Fans get first chance to see three Rock Hill football teams on Thursday

High school football fans in Rock Hill will get a preseason treat Thursday, with a pair of four-team scrimmages set for Football City USA.

McDonald’s Kickoff Classic events are set for both District 3 Stadium and at South Pointe High.

The field will include three Rock Hill teams, along with York and two other schools, including Irmo, which lost to Northwestern in last year’s S.C. High School League Class 5A/Division 2 state championship game.

At District 3 Stadium, Northwestern will face J.L. Mann at 6 p.m., followed by Rock Hill against Lugoff-Elgin at 7:30 p.m.

That second scrimmage will have an interesting footnote. It will be Rock Hill High’s first appearance under new head coach Leon Boulware. The Bearcats’ opponent, Lugoff-Elgin, was Boulware’s previous head coaching job.

Northwestern, meanwhile, will have a new face at quarterback. Finley Polk, a key player on the Trojans’ state championship team, graduated last spring. Junior Xavier Means will be making his debut at quarterback.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Rock Hill, another McDonald’s Kickoff Classic will be under way at South Pointe’s stadium.

There, York will face Ware Shoals at 6 p.m., followed by Indian Land against 4A power South Pointe at 7 p.m. Indian Land returns most skilled-position players from a team that finished 6-6 and won a playoff game for the first time in 14 years. South Pointe is coming off an 11-3 season, in which the Stallions reached the Upper State finals.