Many Reversals Of Fortune On The High School Front

This has proved to be the high school football season of the turn around.

In many corners of the upstate, there are some pretty nice stories of teams that have bounced back from a lousy 2007 and is prospering in 2008.

Exhibit A would be Spartanburg. Under new head coach Fred Brown they lost two of their first three in lopsided fashion. However, they haven’t played a home game in a month but ironically have prospered, going on the road and picking-up wins against Sumter, Greenwood, and Gaffney. Impressive for a team that was in disarray last season when it won just twice and went through an agonizing final campaign under Doc Davis. Their junior quarterback Conelius Jones appears to be every bit the athlete he was built up to be.

Exhibits B and C are Greer and J.L. Mann, which each won just three games last season but have catapulted to 5-1 starts and look like legit threats to win their respective region titles.

Greer’s made it happen behind the running tandem of RB Dominique Parks, who they expected to chew-up the yards, and QB Efferlan Williams, who was somewhat of a mystery coming in but his 197 yards and four rushing touchdowns in this past Friday night’s win over Union Co. showed what he can.

Mann was blown out in its opener 57-0 at South Pointe (a very good AAAA squad) but has responded with five straight wins including triumphs over AAAA teams Mauldin and Hillcrest. It was in that Mauldin game in Week Two that the Patriots scored late to pull-out a three-point win and they haven’t looked back since. They’ve gotten a huge boost from running back Cam Blassingame, who’s among many new stars for the team this season.

Berea is 3-3 in their first season under Brian Davis but has shown tenacity not seen often in their program in nearly a decade and they look as if they’ll be a tough out for a lot of teams in their new Peach Blossom AAA region. They’ll get to see how legit they are when they play host to Mann Friday.

Their neighbors, Travelers Rest, went winless in 2007 but have come up with two victories already and lost to Mann in overtime this past Friday. What’s likely most appealing for those who follow the Devildogs is that they actually show a pulse on offense this season after managing few than 20 points for all of last season.

Boiling Springs has prospered in its first season under Bruce Clark and save for a last second loss to visiting Aiken they’d be among the few unbeaten teams in the area right now.

Mauldin has already doubled its win total from last year with its 4-2 start and their two losses were the three-pointer at Mann and to Laurens in which they led by 12 at the half.

Woodmont’s been slowly improving since a winless season a few years back and after a 4-0 start the Wildcats dropped their last two but they have an opportunity to win at least six in the regular season would mean big strides. They’ll face a West-Oak team this Friday that’s 4-2 under first-year coach Jay Brannon.

Now far from West-Oak in Oconee County is a Walhalla team that’s 3-3 but has been more competitive overall this season than in years past. They’ll try for what would be one of the biggest wins in their program’s history this Friday against the machine that is unbeaten Abbeville.

And Ninety Six is 6-1 after a nightmarish 2007 as new coach Chris Liner has brought many lessons learned as an assistant at Greenwood. The Wildcats have dropped down to 1A this year and will likely battle Ware Shoals for their region championship.

For those teams that are enjoying the fruits of their labor there are nearly as many either still seeking that first win or mired in the throes of a terrible start. I would suppose that in those programs they’re just about at that point where they begin privately viewing the calendar as a means to countdown the remaining days in the season not how long it is until the playoffs begin.