The Sumter High School Gamecocks will be playing host to the defending 4A Division I football state champion on Friday at 7:30 p.m. when Gaffney High and its throng of fans come to Memorial Stadium. And while the 10-2 Indians have allowed just 140 points all season, SHS head coach Paul Sorrells said his team won't be making any drastic changes to try and combat the Gaffney defense.
Sumter is just going to take what it already does and try to find what will work best against the Indians.
"When you get to this point in the season, you've got to stay with what's been working for you," said Sorrells, whose Gamecocks are also 10-2 after beating Boiling Springs 55-14 last week in the first round. "You just take the things that you do and try to figure out what works well against them."
One thing that has worked well seemingly almost every time it has been tried is putting the ball in the hands of SHS running back Roderick McDowell. The junior rushed for 204 yards and three touchdowns on just seven carries against Boiling Springs, with all of his scoring runs being of 50 yards or more.
McDowell has rushed for 1,336 yards and 21 touchdowns, while catching 15 passes for 286 yards and five scores. He's also returned two kickoffs for scores.
"That's a good option to have," Sorrells joked about McDowell. "Of course, we want to get the ball in his hands because that's almost always a good thing. At the same time, we're not going to beat them with just Roderick. That's why we've got to be diverse on offense."
Gaffney head coach Phil Strickland said he is concerned about the Gamecocks' diversity on offense.
"They're real balanced on offense and make you cover the whole field," said Strickland, whose team is allowing just 70.3 rushing yards a game. "They've got a group of talented running backs, a good quarterback and some quality receivers. What we can't do is give up the big home runs (long plays) to them."
"Our defense has kept us in a lot of games this year," said Strickland, whose losses have come to 3A power Greenville and 4A power James F. Byrnes. "We've been able to get enough points to come out on top in most of them."
Playing in Region II-4A, arguably the best football conference in the state, Boiling Springs High School head coach Wade Cooper has seen his fair share of football players. Reviewing film in preparation for the Bulldogs' first-round game in the 4A Division I playoffs against Sumter, Cooper thought SHS's Roderick McDowell is the best running back his team had seen this year.
McDowell's performance Friday at Memorial Stadium confirmed that to Cooper.
McDowell scored on touchdown runs of 50, 59 and 71 yards, rushing for 202 yards on just seven carries as the Gamecocks rolled past Boiling Springs 55-14 to advance to the quarterfinals.
Sumter, the third seed in Division I, will play host to No.6 Gaffney on Friday beginning at 8 p.m. Gaffney, the defending state champion, beat Lexington 26-7 Friday.
"We knew coming in that he (McDowell) was the best back that we had seen," said Cooper, whose team ends the year with a 5-7 record. "He's just a very talented kid."
McDowell's first score came after Sumter had picked up a safety when a snap to Boiling Springs punter James Newell sailed out of the end zone to make it 16-7 Sumter with 47 seconds left in the first quarter. Sumter started at the 50-yard line on the free kick and McDowell went up the middle for the score to make it 23-7 with 36 seconds left.
"Roderick had a heck of a performance, but he's done that for us most of the year," said Sumter head coach Paul Sorrells, whose team improved to 10-2. "He came up to me today and told me not to worry because he was going to have a good game. I like it when he comes through on his promises like that."
McDowell, who has now scored 28 touchdowns on the year and has rushed for 1,334 yards, scored his next touchdown in dramatic fashion as well. Sumter started at its 41 following the second-half kickoff and McDowell again went up the middle for the score to make it 37-14 with 11:49 left in the third quarter.
McDowell's final score came after Sumter turned away Boiling Springs on downs at the SHS 29. Again going up the middle, McDowell went 71 yards for the game's final score with 55 seconds left in the third quarter.
KELLEYTOWN – The Sumter High School football hit the road to face Hartsville for its final regular-season and region game of the season, having already secured the Region VI-4A title. The Red Foxes made their best case for making the 4A state playoffs, however, handing Sumter a 40-28 loss, the Gamecocks' second in three weeks.
The Gamecocks, now 9-2 on the season, begin play next week at home in the first round of the playoffs against an opponent yet to be determined.
Sumter was playing for a No.2 overall seed in the playoffs and the three guaranteed home games that go with it. Hartsville was playing for a playoff berth and self respect, however, and the Red Foxes, not picked by many to win the game, came out with something to prove.
The Sumter High School football team may have wrapped up its first region title since 2003 with its 27-14 win over Conway last Friday, that doesn't mean today's game against Hartsville in Kelleytown doesn't have any meaning to it. Far from it.
With a victory and a little bit of help, Gamecocks head coach Paul Sorrells believes his team can secure the No.2 seed in the 4A Division I state playoffs. The significance of a No.2 seed means that SHS would be able to play each of its playoff games at Memorial Stadium leading up to the state championship game at Williams-Brice Stadium.
"Last week was the most important game for us because it helped us to get to this point," said Sorrells, whose 9-1 team is ranked No.5 in The Associated Press 4A poll. "This game is much more important because we need it if we want to get that No.2 seed.
"We've really made the point each and every day that we can't relax," he added. "This is not a toe-stubbing time for us. It kind of knocks the luster off the region championship if you let somebody else beat you."
Sorrells said if Sumter defeats 7-3 Hartsville, 8-2 Conway beats 5-5 Dutch Fork and 5-5 Lexington tops 5-5 White Knoll, then the Gamecocks would get the No.2 seed based on the seeding of the region champions based on 4A's points system.
Sorrells doesn't expect an easy time of it with the Red Foxes either. Hartsville will be trying to secure a playoff berth. If the Foxes win and have South Florence beat West Florence, that would secure a spot in the Division II playoffs. Win or lose, Hartsville head coach Jeff Calabrease thinks his team will be in the running for one of the at-large berths based on the points system.
The fact that Hartsville has beaten Sumter in the two games since they've become members of Region VI has the Gamecocks' attention as well.
"We've let the kids know that we're going to Kelleytown, there's going to be a lot of people there and that they need a win to get into the playoffs," Sorrells said. "We know that they're going to play hard, probably play the best game they've played all year long. We can't afford to go in there and get bushwhacked."
When the Sumter High School football team began fall practice back in August, head coach Paul Sorrells was cautiously optimistic in what he thought the Gamecocks could achieve. On Friday at Memorial Stadium, the Gamecocks achieved one of their preseason goals.
SHS bounced back from its first loss of the season, a 42-7 pounding at the hands of Richland Northeast, to beat Conway 27-14 and win the Region VI-4A title. It is the Gamecocks' first region crowns since the 2003 season and likely gave them a high seed in the 4A Division I state playoffs, which begin in two weeks.
"I'm very proud of the guys because they've worked extremely hard to get to this point," said Sorrells, whose team improved to 9-1 on the season and 3-0 in region play. "I like the desire they showed, and the way they were able to shake off the game from last week."
Sorrells was quick to point out though that the Gamecocks are not satisfied with simply a region crown.
"I'm glad for the guys because it is our first region title in four years," he said. "This is just the first step, though. We've got our sights set on other things."
The Sumter defense, which gave up 28 second-half points to Richland Northeast, had its sights set on Conway quarterback Dakota Derrick. While Derrick completed 19 of 31 passes for 204 yards, he was sacked six times by the Gamecocks and had two passes picked off by cornerback Kevin Sinkler.
CONWAY — SumterHigh School's varsity volleyball team wrapped up the Region VI-4A title with a thrilling 3-2 win over Conway Thursday. The Lady Gamecocks won 18-25, 25-22, 25-22, 11-25 and 16-14 to improve to 14-9 overall and finish the region 8-0.
Jessy Hansen had eight kills, three blocks and two aces for SHS and Morgan Mixon added 14 assists, 11 digs and four aces. Brittnii Watts finished with 12 kills and four blocks and Sutton Watson had eight aces and 12 assists.
In the junior varsity match, Sumter won 25-8, 25-21 to finish the year 11-6. Courtney Buckner and Danielle Nelson combined for 24 service points.
The varsity will return to action in the first round of the state playoffs at home Tuesday. Sumter will host the No.4 team out of Region VII.
Basketball Try Outs begin October 29 - Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Boys Basketball Tryouts will begin for all teams on Monday, October 29. Any student interested in trying out for a basketball team should have a up to date physical on file with Coach Nelson and have completed and returned the tryout sheet to Coach Livesay. Freshman and Sophomores should report to the gym dressed and ready to practice at 3:45 on Monday the 29th. Juniors and Seniors should report the the gym at 5:00. (full story)
Basketball Tryouts Begin October 29 - Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Boys Basketball Tryouts will begin for all teams on Monday, October 29. Any student interested in trying out for a basketball team should have a up to date physical on file with Coach Nelson and have completed and returned the tryout sheet to Coach Livesay. Freshman and Sophomores should report to the gym dressed and ready to practice at 3:45 on Monday the 29th. Juniors and Seniors should report the the gym at 5:00. (full story)
Sumter running back Roderick McDowell, left, celebrates scoring a fourth-quarter touchdown against Spring Valley.
The best thing about having a running back like Roderick McDowell, as far as Sumter High football coach Paul Sorrells is concerned, is that he has a lot of help.
“He’s been a big part of it, but he’s not all of it,” Sorrells said of his 5-foot-10, 175-pound junior’s contributions to Sumter’s 8-0 start. “We try to be very balanced in our run-pass game and also just in our running game with the people we use.”
That’s not downplaying McDowell’s contributions, Sorrells said. In fact, it may be enhancing them. Without a strong front wall clearing the way and a balanced attack that keeps opposing defenses honest, Sumter might not be undefeated, and McDowell might not be mentioned weekly among the state’s players of the week.
And his stats, gaudy as they are, are a little misleading. McDowell’s 907 yards and 15 touchdowns on 117 carries don’t stick out like a sore thumb in a state in which maybe a dozen others post bigger numbers. But his rushing stats are only part of the package.
Including receptions and kick returns, McDowell is averaging 170 yards per game and twice has returned kickoffs for touchdowns.
And numbers don’t account for game-turning plays, such as the 60-yard touchdown in the third quarter against West Florence that broke the gameopen.
“He can flat-out play the game,” said Grayson Howell, Sumter’s offensive coordinator. “Back in the spring, we knew we had to come up with every way possible to get him the ball.
“He’s got an offensive line with a lot of two-year starters, and he’d be the first to say that’s a big part of his success. But I’ve been in coaching 13 years, and he is the best all-around back I’ve ever coached.”
Despite the fact he is a junior, McDowell isn’t flying beneath the radar anymore, Sorrells said. Then again, he has always raised eyebrows.
“As a freshman, he ran the anchor leg on our state-championship 4x100 relay team in track,” Sorrells said. “He rushed for well over 1,000 yards for our freshman team in only about eight ballgames. I think he had somewhere between 30-40 touchdowns.
“A lot of times you don’t know if that’s going to translate on the varsity level or not, but in this case it did.”
At first look, Sumter's 41-7 win over West Florence at Memorial Stadium in Florence on Friday might appear to be the latest installment of weekly Gamecocks blowouts.
Such are the dangers of first looks.
The Gamecocks had a tougher time with the Knights that the final score might suggest, trailing 7-0 after the first quarter and finding themselves tied 7-7 at halftime. But the Gamecocks got things rolling once the second half began, outscoring West Florence 34-0 over the final two quarters to produce the final lopsided margin of victory.
The Gamecocks remained unbeaten at 8-0 with their victory, 2-0 in Region VI-4A. West Florence fell to 5-3 with the loss, 0-2 in the Region VI-4A.
"We didn't come out as fast as we have in our last few games tonight, but we came out in the second half and took care of business," said Sumter coach Paul Sorrells. "I told our team earlier this week that our next big challenge was going to be to see how we react when another team gives us a pretty good shot, to see how we respond. I was proud of the way we did that tonight."
On the game's opening possession, it appeared to be business as usual for Sumter's offense, which quickly drove deep into West Florence territory. But the drive stalled when the Gamecocks reached the Knights' 20, and on fourth down, David Chambers 37-yard field goal attempt got smothered at the line of scrimmage.
When West Florence took over after the missed field goal, the Gamecocks' defense forced a punt that put Sumter's offense on the field at their 33. Quarterback Stephen Curtis hit Johnathan Whittle on a gain across midfield, but as Whittle was fighting for extra yardage, the ball was stripped away and recovered by West Florence's Landis Lane at the Knights' 42.
West Florence turned the ball over on downs after Whittle's fumble when they came up three yards short on a run by quarterback Jimmy Howell on a fourth-and-five from the Sumter 38. On Sumter's first play after stopping Howell, Jamarious Ward lost the handle on a run up the middle and West Florence safety Paul Pizutti scooped up the loose ball and ran untouched for a 40-yard touchdown. After NickMeeks added the point after, the Gamecocks faced a 7-0 deficit with 1:06 left in the opening quarter.
"We needed something like that early on," said West Florence coach Trey Woodberry. "Our kids were playing extremely hard early on and felt good about the way things were going."
Sumter was able to tie the game when they came back on offense after Pizutti's fumble recovery, marching 68 yards in seven plays. Roderick McDowell, who ended the game with 173 yards on 22 carries, finished things off with an eight-yard scoring run around the right end. Curtis started the drive with a 21-yard run, and McDowell had an 18-yard scamper before his touchdown run. Chambers added the extra point to make it 7-7 with 11:11 left in the second quarter.
Before the half ended, each team had drives end with fumbles, keeping things at 7-7 by the time the third quarter got underway. It did not take long for Sumter's second half onslaught to begin.
The Sumter High School swim team is taking eight girls and one boy to the 4A state meet at the Rock Hill Aquatic Center Saturday beginning at 11:05 a.m.. Five girls qualified individually and three others will join in on a relay team while Doug Morte is the lone male to qualify, which he did in two races.
"I feel like we have a good chance," said SHS head coach Jennifer Ward. "They have been working really hard and I hope we can take a couple of seconds off their swims. With good swims, I think some might be able to get into the top 3.
"Since our team is so small, we just hope to go out and try to do our individual best times," she added. "It is an opportunity to go against some really good competition."
Alicia Hyatt is the highest-seeded Sumter swimmer as she qualified with the seventh best time in the state this year in the 500-yard freestyle. Her time of 5 minutes, 33.53 seconds is over 26 seconds behind the top seed, but is less than six seconds out of the top three.
Kia Kirkhart also qualified 30th for the 500 free with a 6:11.81 mark.
"Alicia Hyatt, she just dropped a good chunk of time," said Ward. "If she can drop another couple of seconds, she will be in contention to get a top three spot."
Hyatt, Alicia Anderson, Whitney Merchant and Ashley Kirkhart will form a relay team in the 200-yard medley and the 400-yard freestyle relay. The former qualified 12th with a time of 2:02.65 — 7.11 seconds behind top seed Dorman — and the latter qualified 11th at 3:58.69 — 12.61 seconds behind No.1 Mauldin.
Kia Kirkhart, Molly Duggan, Katie Speed and Cassie Prosser qualified ninth in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Their time of 1:48.75 is just 4.31 seconds off top-seeded Dorman's mark of 1:44.44.
"Hopefully, they will all have a good day and all put their good times together," said Ward of the relay teams.
In the girls 200-yard freestyle, Anderson qualified 11th at 2:06 and Hyatt 15th at 2:07.25. Anderson also qualified 26th in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 59.09.
Ashley Kirkhart is seeded 17th in the 200-yard individual medley with a 2:24.63 time and 11th in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:05.38. Whitney Merchant is the 26th seed in the 50-yard freestyle at 27.00 — just 1.97 seconds off the top seed — and 17th in the 100-yard breaststroke with a 1:14.96 mark.
Of the first seven opponents on its football schedule, Sumter High School has faced two teams with winning records — 5-2 Crestwood and 4-3 Lexington, which got one of its victories via forfeit. The Gamecocks' last three opponents have a combined record of 2-19.
The undefeated Gamecocks finally get a shot at another team with a winning record today when it travels to Florence to take on 5-2 West Florence at Memorial Stadium. However, there are some qualifiers that go with the Knights: they have lost their last two games and are trying to play with two injured quarterbacks.
"I know they have some injured linemen and their first- and second-team quarterbacks injured," SHS head coach Paul Sorrells said of West Florence, which lost to Conway 38-14 last week in its Region VI-4A opener. "I'm sure that's been part of their problem the last two weeks."
Quarterbacks Jimmy Howell and Paul Pizzuti are reportedly both still hobbled and who plays could come down to who is the most healthy of the two at game time.
Turnovers didn't help the Knights either, as they turned it over five times in the second half, watching a 14-7 deficit early in the third quarter turn into a 24-point loss.
Sorrells said he and his team, ranked third among 4A teams in The Associated Press poll, are taking nothing for granted this week.
"We know that they've tasted the success of victory so they know how to win," Sorrells said. "They started out pretty good and got some confidence before struggling the last two weeks. We know that they're anxious to get back on winning track and feel like they have to win out (in the region) to have a chance to win the title."
FLORENCE — The Sumter High School varsity football team got into region play in a big way Friday at Florence Memorial Stadium, exploding for 49 first-half points en route to a 52-26 win over South Florence.
Lady Gamecocks defeat Conway - Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Lady Gamecocks defeat Conway By TREVOR ZION BAUKNIGHT Item Sports Writer TBauknight@theitem.com After a little bit of a shaky stretch early in the season, the Sumter High School varsity volleyball team looks to have found its footing and is half way to another Region VI-4A title. The Lady Gamecocks reached the halfway point of the region schedule with a perfect 4-0 mark with a 3-0 win over Conway on Tuesday at the Sumter High gym. Conway dropped its first region match of the season. Sumter won 25-17, 25-15 and 25-18. "So far so good," said Sumter coach Warren Coker. "Both of us came in with no losses in the region, and we were expecting them to be as tough as they were. They're a good ball club. Them and Hartsville are the two teams to beat in the region. Conway had gone through and pretty much taken care of everybody pretty easily in the first round of the region, where we struggled against Hartsville, they beat Hartsville in three. We had to go all five (games) with Hartsville. "I'm very proud of the girls — they were very focused on this, and they came out ready to play from the go," Coker said. "We were on our A-game today." The Lady Gamecocks, who are 10-8 overall, survived some early-season rebuilding as they looked for answers to replace a talented trio of seniors. Sumter lost Aubrey Hughes, who was named region player of the year last year, and Amanda Joos, who was named all-region, to graduation and lost Tierra Allen to county rival Crestwood. "We knew that we were going to have to do a little big of rebuilding this year. We lost three key players from last year's region championship team," Coker said. "The girls have done a good job of adjusting and switching positions this year to make up for those losses. "We're pleased with it, but we've had kind of an up-and-down season," he added. "It's been a roller coaster ride, but it's been a learning experience for all of us. We made adjustments when we needed to make adjustments, and the girls have come through so far." Tuesday, Sumter got outstanding play from its middle both offensively and defensively. Senior middle hitter Brittnii Watts led the way for Sumter with seven kills and two blocks, while Jessy Hansen had six kills and two blocks. Morgan Mixon had a good day, serving six aces and contributing 13 digs on defense while Sutton Watson had seven assists. Coker said he was happy with the way Watts, Hansen and outside hitter Monieke Woods have stepped up in the absence of Hughes, Joos and Allen. "Brittnii Watts is an outstanding middle hitter, one of our two seniors. Monieke Woods is the other outside hitter, and she's back from a knee injury last year that took her out of the whole season — she's come through for us. Jessy Hansen coming in as a transfer from Virginia has come through big for us in the middle, both blocking and hitting," Coker said. "Our setters are coming around — they're working hard. We've really worked hard on passing because passing was weak at the beginning of the season, and it's coming along now. Hopefully, we're peaking at the right moment." Conway was competitive in all three games, getting an outstanding performance from Evan Childs, but was never able to push Sumter into the 20s to have a shot at winning a game. "Not to take anything away from (Conway) — they're a good ball club," Coker said. (full story)
