York football team lacks experience, but players are committed to winning, coach says
Coach Dean Boyd had to make a tough decision heading into his sixth season leading the football program at York Comprehensive High School.
He decided to not field a ninth-grade team, only varsity and junior varsity.
Boyd said at other schools, it’s often done because teams don’t have enough lineman to meet the roster requirements for three teams.
But that’s not the case for York.
“What we don’t have is quarterbacks,” Boyd said. “In the last two years, our ninth-grade quarterbacks have been defensive ends, and they haven’t won a game because they don’t have a true quarterback. When you do that, I think it defeats the purpose.”
This change means that York will have more players — over 50 — on the varsity than in the past.
However, most of those players will be relatively unproven.
Last season’s York team saw over 30 seniors graduate from the team. The Cougars lost over 2,100 yards rushing and 29 of the Cougars’ 30 rushing touchdowns.
The team will be have only four returning starters, two on offense and two on defense.
Boyd said he’s fortunate that one of those returners is quarterback Tayshon Freeman.
The 6-foot-2 rising junior took over the starting quarterback role following an injury to then-senior Triston Barnett early in the 2023 season. Freeman made the most of his opportunity, completing 55% of his passes for 980 yards and seven touchdowns as he helped York to a road playoff win in the first round.
“It was great,” Freeman said. “It definitely helped me out in life, leaning on those older guys to help guide me with leading the team. We have some of them returning with us, so I feel like we’re going to be better as a team this year.”
A big reason for the optimism came from one of the returning defensive starters in defensive back Johnathan Tobias.
Tobias, who tied for second on the team last season with three interceptions, said that he’s taken his role as a senior leader very seriously. The rising senior has helped the younger players buy into what’s expected from them.
“We had a downfall of players wanting to do their own thing,” Tobias said, referring to last year’s team. “This year, a lot of the young kids... are buying into what the coaches are saying. They’re actually working and actually listening and actually want to get better. The ones that don’t want to get better, they’re just falling off because everybody is on one path, one goal and we’re all coming together as one.”
The camaraderie being built among the players is something Freeman said is a major change for the team — and that commitment has been noticed by the coaches.
Boyd credited veterans like Tobias and Freeman for their leadership.
The team’s experience, however, is still an issue: the offensive and defensive lines combine for only two returning players, with the lone returning defensive lineman being out with an injury.
On the upside, the boys weightlifting team won state in the spring and the Cougars 7-on-7 team has been impressive, Boyd said..
“We took 22 kids to the state (weightlifting meet), we took 60 kids to region, both are higher numbers than any school took,” Boyd said. “Our leadership has been really good. This summer, we’ve had good attendance, we average about 90 kids a day, which is pretty good when you’ve got a roster roll of 120-125.”
York opens its season on the road against Indian Land at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 23.