By Justin Jarrett
LowcoSports.com
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Whale Branch football graduated a bunch of standout players who left big shoes to fill …
If you’ve followed high school football in the Lowcountry over the past decade, you could finish the sentence … but the Warriors return a number of key veterans ready for bigger roles and a talented crop of underclassmen wait in the wings.
All Jerry Hatcher has done in a decade in Seabrook is develop hard-nosed football players who execute his well-tested schemes and win a whole bunch of football games. Expect more of the same this season, as Whale Branch ranks sixth in Class 1A in the preseason S.C. Prep Football Media Poll and figures to play well into the postseason once again.
The Warriors have to fill some key holes — including a massive one left by monster tackle Xavier Chaplin, now a Virginia Tech Hokie — but they have a stable of capable running backs and linebackers ready to step in for Joseph Hicks, including Mason Griffin, who was bound for stardom before missing nearly all of last season due to injury.
They also have Keith Chisolm, an uber-talented receiver and defensive back who turned heads this summer and drew an offer from Appalachian State, among others. He can go up and get it, and he has a quarterback who can get him the ball in Jakhi Pusha, who wasn’t the full-time starter last season but has plenty of experience under center.
Seniors like Austin Stephens, Clifton Major, and Ja’Darius Garrett have been mainstays in Hatcher’s program for years, and sophomore Alonzo Allen and junior Bradford Thompson are coming off breakout seasons, while sophomore Davon Evans appears poised for one of his own.
The question, as usual, is how quickly Hatcher and his outstanding coaching staff can develop the offensive and defensive lines and build enough depth to keep their veterans up front from playing every snap on both sides of the ball.
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, or just finish it yourself: The Warriors will be one of the teams to beat in Region 7-1A, and if they catch a few breaks and find a couple diamonds in the rough, they’ll be a tough out in the playoffs.
Battery Creek Dolphins
The Dolphins go into Year 3 under coach Terrance Ashe hoping for something to get excited about, and with seven starters returning on each side of the ball, maybe this is the year they get it in the form of wins and losses, and not just the gorgeous new turf field and renovated stadium with video board.
But that’s nice, too.
Hunter Smith returns to take over at quarterback after winning the job last season only to lose his junior campaign to injury, and he has a talented and experienced receiving corps led by seniors Kendall McMillon and Nate Gallego and junior NaQuan Gordon. The Dolphins have to replace top rushers Jeremiah Dilbert and Dreshaun Brown — no small feat — but whoever carries the ball will have an experienced line working in front of them. Tanner McCracken, Jakaree Evans, Devin Broaddus, and Anthony Phelan — all seniors — will anchor the line and try to keep Smith upright and healthy.
Evans and Phelan will also be called upon to anchor the defensive line, and the Dolphins return two excellent linebackers in senior Xzorion Berry and junior Leroy Tyus along with a pair of starters in the secondary in Damien Freeman and Ty Emmert.
Don’t count on too many field goals this year, though, because the great Ivan Huerta has graduated.
There’s hope the Dolphins’ play will match their spiffy new digs now that Ashe has had a full season — and offseason — without necessary-but-crippling COVID-19 protocols that set back the transition. Ashe was also a first-time head coach when he took over a down-trodden program, so he should get plenty more time to turn things around in terms of wins and losses, and if his program is churning out graduates and sending its stars to the next level, the record shouldn’t matter much.
Beaufort Academy Eagles
Even after all these years, every season starts with the quarterback for veteran coach Mark Clifford, who counts on his signal-caller to see the game the way he has for decades — through the power run scheme that brought Clifford years of success at Beaufort High before he retired from the public school system and took up building the program at BA, where he won an 8-man title right out of the gate.
Clifford has a good one under center this season, as junior Braydon Dineen returns for a third season as the starter, and with six other starters back around him on offense — five of whom will join him on the other side of the ball, too — the learning curve wasn’t so steep this summer. Devonte Green is a dynamic force with the ball in his hands, Jaxen Porter is a Swiss Army knife of great value, and Battery Creek transfer Te’Shaun Heyward adds a dangerous receiving threat to a collection of skill players that has Clifford salivating.
The Eagles aren’t big up front, so they’ll count on that veteran presence to lead to solid execution in the trenches to make up for the size deficit, but they are poised to contend for the region title and perhaps more in the reconfigured SCISA 2A with nemesis Hilton Head Christian Academy moving up to SCISA 3A.
John Paul II Golden Warriors
Winless in season openers since 2017, JPII hopes to buck that trend this season thanks to a later start and an experienced quarterback with a veteran offensive line. Opening next week certainly helps, giving fourth-year coach Chris Myers three preseason scrimmages and jamborees to install and tweak, and allowing the handful of new starters on each side of the ball time to adjust to their roles.
No adjustment period is necessary this season for junior quarterback Christian Tilton, who returns for his second year as the starter with the confidence of four returning starters in front of him on the offensive line. Kohl Woodham, Sebastian Slusne, Sam Rembold, and freshman phenom DJ Lewis return up front and are joined by sophomore Lukas Yackley, a transfer from Connecticut who should start on both sides of the ball. That’s also good news for the speedy and versatile Jackson Ogden and backfield mate Tony Hill, who have a tall task in trying to make up for the production lost to the graduation of Mark Knight. The Golden Warriors also have a gaping hole to fill at linebacker where Michael Carbone used to be, but Bryant Jolley and Rembold have stepped up.
Myers is hopeful for his first winning season at JPII, which is an admirable goal in a strong SCISA 3A classification that beefs up the schedule a bit. With that said, a rare quick start would go a long way, and JPII has a realistic shot to win at least its first three games, if not more.
Justin Jarrett is the sports editor of The Island News and the founder of LowcoSports.com. He was the sports editor of the Island Packet and the Beaufort Gazette for 6½ years. He has a passion for sports and community journalism and a questionable sense of humor.
