Championship games for SC high school football will return to single Columbia venue
The South Carolina high school football state championships will be held at one site this year over a span of three days.
On Tuesday, the S.C. High School League’s executive committee approved that Benedict College in Columbia will be the site for all five state championship games that will be held Dec. 2-4. Capacity for Benedict’s Charlie W. Johnson Stadium is 13,000.
It will be the first time since 2011 that all the games will be played at one venue. In that year, all the games were played at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium. In 2010, South Carolina’s Williams-Brice Stadium hosted all the games. The championships were played at both Williams-Brice and Benedict from 2012-19.
Last year, games were held at Spring Valley High School and Benedict College with limited capacity because of COVID-19.
“Biggest factors were proximity to all schools. It was kind of the midway point,” SCHSL commissioner Jerome Singleton said. “The size definitely fit. I don’t think we will have a game in which we will have more fans than the 13,000 they seat. And of course, the financial cost was pretty good.”
Singleton said the league also spoke with South Carolina, The Citadel and South Carolina State but only USC put together a formal proposal to host the games.
In April, the SCHSL executive committee passed a proposal that will change the state championship format from two to three days — and be held at one site. Tuesday’s vote determined that venue location.
A reverse rotation will be used in the future to determine which classifications play their games on which days. This year, the game schedule will look like this.
▪ Class 4A: Thursday, Dec. 2, 7 p.m.
▪ Class 2A: Friday, Dec. 3, 2 p.m.
▪ Class 3A: Friday, Dec. 3, 7 p.m.
▪ Class 1A: Saturday, Dec. 4, noon
▪ Class 5A: Saturday, Dec. 4, 5 p.m.
The SCHSL executive committee also approved Dreher High School as the site for the state volleyball championships. Cross country championships will be at Sandhills Research Center in Northeast Columbia and swimming will be in North Charleston. Girls tennis championships will return to Cayce Tennis and Fitness Center after being held in Florence last year. A site for the state cheerleading championships will be announced at a later date.
The executive committee also approved 16-0 to keep teams at five classifications for realignment 2022-24. Realignment happens in the state every two years and is done to level the competitive playing field among schools.
The process of determining any realignment changes is expected to take place in early September after schools’ 45-day enrollment figures are in. The enrollment numbers are used to calculate any changes.
After the preliminary realignment model is released, schools will have a chance to appeal their classification or region in which they are placed.
This story was originally published August 3, 2021 at 5:11 PM.
