Prep notebook | Possibility of additional Class AAA title in football

Mickey Wilson doesn’t buy into all the watered-down talk.

If South Carolina adds an eighth football title for next year, the Myrtle Beach coach is all for it.

On Wednesday, coaches will vote on a proposed amendment that would split the Class AAA playoffs on enrollment, a move that Class AA made a year ago. As it stands, Class AAA is the lone division without a split title.

“No matter how many kids are playing for a championship, if you’re the team that wins it, you’re not going to be worried about what everyone else says,” said Wilson, whose team won the 2010 Class AAA title and played for another in 2009.

“I think that most people do [want the change]. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Everyone I’ve talked to seems to be for it.”

The proposal keeps the region qualification much like it is now. Three teams from each of South Carolina’s four Lower State regions would qualify automatically, and three more would be added via an at-large point system. The four Upper State regions would get four teams each, with one at-large selection.

Beginning next year, there will be 28 teams in Upper State and 24 in Lower State.

After 32 teams have qualified, the list would then be split down the middle, with the 16 larger teams playing for a Class AAA Division I crown while the smaller 16 would play for a Division II title.

Myrtle Beach, with 1,216 students, could be paired in either division, depending on how many of the 20 Class AAA schools with more students make the postseason.

Socastee (1,421) is the second-largest school in the newest enrollment figures released by the South Carolina High School League. The Braves are guaranteed to play in the large-class playoffs under the proposed system. So, too, is St. James (1,367, eighth-largest in Class AAA) and North Myrtle Beach, the 14th-largest school in Class AAA with 1,273 students.

Two-thirds of the state’s football coaches will need to approve the vote in order for the amendment to take the next step in the process. If endorsed, it will then move on to a vote of the Class AAA principals and athletics directors in March.

All signs point to enough support to push it through, especially after Class AA made the switch last season. The major difference in systems, however, is that unlike Class AA, all the teams in Class AAA will not be granted automatic entrance into the postseason.

Instead, coaches have proposed that an 11th regular-season game be added. The extra gate money could be huge for cash-strapped schools, and it would guarantee an extra home game every other season.

But the most noticeable change would be that of the postseason.

Wilson said discussions started last year after Class AA enacted its new formula and then went full-bore after the 2011 season. Three of the final four teams competing for the Class AAA championship in the fall were schools already earmarked to move up to Class AAAA starting in 2012.

All-region hoops teams

The various divisions around the Grand Strand are starting to announce their all-region honorees for the 2011-2012 basketball seasons.

Myrtle Beach guard Khadijah Sessions – who on Sunday was named the Class AAA player of the year – was also named the Region VIII-AAA player of the year. St. James coach Stan Patterson, who led his team to the region title, was named the region’s coach of the year.

Socastee junior Kirstin Zanardo was named the newcomer of the year.

The All-Region VIII-AAA first team included Sessions, St. James seniors Keyanna Rutledge and Stephanie Roberts, North Myrtle Beach guard Taylor Allman (also an all-state selection) and Georgetown sophomore Taziyah Moody.

The boys side of Region VIII-AAA awarded player of the year honors to Socastee guard Travis Frye, who averaged about 18 points and seven rebounds per game. Coach of the year honors went to Myrtle Beach’s Craig Martin. The Seahawks, after serving a postseason ban last year, finished second in the region and will host a playoff game Tuesday against Cane Bay.

North Myrtle Beach sophomore guard Josh Lindsey was named the newcomer of the year.

The all-region first team included Frye, St. James guard Caleb Duggan, Wilson forward Brandon Jones, Myrtle Beach senior Tramond Wilson and Georgetown guard Tevin Johnson.

Three area players were named to the All-Region VIII-AA girls team. They were Aynor junior Brooke Barfield, Loris’ Kadera Cox and Aaliyah Hudson of Waccamaw.

In Region VIII-AA boys, Waccamaw’s Dejan Frasier, A.J. Grant and Blake Dwyer were named to the squad along with Aynor’s Hunter Windham and Christian Buey and Loris’ Devante Claridy.

CBCA weekly honors

Carolina Forest, the Region VI-AAAA boys regular-season champion, remained No. 1 in the Coastal Basketball Coaches Association weekly Top 10.

The Panthers, who will open the first round of the playoffs at home on Wednesday against Spring Valley, were followed by Myrtle Beach, Socastee, Carvers Bay and Andrews in the first five spots.

Weekly player honors for the final week of the regular season went to Jarvez Holmes (Carolina Forest), Nolin Butler (Myrtle Beach), Harold Langley (Andrews), Teondre Bromell (Carvers Bay) and Travis Frye (Socastee).