Week 3 Lower State Game Balls

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Happy September, boys and girls.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Week 3 of high school football season has already come and gone, and we're rapidly closing in on wrapping up the first quarter of the fastest four months of the year.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Region play is looming, much closer for some than others, meaning it's now time to start building toward peaking with the games that really, really count not far away.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Week 3 is a time to continue to finely tune what teams already know will work, while there's also enough time to still find what might work later on down the road. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Plenty worked on Friday night in the Lower State. Big numbers rolled in throughout the night into Saturday morning, leaving us with another impressive list of Game Balls recipients.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2113658' first='Jakai' last='Chapman'] DL, [player_tooltip player_id='2325399' first='Chance' last='Coleman'] DL and [player_tooltip player_id='2325402' first='Aiden' last='President'] DL, Berkeley</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Berkeley defense continued doing Berkeley defense things in Friday night's 46-10 win over St. James, and the trio of Chapman, Coleman and President helped set the tone up front. They combined for 13 tackles and four sacks to ground a St. James offense that had been averaging 32 points per game to open the season. The Stags, 3-0 for the first time since 2018, have allowed 25 points through three games, with 15 of those points being scored in the fourth quarter with the win already well secured.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Jeb Hardy</strong> DB, Bishop England</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hardy helped preserve Bishop England's 3-0 start to the season with a game-saving play late in the Bishops' 20-13 win over Philip Simmons. The Iron Horses hit on a wide-open pass play that appeared to be bound for the end zone, only for Hardy to use his closing speed to catch up and rip the ball away for a fumble the Bishops recovered inside their own 5.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1820549' first='Josh' last='Reaves'] DL, Blythewood</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blythewood improved to 2-1 thanks in large part to a stout defensive performance in a 20-7 win over Westwood, and Reaves was right in the middle of it. He had a hand in three total sacks, helping the Bengals hold the Redhawks to a lone second-half score en route to victory.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1819440' first='Nigil' last='Fripp'] RB and [player_tooltip player_id='1820426' first='Roderick' last='Loadholt'] QB, Hampton County</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hampton County (2-1) started hot and cruised to a 47-20 road win while playing up in classification at Silver Bluff. Fripp recorded his second 100-plus-yard game of the season, going for 139 yards and a pair of scores on 17 carries, while Loadholt passed for 86 yards and a 51-yard touchdown to [player_tooltip player_id='1823005' first='Dandre' last='Dobson'] while also rushing for 55 yards and two more touchdowns on six carries.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1615084' first='Tripp' last='Gallus'] QB, <strong>Nevaehus Gourdine</strong> RB and [player_tooltip player_id='1819697' first='Grayson' last='Mathes'] WR, Hanahan</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hanahan's offense displayed clinical efficiency in a 52-14 win at Beaufort to move to 3-0 for the season. Gallus was nearly perfect, completing 13 of 15 passes for 300 yards and four touchdowns, the longest of which went to [player_tooltip player_id='1222230' first='Quamell' last='Grant'] for 77 yards, and also rushed for a fifth score of the night. Mathes caught seven balls for 131 yards and three touchdowns, and Gourdine rushed for a couple of touchdowns and 43 yards on nine carries.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/hudl {"name":"acf/hudl","data":{"embed_code":"u003ciframe src=u0022https://www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/23942345/6a9c0e4abb3122fec6fb6ec6u0022 width=u0022640u0022 height=u0022360u0022 frameborder=u00220u0022 allowfullscreenu003eu003c/iframeu003e","_embed_code":"field_62daf7995fd8c"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-6a9c3262d8592"} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1820390' first='Brady' last='Dantzler'] QB, James Island (pictured)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The James Island offense continues to hum, and first-year starting quarterback Dantzler continues to lead the charge. He passed for 327 yards and four touchdowns in the Trojans' 56-21 win over Gray Collegiate, bringing his season totals to 921 yards and 11 TDs through thee games. The 3-0 Trojans are averaging more than 40 points per game against a stout non-region slate.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='644030' first='Xavier' last='Geter'] QB and [player_tooltip player_id='1615063' first='Preston' last='Smith'] RB, Midland Valley</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Another Friday night, another unstoppable performance by the Midland Valley offense. The Mustangs improved to 3-0 with their third 40-plus-point outing of the season, piling up 643 yards of total offense in a 49-35 win over AC Flora. Geter completed 11 of 18 passes for 226 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 162 yards and four more touchdowns on 15 carries, bringing his total to 11 all-purpose scores, while Smith rushed for 226 yards and two touchdowns while adding two catches for 21 more yards. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/hudl {"name":"acf/hudl","data":{"embed_code":"u003ciframe src=u0022https://www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/19372174/6a9c1fd0891fd032fe8df50du0022 width=u0022640u0022 height=u0022360u0022 frameborder=u00220u0022 allowfullscreenu003eu003c/iframeu003e","_embed_code":"field_62daf7995fd8c"},"mode":"edit","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-6a9c3262d85d5"} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1664629' first='Jaden' last='Chestnut'] WR, [player_tooltip player_id='1822557' first='Bannon' last='Hill'] DB, [player_tooltip player_id='1673915' first='Reo' last='Stevenson'] ATH, [player_tooltip player_id='1823442' first='Mason' last='Walker'] QB and [player_tooltip player_id='1823386' first='Jaden' last='Wilson'] RB, North Myrtle Beach</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>North Myrtle Beach is also 3-0 to start the season after a wild 42-41 win in overtime over West Brunswick (Ga.). Chestnut caught nine passes for 152 yards and two touchdowns, Hill made seven total tackles with two interceptions, Stevenson had an 82-yard kickoff return for a touchdown on his way to 202 total return yards, Walker passed for 175 yards and two scores, and Wilson rushed for 118 and a touchdown to help the Chiefs to victory.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1823625' first='Tristan' last='Daniels'] RB, Saluda</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Daniels had a huge night to help Saluda get into the win column with a <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2026/09/daniels-saluda-run-past-batesburg-leesville/">48-28 victory over longtime rival Batesburg-Leesville</a>. The senior rushed for 214 yards and four touchdowns and also caught a couple of passes for 46 yards, contributing a big chunk of the Tigers' 396 yards of total offense.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1654810' first='Drelyn' last='Brown'] RB, [player_tooltip player_id='1704301' first='Tommy' last='Burns'] QB and <strong>Blake Goodman</strong> WR, South Aiken</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>South Aiken is 3-0 for the first time in a decade, riding a big night offensively to a 30-20 win at Brookland-Cayce. Brown, the reigning 4A Lower State Offensive Player of the Week, ran for 103 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries, Burns completed 17 of 20 passes for 215 yards and two scores, and Goodman had another good night with 97 yards and a touchdown on six catches.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/hudl {"name":"acf/hudl","data":{"embed_code":"u003ciframe src=u0022https://www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/19484537/6a9b9be1bb3122fec6f710f9u0022 width=u0022640u0022 height=u0022360u0022 frameborder=u00220u0022 allowfullscreenu003eu003c/iframeu003e","_embed_code":"field_62daf7995fd8c"},"mode":"edit","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-6a9c3262d85f8"} /-->