Waccamaw Offense, Grate Twins Stay Hot in Win Over Georgetown

PAWLEYS ISLAND | More than three years ago, Amondre Johnson started telling anyone who would listen about a pair of incoming freshmen he had coming up the ranks.   The Waccamaw coach just knew [player_tooltip player_id='473016' first='AJ' last='Grate'] (pictured, No. 3) and [player_tooltip player_id='473025' first='Andre' last='Grate'] (No. 8) could be game changers, the types of players he would need to not only install an offensive system that could counteract the team's lack of pure size on the line, but then take it to a place where the Warriors wouldn't just be trying to hang on against some of the big boys inside region play and on a statewide level at Class 3A.   Friday was further evidence that the Grate experience with the flex bone offense wasn't a mistake.   The senior twins spurred a 48-13 win over Georgetown in the Region V-3A opener, a victory that also kept the Warriors' high-production offense going for a fifth straight game. Clearly, this isn't the same squad the Grates were a part of as high school rookies.    “It's a ‘finally' feeling,” AJ said. “Since freshman year, me and Andre have been working our tails off trying to do something here. It's finally starting to pay off. We're starting to see what Waccamaw can really be. It's nothing but happiness.”   Said Andre: “We're more unified as a team than we've ever been since I've been in high school. They always say ‘Football teams are a family.' But we really are a family. … I know what we're capable of. We play our game, and we give it everything we've got. That's all we can do.”   Without a blistering individual stat line, both players showed that against the Bulldogs.   AJ finished the game with five carries for 73 yards, the bulk of which came on his opening-series 49-yard touchdown scamper. He also added a pair of two-point conversion runs. Andre had four carries for 72 yards - including a 49-yard touchdown run of his own - while completing five-of-nine passes for 25 yards and a touchdown (an eight-yard strike to [player_tooltip player_id='1667256' first='Ben' last='King'] at the end of the first quarter).    After those two took turns softening up the Georgetown defense, their buddies went to work. Bruising fullback [player_tooltip player_id='1822699' first='Bryce' last='Holloway'] finished with 13 carries for 81 yards and a touchdown. Senior tailback [player_tooltip player_id='1822702' first='Kevin' last='Jackson'] added seven carries for 34 yards and a score. Late in the game, Jhustyn Funnye got into the act by scoring from 11 yards out to push the score to the final margin.    And in a blink, a Warriors squad that managed just 12 points in a season-opening loss to in-county rival Carvers Bay has since ripped off 214 points in the last five games. Two put that into perspective, that's more than the 2023 Waccamaw squad scored during that entire season, when the Grates were sophomores.   Even before then, their coach hoped patience would pay off, all the way around.    “You could see it at that age, where they could be. We've tried to put them into position to do all these things,” Johnson said. “It's super gratifying as a coach to see them grown and develop in a way you envisioned them to.   “Right now, they're just plowing into everything and doing everything we knew they could be.”   The real test of the 2025 season, though, is still very much ahead of the Grates and their teammates. Loris, Aynor, Dillon and Marlboro County are all much higher up the pecking order than Georgetown, and the three teams in that list not named Aynor are all ranked inside the state's top 10 in Class 3A.   As AJ put it, the Warriors' confidence is high for this final region homestretch.    “Shoot. It's a great feeling. One thing Coach Johnson used to always said is that we were right there to turn the corner to be a great team,” AJ said. “Now, we've turned that corner and we're running. We're running hard. There's not much there that's going to stop us.”   OTHER WACCAMAW STANDOUTS   Xavier Greggs 2028 ATH - Greggs spent most of the first half making stops against Georgetown's special teams in one of the Warriors' gunner spots. Then, just before the break, he made his speed count after fielding a kickoff. On the play, he took the ball at the 17-yard line, found the sideline and then raced upfield for an 83-yard touchdown to put Waccamaw up 26-6. Greggs narrowly missed taking the second-half kickoff to the house before getting stopped on the other side of midfield. Greggs is one of the pieces Waccamaw plans to get even more into the mix as this season progresses and beyond.    RJ Rogers 2027 LB, [player_tooltip player_id='1667256' first='Ben' last='King'] 2027 LB and Greg Hall 2026 DL - While [player_tooltip player_id='473016' first='AJ' last='Grate'] is the undeniable leader of this defense from his linebacker spot - and he showed that with some punishing hits Friday - Roger, King and Hall each took turns frustrating the Bulldogs' offense in their own right. In fact, on a three-play sequence early in the game, Rogers put up a five-yard tackle for loss, King recorded a sack and then Hall followed with one of his own. It helped set the tone and within another 4 minutes of game time Waccamaw had a two-touchdown lead before the end of the opening quarter.   GEORGETOWN STANDOUTS    Brooks O'Donnell 2029 QB - Replacing injured starter Mike Johnson (foot), O'Donnell was clearly kept in a small pocket of the playbook for most of the evening. However, he made some crisp passes to the outside in several series. He finished 10-of-25 for 120 yards. His biggest throw of the night came in the third quarter. After being pressured out of the pocket and rolling to his left, O'Donnell found [player_tooltip player_id='1734397' first='Trenton' last='Parker'] downfield. Parker then took it in for a 59-yard touchdown.    [player_tooltip player_id='1734397' first='Trenton' last='Parker'] 2026 RB - Parker has been a high-volume back for the Bulldogs most of the season. He had 34 touches (31 carries, two receptions and a kickoff return) in the Week 0 game against Kingstree. On Friday, he continued with much of the same. The senior had each of the team's first three carries on the opening series and finished the first half with 12 carries for 94 yards and a touchdown. However, those numbers were both lessened by a pair of times he needed help leaving the field after carries. He returned in the second half and continued to do what he could to help the offense, finishing with 170 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns (one rushing, one receiving). He also had a 27-yard kickoff return late in the game.    Tevies Burroughs 2026 OL - Arguably Georgetown's most impressive-looking player, Burroughs is starting to come on strong as the season progresses. The 6-foot-3, 245-pound left tackle spent much of the first half opening running lanes for Parker and protecting O'Donnell from at least one side of the Waccamaw edge rushers.    [player_tooltip player_id='1825017' first='Trent' last='Singleton'] 2028 WR/DB - Singleton is starting to look like one of the long-term playmakers the Bulldogs will be needing more and more after Parker's departure. He caught four passes - all in the second quarter. Three of those passes came during a five-play stretch near the end of the first half.

PAWLEYS ISLAND | More than three years ago, Amondre Johnson started telling anyone who would listen about a pair of incoming freshmen he had coming up the ranks.