Football Friday Rewind: River Bluff bounces back. Irmo, Gilbert win thrillers
After spending four years in college football, Perry Parks was ready to get back to the high school ranks.
The first-year River Bluff coach got his inaugural victory with the Gators as they defeated Brookland-Cayce, 23-0, on Friday night.
“My time in college was awesome and whenever I could come out and recruit Friday night games, you always miss Friday night lights,” Parks said. “We changed a lot of stuff and put a high standard on what football looks like. To see these guys work hard and bust their butt all week — the fun is in winning.”
Parks had successful stints at Lakewood and Ridge View before going to coach in college at Charlotte and his alma mater Coastal Carolina. He took over for Blair Hardin, who led the Gators to a school-record 10 wins last season.
With most of the key players from last year’s squad gone, Parks has been busy trying to put his stamp on the program.
Last week, River Bluff struggled in losing to Rock Hill, 31-18.
The Gators’ defense, which gave up 375 yards a week ago, clamped down Friday on the Bearcats and picked off three passes and made a goal-line stand to begin the fourth quarter.
Caleb Renwick had one of those interceptions, returning it for a touchdown to make it 17-0 less than a minute into the third quarter.
The Gators handed B-C its first shutout loss since 2012 against Swansea.
“The mindset this week was to do better as a team and limit the errors, and we were able to do it tonight,” Renwick said, “but we’ve still got things to work on.”
Running back Hayden Myers rushed for 130 yards and a touchdown. QB Brayden Moore threw a TD pass to Hamp Pitts.
The loss spoiled the debut of Louis Clyburn, who is back as a head coach for the first time since 2016. Like the Gators, the Bearcats lost a lot from last year’s roster and have just three senior starters combined on offense and defense.
Avery King had 106 yards rushing to lead B-C.
Irmo 35, Byrnes 32
Drevon Dopson hit Maleek Miller on a touchdown pass with 34 seconds left to give the Yellow Jackets a come-from-behind win on the road in a matchup of top-10 teams in Class 5A.
Trailing 32-28, Irmo got the ball back on its own 23 with 1:51 left. The Yellow Jackets marched down the field and capped it off with Dopson’s 13-yard pass to Miller.
Dopson finished 12-of-25 passing for 213 yards, two TDs and a TD run. Miller had 258 all-purpose yards and two total TDs. RB/DE Jaiden Bryant had a first-quarter TD before leaving the game with an injury.
Caine Rogers had a TD pass and run for Byrnes. Tre Segarra had 114 yards rushing and a TD.
Dutch Fork 54, Spartanburg 21
The Silver Foxes rushed for 341 yards as they extended their winning streak to 22 games.
Kyle Henry and Isaac Shine each had two touchdown runs, while Colione Martin and Brayden Johnson each had one. Henry finished with 102 yards rushing and Shine had 96.
Dutch Fork trailed 21-20 before Mario Anderson returned an interception 53 yards to make it 27-21 with 1:21 left in the second quarter.
The Silver Foxes dominated the second half, thanks to the big running attack. Jaden Wuerth led the defense with two sacks.
Northwestern 35, Ridge View 28
Xavier Means threw four touchdown passes, three to Kam Vance, as the Trojans defeated the Blazers in a matchup of top-10 teams.
Means was 19-of-30 for 220 yards passing and also rushed for 71 yards. Vance caught eight passes for 130 yards and three touchdowns. The two connected on a 10-yard TD pass with 4:23 left in the third quarter to put the Trojans up 35-28.
Ridge View drove the ball inside the Northwestern 30-yard line in the final three minutes but fumbled and the Trojans recovered.
Ridge View played most of the game without quarterback Tre Howard, who left the game with an injury. Howard had a 70-yard TD pass to Jourdin Mack to put the Blazers up 14-0 in the first quarter.
Howard was replaced by Ashton Chapman, who was 11-of-16 passing for 163 yards and a touchdown. Chapman hit Khristian Jackson on a 16-yard pass to tie the game at 28-28 in the third quarter.
D’Juan Franklin had an interception return for a TD for RV.
AC Flora 48, Chapin 6
Roper Wentzky threw three touchdown passes and Jalen Simmons ran for two in the Falcons’ blowout win.
Two of Wentzky’s TD passes went to Charlie Scott, and the other went to Azel Banag. Blake Betette also had a TD run.
Midland Valley 38, Blythewood 36
Midland Valley scored the go-ahead touchdown with 1:11 left as Xavier Geter hit Cameron Gleaton for the score in the comeback win.
The Mustangs trailed 28-12 headed into the fourth quarter and got within 36-31 with 1:56 left. Then, MV recovered the onside kick and drove down for the winning score.
Preston Smith had two TD runs for the Mustangs.
Blythewood QB James Veasey ran for two TDs and threw one. Braden Mayre also had two TD runs for the Bengals.
Gilbert 29, Wilson 28 (2 OT)
The Indians stopped the Tigers’ two-point attempt in the second overtime to win their first game of the season.
Gray Gunter had a 1-yard TD run and Noah Blackwell’s extra point made it 29-22 to start the second overtime. The Tigers scored on their possession but missed the two-point conversion.
Gunter had three touchdown runs for the Indians. His 5-yard run tied it up in the fourth quarter. In the first overtime, Gunter scored on a 4-yard run and ran in the two-point conversion to make it 22-22.
White Knoll 28, Sumter 6
Quarterback Jhais McKiever threw a touchdown and rushed for a score as the Wolves bounced back after an opening loss. Tiyon Fanning ran for two WK TDs.
Camden 35, Lugoff-Elgin 14
Grayson Rimpf had two touchdown passes and a TD run as the Bulldogs defeated their rivals.
Camden led 28-0 at halftime, but the Demons got to within 28-14 on Jace Coleman’s interception return for a TD.
Rimpf scored on a 4-yard run to make it 35-14 in the fourth quarter. He finished with 268 yards passing.
Hammond 20, Pinewood Prep 16
The Skyhawks won the matchup of SCISA state champions from last season.
Quarterbacks Cade Amell and Ben Kiser each had TD runs for Hammond, which trailed 14-9 at halftime.
Levi Myers also had a TD run.
American Leadership 15, Camden Military 14
Jackson Sherriff hit Leonard Pressley with the go-ahead two-point conversion with 50 seconds left to give the Patriots their second-straight victory.
Pressley finished the game with two touchdowns with the second one pulling ALA to within 14-13. The Patriots tried a fake extra point and it worked as Sherriff hit a wide-open Pressley for the game-winner.
Lower Richland 41, Spring Valley 9
The Diamond Hornets jumped out to a 21-0 lead and knocked off the Vikings.
Solomon Kelson had two TD runs for LR and Sergio Samuels recovered a fumble in the end zone for a score.
Gerald Gibson threw a TD pass and also ran for a score.
Heathwood Hall 14, Laurence Manning 7
The Highlanders moved to 2-0 with a win over LMA.
Patrick Belk had a touchdown pass to Henry Morris and Julian Hughes also had a TD run.
Westwood 42, Lakewood 0
Angelo Rios ran for four touchdowns as Stephen Burris picked up his first win as Westwood coach.
Carter Carrington threw three touchdown passes for the Redhawks.
Pelion 40, Columbia 8
Alan Moore threw five touchdown passes, three to Daniel Adkins, as the Panthers moved to 2-0 on the season.
Jai Chuniesingh had two TD catches for Pelion.
Eau Claire 28, Bethune Bowman 0
The Shamrocks moved to 2-0 with a win over Bethune Bowman.
Fairfield Central 35, Union County 0
Kenyon Douglas had two touchdown runs in the Griffins’ victory.
Kaden Diggs had a receiving and rushing TD for FC.
Newberry 45, Mid-Carolina 0
Kenton Caldwell threw two touchdown passes and ran for two in the Bulldogs’ win over their rivals.
Cash Brown and Jamere Crooks each had TD catches. Brown also had a TD run.
Batesburg-Leesville 49, Wagener-Salley 6
Quarterback Reese Boehnke threw four touchdown passes and Andre Wooden had three touchdown runs in the Panthers’ win.
Boehnke was 10-of-13 passing for 235 yards. Wooden rushed for 138 yards and also caught a 35-yard TD pass. KD Whitt had five catches for 121 yards and two scores.
CA Johnson 44, Branchville 18
Stacey Isaac threw two touchdown passes and King Smith-Bryant ran for two TDs in the Green Hornets’ victory.
Jeremiah Knightner and Terrell Golson added TD runs for CAJ. Golson also caught a TD pass.
Saluda 34, Ridge Spring-Monetta 0
Tristan Daniels ran for two touchdowns and Brayden Williams threw two TDs in Saluda’s win.
Daniels finished with 107 yards rushing Williams was 7-of-13 for 116 yards passing. Mekhi Linton and CJ Davis each had TD catches.
North Central 48, McBee 21
Brayden Price ran for three touchdowns and threw a TD pass as the Knights moved to 2-0.
Kaelon Bradshaw returned a fumble for a touchdown. Bryson Eubanks and Quayson Peoples also had TD runs for NC.
Swansea 54, Denmark-Olar 0
The Tigers rushed for 280 yards in the win.
Six different Swansea players had TD runs in the game. PJ Larry also returned a fumble recovery for a score and blocked a punt.
Richard Winn 58, Newberry Academy 30
Bennett Nicholson ran for four touchdowns and threw three in the Eagles’ win.
Eli Smith, John Bonds and Dillon Albert all had TD catches.
Trinity Collegiate 26, Ben Lippen 13
Michael Traynum and Michael Eckert had TDs in the loss for Ben Lippen.
Dreher wins by forfeit
Dreher defeated Cardinal Newman because of forfeit.
The two schools were supposed to play the second of their two-game series Friday, but Cardinal Newman backed out of the 2025 game a few weeks ago, Dreher coach Corey Jenkins posted on social media. Cardinal Newman went through a coaching change in the offseason with Corey Helms leaving for Pelion.
Dreher wasn’t able to find a replacement, giving the Blue Devils a forfeit win.
This story was originally published August 30, 2025 at 12:31 AM.
