It is hot and humid here in the great State of South Carolina. The students are back in school and the start of another school year is well underway. With that comes high school sports and particularly High School football season.
Coaches and players throughout the 67 counties of SC are practicing on the field; making tomorrow’s professional athletes on the gridiron.
This year it took place in the Steve Spurrier Practice Facility in Columbia, SC. Student athletes and coaches appeared in mass from as far as Greenville South Carolina. The event allowed the student athletes to have their pictures taken by offensive and defensive positions.
The capstone of the event was when the top 100 athletes posed for their photo op, in which that photograph will be featured on the Sports Report newspaper.
Clarendon County School District’s athletes from Scott’s Branch Middle/High School football team also made an appearance. Their newly assigned Head Football Coach Mr. Randall State brought 3 student athletes. Tyler Kind, Randy Gibson and Ernie Calloway. Each of these student athletes contribute to football program as well as the basketball program at Scott’s Branch Middle/High School.
Friday evening in Orangeburg County, down in the little city of Neeses, SC. Population of 413 people with 175 households is Hunter Kinard Tyler Middle/High School (HKT). Karrlen Waymyers is a former Trojan and currently plays for South Carolina State University, so we know HKT knows football. The Trojans fans were out en mass for this, the season opener against noted football powerhouse the Scott’s Branch Middle/High School Eagles.
It was raining as the Eagles approached the stadium. The light drizzle did not dampen the spirits of the teams. The Eagles and the Trojans stepped on the gridiron for the opening game of the South Carolina High School League football season.
The Eagles have a new seasoned head football coach, Mr. Randall State. Coach State’s football philosophy is based upon discipline. “Discipline will lead to execution on offense and simple thinking on defense, which will lead to fast play bringing out the talent and ability of the student athlete.” Coach State is a former Asst. Football Coach at Missouri Southern State University who genuinely cares about students. “Each player will know and understand that football is an extra-curricular activity and they have primary priorities that must be set forth first before participation is granted.”
The Eagles jumped off to an early lead during the game with a touchdown by 12th grader Ernie Calloway. Coach State said,
“The game on Friday we gained some momentum. Good preparation before for the game, made some mistakes early. 1st and 2nd quarter went kind of slow. 3rd quarter we picked it up and ended up winning 26-16. The guys just fought till the end. Several players stood out. Ernie Calloway almost 100 yards rushing 3 touchdowns. Tyler Kind, another senior, had several touchdown passes, as well as a big punt return that put us in scoring position. Several other guys on defense and offense made a lot of input. Jason Hough, Najee Allen another player we enjoy coming back and helping us on the offensive line this year. Defensive wise Kanye McFadden had two sacks, Shymeik Hill another senior had a couple sacks. We just went out there and played hard till the end. Thankfully, we came out on top.”
