Vikings Travel To Gaffney For Week 1 Matchup

After a 7-5 season full of injuries that ended in the second round vs Ridge View, the 2026 Spartanburg High School football season gets underway this Friday night as the Vikings travel to Gaffney for a Week 1 rivalry bout with the Indians. Spartanburg has fallen nine times in a row in this matchup with their last win coming in 2016, and Coach Mark Hodge will look for his first win in this series.

Spartanburg Offense vs Gaffney Defense

The Viking offense boasts one of the biggest stars in our area in running back Trenton Lynch. Lynch had 1,410 yards and 18 touchdowns a season ago with 146 yards in the 28-21 loss to Gaffney last year at Viking Stadium. Lynch is poised to break the Spartanburg all-time rushing record this season in an offense that is going to rely on him more than ever with a host of new faces. Four of the top five receivers from a year ago are gone as well as starting QB Trey Burke. Replacing Burke is Jr dual threat QB Chris Colin, who started two games and appeared in eight for the Vikings.

While Spartanburg is sporting a new offensive cast, the opposite is true for the Gaffney defense. The Indians return eight starters including their entire secondary; corners Kareem Shaw and Ayden Montgomery along with safeties Zion Dawkins and Adreyan Monroe. At linebacker Ty McGill, who led the team with 5 interceptions, and Kendarius Bailey who was second on the team in sacks and first in TFL with 18.5 stops behind the line of scrimmage. This group creates one of the most formidable back sevens in the state from a unit a season ago that held opponents to 19 points per game and forced nearly 2 turnovers a game.

Experience is going to be the name of the game here as Gaffney’s veteran defense looks to impose its will on a Spartanburg unit that is breaking in a lot of new faces and just how much can those new players hold on to give Trenton Lynch space to make plays. As mentioned above a season ago Lynch had a great game vs Gaffney in a close loss where SHS had two turnovers including a Ty McGill pick six and that’s really where this matchup will come down to. Despite the inexperience for Spartanburg they still have the opportunity to go best on best with Lynch vs this Gaffney front 7 and especially the linebackers with McGill and Kendarius Bailey; a star matchup that I am very excited to see.

Spartanburg Defense vs Gaffney Offense

While the Spartanburg offense is replacing a lot of bodies from 2025, the Viking defense is getting a lot of bodies back from injuries for 2026 and it figures to be a strong unit which it traditionally has been under Coach Hodge. Jr Safety Sentell Hall was the leading tackler for this unit a year ago as he was one of the few players to stay healthy for the Vikings last year.  He, along with Jayden Brown, who at corner was second on the team in interceptions, form a talented backend of the defense.

But the real strength of this unit is in the front seven. Senior linebacker Isaiah Lipscomb, who was injured in the second game of the season a year ago, is back to full strength and Chance McCree, who finished fourth on the team in tackles, stepped up as a sophomore in a linebacker room that saw five different starters go down due to injury and is now ready for a bigger role. On the defensive line, DE Tryon Duncan led Spartanburg in TFL and joins fellow seniors Kemareon Davis and Marquz Sanders to form a veteran unit up front.

The Gaffney offense, much like Spartanburg’s, is replacing a lot of production from 2025 with their QB, top three rushers, and four of their top five pass catchers by receiving yards. The QB battle is between sophomore Corey Taylor who didn’t see any varsity action for the Indians a year ago and freshman TJ Person. At running back Gaffney brought in a transfer from Irmo, Amire White, who ran for 1,357 yards and 13 touchdowns for the Yellow Jackets as well as MVP transfer Dylan McKey who ran for around 300 yards for the Stars in his sophomore season. At receiver the big name to watch for is Jr Quentis Hines, who was third on the team in receiving as a sophomore in 2025. For a team with such a young QB situation, no matter who wins the starting job, the offensive line is going to play a big part in Gaffney’s offense’s success as they bring back three big starters in Calvin Brooks, Derrius Littlejohn, and Trey Dawkins.

I see the battle between Gaffney’s offense and Spartanburg’s defense playing out very similarly to the battle on the other side of the ball for each respective team. A young offense with a great running back going up against a strong defense led by a strong front seven that will really set the tone in this game Friday night.

Overall

Two great rivals kicking the season off against each other is really all you can ask for as we get the High School football season underway this week. I see Spartanburg at Gaffney being a real low scoring rock ‘em sock ‘em slugfest between two strong and talented defenses going up against offenses with a lot of new faces and question marks. Although, the star power on both sidelines at running back could turn this game into a racetrack as both Trenton Lynch and Amire White are a surefire bet for fireworks anytime they touch the ball. You can listen live to the game on Fox Sports Spartanburg 98.3FM this Friday night.  Catch the postgame breakdown during Victory Formation after the broadcast and we’ll have a recap here on spartanburgsportsradio.com.