TheState.com: High School Sports

Bill would force SC schools to be more careful with athletes’ concussions

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:47 EDT

A high school athlete who suffers a concussion will have to get approval from a physician before returning to sports activities, according to a bill being considered by the state Senate.

The bill, H.3061, has passed the House, but it was amended by a Senate committee. If the full Senate approves the bill, the House must approve the amended version before it goes to Gov. Nikki Haley.

The bill has the backing of the S.C. Medical Association, the S.C. Athletic Trainers’ Association and the Brain Injury Association of South Carolina, all of which contributed to its content.

“All of the players have done a fantastic job of listening to us on this,” said Craig Clark, head athletics trainer at Furman University and president-elect of the state athletics trainers association. “It’s going to help take care of the athletes in South Carolina.”

Concussions have drawn more scrutiny in recent years as researchers have detailed an increase in the diagnosis of traumatic brain injuries among all athletes — from the National Football League to high school players. While football gets the most attention, concussions are common among basketball, hockey and soccer players.

Matt Brophy moving from Byrnes to coach Irmo soccer team

Sun, 19 May 2013 00:07 EDT

Byrnes High boys soccer coach Matt Brophy has stepped down to accept the same position at Irmo.

Brophy has spent the past seven seasons leading the Rebels program. They posted 10 wins this year, reached the playoffs in back-to-back seasons (2011-12) and won the Rebel Invitational prior to this season during his tenure.

Brophy will remain at Byrnes through the end of the school year. He will teach physical education in addition to coaching at Irmo.

Brophy said the opportunity to lead the Yellow Jackets was too good to pass up.

“Irmo is like Byrnes football for soccer,” he said. “It’s a high-profile job. They’ve been nationally ranked several times, and it’s a huge opportunity for me. They are always in contention for a state championship and have won their region many times. A lot of their kids also play club soccer, which really helps me since I’ve coached club in Columbia the past few years.”

Savitz leads Irmo to state soccer championship in his last game at school

Sun, 19 May 2013 21:58 EDT

Irmo coach Phil Savitz never saw the game-winner. Lexington coach Will Gettys couldn’t believe the cruel fate he just watched his team suffer.

After 110 minutes of scoreless soccer, Mattison Gossett’s penalty kick took an awkward bounce after goalkeeper Jacob Parton deflected the initial shot and trickled into the goal to give the Yellow Jackets their state-record tying 16th state championship after they won the penalty kick portion 4-3.

It sends legendary coach Savitz off a winner as he closed his 33-year run at the school with his 14th state championship and first since 2004. Irmo had lost in its past four appearances in state championship games before breaking the drought with the title win at Gilbert High.

Savitz takes over the program at first-year school River Bluff next season, but the parting gift he received was unforgettable.

“I’m not sure I can describe it,” Savitz said. “It’s surreal because this wasn’t a team ranked No. 1 in the nation and undefeated and everybody was talking about. This was a team nobody was talking about. I’m enjoying this for the our fans that endured four straight losses in this championship. Everybody doubted this team, and nobody had faith in them. This will go down as one of my best coaching memories of all time.”

Lexington beats Blythewood to win 4A baseball championship

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:02 EDT

Lexington, behind the three-hit pitching of ace Josh Reagan, beat Blythewood 4-0 in the Class 4A state baseball championship game Friday before more than 6,000 fans at Carolina Stadium.

“We wanted this for last year’s seniors as much as for ourselves,” said the senior left-hander who closed his career with an 11-0 record with three shutouts and a 1.13 ERA.

It was the sixth state championship in program history, the first since 1999 and the first under second-year coach Brian Hucks, a former Wildcat.

“These two years (at Lexington) have been the greatest of my baseball life,” said Hucks, who guided Brookland-Cayce to two 3A titles before returning to his alma mater in 2012.

“I’m so happy for these guys because they’ve earned every bit of it. They’re blue collar, low-maintenance kids who put in the work to get this. The bonus was they had the experience in a great setting.”

Irmo hopes to give coach Savitz another soccer state title

Fri, 17 May 2013 23:58 EDT

There are many things that make this year’s Irmo Yellow Jackets soccer team special.

Not the least of which is it is the last under coach Phil Savitz.

Savitz’s career on the Irmo sidelines ends on Saturday at Gilbert, as the Yellow Jackets play in their 23rd state championship game in his 33-year tenure.

“But the emphasis doesn’t need to be on coach Savitz’s last game,” he said. “The team, I think, is working very hard to make it special, but we don’t even talk about it.”

As the team began preparing for the 2013 season, Savitz was being courted for the coaching position at River Bluff High, which will open in August. On Feb. 21, he accepted the position.

Spring Valley's Miller changes his mind, not bound for Florida

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:30 EDT

Spring Valley linebacker Christian Miller announced on Friday that he has decommitted from Florida.

Miller, a 6-4, 215-pound rising senior and son of former South Carolina linebacker Corey Miller, committed to Florida in February.

Miller now says he will choose from Alabama, Tennessee and Florida.

As a junior, Miller had 121 tackles with 21 tackles for loss and 14 sacks.

He also had offers from USC, Clemson, Georgia, FSU and others.

A.C. Flora rallies to beat Airport in 13 innings

Fri, 17 May 2013 00:18 EDT

Courtesy runner Banks Cromer raced home with the winning run on an error in the bottom of the 13th inning to give A.C. Flora a 10-9 win against Airport in the first game of the Class 3A state baseball championship series.

The defending champion Falcons (25-6) can wrap up another championship with a Game 2 win Saturday at Airport.

A.C. Flora trailed 9-1 entering the bottom of the sixth inning, but rallied for four runs in the sixth and four more in the seventh to force extra innings. Donald Gillespie hit a two-run home run and Austin Beskid followed with a solo shot in the seventh to pull the Falcons within 9-8. But it was Davis Funderburk’s soft, two-out single to center field that scored Connor Desmond with the equalizer.

“Tonight was a testament to our players’ resolve,” said Flora coach Andy Hallett. “We never give in until there are 21 outs. There seems to be some magic in the air when we play at Falcon Field.”

The seven-inning slugfest turned into a pitching duel between Flora’s Matt Wallace and Airport’s Forrest Arnold. Both relievers began in the eighth inning and traded zeros until the bottom of the 13th.

Hammond beats Wilson Hall to win SCISA 3A baseball championship

Fri, 17 May 2013 00:24 EDT

The Hammond Skyhawks could not have asked for a more picturesque ending to their 2013 baseball season than the one they got Thursday night at Carolina Stadium.

Nor could senior right fielder Jae Roberts, who hit a walk-off home run 325 feet through a clear and starless sky into the stands beyond left field to cement a 7-4 victory for the Skyhawks in the eighth inning of the SCISA Class 3A championship game against Wilson Hall.

“I dreamed about this last night. I didn’t think it was going to happen,” said a teary-eyed Roberts, who was 0-3 before the homer. “I was just thinking ‘Don’t strike out. Put it in play.’ I was thinking of my teammates.”

“I didn’t know it was going to go over the fence. Just thank God. It’s really unreal,” he said.

Coach Ray Derrick said Roberts’ game-winner was emblematic of the kind of season the Skyhawks have had.

Gilbert hosting state championship soccer games Friday and Saturday

Thu, 16 May 2013 21:15 EDT

The S.C. High School League soccer championships have a new venue this year at Gilbert High.

The Indians will play host to eight state title games Friday and Saturday in their brick-faced, cast-iron gated stadium nestled beside a two-lane road six-miles off of Interstate 20.

It is far from the games’ traditional venues, USC’s Stone Field and Richland District 1’s Memorial Stadium in downtown Columbia. But it is not an obscure choice.

“There’s no doubt about it, we’re out here in the country,” Gilbert athletics director Barry Harley said. “But anything in Lexington 1 is going to be done right and our facilities are as good as some of the best in the state.”

League commissioner Jerome Singleton said several factors made Gilbert a good choice when Memorial Stadium, where the championships had been held for the past several years, became unavailable.

Blythewood beats Lexington to even Class 4A title series

Wed, 15 May 2013 23:58 EDT

Blythewood wasn’t ready to call it a season.

With a 7-2 win against Lexington at home on Wednesday, the Bengals (27-6) evened the Class 4A baseball championship series.

The title will be settled in game 3, on Friday at 7 p.m. at Carolina Stadium.

“Our backs were to a wall. There’s a little sense of urgency with our crowd. And you’ve just gotta try to win that next game, get it to a third game, and anything can happen,” Bengals coach Barry Mizzell said.

Lexington (27-5) won the opening game 5-2 on Monday.

A.C. Flora wins 4th straight Class 3A boys golf championship

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:16 EDT

Keenan Huskey was meticulous in the tabulation of his scorecard Monday and Tuesday in the Class 3A boys golf tournament at the Hackler Course at Coastal Carolina.

He had good reason.

The Greenville High junior shot a 69 in the opening round of last year’s 3A championship at the Hackler Course, including a 35 on the back nine. Or so he thought. He accidently wrote the back-nine total in the space for the 18th hole, thereby giving himself a 35 on the 18th and turning his 69 into a 100.

He correctly tallied the scores for his rounds of 71 and 72 this week, allowing him to win the individual title by four strokes over runner-up Andrew Orischak of Hilton Head with his 1-under 143.

“It definitely is a little bit of payback, I guess you could say,” said Huskey, who has committed to South Carolina. “If that wouldn’t have happened I would have had a chance to win last year. I shot 173, and surprisingly I still beat some people, but … it was just a big ol’ mess.

Irmo beats Nation Ford in 4A soccer semifinal

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:24 EDT

With 40 minutes and a Nation Ford team between the Irmo Yellow Jackets and the Class 4A state soccer championship game, the Yellow Jackets seemed to flip a switch.

After a scoreless first half of the state semifinal game at W.C. Hawkins Stadium, Irmo turned up its offense and powered to a 3-1 victory.

“The one thing this team hasn’t done all season is come from behind, and they did that tonight,” Irmo coach Phil Savitz said.

Two minutes into the second half, Nation Ford took the lead, knocking in a shot over the heads of Irmo’s defenders as they recovered from a previous shot.

“You could just see, instead of being scared that they were going to lose the game, that they were just determined to win the game,” Savitz said of his team, which answered seven minutes later.

Lexington boys soccer tops Dutch Fork in state semifinals

Tue, 14 May 2013 23:36 EDT

Lexington completed a run through the Lower State boys soccer playoffs on Tuesday, defeating Region 5 rival Dutch Fork 3-1 to advance to the Class 4A state championship match for the first time.

It was the fourth consecutive postseason road triumph for the Wildcats, who entered the playoffs as a No. 4 seed.

Lexington (17-9-1) will tangle with archrival Irmo in Saturday’s title match at Gilbert.

“This is awesome,” Lexington coach Will Gettys said. “It’s what coaches tell their teams all the time — just get into the playoffs because once you’re in anything can happen. Even though we lost twice to them during the season I really felt this was going to be an even match because we’ve really been playing well.”

In fact, the Wildcats dominated play after Dutch Fork opened the scoring with a goal by Tyler Bass in the fifth minute.

Westwood caps fine first season

Sat, 11 May 2013 23:49 EDT

It’s been a rough inaugural sports year at Westwood High, but Redhawks fans have had much to cheer during the spring track and field campaign.

Two weeks ago, Westwood swept the boys and girls Region 4-3A championships for the school’s first conference titles. On Friday, the Redhawks were impressive on the statewide level at the Class 3A finals at Lower Richland.

On the team side Saturday, both Westwood teams cracked the top 10. The girls rang up 47 points and finished fifth, while the boys were eighth with 26 points.

Individually, Brianna Pressley and Kelcey Briggs earned gold medals, and Jai Lykes grabbed a silver prize.

Anthony Friday led the boys team with a silver in the shot put and a bronze in the discus.

Socastee ends Chapin’s title era

Sat, 11 May 2013 22:39 EDT

Chapin coach John Rodgers had a plan for the Eagles as they headed into Saturday’s Class 3A championship against Socastee at Otarre Point.

But things did not go according to plan for the Eagles, as Socastee won 4-3, snapping Chapin’s championship streak at three.

“We were hoping to win the lower courts and steal (singles courts) 1, 2, or 3, but that didn’t happen,” Rodgers said. Instead, Socastee won the top three courts, and secured the win with a 6-2, 2-6 (10-4) victory by Kyle Barr and Robert Conley on the No. 1 doubles court.

“We were hoping we could get them 4-2 or to win it with our No. 1 doubles,” Rodgers said. “We almost pulled it off.”

The Eagles got a crucial win from the No. 2 doubles team of Patrick Knight and Jason Flowers. Their 3-6, 6-4 (11-9) comeback win helped force the showdown at No. 1 doubles.

SC high school track and field championships

Sat, 11 May 2013 23:48 EDT

Results from the Class AAAA meet of the South Carolina High School League State Track and Field Championships:

BOYS

100 Meter Dash AAAA —1, Devin Albert, Blythewood, 10.67. 2, Davon Anderson, Summerville, 10.73. 3, Josh Lafoe, Fort Mill, 10.83. 4, Malik Crawford, Rock Hill, 10.94. 5, Kenny Fenton-Griffith, Ft. Dorchester, 11.00. 6, Tavien Feaster, Spartanburg, 11.01. 7, Raekwon Rouse, South Florence, 11.16. --, Austin Connor, Dutch Fork, FS.

200 Meter Dash AAAA —1, Curtis Walker, Lexington, 21.56. 2, Devin Albert, Blythewood, 21.59. 3, Tavien Feaster, Spartanburg, 21.91. 4, Kenny Fenton-Griffith, Ft. Dorchester, 21.92. 5, Kelvin Pettis, Hillcrest, 22.11. 6, Terrell Simmons, Spring Valley, 22.14. 7, Deandre Daniels, Goose Creek, 22.40. 8, Malik Crawford, Rock Hill, 22.92.

400 Meter Dash AAAA —1, Curtis Walker, Lexington, 47.75. 2, Deandre Daniels, Goose Creek, 48.04. 3, Terrell Simmons, Spring Valley, 48.53. 4, Bradley Gibson, Spring Valley, 48.73. 5, Antonio Locklin, Sumter, 49.36. 6, Eligha Case, Laurens, 49.45. 7, Nate Gordon, Spartanburg, 49.95. 8, Kelvin Pettis, Hillcrest, 50.19.

Goodson leads powerful B-L effort

Sat, 11 May 2013 23:49 EDT

Led by Megan Goodson’s three-medal performance, Batesburg-Leesville finished as the Class 2A state track and field runners-up on Saturday at Lower Richland.

The Panthers scored 75 points to earn silver, while Bishop England won the title with 88 points.

“It’s a lot to ask of eight girls to come in and beat Bishop England,” coach Gary Adams said. “To come 13 short of Bishop England, with all that they have to offer down there in the Lowcountry and how they usually are such a strong team, we’ll definitely take that.”

The Panthers got four gold medal finishes from seniors Goodson and Kaliyah Andrews.

Goodson earned gold in the pole vault with a vault of 10 feet, 8 inches, and in the long jump with a 16-9.75 leap. She also took silver in the triple jump. Andrews won both the 200- and 400-meter sprints, with times of 25.83 and 57.86 seconds respectively.

Spring Valley reaches the summit

Sat, 11 May 2013 23:50 EDT

After three straight years of runner-up finishes at the Class 4A state track and field championships, the Spring Valley Vikings decided enough was enough.

“We were tired of it. It had to end,” senior Connor McCormack said.

The title drought came to an end Saturday at Lower Richland Stadium as the favored Vikings performed as expected and ran away with its first state championship in 10 years. They topped second-place Lexington, 78-50.

It was the sixth championship in program history and the fifth under veteran coach John Jones since 1987.

“We had a great day at qualifying last week, got a lot of kids in and as a group we were right on what we projected,” Jones said. “This is just a great, great group of athletes, and we won it as a team.”

Scoreboard

Sat, 11 May 2013 23:47 EDT

HIGH SCHOOL

Boys soccer

Lexington 2, South Aiken 1 (PK)

At South Aiken

Goals: (L) Brett Smith, Alex Santoyo (winning PK); (SA) Trevor Lightbody. Goalies: (L) Jacob Parton, (SA) Michael Ulmer. Recs: L 16-9-1, SA 20-3. Note: Lexington plays at Dutch Fork in the Lower State final on Tuesday.

Friday high school scoreboard

Sat, 11 May 2013 00:04 EDT

Baseball

Blythewood 6, Wade Hampton 0

W: Zach Hamilton (9-1). L: Tyler Thorton. Hitters: (B) Chaz Mizzell 2-2, (WH) Luke Russell 2-3. Recs: B 26-5.

Lexington 2, South Aiken 1

at Lexington