These Rock Hill youth football teams will play in D3 stadium in Upper State finals

The Rock Hill Youth Football program will host the Upper State playoffs on Saturday at District Three Stadium.

There will be two games in each of the three age divisions with the two winners advancing to the state championship on Saturday, Dec. 11, in Easley.

The Small Fry division will be the first to play its games. The Rock Hill team will play Abbeville at 9 a.m. Chester will go against Pickens in the second contest in that age group at 10:30 a.m.

Rock Hill will take to the field against Easley at noon in the first of two games in the Pee Wee division. Chester will battle Seneca in the second game in that age group with the kickoff set for 1:30 p.m.

The Gra-Y division will close the six-game card. Rock Hill will take on Abbeville at 3 p.m. in the first game, while Chester will go against Seneca in the 4:30 p.m. game. Players in that division are 11 and 12 years old.

Because of COVID-19, the games were not held last year, so the experience for most of the players is new.

The Rock Hill Small Fry team (7-8 years old) is coached by Nate Baker and assisted by Steve Freeman. The last time a Rock Hill Small Fry team played in the event was 2019, and they lost in the Upper State round.

The Rock Hill Pee Wee team (9-10 years old) is coached by Lawrence Brown and assisted by Buster Howard. The last appearance by a Rock Hill Pee Wee team was also in 2019. They won the Upper State title before losing in the state championship round.

The Rock Hill teams have been practicing for more than two weeks in preparation for Saturday’s games.

Julian Patton, who is the youth football coordinator in Rock Hill, is ready to see what unfolds on Saturday.

“The coaches and players have worked hard to get ready for these games,” he said. “I can already see the excitement in the players’ eyes as they talk about playing on Saturday.”

Playing in District Three Stadium will be special for the young players.

“These players have watched players from the three high schools in Rock Hill play in this stadium,” he added. “Now they get a chance to play there. They are really looking forward to playing on that field.”

Rock Hill has numerous players who started in the youth football program and went on to star in high school, college and the professional ranks.

“There is a lot of pride in the city for all of those players who started in this youth program and excelled later at various levels,” added Patton. “I am sure that those players look back on their experience in the youth program as being very important in their lives.”

The teams will get a walk through on Friday. They will get to see everything in addition to having about an hour for each team to practice.

“Hopefully, that walk through will help them get used to playing in the stadium,” he said. “They are really looking forward to that.”

The admission price for the games is $6 for adults and $5 for children. There is free admission for children who are five and under.

Free parking is available on the south side of Stadium Street, which runs by the south end of District Three Stadium.