced group on the back end, and they're understanding what we're trying to implement, and they're making a lot of plays,” Devlin said. “It was shocking how fast they came together because it was maybe like the second or third week in spring football practice, and they were just flying around like they've been doing it forever. So that gave me a lot of hope for that side of the ball.”

Devlin and the Gators understand that Rome wasn’t built in a day. While it’s going to take time to build the program in his vision, Devlin wants to make sure Lakewood lays a strong foundation this fall.

“I think first thing is just to compete,” the head coach said of goals for this season. “If you look at a lot of the scores last year, we were never really in the game. We want to keep it close in the fourth quarter and see how the ball rolls. We want to compete in that sense. I think the second thing is just grow these guys as men. A lot of times people want to look at the scoreboard and the wins and losses, but are we winning in the community? Are we winning in the classroom? And that's where we're really going to base our wins and losses year one.”

2026 Football Schedule

ABIGAIL PITTMAN / THE SUMTER ITEM

Lakewood senior Brian Brooks will play everything from quarterback to wide receiver this fall.

8/21 @ Andrews 8/28 @ Lower Richland 9/4 vs. Dreher 9/11 vs. Brookland-Cayce 9/18 @ Darlington 9/25 BYE

10/2 vs. Hartsville 10/9 @ Atlantic Collegiate 10/16 vs. Aynor 10/23 @ Loris 10/30 vs. Crestwood

B6 | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2026

2026 GRIDIRON

THE SUMTER ITEM

Riding run of 3 consecutive championship appearances, Barons look to break through with plenty of new faces

BY TIM LEIBLE tim@theitem.com

For the last few years, Wilson Hall head coach Adam Jarecki has preached the same message to his team: The standard is success. For the last three years, that standard has been the chance to play for the SCISA 3A title, playing in the final game of the fall each season. This year, they’re looking to finally break through for a state championship, but they’ll have to do it with a few new faces.

The Barons had a massive senior class last year, which included quarterback Ford Wilder, who is now playing college basketball at the University of South Carolina, running backs Milling Galloway and Ben McLaurin, defensive backs Cooper Hill and Matthew Behmer, and offensive and defensive line standouts Andrew Howle and Walker Wilson, just to name a few. But Jarecki doesn’t see this as a year to reset. The Barons are reloading and ready to make another push.

“We’ve had a great run, and we've had a pretty prosperous last three years. We're very fortunate right now, we've got a lot of kids in our program and a lot of guys that are participating in football. And it's just kind of been feeding off of one another and moving on year to year,” Jarecki said.

“We graduated a big group last year, no doubt, a lot of athletes and a group that actually played for three state championships. They've moved on, so now we've got a lot of new faces; guys that got a lot of experience last year but just don't see a lot of the same people that we've seen the last few years. But we still feel pretty good about where we're at. We've got a big roster right now, probably the largest roster we've ever had. A lot of guys that are playing never played before and wanted to join in, and some athletes that have kind of grown up and moved up in our program.”

The backfield will look a bit different for the Barons this season, with Cameron Wilsey as the primary returner from a year ago, though Shep Vincent got some experience a year ago after some injuries in the backfield.

Nolan Gooch was Wilder’s backup at quarterback last season and will try to fill the shoes of an important leader.

“We're returning four starters on offense, so to say we say we've got to replace Ford, we've got to replace the entire backfield except for one. Four starters on offense and three of them are linemen and we return our B-back, Cameron. So, yes, Nolan's stepping into the position, but we also have Helms Horton moving up as a sophomore. Both of them are getting a lot of

reps right now, and we feel really good about where they're at. We were fortunate last year to move up the JVs early. Basically at our open week, we got them, so they played with the varsity for six weeks going in through the playoffs. So, Helms got a lot of reps during that time, and Gooch got plenty of reps last year with Ford. And we feel like because of our system and what we do, they're just going to step right in into that position.”

Vincent’s experience of playing for a state title game should be a major plus for the Barons this fall, and Jarecki likes how the rest of his skill players are starting to slot into place.

“We were very fortunate with some of those games we got to put them in early, and they got to play a lot. We return Shep Vincent, he had to step up in the state championship last year when we lost Milling. Hadrian Hughey moves up from our JV team, and we've got a lot of faith in him.

He’s just a tremendous athlete that we feel good about him coming up.

And then Michael Hunter is a junior that has gotten some quality reps, and he's looked good in the preseason.

And then we've got some young guys, some sophomores that will get some looks, too,” Jarecki said. “At split end, we return Griffin Jones, a senior. He was one of the rotation last year, and we've got Wilson Mims that plays tight end/split end; we move him out. And then we've brought in a couple of new faces that are new to our school that moved here. Blane Batt came over early this summer, and he's worked with us all summer. He's going to fit right in some of these spots. We've got some quality people that we feel like can step into these roles.”

While the offensive line loses two critical players, Wilson Hall has three starters returning to that unit. Reese Wilson and Peyton Gilley are the top returners from a year ago to anchor the offensive line.

“We feel like that's probably one of our most experienced strengths right now,” Jarecki said. “Four of the guys that we have up front got a lot of quality snaps last year. Two of them, one being all-region offensive linemen, and then we return one of our tight ends.”

The turnover continues on the defensive side of the ball, as Gilley,

Reese Wilson and Wyatt Meyers are the lone returners. Wilsey will step into a larger role at linebacker, as will Wilson Mims, Clay Jones and Jack Gratz. They will fill in around Gilley, the team’s top tackler last year with 61 stops, six of which went for a loss. He also intercepted three passes and had three sacks. Wilson and Myers will look to control the trenches on the defensive line.

“It kind of goes back to our front, that's probably where we have the most experience with two starters here up front and, of course, with Gilley in the middle,” Jarecki said of the strength of his defense. “We have a system on defense, and we feel like if we can live up to our system and what we do and be aggressive and play hard, I think we can be right there where we were. We don't know yet, it's still early. I hope we can defend the pass and hope we can stop the run because we know we're going to hold the ball on offense and we're going to get our four yards and keep it from you, but we've got to be able to stop people.”

The secondary will be almost entirely brand new, though Vincent was able to get some experience last fall.

“It's going to be three brand-new ones. That's the challenge, and we'll see,” Jarecki said of the secondary.

“Shep will play back there, Griffin.

Hadrian will be back there some, and Blane. It's just that we're limited in the number of those kind of skill guys that we have, and they're just going to have to play a lot on both sides of the ball.

We don't feel like we drop off a lot from where we were. We think, athletically, we're in pretty good shape, just some new faces, but they're very experienced, and they know what we're doing and kind of step right into what we've been doing.”

The Barons expect to compete for another state title at the end of the year, though they’ll face a pretty challenging schedule on their way there.

MICAH GREEN / THE SUMTER ITEM

Wilson Hall's Wyatt Meyers, left, and Reese Wilson are among the handful of returning starters from last year's run to the SCISA 3A title game.

They’ll meet a SCISA 2A powerhouse with Williamsburg Academy in their third game of the season and have a matchup with 4A juggernaut Hammond to open October. Wilson Hall embraces the challenge as they work to take home a trophy at the end of the season.

“We want to be competitive every week. We've got a tough schedule, and we should. We've played in the state championship three years in a row; we should be playing the very best that SCISA has,” Jarecki said. “We picked up Hammond this year and, of course, Hilton Head Christian being a 3A opponent that we're going to have to play, Laurence Manning every year.

Williamsburg's on our schedule, and they're the two-time defending state champion in their classification. Week in, week out, we're going to see quality people, no doubt. And that's the way it should be. And we just want to be competitive and try to strive on doing our very best right now. We don't want to put all our eggs in a basket later in the year; we've got to take care of business now. We preach 1-0 every week and do those little things to get that success and be competitive, and that's where we want to be.”

2026 Football Schedule 8/21 vs. Orangeburg Prep 8/28 vs. Hilton Head Christian 9/4 @ Williamsburg Academy 9/11 vs. Thomas Sumter 9/18 @ Laurence Manning 9/25 @ Florence Christian 10/2 @ Hammond 10/9 vs. Southside Christian 10/16 BYE 10/23 @ Trinity Collegiate 10/30 vs. Northside Christian

THE SUMTER ITEM

2026 GRIDIRON

Laurence Manning jumps into first season under Rankin

BY TIM LEIBLE tim@theitem.com The Laurence Manning football team enters the 2026 season with their fourth head coach in as many seasons this fall, though they’ll be under the leadership of a veteran of SCISA football. David Rankin comes to LMA as the next stop in a 40-year coaching career. His most notable was an extremely successful run at Lee Academy, which included a run of four consecutive state championship appearances. He most recently coached at Carolina Academy.

In taking over the Swampcats, Rankin’s top priority was simple.

“We've got to get more physical.

We're going to work on that,” said the veteran head coach. “We had a great summer; we're heading in the right direction.”

The Swampcats quickly bought into Rankin’s plan for the program.

“Learning a new system is always a challenge, but Coach Rankin and the rest of the coaching staff have done a good job of getting us where we need to be, and I think we had a great summer, and I'm excited for the fall,” said senior tight end and linebacker Asher Sanders.

“They bought in the first game,” Rankin said. “I’m a little different, OK? I say things that normal coaches don't say.

I'm practicing when normal coaches don't practice. I've been successful for 40 years, and I'm going to keep doing it.”

This year’s Laurence Manning squad won’t mirror many teams that Rankin has coached

Laurence Manning senior Asher Sanders will play H-back and Sam linebacker for the Swampcats this fall.

throughout his career thanks to his quarterback, Grainger Powell. The senior QB passed for 1,747 yards and 13 touchdowns against just three interceptions a year ago, adding another four touchdowns on the ground.

“We're going to be able to throw it a little more than we have in the past.

When we had Bryce Barrett over at Lee, we threw it a lot; with Grainger, we’re going to throw it, and we’ve got some people that can catch it. We'll use a few RPOs, and we'll go from there,” Rankin said.

Paired with Powell is electric receiver Scoop Dennis. The junior wide out caught 30 passes for 536 yards and six scores. He’s a big play waiting to happen with his blazing speed, which opens up opportunities for other pass catchers like Rob Briggs, Connor Carter and Sanders.

“We’ve got great chemistry between Grainger, me, Scoop, Rob, some of the other guys,” Sanders said. “Scoop's a great athlete, and just having that competition and just having someone to learn from and kind of see just kind of the way he does things. Rob as well, they're just kind of pushing us to be the best versions of ourselves.”

On the offensive line, Blandyn Miller transfers in from Atlantic Collegiate and provides some beef up front.

He’ll be paired with Tristan White, Cayden Hardy and Cody Taylor up

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2026

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B7

PHOTOS BY ABIGAIL PITTMAN/THE SUMTER ITEM

Laurence Manning's Pierson Gamble will start for the Swampcats at both running back and linebacker this fall.

PHOTO MICAH GREEN/THE SUMTER ITEM

Laurence Manning head coach David Rankin speaks at The Sumter Item Football Media Day, presented by Hines Furniture, on Saturday, Aug. 1 alongside senior Asher Sanders, right.

front.

“They've gotten better,” Rankin said of his offensive line. “A little bit worried about depth. We need some depth.”

The backfield will be led by Pierson Gamble, Eli Gamble and A.J. Dennis at running back with Bryson Pepper, E. Gamble and Sanders rotating at B-back. With the combination of offensive line and skill position players, P. Gamble is excited about what the Swampcat offense will be able to do this fall.

“I think our line's going to be one of our big strengths this year. We’ve got Blandyn Miller, who just transferred in,” Gamble said. “I think we've had a good line in the past, and I think with Grainger, for me sometimes it's hard to tell whether he's going to pull it or give it to me, but it really does open it up a lot. Whether I'm swinging out the backfield or just punching it in behind Tristan, I’m pretty versatile.”

A lot of the same faces will be making an impact on the defensive side of the ball. Eli Gamble, Cole Lambert, Miller and White will be the primary group on the defensive line, while P. Gamble and Pepper line up at inside linebacker next to Sanders as a strong side linebacker/nickel corner.

“It definitely is great, especially at the inside, whether we're blitzing the A-gap, B-gap, whatever it may be.

Having Tristan and Blandyn in there to open it up while having Eli and Cole on the end to contain it,” P. Gamble said of playing behind that defensive front. “It's always nice getting the backfield for a sack as a linebacker.”

The bigger question mark on defense is in the secondary. The group will include some combination of the Dennis brothers, Briggs, Bryce Phan and Nathan Hyde.

“4-2-5 base defense, get after it,” Rankin said of the style of defense LMA will play. “Everybody's got a gap, play your gap and play the hardest you can play.”

Laurence Manning has an interesting schedule this fall.

They open with SCISA 2A stalwart Williamsburg Academy before dipping into the SCHSL

ranks to face off with East Clarendon for their second game of the season.

Along with their rivalry matchup with Wilson Hall, LMA will see the regular SCISA powers like Hammond, Porter-Gaud, Northwood Academy and Pinewood Prep, who makes the jump from 3A. Rankin thinks the Swampcats will be successful if they play team-first football.

“It's all about the ‘Cats,” Rankin said. “Have character, attitude, trust each other, and service. That's kind of what we build our team on. If you do the little things well, the big things will take care of themselves.”

2026 Football Schedule 8/21 @ Williamsburg Academy 8/28 vs. East Clarendon 9/4 vs. Hammond 9/11 @ John Paul II 9/18 vs. Wilson Hall 9/25 vs. Augusta Christian 10/2 @ Cardinal Newman 10/9 @ Porter-Gaud 10/16 BYE 10/23 vs. Pinewood Prep 10/30 @ Northwood Academy

B8 | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2026

2026 GRIDIRON

Experienced Monarchs ready to make push for SCHSL 2A title

THE SUMTER ITEM

PHOTOS BY ABIGAIL PITTMAN / THE SUMTER ITEM

Manning's Isaiah Hamilton returns as the Monarchs' left tackle for his third season.

BY TIM LEIBLE tim@theitem.com

For the last two years, the Manning football program has been consistently relevant in the SCHSL 2A landscape. Two years ago, they played for the lower state championship before making a run to the third round a year ago. Now, most of their roster back for another go around, the Monarchs are ready to try to break through that wall and make a push for a state title.

“I done been in the third round and to lower state, so (there’s) only one more goal, state championship,” said senior Daniel Robinson.

Manning head coach Reggie Kennedy thinks this is the group that can do it.

“I’ve been at Manning eight years; this is probably one of the most talented senior classes I've had since I've been there. There's a few other things we need to adjust. I think we could be back in the mix again up to the coming year in 2A football,” Kennedy said.

“When you repeat as region champs, you're kind of the big dog that everybody trying to take down. And this class don't want to be that class to get taken down. These guys kind of know what it takes to win and know what it takes to be champions.”

With the Monarchs, it starts in the trenches, as Kennedy wants to control the pace of the game offensively with their rushing attack. Manning has plenty of experience up front, though it’s a unit that lost a few starters. Semaj Bush returns for his fourth year as the starting center, while Isaiah Hamilton will lock down the left tackle position for the third year in a row. The newcomers to the

Manning's CJ Robinson returns as the Monarchs' top receiving weapon and No. 1 cornerback this fall.

MICAH GREEN / THE SUMTER ITEM

From left, Manning's CJ Robinson, head coach Reggie Kennedy, Ethan Lowder and Isaiah Hamilton speak at The Sumter Item Football Media Day, presented by Hines Furniture, on Saturday, Aug. 1.

starting lineup include guards Tyler Gamble and Ayden Lyles, while Tyshawn White and Dorian Wilson compete for the right tackle spot.

“I'm still in the old-school mode. I think the game is won in the trenches,” Kennedy said. “I'll tell you probably one of the biggest (things for) us is that we picked up a new line coach over from Sumter. We got Austin Floyd, and he's been a great pickup for us. He coordinates our run game, he’s our co-offensive coordinator, and he's doing a heck of a job with the group since he's gotten there with us.”

The biggest name to graduate from Manning was running back-turned-linebacker Jontavious Canty. He was truly a monster for the Monarchs last season, rushing for 1,047 yards and 16 touchdowns despite missing a month with a hip injury to open the season. The upside to missing their star back for their entire non-region schedule was the ability to mix in some other runners.

Daniel Robinson returns with 716 yards and six touchdowns from a year ago, while Isaiah Baxter ran for 515

yards and five scores.

“We're going to run the football first. If you're a running back, you want to come to Manning,” Kennedy joked. “But Daniel Robertson, Isaiah Baxter, those guys, they had the split time back there during the time Jontavious was out. Going into the spring and the summer, we hadn’t missed a beat with those two guys back in the backfield.”

Manning brings back all of the key players in their passing game, as well. Lovell Stevenson passed for 1,299 yards and 15 touchdowns last fall while adding 354 yards and eight scores on the ground. CJ Robinson led the team in receiving with 47 catches for 876 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Jordyn Thompson is back at receiver alongside Jayden Woods.

“I feel like one aspect of the game sets up the other aspect of the game.

I think to throw the ball, you've got to be good in your run game or vice versa,” Kennedy said. “So, with Lovell coming back at quarterback, CJ back at receiver, Jordyn Thompson back at receiver, these guys have played together for the last four years, and it might even go back farther than that back to rec ball. So, they kind of know each other. We’re going to throw the ball. We want you to pack the box down, and we create some one-onones on the edge with CJ and Jordyn and Jaden Woods, those guys. All those guys are experienced out there on the edge from last year. So, we all feel like our run game sets up our passing game. It's not a trick when we throw the football.”

The defensive side of the football is pretty similar, with Jontavious and Dontavious Canty as the main losses on that side of the ball. Vijay Donaldson, Rashard Billips and Lovon Stevenson, last year’s sack leader, are all back up front. Ethan Lowder racked up 155 tackles and 18 stops in the back field and returns at inside linebacker.

He’s flanked by Daniel Robinson,

Cameron Green and Malachi Rankins.

“I always like to bring the energy for the defense in general,” Lowder said.

“But I think everybody's got a good thing going, as far as their attitudes.”

The entire secondary is back, as well. CJ Robinson and Baxter return at corner with Thompson and Woods back at safety. Kameron Blanding will be added to the mix this year as someone who can play both safety and corner.

“And I just feel like with that front seven and the back four kind of meshing together and everybody playing the role, we could be pretty good on defense,” Kennedy said.

Simply put, with this level of experience, Manning is ready to compete for a title, though they have to survive a tough region first. County rival East Clarendon and Lake City are carryovers from last season, while perennial 3A power Dillon comes down to 2A to join Region VI-2A along with Marlboro County and Waccamaw.

“We want to be reckoned with,” Kennedy said. “It's a realignment year.

We're in a very tough region, we’ve got a tough schedule, probably one of the toughest schedules I've had since I've been in Manning. But we want to build as one of the top programs in the state, and the way you do that is do things the right way and continue to win.”

2026 Football Schedule 8/21 vs. Crestwood 8/28 vs. Scott’s Branch 9/4 @ Fairfield Central 9/11 @ Lake Marion 9/18 @ May River 9/25 BYE

10/2 vs. East Clarendon 10/9 @ Lake City 10/16 @ Dillon 10/23 vs. Waccamaw 10/30 vs. Marlboro County

Manning's Ethan Lowder is back for the Monarchs after leading the team in tackles in 2025.

2026 GRIDIRON

THE SUMTER ITEM

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2026

East Clarendon looks to break through in tough SCHSL 2A

BY TIM LEIBLE tim@theitem.com

The East Clarendon football program continues to build under Larry Cornelius, who enters Year 4 in charge of the Wolverines with additional duties as the interim athletic director.

The one thing that has eluded EC has been a deep playoff run, as the second round of the postseason again proved to be a roadblock last fall in a 9-3 season.

“I think I speak for everybody when I say we're hungry, and East Clarendon is not the team that is going to lose in the second round of the playoffs every year,” said senior linebacker Crosby Timmons. “We're not satisfied with that. We're ready to get past that, and we really want to do it for our fans because Shad Hall Field is a very special place.”

East Clarendon found success last season despite losing star athlete Takoda Cornelius, who did a little bit of everything on offense and started on defense, in the first game of the season. His father and head coach was extremely proud of the way the team rallied without their standout senior and thinks this year’s team will benefit from having to make such a massive adjustment right out of the chute a year ago.

“That was probably the hardest thing for me ever as a coach is when Takoda went down. The funny part is everyone thinks it’s because he's my son. Obviously, that plays a part in it, but when you lose your best player at a skill position Week 0, you've got a lot of things going on in your head. And I'm just so proud of our team,” Coach Cornelius said. “Obviously, we didn't want that injury, but it was one of the best things for our team because we realized we can't rely on this kid to make a 70-yard catch or whatever. It put pressure on everyone else. There was a lot of guys that stepped up. As a dad, that’s where I was proud of the young one, Skyler, because I expected him to be maybe the third running back coming into the season, maybe get some playing time on special teams, and he ended up being a little dude for us. I think he gained some valuable experience amongst everyone else.”

The Wolverines will have some serious beef up front opening up opportunities for their offense, as four of their five linemen are back in the fold.

Coach Cornelius thinks that group will

be even better with one of his former Lakewood standouts, Malik Richardson, taking over duties as the strength coach.

“We really only lost one starter, Zay (Xavier) Smith. So, we should be rolling, but you never know. You have to have the line click,” the EC head coach said. “Our tight end that we had (last fall), we actually moved him back to the line, so he's going to start at right guard as of right now, Johnny Boyington. We've got three starters on the left side and in the middle in Walker Kirby, Koy Wright and Colten Baker.

And then right tackle, we're going to split time as of right now between two defensive starters, Jesse Floyd, ‘Big Papi’, and Avery Lowry.”

East Clarendon returns their main rushers from a year ago. Skyler Cornelius rushed for 944 yards and had 12 total touchdowns as a freshman, working nicely off Picasso Brown.

Shamar Graham moves from receiver to running back this fall, while Blease Hardy is the bruising short-yardage back.

“I feel like we have four running backs. Skyler led the team with rushing yards, but that doesn't mean he's the best running back, that's the epitome of what our offensive line does.

But each one of our running backs, I think, gives us something a little bit different,” Coach Cornelius said. “Skyler always seems to find those extra yards, doesn't come down off of one hit. I think Picasso is going to be more of our banger; he's going to hit some big plays for us. We've got Shamar Graham, he was a former receiver, but he's pretty big up top. He's benched a little bit over 300 pounds, so we're excited to see what he's going to do. And, of course, we've got Blease Hardy.

He's that kid that's going to give you that extra yard. So, we feel really good about our backfield.”

At quarterback, Gavin White is back leading the offense and is poised to take a leap with a year of playing time under his belt.

“I think we have an understated quarterback. No one really talks a lot about him, and I don't know why not, Gavin White, because he's one of the best quarterbacks I've coached as far as the passing game,” Coach Cornelius said. “And our issue last year in the passing game was not him; it was our receivers. We just simply dropped way too many balls. We were around 35 dropped passes last year. Can't win

those big games when you're dropping passes like that.

“He gained that confidence through the year last year. I think his composure is really good. The issue I have with him, and I tell him all the time, he's too nice. He'll hit somebody on the shoulder, they drop it, and he's apologizing. It's his job; he needs to be a little bit more Tom Bradyish and get on these receivers because they're expected to catch a ball. I mean, we have a job to do. His job is to make the right reads and put it somewhere around their aura, and it's their job to catch it.”

While the Wolverines had their share of issues with drops a year ago, Coach Cornelius likes the development of his pass catchers this offseason as they look to take the next step with their passing attack.

“And our receiver core was pretty young last year, so they got a year under their belt. Crosby started at H last year for us, did a fantastic job. He has some of the best hands on the team. And then we got Little Crosby, his backup, Carsten Mellette, who's going to help fill that void when he's a little bit gassed on the field,” the EC head coach said. “We've got Easton Donlon, another sophomore, at X. Ashtin Lanier, another sophomore at X. At Y, we have what we would call a little Y, Jamal Prince and Cade Mooneyham.

At Big Y, our tight end, we moved one of our linemen out there. I know he's cheesing right now, Heath Jordan.

They think they go to tight end, they're all of a sudden a skill player. They're just an extended tackle for us. At Z, our

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ABIGAIL PITTMAN / THE SUMTER ITEM

East Clarendon's Crosby Timmons, back, and Picasso Brown will be impact players on both sides of the ball for the Wolverines this fall.

EAST CLARENDON CONT. ON PAGE B13

2026 Football Schedule 8/21 @ Scott’s Branch 8/28 @ Laurence Manning 9/4 vs. Lamar 9/11 @ Mullins 9/18 @ Hannah-Pamplico 9/25 BYE

10/2 @ Manning 10/9 vs. Marlboro County 10/16 @ Waccamaw 10/23 vs. Lake City 10/30 vs. Dillon

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B10 | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2026

2026 GRIDIRON

Eagles ready to make leap to SCHSL 1A title contenders

BY TIM LEIBLE tim@theitem.com

The arrow has been pointed up for the Scott’s Branch Eagles since Pat Fleming took over the football program in 2024. After a winless 2023 season, the Eagles won four games in ’24 before going 9-3 in 2025, earning a pair of home playoff games in the process. Ultimately, a barrage of late injuries hampered the Eagles in the postseason a year ago, but they return a cavalcade of talented skill players as they look to take another massive stride this fall.

“I challenged the guys. We needed to get bigger, faster, stronger and get better mentally with focus and the little details,” Fleming said. “I felt like we had a great summer against some stellar competition from Crestwood to Ridge View, Lugoff-Elgin, all higher classifi-

cations, as well as Lake Marion. We performed well.

“We’re ready to take the next step.

The next step to us is playing for a title.”

One of the noteworthy changes this year comes at quarterback. Jaiven Conyers graduated after a stellar senior season, and now sophomore Kaleb Minger takes over the reins of the offense. Fleming thinks he’s the perfect point guard to keep the Eagles soaring on that side of the ball.

“I tell him all the time, you’ve got a bunch of playmakers around you, man, we just want it to come to you, kinda like training wheels at first, make the easy plays,” Fleming said of his sophomore signal-caller. “He can make every throw. He has a big arm.

He had a great summer. He's a student in the game, works extremely hard.

Everything you can ask for in a young guy. Our older guys around him have done a good job of taking him under their wing. They've shown him the eagle way.”

THE SUMTER ITEM

Minger will have no shortage of weapons at his disposal. Keith Rogers returns as the team’s leading receiver, catching 43 passes for 802 yards a year ago. Quintin Jackson is back as the Eagles’ do-it-all star, playing running back, receiver and quarterback on offense. He missed time last year because of injury and still managed to throw for 500 yards and six touchdowns, while rushing for 454 yards and six touchdowns and catching 18 passes for 306 yards and another four touchdowns. Nyren Bowman also moves around the offense while starring at linebacker on defense. Kendall Green is also in the backfield mix, while Fra’jon Bennett, Nashawn Chestnut and Danny Ragin will have important roles offensively.

“Our first year, Danny was involved in the offense a lot. Last year, we kind of lost him in the shuffle, but he can help us out at the slot, H-back, we’ve got to him getting some carries at the running back. Natodre Couser, we'll use him at the tight end. We have Mike Wells,” Fleming said. “Quintin is going to play some quarterback, as well. We have a special package for him. He can throw it, run it, catch it, all of that, so we're going to just maximize everything we have. We’ve just got a lot of pieces. Caleb Butler, that's been a very good addition for us as well. He didn't play last year. He's a big body, very athletic. We have Kendal Ragin in the slot.

It’s a plethora of guys; it’s just exciting.”

The main offensive question Fleming has tried to solve during his tenure at Scott’s Branch is building out their offensive line, especially developing depth. He finally feels like that group is where it needs to be.

“Our biggest concern was the offensive line going in. Now we're work-

ing with seven linemen, so now we're able to go good on good at practice.

Any time you can go good on good, you get to sharpen the iron like we want to, especially in a 1A program,” Fleming said. “We’ve got Jahari Junious and Giovanni Jackson, they're going to battle for the center position. We’ve got Sanye Hilton, a returning starter at right SCOTT'S BRANCH CONT. ON PAGE B13

2026 Football Schedule

Scott's Branch sophomore Kaleb Minger steps into the role of starting quarterback this fall.

8/21 vs. East Clarendon 8/28 @ Manning 9/4 @ Hannah-Pamplico 9/11 vs. Lake View 9/18 vs. Baptist Hill 9/25 BYE

10/2 @ Branchville 10/9 vs. Denmark-Olar 10/16 vs. Bethune-Bowman 10/23 vs. Bamberg-Ehrhardt 10/30 @ Edisto

PHOTOS BY ABIGAIL PITTMAN / THE SUMTER ITEM

Scott's Branch senior Keith Rogers returns as the Eagles' top receiver from 2025.

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2026 GRIDIRON

THE SUMTER ITEM

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2026

Lee Central to lean on experience as they look to take step this fall

BY TIM LEIBLE tim@theitem.com

The Stallions from Lee Central had an up-and-down season last fall. They were a young squad forced to play without one of their top players for most of the season because of injury.

After a 4-7 season, head coach Justin Danner brings back most of his roster, and he thinks they’re ready to continue an upward trajectory in 2026.

“We're excited coming into this school year. We played a tough season last year; (we) had a lot of young guys, but any time you play a lot of young guys, you're excited for the following year because you know you bring all those young guys back,” Danner said.

“Making that playoff appearance was still good for a young football team because it is experience. And so, we hope that we can be able to use that coming into this year. So just still excited for what they could bring.”

With a ton of youth last fall, nearly everyone is back this season, though the Stallions have two superstars to replace. The first is Savion Williams, the standout offensive and defensive lineman for LCHS. The second is Shadrach Williams, the linebacker and running back who missed most of the 2025 season because of injury. Lee Central’s offense is built around their rushing attack, so losing a player like Savion Williams at tackle is tough, but the experience from their returning starters will be a boon.

“Losing Shadrach Williams and losing Savion Williams were definitely two really big pieces for us. Fortunately for us, past those two, it wasn't that many seniors. And even now with this group, I think we only have like six seniors again,” Danner said. “So, although we’re bringing back a lot of people, we're still relatively young.

Up front, we'll be leaning on Antonio Atkinson the same way. Drevion Wright will be another young man that we lean heavily on up front with our offensive line, as well as Jacob Montgomery and Darius Toney. Those guys were really looking to open some holes for us.”

The Stallions also have the benefit of having a veteran quarterback this fall. Last year, Danner and company were trying to see who would step forward in their QB competition. Jaylen Williams was the man for the job and grew exponentially throughout his sophomore campaign.

“He's been doing a real nice job,” Danner said of his junior quarterback.

“He spent a lot of time wanting to be a better football player, so we're really excited about his maturity, not just as a football player, but really as a leader also. He's done a good job helping us on that side of the football.”

Along with a returning starting signal-caller, Lee Central has plenty of experience in the backfield with a stable of runners, led by last year’s leading rusher, Nycer Henry, who finished with 697 yards and eight

touchdowns in a split backfield. Jaylen Williams also has some familiar faces to throw to at receiver.

“We’re still bringing back some talented running backs in the backfield with Nycer Henry and Zion Hannibal, as well as Jayden Burton.

Those pieces really help,” Danner said.

“Being able to have some guys on the outside, Sinatra Rembert, Nyjay Smith, they've done a really nice job for us this summer as far as throwing the football, as well as Jaquaze Sweetenburg. He's done a real nice job for us as well being able to get out and catch some passes and help us balance up a little bit.”

The Stallions hope to expand their passing attack a bit this fall because of their continuity at quarterback and receiver, but they’ll still pound the rock more often than not.

“Sinatra Rembert, he's definitely a playmaker for us. We also feel that Nyjay Smith does a lot of things with

ABIGAIL PITTMAN / THE SUMTER ITEM

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B11

the football for us. He runs the football, does catch the football for us a lot. Tyquaze Adams has been a really nice piece; he's a utility knife for us. I mean, he plays quarterback, he plays defensive back, he ends up being a pretty nice receiver for us as well,” Danner said. “We do have a newcomer, Tyquaze Belle. He's done some nice things this summer, as well as Imari Toney has done some really nice things as well, too, as far as catching the football. So that's been a little different for us.

“I don't know if we'll go throw it 30, 40 times a game, but we feel with these guys on the outside, they give us an opportunity to have a little bit more balance, so that's what we're after.”

The Stallions are excited about their front seven this year. Without Shadrach Williams for most of the season last fall, players had to adjust to new roles. Now they’re able to blossom as they continue to grow in those spots. Lee Central asked a lot of Jaquaze Sweetenburg in the

Lee Central's Antonio Atkinson will lead the Stallions' offensive line as their center.

STALLIONS CONT. ON PAGE B14

2026 Football Schedule 8/21 @ Military Magnet 8/28 vs. Mullins 9/4 @ Marion 9/11 vs. Hannah-Pamplico 9/18 vs. Lamar 9/25 @ Cheraw

10/2 vs. North Central 10/9 @ Central Pageland 10/16 vs. Chesterfield 10/23 BYE 10/30 @ McBee

Cavaliers ready for bounce-back season under Moreno

BY TIM LEIBLE tim@theitem.com

The Lee Academy football program is under new leadership for the third consecutive season, as Johnie Moreno takes over for the Cavaliers. After steady success under former head coach David Rankin, which included a run to four consecutive SCISA state championship games, the Cavs have struggled to find their footing. Moreno, a first-time head coach, is looking to change that, and his players are buying in.

“There's definitely been more standards that we haven't had in the past years; it’s just kind of letting people do what they want in the past couple years,” quarterback Landen Olson said. “This year, he's put his foot down and actually held people accountable, told us what he wants to be done and how it needs to be done, and it's on us to get it done and make sure everybody else does, too.”

Moreno is no stranger to Cavalier football. He’s been on the opposing sideline as an assistant at a few different stops. This offseason, he set out to rebuild the culture within the program.

“I’ve coached at Thomas Sumter and Calhoun before here and always had to play against Lee Academy; they're always strong, always tough kids, and they're always really good. Watching from afar, the past couple years haven't really went that way, and now that I’m here, I kind of want to bring back that old toughness and let these big boys do the work that they do,” he said. “Since I’ve gotten there, it started with pretty low numbers, but the numbers have gotten bigger and bigger and bigger, and the boys, these two (Olson and James Watson) specifically, are such good leaders, and they're helping bring all the other kids to practice every day. We're

getting to be in a really good place.”

The changes don’t stop at head coach. Olson, who was a running back for most of his varsity career, moves in at quarterback after the graduation of Andrew Bowers and the transfer of Aiden Fitzgerald.

“Fun is definitely the first word that comes to mind. It's been a lot of fun learning a new position,” Olson said of the move. “I've played quarterback before, but being a running back the past three years, just seeing what I like my quarterback to do, having different quarterbacks in the past and just kind of learning from that, seeing what they did good, seeing what they did bad and just putting that all together and forming my game around what I think needs to be done.”

The Cavalier offense was built around Bowers for the last two seasons, but Moreno is confident his unit will take a step forward this year because of the diversity of offensive weapons.

“It's pretty easy as a defense to focus on, ‘OK, this team, their No. 7 is their guy,’ right? It's not going to be like that for us,” Moreno said. “Landen's at quarterback, but he's going to be a big part of the run game. James is a part of the run game. Aiden Powell, he's a sophomore, but he's going to be a huge part of it. And the idea is to try to not let the defense be able to know this is the guy we've got to stop. You've got about six of them that you've got to stop, so it makes it difficult for a defense to have to deal with that every day.

And those two, because they can do so much, it makes my life so much easier.”

The other key to successful offense is the big guys up front, and Moreno is over the moon about the ability of his offensive line.

2026 Football Schedule 8/21 vs. Colleton Prep 8/28 @ Dorchester Academy 9/4 @ Florence Christian 9/11 vs. Camden Military 9/18 vs. Pee Dee Academy 9/25 vs. Williamsburg Academy

10/2 @ Holly Hill 10/9 @ Dillon Christian 10/16 BYE 10/23 @ Clarendon Hall 10/30 vs. Carolina Academy

“Whenever I got there, it was pretty easy to look at the team and see what our strength is going to be,” Moreno said of his line. “And these guys have probably five or six of the best big dudes in front of them that are going to make a lot of space for them to do what they need to do and let them make plays. I feel like any good coach needs to be able to see what your team is built like and then play to their strengths instead of CAVALIERS CONT. ON PAGE B14

ABIGAIL PITTMAN / THE SUMTER ITEM

Lee Academy's James Watson makes the move from wide receiver to running back this fall.

B12 | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2026

2026 GRIDIRON

THE SUMTER ITEM

Thomas Sumter continues building momentum in Year 3 under Bell

BY TIM LEIBLE tim@theitem.com

The arrow has been pointing in the right direction since Stacy Bell took over the Thomas Sumter football program in 2024. They jumped from one win in his first season to claiming four ABIGAIL PITTMAN / THE SUMTER ITEM

Thomas Sumter's Ryan Cintron-Black will anchor the Generals' defense at middle linebacker.

victories a year ago, earning a trip to the SCISA 2A postseason. Now they’re ready to see what comes next this fall.

“We've progressed each year; our win totals have gone up,” Bell said. “We made the SCISA playoffs last year for 2A. This year we're moving to 3A. Our goals stay the same. Our goals are always to win the next game. We want to increase our win totals. We'd like to win the region and make the playoffs, and from there, anything can happen. But we're very excited about where we're headed.”

One reason for excitement is the return of Jace Williams at quarterback. As a junior, he passed for 2,481 yards and 20 touchdowns after transferring to TSA. Now, with a full offseason under his belt, he’s ready to push the envelope further in 2026.

“I feel a lot

more settled in this year. Coming in last year, it's not easy to come into a new team in the summer and try and put up a lot of numbers. But I feel a lot more settled in. I feel like I can play more free,” Williams said. “I feel like I know my teammates a lot better, being able to grow that connection in the offseason and go into the season with that chemistry. It's a really, really nice thing to have. So, being on the same page with everybody too, it's really good.”

Bell also feels like Thomas Sumter has a secret weapon in offensive coordinator Rip Blackstone.

“We feel really good about the offense going into the season. We returned eight starters. Those that have left, they were big impact players, but we have people that we feel that can step in. We've been able to keep our coaching staff intact. Coach Blackstone will be back as our offensive coordinator. I think he's the best coordinator in SCISA, maybe more than that, but he does a great job with the kids,” Bell said. “We have, in addition, Phillip Coles, who will be coaching our offensive line and helping with the secondary. We have Coach (Chris) Pate doing wide receiver and DBs, and then we have Coach (David) Decker, who does defensive line with us. He's been there for a while. But we feel good about it from an offensive standpoint.”

The Generals also have some fantastic continuity on their offensive line, which can make life easier for Williams and the rest of the skill players.

“We return all five, so we're very pleased about that. Shawn Wrigley, Brandon Holliday, Landon (Eisenhour), Kolten (Finkenstadt) and Colby (Brock) are coming back. They understand a little bit more about what we're trying to do, they have another year of the weight room. I can't say enough about how much of a proponent I am of that. But we feel real good about it.”

Thomas Sumter had their most turnover at wide receiver, losing Sam Petrauschke (1,080 yards and 12 touchdowns) and Christian Williams (915 yards and 10 touchdowns) to graduation, but the Generals are confident in their pass catchers this fall.

“Right now, our starting four is Spencer (Peckham), Clay (Team), Joseph (Andrade) and Breylen Coursey.

All four of those guys can make a play on the ball,” said J. Williams. “Joe has really stepped up this offseason, really been a good guy for us. Breylen also stepped up from last year. Same with Spencer and Clay. As long as I can put the ball in their hands and they go score, it makes my job a lot easier.”

At running back, Zion Williams TSA CONT. ON PAGE B15

2026 Football Schedule 8/21 vs. Carolina Academy 8/28 vs. Northside Christian 9/4 @ Ben Lippen 9/11 @ Wilson Hall 9/18 vs. Trinity Collegiate 9/25 vs. American Leadership

10/2 @ Greenwood Christian 10/9 @ Camden Military 10/16 BYE 10/23 vs. Southside Christian 10/30 v@ Florence Christian

Clarendon Hall hungry to get back in the win column this fall

BY TIM LEIBLE tim@theitem.com

To say that the Clarendon Hall football program wants to win its first game of the season this fall would be an understatement.

The Saints have finished each of the last two seasons without a win, and they don’t plan on letting that streak continue for a third year in a row. Shane Wallace, who took over the program last year, put it simply.

“Well, we're hungry. We need a win,” he said.

“And so, our goal right now is to win the first ball game. We're going to play one game at a time this year, continue to develop. I feel like we've come a long way since last year. We've got some great leadership; some seniors have stepped up. And you can see it in the kids' eyes that they're hungry. Our question this whole summer and even prior to the summer has been, how bad do you want it? And we've been working hard trying to get ready.”

The Saints proved that hunger to Wallace every day throughout the offseason. After experiencing his first winless season as a coach, Wallace admitted to feeling a bit defeated at season’s end, but his players’ determination lit a fire in the entire program.

“I'll be honest with you, I'd never done that in my 30 years of coaching, so it was tough for me to even get motivated. If it hadn't been for these guys just showing the hunger. I mean, we ended the football season last year, and within two weeks, we were in the weight room driving, trying to get there,” Wallace said. “I have a group that bought in of about 15 kids that never missed a day - came in, worked hard.

Our weight room, our maxes doubled, pretty much.

That motivated me, that lit my fire that these kids want this stuff.

“And so, we were just trying to keep that flame going, trying to learn to hate to lose. Don't worry about the win, just hate losing and get that anger in you that forces you to go back out on the field when you don't want to during practice, during these hot days of summer, because let me tell you, it's been hot. And these boys have showed up every day, and I'm super proud of them. I think we're going to do it this year. I think we've got that attitude where we're going to refuse to lose.”

The Saints were extremely young last year, which means most of the team is back for another go around. The largest boost will be the return of Joey Hatchell to the lineup at quarterback. The junior missed most of the season last year because of injury, which made it tough for Clarendon Hall to find their offensive rhythm.

“It's been a year-long wait getting Joey back behind the center. Joey is just an athlete; he's a super smart kid. This year we're going to be able to read defenses because of Joey, if we can keep him healthy. He can go up there and see what the defense is doing and make adjustments when necessary, and I think that's going to help us a lot. Where last year, we'd get up there, we wouldn't read the defense, and if they called the right blitz, we were just

CLARENDON HALL CONT. ON PAGE B15

2026 Football Schedule 8/21 @ Thomas Heyward 8/28 vs. Calhoun Academy 9/4 @ Orangeburg Prep 9/11 vs. Beaufort Academy 9/18 @ Dorchester Academy 9/25 @ Holly Hill

10/2 vs. Pee Dee Academy 10/9 vs. Carolina Academy 10/16 BYE 10/23 vs. Lee Academy 10/30 @ Dillon Christian

ABIGAIL PITTMAN / THE SUMTER ITEM

Clarendon Hall's Cole Richburg serves as the team's top wide receiver and backup quarterback.

2026 GRIDIRON

THE SUMTER ITEM

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2026

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SHS FROM PAGE B3 Collegiate. In the reconsolidated 5A, the road to the state championship will be challenging, so Marlowe wanted to make sure his team saw that caliber of squad in the regular season to prepare for a postseason run.

“Sumter is the second-winningest 5A football program over the last 10 years, second only behind Dutch Fork.

I think Sumter's won 99 games over the last 10 years. Winning is not a problem for Sumter. Sumter has won at a high level. Where Sumter has really

struggled through the years has been in November, has been in the playoffs, making deep runs consistently every year, and then breaking through and getting to that last game in December,” Marlowe said. “I was fortunate to be an assistant on the last team that played for a state championship in 2013, which is the night that the Dutch Fork dynasty was born. I think in order to do that, to win in November, you have got to play against really good teams before you get to November.

who are going to expose you. And they're going to be really good teams who expose us. We also got to learn how to fight through adversity. That's something that I think that we need to improve on. We've got to do a better job of when things aren't going our way, coming out and just keep swinging all the way to the end and find a way to make good things happen, not collapse when bad things happen to us.”

SCOTT'S BRANCH FROM PAGE B10

EAST CLARENDON FROM PAGE B9 other receiver, we’ve got a couple of older guys and a younger guy. We've got (Picasso’s) twin brother over there, Braylon Brown, Keyshawn Porter. We've got the only freshman as of right now that's going to be on varsity, Pierson Kelly, and he's a pretty dynamic young man. We're hoping for some good things as long as he stays focused.”

Flipping over to the defensive side of the ball, the trenches should remain a strength for the Wolverines despite losing some talent up front with Smith and Jaylon Barron.

“The good part is we're not losing a lot of strength. I mean, Zay Smith was a dude, he was the strongest kid on the team, but we have two other young dudes that I think can fill some of that void in Jesse Floyd and Avery Lowry. They're both 300-pound bench pressers; they're both 405plus on the squat,” Cornelius said.

“We have some young talent at nose guard, possibly, with Neftali (Lara Meza). He just squatted darn near 500 pounds, so hopefully he can play to his strength, literally. Johnny Boyington's going to fill in there. So, I think it's going to be a little bit more like we don't have three defined starters; there's going to be a lot of rotation in there.”

At linebacker, East Clarendon lost two important pieces in Thomas Fitts and Mike Woods, but Cornelius and the Wolverines have been able to find great linebackers year after year, and they expect that trend to continue this fall.

“At the linebacker corps, it seems like we're graduating our inside linebackers every year, and they’re still stepping up to the plate and doing great things on that side of the ball with Brandon Carter leading the way as the defensive coordinator,” Coach Cornelius said. “We’ve got two returners, Cade Mooneyham and Keyshawn Porter and Crosby, and right now it looks like Carsten Mellette is going to start. But we're going to have some other guys.”

“I don't think a lot of people realize, but we led the state in 2A in points allowed on defense, so I think there's a lot of team pride that goes into that.”

East Clarendon’s best continuity on defense comes in the secondary, where most of the unit outside of incoming freshman Pierson Kelly earned playing time a year ago.

“Our DBs, we’re loaded back there. We might not be the – and this isn't against Picasso, just team speed – we're not going to be the fastest, but we got Picasso. We moved him to safety. We have his brother, his twin brother at corner in Braylon. Skyler is looking to start again at safety,” Coach Cornelius said. “We feel like

“Yes, there's the risk and there's the fear or whatever of, ‘Well, we might lose three, four, five games.’ I don't care. I want to play against good teams who are going to expose our weaknesses so that we know them and we can work towards improving in them going into the playoffs. And that was my point of emphasis. The winning and losing has got to be second to what do we have to do to improve at the highest rate, the most efficient rate, and it's got to be about playing against good teams

our two safeties, they're really smart, they have good football IQ, and they're really good in the open field tackling. And then we're just kind of filling that other DB spot out. It's really kind of a battle between Easton Donlon and Ashtin Lanier. Also, Wayne Myers is coming to the picture a little bit late, but he's another sophomore. So, we feel like we're talented there, and if we have to move them to outside linebacker, we'll drop them down to the box. And we feel very confident that they're going to be able to take on blocks, shed blocks, and make the tackle.”

On special teams, Diego Gomez returns as the all-region kicker and should provide an important scoring boost at times this fall.

“Go, Diego, go,” Cornelius said. “I do feel like with some of these games coming down the pipe, it's going to come down to extra points, field goals and hopefully getting a few touchbacks.”

Cornelius thinks East Clarendon’s superpower this fall is the fact that they won’t be heavily reliant on one player on either side of the ball. Balance will be key if they want to make a deep playoff push.

“When you talk about who our best player is, we don't have one.

Honestly, we do not have one,” the head coach said. “I think we could have a 100-yard rusher this week, a different 100-yard rusher this week.

At linebacker, I think you could have one young man have 10 tackles one game and the next game he only has two because we're trying not to be selfish.”

EC may be the underdog in Region VI-2A with Manning having claimed the last two region titles and a few 3A programs making the move down to 2A, including a consistent powerhouse in Dillon, but that’s quite all right with the Wolverines.

“I like being the team that no one really thinks about. Obviously, I think we've gained respect from the teams that we have played over the last couple years, but coming into this new region, or let me put it this way, them coming to our region, I think we're not going to get the respect that is deserved, and we have to earn it on the field. I'm perfectly fine with that,” Coach Cornelius said. “I know when some of these teams have a few more enrollment numbers than us, when they come in, they're not going to respect us. We're going to do our best, and I believe we can win every game. I think you always have to have that approach. If you want to be a state champion, you take every game as the most important game of your life, and you just take it one game at a time.”

MICAH GREEN / THE SUMTER ITEM

guard. Travis Starks, this is his first year moving to tackle. He's been a pleasant surprise. To me, I think he's been the most improved. I think he found a home. He's more aggressive, everything we thought he was standing up with his hand in the ground, he's giving that and more, as well as at defensive end. On the other side, Anthony Smith just came in for Clarendon Hall. We're going to put him in there at the left guard. We're going to pair him with Briceson Singleton, another sophomore.

“We want some continuity. We just don’t want to graduate guys and have to start over. When you’ve got a real program, you just reload; you don't have to rebuild. And I feel like we're there right now.”

On defense, the Eagles will have a lot of the same names. Ragin has been an All-State defensive lineman for the past two seasons, and he’s surrounded by some exciting talent up front. At the second level, Bowman is moving inside from outside linebacker, which he expects will help him anchor the SB run defense. At the third level, Rogers and Jackson are back at safety, while the cornerback room is coming together nicely.

“We're going to start with Danny Ragin, our two-year All-State guy.

He lost about 10 pounds, man, but he's probably four or five steps faster.

He's starting to buy into everything we're teaching. We got Briceson Singleton back. It was his first year playing last year, but I mean, he's turning into a monster. Travis Sparks, we’re moving him from the linebacker into that end spot. That's great for us. We have Sanye Hilton, Kaemon Lewis will get in there, he'll get some reps.

We have Jamaud Bodger. I mean, we have a bunch of guys, we have depth,” Fleming said. “Linebacker, we also have Nyren and Jaden Dixon to be the first two along with Kendall Green and Fra’jon Bennett.

And in the secondary, right now it's a battle between Caleb Butler and Omari Lang for one corner. Majestic Hatcher has done a great job; he’s solidified his spot on that side.”

Fleming, a former South Carolina linebacker, thinks his defense can compete with anyone in the state.

“I feel like, regardless of the classification, we're a top five defense,” he said. “We’ve got speed, we're physical, but the thing that makes me feel that way is our alignment and assignment. We went against some well-coached teams this summer.

We did excellent. We just did a base package, but as far as all our adjustments to motion and our talking, it was great. We play a match coverage, which is very taxing, and it's very hard. It's a college and pro-type defensive scheme, and the guys did a great job of that. We’re just ready.

“We don't see no holes. Everyone's getting the technique, that's the main thing. When we were talking football language before, we were telling the defensive line to squeeze, and when we watch film, guys are actually seeing how it works. Every man is doing their job.

We feel great about every position.

We have some depth. We’re just excited.”

With this level of talent back this fall, Fleming knows his team is capable of shocking the world after being unranked in the S.C. Prep Football Media Preseason Polls.

“I told them that freshman year, they were 0-10. They were last. But guess what? As seniors, they're going to go out on top, 15-0,” Fleming said.

“It's all about those guys, so whatever we do best, that's what we're going to do as a coaching staff to put them in the right position to make plays. I tell them all the time we've taken them as far as we could as a coaching staff. And for us to be great and take the next step, they had to step up. And those guys have answered the bell in the championship rounds. We felt like last year against the Crosses and the teams who've been there before, we were kind of uptight, and that took away from our playmaking and (ability) to show what we really were. But we felt like that experience was going to really, really take us over the top this year.”

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2026 GRIDIRON

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CAVALIERS FROM PAGE B11

MICAH GREEN / THE SUMTER ITEM

Lee Central's Antonio Atkinson is a veteran leader for a young Stallion squad this fall.

STALLIONS FROM PAGE B11 absence of their star linebacker a year ago. Now, Sweetenburg is their utility linebacker who can be a true weapon on that side of the ball.

“If there was anything good that came out of that, that was probably the only thing that did come out of it. We were forced, knowing that we had a young team, that we needed to have to go play some of these other guys in some other positions,” Danner said of adjusting to the loss of Shadrach Williams. “(Sweetenburg) was kind of forced into a different role, as well as some other guys. So, we'll be looking to those guys with the experience that they have now to be able to really kind of help us move forward. So, we'll be counting heavily on our linebacking play with Jaquaze Sweetenburg and Jordan Rufus.

And Jaquaze plays a few different positions for us. He plays outside linebacker, plays inside linebacker.

He's kind of that utility knife for us on defense as well as some newcomers that we're looking for to be able to step in this year as well up front.”

While Lee Central loses Savion Williams from their defensive line, Danner is extremely excited about that unit coming into the fall.

“We're definitely really trying to hang our hat on the defensive line, just like any front,” Danner said.

“Kendall Johnson will be at one of our defensive ends, along with Kedrick Toomer; we'll be expecting him to make some noise as well as being able to rotate with Drevion Wright at some nose guard as well. And we'd also like to look at Darius Toney. He's been playing some defensive end for us as well. At the outside linebacker, we'll be looking at Kivon Hopkins.

He's a veteran football player for us.

He's one of our maybe five seniors or so, so we'll be kind of counting on him, along with some newcomers.

Jamarion Johnson, he's had a really nice summer for us playing outside linebacker, as well as Imari Toney.”

At the third level of the defense, athleticism will be Lee Central’s strength.

“In the secondary, (we have) Sinatra Rembert. Jayden Burton, he's a returning safety for us as well. Malik Dinkins, he's a newcomer, although a senior, but he's had a really nice summer for us, as well, playing safety.

And Jahiem Lowry will be another returning corner,” Danner said. “We've got some pieces that we returned this

year, whereas I think we were replacing maybe eight guys on defense last year and I think maybe like eight guys on offense last year. That's the highs and lows of coaching football, and especially coaching small football.”

Danner can feel some great momentum building for the Stallions.

After the season ended, his team was right back in the weight room, fighting to improve. Most of the team came out for track and field in the spring and helped lead the Stallions to a region title, while also improving their speed for the fall. Now they just have to put those gains to use to compete in a deep and challenging Region V-1A, which includes Central, Cheraw, Chesterfield, Lamar, McBee and North Central.

“It’s still kind of one goal at a time, and our first goal right now is to be able to try to get better in our scrimmages, so that we can try to really make some waves in our non-conference schedule,” Danner said. “Right now, our goal that's on the board is being able to try to execute well in our scrimmages and find out what things we need to keep, what things we need to throw out, so that we can be better heading into region play.

We've got a really tough region, so we can't bypass any step of the way.

We've really got to be locked in and focused.”

The most important step to keeping that momentum moving in the right direction is focusing on the smaller details, which has been a major point of emphasis for the Stallions.

“I think it's preparation, getting the guys to understand that if we don't prepare a certain way, then we're not going to be successful.

We’re hanging on to one of the things in practice daily and reminding them that it's not just going to happen for us; if we don't prepare the right way, we'll sink to the level of our training.

So, if we don't train hard, it's not going to work for us,” Danner said.

“We want to be able to show up daily and do the right things daily and have those things be able to carry over on Friday night. So, just being able to hold each other accountable.

This group, I don't know if we’ll win a game or not, but I know that this group is really big on holding each other accountable, and we're looking for the benefits of that come this fall.”

make them fit to whatever my brain wants to do.

“Benton Blackwell is going to be a huge one, and I say that literally.

He's 6'2", probably 240, 250 or so.

Wyatt Frazier is a big guy. Cannon Hopkins is another big guy. Zach Blackwell's another monster, Taylor Mitchell. Honestly, they're all so big.

Gavin Makela is probably the biggest one; he's probably 260, 270. I mean, they're big, strong and they're athletic, they move really well.”

That strength carries over to the defensive side of the ball, as their physicality in the trenches will be the foundation of the unit.

“It's going to be basically the flip on the other side from the O-line; they're just going to flip over and play the defensive line,” Moreno said.

“But Cannon Hopkins is going to be really good on the defensive line.

Benton Blackwell, honestly, I could put him anywhere, and he would be really good. He's just a really good football player. But one of our biggest standouts is Carter Berendzen, he’s probably going to play outside linebacker a little bit, but he's going to play inside, he's going to play on the line. He can do a little bit of everything because he is a big, strong, athletic kid. He is a monster.”

While the defensive front will be physically strong, Moreno sees his defense as an extremely well-rounded unit. They’ll be a multiple-front team, using the same group of athletes to shift from a 3-4 to a 5-3 and everything in between.

“If I was to say that we had a strength, I would kind of be telling you a lie because our defensive line is really strong, really big, athletic.

The linebackers are the same way.

And our defensive backs, I mean, (Watson is) one of the safeties.

(Olson is) a middle linebacker. The other two or three defensive back guys are kind of built just like (Watson). We really, truthfully, I don't

think we have any weaknesses on defense,” Moreno said. “We had our first scrimmage yesterday, and they looked really good. They're locked in; they're focused. Obviously, nobody's perfect. I'm not saying we're perfect, but it was very encouraging to watch these guys put it all together and get on the field and do some work.”

Moreno added excitement about Austin Griffin, Tucker Rogers, Michael Weatherford, Luke McCathern and Max Atkinson as players with a combination of speed and physicality that will be defensive weapons.

The Cavaliers aren’t making sweeping predictions about their record this fall, but Moreno can already feel the program moving in the right direction. As long as that continues throughout the season, he thinks his team will be in a place to contend at the end of the year.

“I feel like there's a lot of victories you can have in a season that may not always equate to a scoreboard.

To me, when I first got there, seeing the numbers as low as they were, one of my first victories was we got to be able to field a team. So, we already checked that off. And then trying to get them all on the same page,” Moreno said. “I just want to try to help build a positive culture. I've never seen a good team that fought with each other. I've never seen that before. Having the guys being good teammates and want to fight for each other instead of with each other, that's been a huge, huge victory. I mean, they cheer each other on in practice harder than any team I've ever seen. I mean, they get after it and they're working, but afterwards, they do their thing and they pick each other up, slap on the butt, and then we get right back to it. That's another big victory. The beginning part of our schedule is going to be tough, and I know that, but I have all the faith in the world that we're going to be OK.”

ABIGAIL PITTMAN / THE SUMTER ITEM

Lee Academy head coach Johnie Moreno is in his first season in charge of the Cavaliers.

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2026 GRIDIRON

THE SUMTER ITEM

TSA FROM PAGE B12 returns for Thomas Sumter. While he didn’t have eye-popping numbers in the Generals’ pass-first offense, the senior running back has improved tremendously this offseason.

“We have Zion (Williams) returning for us. I feel like I keep going back to the weight room, but he won the SCISA (Speed and Strength state title) for his weight class. I think he's gotten better at being a running back,” Bell said. “I think he understands what we're doing. He's worked really hard to be a better receiver out of the backfield. As much as we throw the ball, he becomes a big target on a lot of routes. We give Jace a lot of freedom, and so he's normally reading the progressions, but knowing that Zion has gotten as good as he has makes us feel real good about it.”

Ryan Cintron-Black returns at linebacker to lead the defensive unit.

He collected 58 tackles and 12 tackles for a loss a year ago. In front of him, Shawn Wrigley leads the defensive line with Landon Eisenhour. Clay Team anchors the defensive secondary at safety as TSA looks to take another step on that side of the ball.

“We play an odd stack. We really have six men in the box. And at this point, we know that Sanjay (Hester), Ryan, Jordan, Landon and Shawn are five of those six. We've got some competition going to see who that sixth person will be. Jordan Farrell came out. Big, tall body, he's had a great summer. We look forward to seeing what he can do,” Bell said. “Joseph turns around and plays defensive back. Clay, we've got some young guys, Thomas (Dahlstrom). We've had a really good offseason. We want to be aggressive on defense. Ryan's a hard worker. He's great energy. We don't want to make him sit back; we want him to be the hammer.”

Thomas Sumter had an up-anddown season defensively a year ago, but with a lot of continuity on that side of the ball, Bell thinks his unit should be much more balanced on a week-toweek basis.

“It's our third year running the same system, so if I call right out, (Cintron-Black) already knows it. Before I can get the signal in, he already knows what we're running. He knows if we're having five-man pressure from the middle of the field, he knows what

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2026

it's going to be. He knows when we're on the hash. And I feel we're that way in the secondary also,” Bell said. “We attempt to run the same system, a little more simplified at the middle school, but as these guys reach varsity, at a certain point when we call a stunt, they know it. And so, we don't have to spend as much time installing. But also, I think you play faster when you know what you're doing. And so, we can see that coming to fruition.”

Bell just wants to see the arrow continue to point in the right direction and improve throughout the fall. If they’re able to do that, everything else will fall into place.

“Our team's goal is always to win the next game. So for us, that's Carolina Academy. We're focusing on us, but we're already working towards that,” Bell said. “We'd love to increase the win totals. We have goals amongst ourselves, both individual and teamwise, but winning homecoming is always big. We hadn't done that before we got there; we did it the past two years, which is good. We want to make the playoffs. And, I always say once you get into the playoffs, anything can happen.”

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ABIGAIL PITTMAN / THE SUMTER ITEM

Thomas Sumter quarterback Jace Williams passed for 2,481 yards and 20 touchdowns last fall.

CLARENDON HALL FROM PAGE B12 messed up; we couldn't adjust to it. I feel like this year going in, Joey can do that kind of stuff.”

Hatchell also has some continuity in front of him, as most of the starting offensive line is back this fall.

“We've got Davem Patel at center. You've got Currin Mcelroy, he's probably the strongest kid I've got on the team right now and probably the fastest lineman. We've got him in the quick guard, and he's focused, he's grown up, he's matured,” Wallace said.

“You've got Fisher Horton, you've got Jacob (Morris) at tackle, and you got Jake (Robertson), another senior, at the other tackle. Then we got these new kids coming in. Mathew Gray has come in and just made a total change on the offense. He's a huge kid. He's probably 6'3", 330 pounds and as strong as an ox.

“If nothing else, when we get off a bus, we'll pass the eye test with our offensive line because those are some big boys.”

Clarendon Hall has a stable of backs that will all see time throughout the season, along with a good mix at wide receiver. Some players will move

around to multiple spots, but no matter where they are, Wallace likes his group of skill players as he takes over playcalling duties this fall.

“One thing I'm super excited about is our speed at our tailback. We've got speed, but we can get an edge if we can. Both of our fullbacks are over 210, and they run hard. Matter of fact, they double as my two inside linebackers on the other side of the ball, so they have that kind of mentality.

I've got them right now where they're reading. They get one cut and then get downfield,” Wallace said. “You've got Wyatt Simpson at fullback, Talan Dymond at fullback. You're going to have Caleb Poplin, Josh White, Jack Wyatt Reynolds, Grayson Holliday.

Those are your tailbacks coming in.

They will also double as receivers.

Our receivers will be TJ Young, Jack Wyatt will probably start out in kind of an H-back, receiver-type kid. And then, of course, on the other side, you have Cole (Richburg), who will be tight, and I'll split him out, too. He gets to have fun out there every once in a while. But you got him and Bobby Singleton.”

On defense, it’s a lot of the same names. Morris and Richburg will anchor the defensive line, while Simpson and Dymond will be at middle linebacker. Alongside that duo at linebacker will be Reynolds and Andrew Pritchard with White as a flex player.

On the back end, Young, Singleton and Reid Mcquire will be the primary defensive backs.

“Defensively, we're returning again pretty much the entire defense; they've just grown up a year. And they've gotten bigger, stronger and faster,” Wallace said. “We’re probably going to stay with the same stuff we've been doing. We've got linebackers that have learned; that took all last year to learn to play downhill. Don't stand up, don't get up and get caught on your heels. We're going to play in the backfield. We've got them moving.

The guard tells me where I'm going, I'm gone.”

One detail that should help the Saints is the move back down to SCISA 1A. While they’ll still play a challenging schedule, their roster won’t look quite as out of place against the rest of their 1A slate.

“Super glad they dropped us to 1A; I think that's going to help us out a lot,” Wallace said. “Not to down any 1A because that schedule doesn't look like it's changed much, it's still going to be tough, but I feel like we're playing at our level. We're not going to have to play some of these bigger schools. Last year we'd show up, and there'd be four on our sideline and 50 on theirs.”

No matter who is on their schedule, the Saints are determined to get back in the win column. That journey starts with a road trip to Thomas Heyward on Friday.

“The hungrier they get, the more hungry I get, and that has been our driving force,” Wallace reiterated. “I haven't had to worry about somebody going to get a haircut during practice.

They want to be there; they want to participate. They show up. We've practiced in the morning. We've practiced early in the morning, trying to beat the heat of the day. They get that. Matter of fact, most of them beat me.”

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