New season, same problem for South Carolina high school football.

The lingering cloud of covid-19 continues to present as many challenges this season as it did in 2020.

It was announced Sunday the Week 0 contest between Irmo and Chapin was postponed due to quarantine protocol for the Yellow Jackets. The Eagles will now travel to WJ Keenan Friday while Irmo’s status for next week’s in-town clash with Dutch Fork will be determined later this week.

Swansea had to cancel its seasonopener with Airport, which will now play host to Crestwood Friday.

In an ironic twist, Swansea will now open Aug. 27 at Dreher which also had to cancel Friday’s contest due to covid-19 quarantine.

Swansea also cancelled its scrimmage with Lexington as part of the Lexington Sportsarama at River Bluff High.

“Day to Day”

“We practiced normal so far but covid is still here,” Lexington head coach Perry Woolbright said.

“You see everyday somebody looking for a scrimmage because somebody cancelled and I think we know why...they’re losing teams. It’s something we’ve got to confront. Any day something can pop up and we’ve got to make adjustments.”

Woolbright is hopeful programs can learn from last year’s experience, during which Lexington lost 2 games due to covid-19 protocols.

Dutch Fork managed to get through last season enroute to winning a state-record 5th consecutive championship. The Silver Foxes and Class 4A champion AC Flora were quarantined after their state title victories.

This year, Knotts is hoping the politics of wearing masks or getting vaccinated does not get in the way of the team’s quest for a “6-pack”.

“The politics is ridiculous,” he said. “I’m trying to be pro-active with our team and I’m trying to get our families to be educated on their own about covid and how that impacts our football team. Just be educated.

“This playing politics with something as dangerous as this doesn’t make good sense. “I’m a day to day guy and I’m going to be honest. I didn’t get covid last year. I didn’t get sick.

“It didn’t impact our team until after the state championship game when we were all quarantined. So we really didn’t get the celebration. But, I had a great year last year. I kind of liked it being minimized a little. I knew we were getting our work done.

“My players bought in to whatever rules we had and when we were supposed to be here, we were here. When we weren’t suppose to be here, we weren’t.

“When we were supposed to be watching film or lifting or whatever we were doing, our guys did it right this year. And hopefully, that will carry over to this bunch. But you never know.”

Dutch Fork opens its quest for a 6th straight title Friday on the road against Wren. It’s the 1st ever meeting between the 2 teams. oxes.

Injury concerns

Covid-19 is not the only health concern for high school football teams.

Friday’s Aun and McKay Classic at Cecil Woolbright Field showed how close a team’s fortunes could change with an injury. During the 2nd quarter of the opening scrimmage against Westwood, Gray Collegiate quarterback Tre Robinson attempted a 2-point conversion run. As he rushed towards the end zone, he violently collided with a Redhawk defender near the 2-yard line. Robinson laid momentarily motionless just over the out of bounds line as trainers rushed to his assistance. After 15 minutes, a more alert

After 15 minutes, a more alert Robinson was placed on a board and onto an onfield cart to be taken to the nearest hospital. Head coach Adam Holmes said

Head coach Adam Holmes said after the game he was taken to the hospital for a sore neck and released. Robinson’s status for Friday’s season-opener at defending Class 3A Lower State champion Camden is uncertain.

Backup Riley Staton finished the scrimmage against Westwood and was 3-3 passing for 66 yards. Preseason notes

Preseason notes

A pair of Chronicle Country running backs were in early season form.

Gray Collegiate and Georgia State-bound senior KZ Adams rushed for 2 touchdowns in the 22-6 win over Westwood.

In the Aun and McKay Kickoff Classic finale, Chapin scored all of its points in the 19-7 win over Spring Valley in 62 seconds.

North Carolina State commit Bennett Galloway had a touchdown reception and a 90-yard kickoff return for a score following a safety.

At WC Hawkins Stadium, Irmo defeated Laurens 28-21. Gilbert transfer quarterback Izayah Whiteside wasted little time making an impact with a long touchdown bomb to DeAree Rodgers to open the scrimmage. Erick Tucker also had a touchdown run for the Yellow Jackets, who open the season Friday at home against fellow Lexington-Richland District 5 rival Chapin.

Going for a 6-pack

The Dutch Fork football team will open the season Friday at Wren. The 5-time defending Class 5A champion Silver Foxes own the following active streaks:

- 50 straight games without a loss

- 49 straight in-state wins

- 27 straight region & road wins

- 24 straight postseason wins (state record)

Quotable

“That’s the 1 thing I took from Coach (Tom Knotts). He said the 3 best words in coaching are “Do it Again.” - New White Knoll head football coach Nick Pelham on what he learned as defensive coordinator at Dutch Fork under head coach Tom Knotts. In 5 seasons with Pelham, the Silver Foxes were 65-1-1 with 5 region and 5 state titles. They also posted 14 shutout victories.

WEEK 0 HS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

(All Games Start at 7:30 pm)

SUBJECT TO CHANGE

•Crestwood at Airport

•Batesburg-Leesville at Ridge Spring-Monetta

•AC Flora at Brookland-Cayce

•Chapin at WJ Keenan

•Dutch Fork at Wren

•Gray Collegiate at Camden

•West Florence at Lexington

•Wagener-Salley at Pelion

•River Bluff at Lugoff-Elgin

•White Knoll at Spring Valley