SHS preparing to play hard against Hartsville

By DENNIS BRUNSON
Item Sports Editor
dennisb@theitem.com

Since the start of the Region VI-4A schedule, Sumter High School head football coach Paul Sorrells thought when his team boarded the buses today for the trip to Kellytown Stadium to face Hartsville, it would be for the outright region title.

Turns out Sorrells was correct. SHS and the Red Foxes enter today's 7:30 p.m. showdown with 4-0 region marks. Also at stake with a victory is better seeding in the state playoffs, the Gamecocks in Division I and Hartsville in Division II, respectively.

"They're a hard-nosed football team," Sorrells said of the Foxes, who will bring a 9-1 overall record into the contest compared to Sumter's 8-2 mark. "We're going to be in Kellytown, so we know it's going to be a hostile environment. It will be the most hostile environment we've played in. There will be a big crowd and I know they'll be jacked up and ready to go.

"There's no reason to think that it won't be a hard-fought game."

While Sorrells wants the Gamecocks to be jacked up for the game, the game is the only thing he wants his players focused on.

"I told them at practice that our destiny is in their (the Sumter players') hands," Sorrells said. "We do not need to get carried away with all of the hype surrounding this game. We need to take care of business and play our best on defense, offense and special teams."

Hartsville's only loss of the season came to defending 3A state champion Myrtle Beach by a 42-20 score.

The Red Foxes had quarterback Shawn Smith for the first four plays of the game before he was injured.

Hartsville lost to Sumter 62-26 last season. Foxes head coach Jeff Calabrease insists that that is not a focal point for his team.

“I tried to forget that game while I was walking off the field,” Calabrease said. “Coach Sorrells said they were happy to being playing us because it got them fired up for the playoffs. They didn’t make any mistakes in that game.”

The Gamecocks, who have won eight straight games, have been rolling on offense in recent weeks. They have outscored opponents 379-156 on the season and 212-45 in the past five games.

That includes last week’s 55-14 shellacking of Conway, which improved Sorrells’ 11-year career record at Sumter to 90-49. Sumter finished with 461 yards of total offense, 331 of it coming in the first half when it held a 41-7 lead.

SHS has been particularly balanced the past two weeks. It ran for 231 yards and rushed for 230 against Conway, while running for 235 and passing for 220 in a 56-3 win over Carolina Forest.

“The last two weeks we’ve played about as well as we can play,” Sorrells said. “I’m pleased with the way our offensive line and running backs have matured. We struggled running early, but it’s not just a fluke. We keep getting better.”

Running back Romaine Prince has rushed for 771 yards and eight touchdowns on 122 carries. Quarterback Stephen Curtis has rushed for 335 yards and nine TDs on 95 carries while completing 123 of 227 passes for 1,880 yards and 27 touchdowns.

Curtis has five players he looks to put the ball in the hands of: wide receivers Danneil Duncan (34 receptions, 488 yards, 7 TDs), Tyler Smith (30-510-12), Avery Woods (23-452-5), Aeduann McClary (14-152-1) and Prince (11-137-1).

The Red Foxes are just as proficient on offense as Sumter, running out the Wing T. Dre Scott is the focal point of the offense, rushing for 1,329 yards and 14 touchdowns on 137 carries, good for a 9.7 yards-per-carry average. Ronnie Jackson has rushed for 749-yards and five scores on 89 carries and Eric Williams had 497 yards and nine TDs on 64 attempts.

While Hartsville doesn’t throw it much, it is effective when it does so. Smith has completed 50 of 76 passes for 1,014 yards and 11 TDs. His top receiver is Brandon Beans, who has 22 catches for 518 yards and six touchdowns.

“We’re just trying to create some semblance of a balanced attack,” said Calabrease. “We like to be able to do different things offensively.”

A Sumter victory would leave it seeded somewhere between No. 4 and No. 6 in the playoffs, according to SHS offensive coordinator Grayson Howell. Where the Gamecocks fall will depend on how 10-0 Rock Hill does against 8-2 South Pointe and how 8-2 Gaffney goes against 5-5 Northwestern. Both games are for region titles as well.

Should Sumter lose, Howell believes it would still be seeded in the top eight, thus meaning it would host a first-round playoff game.

Hartsville will be playing to secure a home game in the first round with a victory.

The 4A playoff system is set up where the top three teams from each of the eight regions secure playoff berths. Eight teams earn at-large berths based on the 4A points system, meaning 32 teams are in the playoffs.

The 32 teams are split into two divisions based solely on attendance figures with the 16 largest schools making Division I and the other 16 forming Division II. Each division is seeded first by region winners based on points and then second-place teams based on points. The third-place teams and at-large teams will fill out the remainder of the fields based on points.



Reach Sports Editor Dennis Brunson at dennisb@theitem.com or (803) 774-1241.