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Welcome back, football

kyle dawson, aiken standard, s.c.
·5 min read

Aug. 17—High school football season has finally returned to the Aiken Standard coverage area.

Last week the Aiken County Jamboree was played for the first time since 2019, and Thursday marked the beginning of the South Carolina High School League's regular season.

Two games Thursday involved area schools (Barnwell at Williston-Elko and Augusta Christian at Ridge Spring-Monetta), with eight more on the schedule for Friday.

The fastest four months of the year are upon us once again, and here are five things to know for the local prep football season:

1. Changes to print coverage

Changes to the Aiken Standard's print operations also means changes to prep football coverage, but that only applies to Saturday's newspaper. Early deadline on Friday means the Saturday paper will be printed long before 7:30 p.m. kickoffs, so game stories will not be included. They will, however, still be online as soon after the games go final as possible, and those stories will also appear in the Sunday e-edition.

The rest of the week will be business as usual. Wednesday's paper will feature Game Balls for the area's top performers each week, Thursday will have a feature on the local Player of the Week, and Friday will have preview capsules for our area teams.

2. New coaches

Four area schools have new head coaches for the 2023 season.

Longtime assistant and North Augusta High School alumnus Richard Bush has taken over as the Yellow Jackets' head coach, taking over after Matt Quinn stepped aside to spend more time with his family after leading the Jackets to the Region 4-AAAA title in his only season. Bush was the head coach and athletic director at Williston-Elko in 2020-21, leading the Blue Devils to a record of 6-11.

Dwayne Garrick is the new head coach at Aiken High, coming over from Barnwell after eight successful seasons in his second stint leading the Warhorses. Garrick, who has won 200 games across 25 seasons and led Williston-Elko to the 2009 Class A, Division II state title, took over after Aiken alumnus Olajuwon Paige was fired after four seasons.

Brian Smith is now at Barnwell after four seasons, including a Class A Upper State title in 2019, at Ridge Spring-Monetta. The Trojans were 23-21 during that stretch, and in 19 seasons of coaching high school football Smith has a record of 113-100.

Swapping hats from defensive coordinator to head coach at RS-M is Jay Brannon, who spent the previous three seasons as an assistant under Smith. He's been an assistant at several other schools, including at Saluda for the Tigers' 2019 Class AA state championship, and was the head coach at West-Oak from 2008-12 with a record of 16-35.

3. Realignment upcoming

This upcoming school year will be the last in the current round of SCSHL realignment. That could mean new regions or even new classifications for 2024-26 in all sports. The biggest shake-up last time around occurred in Edgefield County, as both Fox Creek and Strom Thurmond dropped from Class AAA to AA to join a Region 3-AA that also includes Silver Bluff. That split up the Bulldogs and rival Barnwell, who moved to Region 6-AA.

Aiken County's Class AAAA schools and Airport remained in a region together, but they switched from the Lower State Region 5-AAAA to the Upper State Region 4-AAAA. The local Class A region including Blackville-Hilda, Ridge Spring-Monetta, Wagener-Salley and Williston-Elko also remained intact, changing from Region 3-A to Region 4-A and staying in the Upper State.

That may all change next year.

4. Talented senior class

The football class of 2024 is one of the most star-studded to come through the area in a long time, and five local players were among the 75 recently named to the state Mr. Football watch list.

Silver Bluff defensive end/linebacker Jordan Boyd, Midland Valley running back Traevon Dunbar, Silver Bluff linebacker/defensive end Jayden Fuller, South Aiken quarterback Terrence Smith and Strom Thurmond wide receiver Braylon Staley are all under consideration for the award, which is given annually to the top senior in the state. Barnwell running back Tyler Smith was one of five finalists last year, with Camden defensive lineman Xzavier McLeod winning.

The five players listed above are also considered among the top recruits in the state, with four of the five already announcing their commitments. Boyd is committed to Georgia Tech, Fuller to Miami of Ohio, Smith to UConn and Staley to Tennessee, while Dunbar in March named a top six of Boston College, Arkansas, West Virginia, Penn State, Maryland and Virginia Tech, per On3sports, and could see his recruitment take off again now that he's back at 100% after missing half of last season recovering from an injury.

5. New venue for state championships

The end goal for every team this season is no longer Columbia's Benedict College — now it's South Carolina State's Oliver C. Dawson Bulldog Stadium in Orangeburg. The SCHSL announced last month that all five classifications will play for their respective state championships at S.C. State, with the games scheduled for Nov. 30 through Dec. 2.

This is the first time all of the SCHSL's classifications will play for championships at S.C. State. The last area school to play in the state finals was Silver Bluff in 2021, and the last area team to win a title was Williston-Elko in 2009.

Never miss a score

With changes made over the past year, our press deadline won't allow us to get night scores from most high school football games into the following day's paper. Instead of waiting another day, check aikenstandard.com for the latest game coverage or get the prep football email newsletter delivered to your inbox. Sign up here: tinyurl.com/s9d8krhj.