Byrnes quarterback Dodd unfazed by Shrine Bowl snub

By Barry Byers - bbyers@heraldonline.com

MYRTLE BEACH -- Chester's Bobby Kelly has joined the Chas Dodd fan club.

Dodd, Byrnes' starting quarterback the last three years, was caught in the numbers crunch and got passed over for South Carolina's Shrine Bowl all-star team. So when the opportunity came to play in this week's North-South all-star game on Saturday at Myrtle Beach High School's Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium, Dodd never looked back or asked what if.

“The Shrine Bowl's loss is our gain,” said Kelly, one of several wide receivers Dodd has been rifling passes to at practice. “He throws a good ball, and if you are the primary receiver and get open, it's right there for you to catch.

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“In just three days, we receivers become very close with Chas and hang together after practice. We scrimmaged Byrnes every year since I've been on the varsity, so I've followed his games. He had a good career, and now that we are playing our last high school game, I'm glad to be on his side.”

Dodd was groomed from his early years to one day be the Rebels' starter. His stepdad is former Byrnes coach Bobby Bentley, who has returned to the school as an assistant coach after a coaching stop at Presbyterian.

Bentley played quarterback when he was in high school at Byrnes. When he became head coach, he installed a wide-open passing attack. He wanted all of the youngsters to become familiar with the system, so all the youth league teams started running it.

All of the teams were named the Rebels but wore jerseys of different colors. Because of Bentley's effort and the cooperation of the Duncan youth leagues, Byrnes has developed into one of the top high school teams in the nation.

When Willy Korn graduated three years ago after setting several state passing records, Dodd stepped right in and led the Rebels to consecutive Class AAAA Division I state championships under coach Chris Miller. This year's team made it to the title game but was beaten by rival Dorman.

“It was kind of strange the way everything worked out this year,” Dodd said. “Last year, Dorman beat us in the regular season and we knocked them out of the playoffs. This year, we beat them in the regular season and they beat us in the state championship.

“It's hard to beat a good team twice, especially teams as competitive as us and Dorman. You can look back at the first meeting and see what you did wrong and correct it. In the state game, there were some things we should have attacked but didn't. We made some mistakes and they didn't. That was the difference.''

Dodd completed 253 of 391 passes for 4,161 yards and 51 touchdowns this season. Byrnes' record during Dodd's three seasons as the starter is 42-3, with two losses to Dorman and earlier this season to St. Thomas Aquinas (Fla.), which was ranked No. 1 in the nation at the time.

The Rebels were 15-0 his sophomore season, 14-1 his junior year and ended up this season at 13-2.

Football is winding down, and for most of the players on both teams, college plans have not been settled. But Dodd has planned out his future. He has signed with Rutgers and hopes to become the Scarlet Knights' next quarterback. If it doesn't happen next year, Dodd has learned to be patient until his time comes.

This week, Dodd is hoping to lead the North to victory over the South. Dodd is very competitive and wants to go out with a win in his final high school game.

Dodd has had some outstanding receivers in career, but he's excited about the group of pass catchers the North coaches selected. Besides Kelly, he'll be throwing to Gaffney's Joe Craig, Blue Ridge's Bryan Ross, Chapin's Victor Frick and Chesterfield's Sergio Johnson.

Ross is 6-foot-3, Craig 6-0 and the others are in the 5-9 range.

“They are a small but very speedy group,” Dodd said. “What I like about them is they run good routes and catch the ball. And once they haul it in, they can turn receptions into big plays. I think we will move the ball well because we also have a good line and all of our running backs can break any time they take a handoff.''

Dodd said he just can't understand why folks from around the state have been what he calls “Byrnes haters.” Since 2002, Byrnes has won four Class AAAA Division II championships and two in Division II.

“There are a lot of people who just don't like us,” he said. “All of us have heard it and just don't understand. I guess it's because we have been on top for so long and some people don't like a winner. We've played a lot of good teams outside our state.

“We went into those games wanting to win for Byrnes. We also went into those games wanting to win for South Carolina. One of our goals was to play well and against those teams to show people we play pretty good football here and to let them know there are other good teams and players in South Carolina.''