Jackets gearing up for early road trips

The Yellow Jackets officially opened the 2016 football season last week when they hit the practice fields at Fort Mill High.

Head coach Ed Susi and his staff have a lot of talent on this year’s team, but also more than a few players who lack varsity experience, so they are doing a good deal of tinkering before the opening kickoff takes place Aug. 19.

“We had a great summer,” Susi said. “This group seems to mesh pretty good together. There are no egos out here. We are inexperienced, but we are excited about what we got.”

That lack of inexperience is something Fort Mill will have to overcome in a hurry this fall if it wants to get back to the playoffs for a third consecutive season.

Fort Mill does have several potentially key components back for this year’s squad in senior Ryan DeLuca, who is moving from wide receiver to quarterback, and seniors Ronnie Hughes running back), Gus Jarosz and Thomas Chrisley – all expected to contribute on offense.

The Jackets will also have a new defensive coordinator this year as Chuck Tauchman takes over for Bill Geiler, who retired from coaching. Tauchman was promoted from within Susi’s staff after serving as an assistant for several seasons.

Fort Mill will have its work cut out for it while moving up to the new 5A classification. The Yellow Jackets will kick off the season with some live contact this week in a scrimmage at Greenville. The regular season is two weeks after that as the Jackets hit the road, opening at Spring Valley.

In fact, the first three games Fort Mill plays will be on the road. The Jackets travel to West Florence for their second game and then to Lancaster for their third. The Jackets’ first home game will be Sept. 9 against Orangeburg-Wilkinson. Fort Mill is hoping that with three games on the road to open the season, construction around the outside of Bob Jones Stadium will be completed in time for the Orangeburg-Wilkinson game.

The Jackets will also have home games against York, Northwestern, Rock Hill and Dorman this season before ending the regular season at Nation Ford Oct. 28 for the annual Milltown Showdown.

This story was originally published August 2, 2016 at 3:03 PM with the headline "Jackets gearing up for early road trips."