Another first in McKissick's legendary career highlights opening weekend of football

John McKissick has experienced just about every thing high school football has to offer in his 56 years as coach of the Summerville Green Wave.

He's the all-time winningest football coach in history with 543 victories, including 10 state championships. He's been inducted into numerous state and national halls of fame. He's produced hundreds of players who went on to play at the college level and a handful who made it to the NFL. He even designed and held the patent for the cloth helmet covers that teams use in practice to distinguish offense from defense.

But this weekend, McKissick experiences something new when his team plays Booker T. Washington at noon Saturday at Berkeley's Gerald Moody Field. It will mark the first time the Green Wave will play on national television.

"That's something we've never done," McKissick said in reference to the game which will be broadcast on ESPN. "We have been on educational TV and that kind of stuff, but never on national TV. I've got mixed emotions about it, but town is excited. The kids are excited. I just hope they don't get too excited."

The national spotlight will be on the Lowcountry this weekend with two games on national television. The Berkeley-First Coast game, scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday at Gerald Moody Field, will be broadcast on ESPNU.

The first full weekend of high school football kicks off today with numerous story lines and subplots. Two new coaches make their head-coaching debuts tonight. James Island's John Patterson guides his team in a 7:30 p.m. home game against a Battery Creek team that was winless last season. West Ashley coach Bobby Marion's debut is a little tougher. His team travels to Stratford to face a team that owns a 118-18 record over the last 10 years. West Ashley on the other hand, is 16-67 since opening its doors in 2000. Marion, by the way, was an assistant at Stratford from 1991-2006.

The best matchup of the night might be Goose Creek at Fort Dorchester. The game will showcase two of the top junior quarterbacks in the state. Goose Creek's Donta Brown completed 55 of 100 passes for 1,161 yards and 12 touchdowns last fall despite missing four games with an injury. Fort Dorchester's Galen Bennett passed for 1,280 yards and seven touchdowns, and rushed for 752 yards and eight touchdowns last fall.