‘Pull one in for downtown Columbia’: AC Flora hopes to end city’s title drought
It’s been 50 years since a Richland 1 school has won a state football championship. A.C. Flora will try to end that drought this weekend.
The district, which is known in modern history for its basketball prowess, hasn’t won a state football championship since hall of fame coach Mooney Player led Lower Richland to the 1970 Class 4A title. The Falcons go for their first state title on Saturday against North Myrtle Beach at Benedict College’s Charlie W. Johnson Stadium.
“It would be awesome,” Flora coach Dustin Curtis said. ”Everyone is pretty excited about it. Even Newland Isaac (running backs coach at Coastal Carolina), who played at Lower Richland, texted me and said we are doing it for all of Richland 1. That means a lot. We have had a couple teams that have been good here and at other district schools. Obviously, Keenan played for it recently.
“It would be very exciting and kind of gratifying to pull one in for downtown Columbia.”
Flora, which opened in 1959, was the only Richland 1 school to never play for a football state championship. The Falcons had good teams in the late 1960s and early 1980s. A.C. Flora made it to the state semifinals in 2011 and 2014 but lost both times.
Curtis was an assistant on the 2011 and 2014 teams and credits former coaches like Dean Howell, Reggie Shaw and Collin Drafts and assistants during that time for helping build the program to be in this position.
“To see it grow and grow is very gratifying,” Curtis said. “Everyone has a hand in that ... and we finally made this game. Proud of the kids and how they responded. They aren’t satisfied and that is important because you want them to think like a winner.”
Since that Lower Richland football title in 1970, Richland 1 has won 26 boys and 23 girls basketball titles, including Keenan boys and girls sweeping the Class 3A championships last year.
“We are proud of A.C. Flora. Coach Curtis has done a great job. It’s important to show we are more than just a basketball powerhouse and our athletic programs have come around,” Richland 1 Athletic Director Bob Matz said. “Our goal is to build a complete athletic program. If they are able to win, it will be huge for the area, Forest Acres community and Richland 1.”
It’s not that Columbia city schools haven’t had success on the gridiron through the years. It’s just been a while and gets overshadowed by the sustained variety of the district’s basketball programs. Keenan was the last Richland 1 school to play for a football title when it lost in 2014 to Timberland.
Richland 1 has had a strong football championship history prior to the five-decade drought. Columbia High won eight titles from 1924-43; Dreher won five from 1950-59; and Eau Claire won a championship in 1967 and played for three others.
Lower Richland won titles in 1965 and 1967, then made it to the championship game in 1989 and 1991 under Bill Kimrey.
“Fifty years is a long time. I hope Flora does it,” said Kimrey, who spent three years on hall of fame coach Charlie Macaluso’s staff at Flora before taking the job at Lower Richland.
Kimrey and other coaches couldn’t pinpoint exactly why it’s been so long since a Richland 1 school won a football championship. Kimrey said he always had good athletes at Lower Richland and would get some players from the school’s basketball program. But the years he had the most success were when he could hire assistant coaches, which at times was a struggle because there were so many teachers spots to fill in the district.
Coaches’ pay also might have been a problem but that has changed in recent years. Both Curtis and Matz said the district has done a better job increasing the supplemental money for its coaches, making it more attractive to work in Richland 1.
According to Matz, Richland 1 supplements can range from $16,000 to $19,000 plus bonuses, in addition to the teaching salary.
“I think our district has done a great job in the six or seven years increasing the supplement level. Now it will attract more coaches and better coaches. That is really important,” Curtis said. “Our supplements are about as good as most that I know of across the state.”
The football facilities also have seen a drastic improvement. Kimrey remembered having to drag fire hoses to water the field at Lower Richland and recalled poor lighting in certain spots of the stadium.
A.C. Flora now practices on a turf field, which Curtis said was mainly dirt and a little grass when he arrived as an assistant there in 2009.
Richland 1 has spent nearly $40 million on athletics projects since 2015. A new district stadium was built at Keenan High School, where Eau Claire also plays its home games. Renovations were done to Memorial Stadium, home to Flora and Dreher, as well Bolden Stadium (Columbia/CA Johnson) and at Lower Richland Stadium. All the stadiums now have artificial turf.
Turf fields for football practice, soccer and lacrosse were installed at Columbia, Dreher, Eau Claire and A.C. Flora high schools. Dreher also had new tennis courts built.
“You see money they are putting in as a district, and no doubt these things make more kids want to play and makes it more attractive for coaches to come coach,” Curtis said. “You feel like the district values what you are doing.”
2020 SC FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME SCHEDULE
Friday’s game
▪ Class 5A: Dutch Fork vs. TL Hanna, 7:30 p.m., at Benedict College (WACH Fox 57)
Saturday’s games
▪ Class A: Southside Christian vs. Lake View, 11:30 a.m., at Benedict College (www.nfhnetwork.com)
▪ Class 3A: Camden vs. Daniel, 3:30 p.m., at Spring Valley HS (WACH Fox 57.2/1250, www.nfhnetwork.com)
▪ Class 4A: AC Flora vs. North Myrtle Beach, 7:30 p.m., at Benedict College (WACH Fox 57.2/1250, www.nfhnetwork.com)
POSTPONED to Dec. 18
▪ Class 2A: Marion vs. Abbeville, 5 p.m. at venue to be determined (www.nfhsnetwork.com)
This story was originally published December 3, 2020 at 12:39 PM.
