Defending state champs South Pointe working to live up to team’s tradition

The South Pointe Stallions are the defending 4A State Football Champions, and they are well aware of that as they prepare for the season.

The Stallions have lost a lot of talent. In addition, head coach DeVonte Holloman moved on to an assistant coaching position at the University of South Carolina.

South Pointe brought in Bobby Collins to lead the program. Collins is no stranger to the area. He had a successful run at Lancaster before going to Marlboro County, where he has been for the past three seasons.

The Stallions lost 25 seniors, 12 starters, from last year’s team.

“We will have to rebuild a lot this season,” Collins said. “We lost a lot of talent from last year’s team. We have quite a few talented players returning, and for the most part we will be a young football team this fall.”

The Stallions’ roster shows 60 players. Of that number 15 are sophomores and 11 are freshmen.

South Pointe returns five starters on each side of the ball.

The Stallions are counting on junior quarterback Malachi Marshall to be the team leader.

“He is very capable of managing the game,” Collins said. “He is extremely smart. He can run and throw with equal ability, and that makes him hard to defend.”

Caleb Sims, a senior, is leading the running backs -- at the moment.

“We have very athletic players at the running back positions,” the coach said. “They have the power to run tough on the inside as well as the speed to get outside. They are all very athletic.”

Two starters from a year ago return as wide receivers.

Seniors Khyre Rawlinson, AJ Miller, and DeMari Kendrick are all poised to have excellent seasons for South Pointe.

“We have a lot of experience at the receiver positions,” Collins said. “We have excellent speed there, and plenty of depth.”

The offensive line will have some new faces as only two starters are back. Junior Alexavier McMoore is being counted on to lead the line.

“We have pretty good depth up front,” Collins said. “They have worked hard, and they are improving. We are very young there.”

The defensive line will be spearheaded by junior CJ Dixon. There is some experience there, but they need to replace key starters.

“They are a very athletic group,” the coach said. “I am really excited about what they can do if they keep working like they have been.”

The linebacking corps, which is being paced by DJ Barksdale, also is looking for new faces this fall.

“That group as a whole is very athletic,” Collins said. “We just need to find a little more depth there.”

The secondary also lost some key performers. Miller, Rawlinson, and Kendrick are expected to be leaders back there.

“We have got to fill in some holes there,” Collins said. “However, they worked hard as a group and grew up a lot in the seven-on-seven competition this summer.”

The kicking game will be handled by sophomore Jacob Brookover. He will take care of the place kicking and punting.

The Stallions will have several two-way players. Collins hopes to minimize that situation by building depth.

“Playing as few people as possible both ways in the offensive and defensive lines is vital,” he said. “We are working every day to make that happen.”

South Pointe is in good shape, and that also is a strong point.

“We know that we need to be in good shape,” Collins said. “That is especially true for those going both ways.”

As the defending state champions, the Stallions know they will get everybody’s best effort.

“We know we have a big target on our back,” the coach said. “The players are aware of that. We just need to be ready every week to take every team’s best shot.”

South Pointe is in what arguably may be the toughest region in S.C. 4A.

“It was already a tough region before realignment,” Collins said. “That made it even stronger. There are no easy wins in this region.

“The players are totally bought in. They are totally bought into the South Pointe way of doing things.”

South Pointe has a solid tradition.

“It lets the players know about the expectations when they step on the field,” Collins said. “They know the tradition, and they want to continue it.”

The keys for a good season?

”We need to work hard every day,” Collins said. “We need to stay focused on everything we do, and take nothing for granted.”

This story was originally published August 16, 2022 at 12:48 PM.