|
Featured Sections Headlines Opinion Obituaries Sports Crime Blotter Happenings Country Cooking Wandering Minds Classifieds Birthdays Off The Wall On The Record Church Listings Archives Featured Columns Pastor Howle Wise Tech Tips Editor's Column Carl Langley Dr. Skip Myers Edgefield Square Registered Sex Offenders for Edgefield County Contact us Contact Info or E-mail the Editor Phone: 803-634-0964 day 803-279-5041 eve 803-279-8943 fax Mail to EdgefieldDaily.com PO Box 972 Edgefield SC 29824 Video & Audio Updates Audio Archive Video Archive School System EC District Office School Board Strom Thurmond Charter Schools Fox Creek Private Schools Wardlaw Academy Public Offices Edgefield County Edgefield Johnston Trenton Political State and Federal Legislative Contacts Local Political Parties Republican Party Democrat Party Chamber of Commerce Edgefield County Chamber Historical Edgefield Genealogical Society News links The Citizen News Aiken Standard North Augusta Star The State Augusta Chronicle Atlanta Journal United Press Associated Press FOX News Reuters CNS News WorldNet Daily Newsmax Drudge Report GoogleNews Yahoo!News New York Times New York Post Los Angeles Times Washington Times Washington Post |
 Sports
Preview:Strom Thurmond at Williston-Elko, Season Opener By Tim Crane web posted August 20, 2010 SPORTS – It’s Football Time Again! The Strom Thurmond Rebels have been hard at work preparing for an exciting 2010 season since their third round exit last November. The Rebels return a slew of talent from a 10-3 team and are ranked #1 in 2A in some of the state’s polls. Raleigh Yeldell (junior) will see his second season under center as the starting quarterback. He is a dual threat out of Thurmond’s spread offense and opposing defenses will have contain his running and passing abilities if they are to be successful. Defensively, Strom Thurmond will line up in the 3-5-3 package. Senior KJ Padgett will be anchoring down the middle linebacker spot. The defensive line will be held down by three year starter Octavious Brown. Williston Elko is the defending 1A State Champs and are preseason #1 in class 1A football. They finished 2009 with an unblemished 14-0 record as they scored 50 points per game and only allowed 11 points per game, for the season. The scary part about the Blue Devils is they return 18 starters from last season’s team that dominated nearly every opponent they faced. Friday night will display two powerful offenses matched against two of the state’s best defenses. There is not a tougher opponent on either team’s schedule for the 2010 season. For a game that means nothing in the large scheme of things (no region or playoff indications) this is one of the most anticipated games in the CSRA and the state of South Carolina. The winner of this contest will be favored to run the table on the remainder of the regular season. Both head coaches will be coaching in the Shrine Bowl this season. Each team is laced with talent and prospective college players. Williston and Thurmond have huge fan bases and expectations have never been higher for either team, coming into a season. This game will be the epitome of what big time high school football is all about. Coaches Corner: Dwayne Garrick, “Strom Thurmond will bring all we can handle. They are very well coached with great players. I knew it when we scheduled the game so it’s wasn’t a big surprise when I watched them on film. This will be a great match-up on both sides of the ball for both teams. I have a lot of seniors that were forced to start as freshmen, so for many of my players this will be their fourth season playing varsity football. I told my team that we have a window of 48 minutes to perform on Friday night. What we’ve done to get here or in the preseason doesn’t matter. If we do well in that window, we can win, if not we will lose. Both schools had the guts to schedule each other. We each could have waited and searched for a lesser opponent, but Coach Sawyer and I committed to the game, which is a great example to our kids and programs. We are excited to be playing such a good school as Strom Thurmond and this game will only make each team better, win or lose. It’s going to be a knock down drag out for 48 minutes and I hope it comes down to the fourth quarter.” Lee Sawyer, “I’ve had 100 people ask me if I was crazy for scheduling this game. I tell them games like this will make you better whether you win or lose. The crowd, level of competition and atmosphere will only make us better for region and the playoffs. It’s going to be a great challenge for both teams. When you get to the top five teams of each class, there is not a lot of difference. A good football team is just that, a good football team. They are athletic enough to have a lot of big plays and we must try to cut out the homeruns. This week will be a big challenge for our guys and I hope both teams live up the expectations. They are comfortable in the wishbone with ball control and the quarterback can throw it too, which makes them hard to defend.” Keys To Victory: “They spread the ball and their quarterback (Raleigh Yeldell) is dangerous. We must find a way to slow him down and contain him. Our offensive line must block their division one prospect at nosegaurd (Octavious Brown). He is very good. Defensively, the entire team gets to the ball quickly and will hit you hard. We cannot turn the ball over on Friday night.”—Dwayne Garrick “Williston is comfortable in the wishbone and they are great at it. Our biggest thing will be not letting them man handle us while they are in the wishbone. Limiting their big plays is another challenge for our ball team. They have three or four players that can take it to the house each time they touch it.”—Lee Sawyer By the Numbers (2009): Offensively: ST 28 ppg WE 50 ppg Defensively: ST 13 ppg WE 11 ppg Last Game: Thurmond 9 Pageland Central 14 Williston 34 Scotts Branch 26 Previous Meeting: These teams have never met. Players to Watch: Williston-Elko Tamyn Garret (QB) passed for 1460 yards and 26 touchdowns in 2009. Kendrick Salley (RB) 1900+ yards, 29 touchdowns and averaged 8 yards per carry in 2009. Dexter Staley (RB/WR) 1500+ yards, 25 touchdowns and averaged nearly 9 yards every time he touched the ball in 2009. Marcus Bates (LB) Aiken Standard Defensive Player of the Year. Led area with 147 tackles in 2009. Strom Thurmond Raleigh Yeldell (QB) rushed for 742 yards with 11 touchdowns and passed for 950 yards with four more touchdowns. Only threw one interception the entire season of 2009. Octavious Brown (DL) 2 sacks, numerous tackles and countless times he has been double teamed in his career. He will be a third year starter. Hykeem Brooks (DB) 80 tackles and had an exceptional season as a freshman in 2009 while starting all 13 games. One of the most physical players on the Blue Steel defense. Chris Blocker (RB) averaged 5 yards per carry in 2009, great speed. Malcom Watkins (RB) rising junior with speed and power Demetrius Leysath (DB) sophomore, headhunter at the safety position Aaron Cook (LB) sophomore, physical and great tackler Matchup: Blue Steel vs Blue Devils, in the Devil’s Den. Directions: Williston Elko High School, 12233 Main Street (Hwy 78), Williston SC 29853 Take Hwy 19 to Aiken, turn left on Rutland drive, continue on SC 118/Rudy Mason Pkwy, turn left onto US78 East/Charleston Hwy, follow into Williston, school is on the right. Approximately 1 hour from Trenton. Tailgate area opens at 4:00, stadium gates open at 6:00 and kickoff is 7:30. Due to the magnitude of this game, a standing room only crowd is expected, so get there early if you want a seat. Per Coach Garrick, fans of both schools are encouraged to tailgate and have some fun before the game. © Copyright 2010 EdgefieldDaily.com All original
material is property of EdgefieldDaily.com and cannot be reproduced,
rewritten or
redistributed without the expressed written permission of Edgefield Daily.com
|
NOTICE:
We still need recipes for Cooking Section WEBNEWS – Send in your favorite or favorites. There is no limit to the number of recipes you can send in. Help create an exchange of local favorites, home cooking, grilling, sauces, and deserts! Send in your submissions here. |
