Football and barbecue: How Shealy’s visits helped fuel Batesburg-Leesville resurgence
When Greg Lawson took over as football coach at Batesburg-Leesville, he wanted to provide incentives and rewards to his team for winning football games.
So, Lawson told his team when he took over three years ago that every time they win on Fridays, they will get treated to Shealy’s Bar-B-Que restaurant on Monday nights. Shealy’s is a Batesburg-Leesville institution that’s known for its buffet.
The team made nine trips to Shealy’s over the span of Lawson’s first two years as coach. They haven’t missed a week this season.
One of the Midlands’ most-storied football programs is enjoying a return to prominence after a few down seasons. Batesburg-Leesville (11-0) just completed its first unbeaten regular season since 2000 and won its first region championship since 2014.
The Panthers, the top-ranked team in Class 2A, face Andrew Jackson in the second round of the playoffs on Friday.
“It is something different and something they look forward to. It helps them to bond and socialize somewhere else other than school or the football field,” Lawson said of the Shealy’s visits. “The manager said this week that I hope you keep winning because I love having you all.”
Shealy’s feeds 50-plus Batesburg-Leesville players and 10 or so coaches each Monday. The meals are paid for from donations from different businesses or people in our town, Lawson said. All coaches, trainers, and managers are welcome to come, but not all come every week.
Lawson got the idea of rewarding his team from his time as player and coach of Union County, when the team would go to Heart’s Family Restaurant after wins. He talked fondly of those Wednesday night trips at Union and wanted to give his Batesburg-Leesville players that same kind of experience.
“The amount of times we have been this year is more than we have been combined in the last two years, and it’s been great,” quarterback Tanner Watkins said. “And we have a great time eating as much as we want. We just all get to eat together and chill with each other outside of practice.”
“It’s been pretty special because that’s just another way that we as a team can have more team bonding and also build more team chemistry,” running back Amadre Wooden said.
The Panthers have been one of the area’s biggest surprises this year and want to reach their first championship game since 2016. Their last title came in 2013 when Jerry Brown was head coach.
The program has won seven state championships (1927, 1928, 1979, 1995, 1999, 2005, 2013).
Lawson had no plans of leading B-L’s program when he was hired as an assistant. Gene Cathcart hired him to be his offensive coordinator when Cathcart took the job in January of 2022. Citing family reasons, Cathcart left the program in March that same year and returned to Georgia, where he’s the head coach at Loganville High School. The school promoted Lawson to head coach.
Lawson was an assistant at Conway when he was hired by Cathcart but had previous head coaching experience at Laurens and Hemingway high schools. He also was long-time assistant for a pair of former B-L coaches, Mike Anthony at Union County and Phil Strickland at Gaffney. Strickland is the winningest coach in Batesburg history.
Lawson was part of seven state championships as an assistant coach and was well aware of the history and tradition of the Panthers’ program.
Batesburg-Leesville had back-to-back losing seasons in Lawson’s first years and was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs both years. But the young players Lawson inherited in his first season are now juniors and seniors, and the experience has shown on the field. All but eight of the team’s 51 players on the roster are juniors and seniors.
“This reminds me a lot when I was at Hemingway,” Lawson said. “We finally got kids to buy in on what we wanted to do and what our program was about. I’ve got some good coaches. We are playing with the same kids, but they have worked hard and done what we asked them to do.
“I am happy for our kids and our community. Winning cures a lot of things. Batesburg-Leesville is used to winning, and I am happy that our kids are a part of this. They worked hard to be here. I’m blessed to be a part of the ride.”
B-L’s success this season has the community reenergized with the program. The Panthers knocked off Class A powerhouse Abbeville in Week 2 of the regular season and defeated Saluda in Class 2A matchup of No. 1 vs. No. 2 in on Nov. 1.
Lawson and the Panthers are simple in their approach — run the football, make big plays in the passing game and play strong defense. B-L has one of the top running backs in the area in Wooden, a junior who has rushed for 1,719 yards and has a chance to become the school’s fifth 2,000-yard rusher in a season if the Panthers keep advancing in the playoffs.
Wooden is the nephew of Terrence Wilson, who holds school records for most rushing yards and touchdowns in a career. The junior remembers watching his uncle play on Friday nights before going off to Charleston Southern.
“I am just following in his footsteps, watching his old film, see how he did things and try to add it to my bag,” Wooden said. “This season has been fun. I have been here since I was young. I grew up here. It is a homegrown town. Everybody has played together since we were young and have that team chemistry.”
The Panthers can throw the ball with Watkins, a senior, at quarterback. Watkins has thrown for 1,321 yards, 17 touchdowns and set the school’s career TD passing record (32) earlier this year. He has a couple of strong weapons in KD Whitt and Jamerius Clark.
B-L’s offense, which is averaging 39 points a game, is on pace to break the school record mark of 34.1 set in 2013.
Defensively, Batesburg-Leesville is allowing just 6.9 points per game and has five shutouts, three off the school record of eight.
“I went to a lot of games growing up and I have heard about the 2005 team when they won state and the city was all down through the roads celebrating,” Watkins said. “And that is what we are trying to bring back.”
Game schedule, predictions
(Winner picks in bold face caps)
SCHSL Playoffs
Thursday
RIVER BLUFF at Rock Hill (Thursday)
Friday
Boiling Springs at DUTCH FORK
RIDGE VIEW at Cane Bay
Chapin at IRMO
Westwood at BERKELEY
WHITE KNOLL at Myrtle Beach
AC Flora at WESTSIDE
CAMDEN at Wren
Richland Northeast at DANIEL
Gilbert at BISHOP ENGLAND
Orangeburg-Wilkinson at KEENAN
DILLON at Newberry
Andrew Jackson at BATESBURG-LEESVILLE
Chesnee at FAIRFIELD CENTRAL
Central at SALUDA
SCISA Playoffs
HAMMOND vs. Porter Gaud (At Charleston Southern)
Laurens Academy vs. RICHARD WINN (At WW King)
Last Week: 25-1
This Season: 252-48
