Four local high schools ranked in season’s first football polls
Several local teams begin the high school football season ranked statewide.
Little surprise in 4A that Northwestern and York are in the initial top-10 of the season, as voted on by sportswriters from across the state. Northwestern checks in at No. 5, and York, the defending 4A Division II state finalist, comes in tied for ninth. Spartanburg, which beat the Cougars in last year’s state title game, is the No. 1 team entering the season.
South Pointe also won a state title last season but starts this campaign at No. 2 in 3A. Myrtle Beach, which returns standout quarterback Drayton Arnold and running back Brandon Sinclair – both committed to Old Dominion – checks in at No. 1. The teams met in the 2010 state title game, won by the Seahawks, and many are prognosticating that they could meet again this December.
And at the 1A level, Lewisville is No. 10 in a top-10 that will likely shift greatly from week to week until the end of September. Schools in the 1A classification tend to get kicked around by bigger competition in non-region schedules, before hitting their stride in region play. Lewisville might be a prime example of that phenomenon this fall.
S.C. Prep Media Poll – Week Zero
4A
1. Spartanburg; 2. Fort Dorchester; 3. Dutch Fork; 4. Hillcrest; 5. Northwestern; 6. Dorman; 7. Byrnes; 8. Westwood; T9. York; T9. South Florence
Others receiving votes: Goose Creek, Greenwood, Westside, Lexington
3A
1. Myrtle Beach; 2. South Pointe; 3. Hartsville; 4. Greer; 5. Seneca; 6. Marlboro County; 7. Belton-Honea Path; 8. Chapin; 9. Union County; 10. Berkeley
Others: A.C. Flora, Daniel, Wren, Orangeburg-Wilkinson, North Myrtle Beach
2A
1. Dillon; 2. Timberland; 3. Newberry; 4. Abbeville; 5. Fairfield Central; 6. Batesburg-Leesville; 7. Loris; 8. Chesnee; 9. Pendleton; 10. Woodruff
Others: Chesterfield, Ninety Six, Central, Powdersville, Blacksburg, Cheraw
1A
1. Christ Church; 2. McBee; 3. Williston-Elko; 4. Bamberg-Ehrhardt; T5. Lamar; T5. Hunter-Kinard-Tyler; 7. Lake View; 8. Calhoun County; 9. Allendale-Fairfax; 10. Lewisville
Others: St. John’s, Southside Christian, Hemingway, Cross, Fox Creek
The S.C. Prep Media Football Poll is conducted by the Spartanburg Herald-Journal with voting from Andrew Macke, Greenwood Index Journal; Bob Castello, Greenville News; Mike McCombs, The Island Packet; Chris Clark, Orangeburg Times and Democrat; Chris Dearing, The State; Ian Guerin, Myrtle Beach Sun News; Kevin Melton, Spartanburg Herald Journal; Lou Bezjak, The State; Lake Morris, Anderson Independent Mail; David Shelton, Charleston Post and Courier; Bret McCormick, The Herald (Rock Hill) and Eric Russell, Aiken Standard.
This story was originally published August 19, 2015 at 11:58 AM with the headline "Four local high schools ranked in season’s first football polls."