Some Nice Turnaround Stories In High School Football

Not only has Greer’s 10-1 mark heading into round two of the playoffs represented a great turn-around on the local high school football front this season (they were 3-7 in 2007) but it’s been just one example of many in the area who’ve reversed their fortunes either from a year ago or within the 2008 campaign.

Southside High has undergone a renaissance this year. The Tigers hadn’t been in postseason play since 1995 and hadn’t won a playoff game since 1984. But this past Friday night they put up a remarkable 74 points on Emerald in a 74-37 victory. They’ve improved to 7-4 in Greg Porter’s first season as head coach and he certainly has drawn some attention to himself and his program, which was your basic perennial 2-8 team year-in-and-year-out until now. They have a junior quarterback named Justin Goldsmith, who’s been at the center of their explosion on offense and some nice receivers who complement him.

Woodmont High was abysmal a few years ago, going winless in 2005. But they’ve slowly built themselves into a winner under head coach Richard Schrader and are suddenly one of just four Greenville County teams who advanced past last week’s opening round of playoffs for 3A, 2A, and 1A. The Wildcats must travel to face an athletic Chester squad but with brothers Johnnie and Okoye Houston leading the way, among several others who are non-seniors, the Wildcats could give the Cyclones a run for their money and also be a force next year, too.

Greenwood High is accustomed to being a contender for the 4A Division II state title having most recently won the crown in 2006. However, at one point this year they were 1-4 and, most importantly, in a world of hurt with questions on offense. But they got things figured out on offense and have reeled off six straight wins and claimed another Region 1-4A championship last Friday. They used the athleticism of D.J. Swearinger at quarterback while they brought along D.J. Dunlap and now they have some depth there. Their defense, which features Swearinger and Byron Best in the secondary, is their strong suit and that could keep them alive for a few rounds in the postseason.

There are also stories that make you wonder as the playoffs unfold.

For example, why didn’t the restructuring of the 4A playoff system a few years ago prevent a 2-9 Hillcrest team from making the postseason field this year? What the Rams have going for them, in addition to a big enrollment that puts them in the Big 16, is that each of their fellow Region 2-4A opponents are also Big 16-sized schools so they still gain points off their 0-5 region mark. That doesn’t make their inclusion in the playoffs any more legit. It simply explains the math behind it.

When will 1A simply go back to one state champion? The motivation for going to two levels was that schools that have enrollments less than 200 students weren’t in a fair fight with those around 400. But what’s become of it, as many anticipated, is two watered-down brackets where teams with two wins are a shoe-in to make the playoffs.

It’s particularly odd in the upstate where you only have about eight 1A schools. What the High School League should do is simply unify the 1A playoff field, consolidate the two 1A upstate regions into one, make an imbalanced playoff field if need be as most of the 1A schools are either east or south of Columbia, and then still let them have their title game in Orangeburg Thanksgiving weekend to give the process some distinction and to keep it where it’s reasonably close to 80% of those who are in the classification.