Thursday Morning Quarterback: 'All Stars Weekend' is here

Posted 12/8/22

The “Weekend of Champions” is over with Dutch Fork standing as state champion again. 

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Thursday Morning Quarterback: 'All Stars Weekend' is here

Posted

The “Weekend of Champions” is over with Dutch Fork standing as state champion again. 

Now begins “All Stars Weekend,” with three contests set to take place between Dec. 9 and 11.

It begins Dec. 9 at Zemp Stadium in Camden with the Palmetto I-20 Classic. This game will feature two squads – Team Nasty (Lexington County and Richland County School District 1) and Team Savage (Richland County School District 2 and Kershaw, Sumter, Fairfield, Lee and Lancaster counties).

Making up Team Nasty are quarterback Chance Jennings (Gilbert); running backs Cooper Johns (River Bluff), Alias Graham-Woodberry (Gilbert) and Jesse Ross (White Knoll); wide receivers Isaiah Jones (Dutch Fork) and Kamadi Maxwell (Lexington); tight end Blaine Blose (River Bluff); offensive linemen Jeleni Golsten and Davon Bell (both of Brookland-Cayce), Parker Lawson (Lexington), Pressley Honeycutt and Jacob Beasley (both of Dutch Fork), Bernard Brown (Gray Collegiate) and Jaylen Winguard (Irmo); defensive linemen D.J. McFadden (Airport), Xavier Steed and Alexander Johnson (both of Dutch Fork) and Finn Qualls and Omari Mills (Irmo); linebackers Jaylen Hinton and John Buetow (both of Dutch Fork), Jordan Robinson (Gray Collegiate), Thomas Powell (River Bluff) and Ricky Tyler (Swansea); and defensive backs Jadyn Johnson (Brookland-Cayce), Adam Bass (Chapin), J’von Mack and Ben Montgomery (both of Dutch Fork), Jordan Smith (Gilbert), Nate Thomas and M.J. Jones (both of White Knoll); tight ends Garrett Werts and Prince Ross (both of Dutch Fork) and placekicker Brady Orr (River Bluff).  

The following day, Doug Shaw Stadium in Myrtle Beach will take centerstage with the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Bowl North-South All-Star Game at 12:30 p.m. 

Gray Collegiate offensive lineman Elijah Radden is the lone North player. Duke wide receiver/defensive back commit Apollos Cook of Airport was selected but will not play. 

Five players were selected to the South team. Elon quarterback commit Tanner Staton of Brookland-Cayce, running back Jonah Norris of Lexington, linebacker Chandler Perry of Dutch Fork, offensive lineman Blake Cooke of Gilbert and defensive lineman Max Drag of Chapin.

Drag’s head coach, Justin Gentry, will lead the South team. Spring Valley’s Robin Bacon will coach the North team.

Lexington’s Norris and Dutch Fork’s Jarvis Green are among the seven finalists for South Carolina’s Mr. Football Award to be announced at halftime. The others are quarterbacks LaNorris Sellers of Class 4A champion South Florence and Raheim Jeter of Spartanburg, running backs Bryson James of Clinton and Tyler Smith of Barnwell and Camden defensive lineman Xzavier McLeod. 

On Dec. 5, Green was named the S.C. Football Coaches Association’s Palmetto Champions’ Class 5A Lower State Offensive Player of the Year. 

All-Star Weekend closes out Dec. 11 with the Carolina Bowl Senior Showcase at Fuse Stadium in Gastonia. On Dec. 18, the Shrine Bowl will take place at Viking Stadium in Spartanburg with Dutch Fork’s Green and defensive back Landon Danley on the Sandlappers. 

Among the Chronicle Country players named were quarterback Aliam Appler (Dutch Fork); running backs Cooper Johns (River Bluff) and Naahzeikial Mays (Brookland-Cayce); wide receiver Kamadi Maxwell (Lexington); offensive lineman Jacob Beasley (Dutch Fork); defensive linemen A.J. Johnson (Dutch Fork) and A.J. Colter (River Bluff); linebacker John Buetow (Dutch Fork); defensive backs Jadyn Johnson (Brookland-Cayce) and Kendall Strohman (Airport). Gray Collegiate wide receiver Devin Johnson was a “Deuces Wild Pick.” 

 

Dutch Fork By the Numbers

Running back Jarvis Green finished his high school career with 4,608 yards, second only to former Mr. South Carolina Football Matthew Colburn (5,637 yards). He finished the season with 2,314 yards and 33 touchdowns, a team-high 36 receptions for 527 yards and six touchdowns and two kick returns for touchdowns.

Dutch Fork’s defense allowed an average of 13.3 points per game. Jaylen Hinton had a team-high 147 tackles and nine sacks, followed by John Buetow with 100 tackles and 17 sacks.

Dutch Fork improved to 46-6 in the post-season. It enters next season with streaks of 45 straight regular-season in-state wins, 42 straight road wins (regular-season and playoffs) and 32 consecutive region victories.

Dutch Fork improved to 7-3 in state finals. Head coach Tom Knotts’ seven state titles ties him with Dillon’s Jackie Hayes for fourth most in S.C. High School League football history. Summerville’s John McKissick and Woodruff’s W.L. Varner are tied for first and Abbeville’s Jamie Nickles, who won his eight this past weekend, is third. Knotts also has seven state titles from his days in North Carolina.

 

Quotable

 “We overcame a lot of obstacles. But the one constant was we continued to push them and demand excellence, then hold them accountable.” – Dutch Fork head coach Tom Knotts.

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