Week 1 4A/5A Preview

We’re closing in on 24 hours away from kicking off another beautiful season of high school football in our coverage area and across the state of South Carolina, and it’s time to talk games. A new season comes with a new round of region realignment, and the 5A and 4A classes in the Upstate saw some big shake ups. Gaffney moved down to 4A from 5A, Byrnes in a region with Greenville schools to the west, and the trio of Spartanburg, Dorman, and Boiling Springs joined up with a trio from the east in Rock Hill, Fort Mill, and Northwester. Greer had an easy moving season, and stayed put in 4A just like the last two seasons.

Spartanburg @ Gaffney

A classic matchup opens up the season as the Spartanburg Vikings travel to Gaffney to take on the Indians. Gaffney is looking to up its win streak against Spartanburg to double-digits after notching the 9th straight win in the series in 2025 by a final score of 28-21 in late September. That night the two teams entered the fourth quarter tied at 14, then Gaffney scored two straight touchdowns leaving the Vikings a 14 point hole with less than 4 minutes to go that Spartanburg could not overcome.

Gaffney moves down to 4A this season but still has a gauntlet of a non-region schedule ahead of them. The Indians have two underclassmen quarterbacks battling it out in the preseason, and I would expect to see both in some capacity on Friday night barring injury. The contenders, sophomore Corey Taylor and freshman TJ Person. No matter who takes the snaps, Gaffney will be supported be a strong veteran offensive lineman like CJ Brooks, Deuce Littlejohn, and Trey Dawkins. Junior WR Quentis Hines returns on the outside, and the Indians have two transfer running backs in Dylan McKey and Blake Cochran. Defensively, the Indians return plenty of experience, notably the entire secondary in Ayden Montgomery, Kareem Shaw, Adreyan Monroe and Zion Dawkins.

Spartanburg returns one of the top area running backs in Trenton Lynch, who is nearing 1000 yards away from earning the Vikings all-time rushing record. Through injuries Lynch ran for 1475 yards and will figure to be a major impact again for the Vikings offense. Junior QB Chris Colin will take the reins at quarterback and will be surrounded by a new group of receivers as 4 of the top 5 from 2025 depart the program. Look out for former-Dorman WR Tre’gan Mickler to fill a key role. The defensive line should be strong with Tryon Duncan leading the charge alongside Kemareon Davis.

Hillcrest @ Dorman

The Dorman Cavaliers are coming off of an upper state championship game appearance where they fell to eventual state champion Dutch Fork. The Cavaliers picked up wins in the playoffs against Ridge View and Blythewood and won 10 games in HC Jake Morris’ third season. The story of the season for Dorman this year is a loaded non-region schedule, and it starts at home against Hillcrest and only gets harder. 

The Cavaliers look to have a stout defense again in 2026 with DB Jabez Thomas back in the secondary. Thomas notched 10 interceptions last season with 33 tackles, and will have a strong front seven on the line of scrimmage. The Cavaliers have a pair of D1-committed players on the defensive line in James Porter (ECU) and Olamid Salami (Harvard). The defense was the strength of the team a year ago, allowing just 12.3 points per game over 13 games. 

Offensively, the unit turns over the reins to junior QB Cooper Patterson for his first year as the starter on varsity. Most of Patterson’s experience has come on the junior varsity but he did feature as a backup last year for Morris on varsity. He will have plenty of experience around him as RBs Nick Means and Carter Nash return in the run game and top wideout Dai’shon Watkins-Hymes returns as well. 

Hillcrest is coming off of an 8-4 season in 2025 and a second round exit in the Division 2 playoffs. Jackson Free returns for his third year as the starter at quarterback for the Rams.

Independence (NC) @ Byrnes

The Byrnes Rebels reached the quarterfinals last season, and it starts at home against Independence out of North Carolina. Last year the Rebels went 8-4 and 5-2 in region play with key wins against TL Hanna, Spartanburg, and Rock Hill in the playoffs before falling to Dutch Fork. QB Caine Rogers departs and the returning former backup and a transfer are competing for the starting job in 2026. 

Returner Walker Burdette is now a junior and had experience last season when Rogers dealt with injuries. The other contender is a quarterback that played against Byrnes last year in a region game, former-Riverside signal caller Gideon Merhib is now a Rebel and brings a different dynamic as a runner to the table for new offensive coordinator and Rebel state champion Shuler Bentley. Recent LSU-committed RB Tre Segarra will be the star of the show as he comes back for his senior season, and will be supported in the backfield by RB Jacoby Fuller. Auburn-committed DB Aidyn Wiggins returns to lead the defense.

The Independence Patriots are out of Charlotte, NC and are coming off of a season with 10 wins and a season opening win at Gaffney. The Patriots fell in the quarterfinal round of North Carolina public school’s highest division, 8A.

Boiling Springs @ Southside Christian

The Boiling Springs Bulldogs open up another season under head coach Matt Reel away from home against Southside Christian. It was a regression last year for the Bulldogs, going 5-7 and losing in the second round of the playoffs.

The big boosts in terms of returners for Boiling Springs this season on the defense are in the form of DT Dennis Glenn and S Tyvion Hall. Offensively, QB Imri Logan takes over after splitting time last season behind center. RB Kyron Tobler, WRs Deion Suber and Djay Leak join four returning offensive lineman back on this year’s Boiling Springs offense. 

After a season where injuries tore apart the depth chart as the season rolled on, a year of health for this team would do major improvements for their production, and while there are plenty of new starters many of them have been in the program for multiple years and the staff is hoping for a short learning curve. 

The Southside Christian Sabres went 6-6 last season and 4-1 in 3A, and the next two years they will play in Region 2-2A with Chesnee, Landrum, MVP, and Woodruff. 5 of the teams 6 wins came to finish the season and the Sabres return 16 starters off of last years squad.

Woodmont @ Greer

The Greer Yellow Jackets open up another season at home against Woodmont. Greer had no movement across classifications over the offseason, staying at 4A but adding Greenville and Gaffney among others as future region opponents. Greer lost a first round playoff game last season to Camden after a 4-7 regular season, and all of its wins coming in region play.

Weapons on offense that return include RB Calvin McCoy and WR Zay Moseley. Moseley particularly had a breakout freshman season in the pass game and will be a key weapon again for the Yellow Jackets. QB Dawson Fowler transferred out and Xavier Sammet was the backup last season.

At 5A last season the Woodmont Wildcats went 2-8 and missed the Division 2 playoffs after a 1-6 region finish. QB Harper Doyle returns under 2nd year head coach Malcolm Boyd.