Flip the switch on the Friday night lights and roll out the pigskins. High school football season is officially back as of this Friday.
Most of the 33 teams in our CSRA coverage area will be in action Friday for games that actually mean something in the November grand scheme of things, a.k.a., the playoffs.
Public school teams, private school teams, Georgia High School Association schools, South Carolina High School League schools and every other grouping you can imagine will be back in official action, and all I can say is, “It’s about time.”
Throw in the fact that in less than two weeks, college football will be back in season. It’ll be a smorgasbord of gridiron action that should keep the CSRA football fan busy, whether you’re talking high school or college.
Why? Because not only are the storylines for high school football in this area plenteous, there’s a decent chunk of local standouts populating college football rosters across the country that you’ll definitely want to keep an eye on.
Local stars making impact
Take, for example, Stevens brothers, Drew and Jack. Both of them are North Augusta alums. Both were considered among the best kickers in the area when they played for the Yellow Jackets.
And if you turn on your TV or find your favorite device to stream games on, you’ll stand a good chance of seeing either Drew or Jack on the screen kicking for major programs.
Drew, the older of the two brothers, plays for the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Big 10. And thanks to a sophom*ore season where he connected on 18 of 26 field goals and 19 of 20 extra points, Drew has been named to the Lou Groza Award’s preseason watch list. The Lou Groza Award goes to the best kicker in the country at the end of each season.
Meanwhile, after kicking for North Augusta as a senior just last year, and coming up just short of a SCHSL region title, Jack has moved his way up the depth chart at two-time defending NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) national champion South Dakota State.
After having a chat with his father late last week, I learned that Jack has a pretty decent shot at making the travel roster when SDSU as a second stringer when it travels to face Oklahoma State on Aug. 31 for their season opener.
Through 10 days of fall camp, Drew has made 28 of 33 kicks with a long of 58 yards while making good on four of five kicks from 50-plus. Meanwhile, Jack is 22-of-23 with a long of 53 through 10 days of fall camp. His only miss? A 54-yarder.
Two elite kickers while they played in the CSRA are now looking to carve out that same reputation at the next level.
CSRA football talent ready to shine
Why does this matter? Because it reminds us that there’s ample next-level football talent in this area that’s always seemingly known more for its basketball prowess than anything else.
And the brothers Stevens aren’t the only ones. Not to mention the fact that there’s more than a smattering of Division I football prospects still playing high school ball in the area to keep an eye on.
And just because they’re committed to schools now doesn’t mean those commitments can’t change. So the recruiting situation across the CSRA has the potential to be fluid and full of intrigue over the next few months.
Speaking of intrigue, are there any teams in our coverage area who could make a significant run for a state championship?
One that comes readily to mind is Aquinas. Though some of the Fightin’ Irish’s key pieces from last year’s quarterfinals squad have either graduated or transferred, you can’t count out a high school football team from contention when it has stellar quarterback and offensive/defensive line play.
Aquinas has both with senior quarterback and Davidson commit Jim Franklin and sophom*ore defensive lineman Jaden Wuerth. The 6-foot-2, 225-pounder should turn plenty of heads on the recruiting trail as he and his Aquinas teammates move up from GHSA’s Class A to Class AAA. Wuerth tallied a ridiculous 139 tackles, 36 of which went for losses, along with 14 sacks as a freshman.
Yes, a freshman.
It wouldn’t surprise me to see Aquinas in the thick of things come November.
Aside from the Irish, you’ve always gotta assume Thomson will be in the mix. It’ll be interesting to see how coach Franklin Stephens and Burke County takes another step in Stephens’ second season at the helm.
Teams that could turn heads
Some eyebrow-raising scrimmage results have me excited to see how a couple of teams that have struggled in recent years could be on the upswing.
Lakeside blanked Laney 35-0 in a Friday scrimmage. The Panthers will open at Grovetown Friday at 7:30 p.m. Greenbrier’s 28-0 win against Richmond Academy was impressive. The Wolfpack will try to rebound from a 1-9 2023 campaign where they didn’t capture their first win until the final game of the season.
First-year coach Sean Tiernan is looking to guide Greenbrier to its first winning season since 2020.
Cross Creek’s 36-0 domination of Glenn Hills in Friday scrimmage action was, perhaps, a sign of another big step in progress for third-year coach Ezzard Horn. Horn’s already accomplished something by being the first head football coach to stay at Cross Creek for more than two years since Robert McCarty completed his fourth season at the helm back in 2016 — which was, by the way, the last year Cross Creek had a winning season or made the playoffs.
The Razorbacks took a step last year, going from one win to three during Horn’s second season.
And there are so many other questions begging for answers.
Can Westside’s Jenarion Kamga pick up where he left off last year when he ran for over 1,500 yards as a junior?
What will Midland Valley do for an encore after winning 12 games, a region championship, posting the school’s first ever undefeated regular season and fielding a 3,000-yard rusher in now-West Virginia freshman Trevon Dunbar? Especially when you consider all the offseason drama that’s come with a coaching change.
Can Evans give 4-star offensive lineman Georgia commit, Mason Short, a deep state playoff run before he ships off to Athens?
Will a young but talented Lincoln County bunch take another step toward its storied program form when the Red Devils won a whopping 44 region and state championships from 1974 through 2013 under legendary coach Larry Campbell?
That’s just for starters. One of my favorite parts of the high school football season is being surprised at the headlines and headliners you didn’t see coming.
So there’s nothing else left to say but, “bring it on!” Even in a basketball town, there’s nothing quite like football season in the South.
Gabriel Stovall is the sports editor or The Augusta Press. He can be reached at gabriel@theaugustapress.com.
