A.C. Flora assistant Dustin Curtis named football coach at Westwood

Westwood filled its football vacancy Tuesday night.

A.C. Flora assistant Dustin Curtis was approved as the new Redhawks coach at a Richland Two School Board meeting. Curtis replaces Rodney Summers, who’s leaving after four seasons to take the job at May River High School in Bluffton.

Curtis has been the Falcons’ offensive coordinator the past three seasons for the Falcons and has been an assistant seven years overall for the Falcons. He coached at Spring Valley before arriving at A.C. Flora.

“He is a class act. I got to think he is going to do things the right way. His intentions are right and he has a good football mind,” said White Knoll coach Dean Howell, who was the coach at A.C. Flora when he brought Curtis on his staff.

Attempts to reach Curtis were unsuccessful Tuesday night.

Westwood went 9-4 this season and made the playoffs in three of the first four years of its existence. The Redhawks will be losing several key players for next season including four of their five offensive linemen. Westwood returns running back Rudy Mitchell, who rushed for 1,953 yards this season.

Westwood will be moving to Region 3-4A next year under the South Carolina High School realignment and will be with Ridge View, Richland Northeast, South Pointe Lancaster and York.

With Westwood filling its void, Lower Richland and Swansea are the only two Midlands schools with football openings. Richland One athletic director Bob Matz said a name for the LR football job and one for its athletic director position opening will be brought before the board in two weeks.

This story was originally published March 22, 2016 at 10:35 PM.