Upstate power crushes Wave in I-AAAA final
Byrnes 48, Summerville 9
The Post and Courier
Byrnes's Jason Logan pulls in a touchdown catch over Summerville's Kyrie McClellan in the second quarter during the AAAA state championship Saturday, Dec. 1, 2007 in Columbia.
The Post and Courier
Summerville's Kyrie McClellan reacts as the last minutes tick away during the AAAA state championship against Byrnes Saturday, in Columbia.
COLUMBIA — Even legends have long days.
A humbled John McKissick made the long walk to midfield at Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday to shake hands with Byrnes coach Chris Miller after the Rebels handed the Green Wave a 48-9 loss in the Division I-AAAA state football championship game.
McKissick is the winningest coach in football history and was seeking his 11th state championship in a span of six decades. But on this day, McKissick's squad failed in every phase of the game: offense, defense and special teams
"I was in this stadium a good many years ago and we got embarrassed by Greenwood," said McKissick in reference to the 1976 title game, a 47-7 loss. "So we got embarrassed today by Byrnes. I don't want to take anything away from Byrnes, they played good. But I don't think we were up to par.
"Things didn't go right for us," said the 81-year-old McKissick, who plans to return for his 57th season next year. "We worked hard on it all week, and we thought we had a shot. We didn't. They just outplayed us on offense and defense."
The Rebels rumbled for 472 yards in total offense behind a pair of talented sophomores. Running back Marcus Lattimore rushed 25 times for 109 yards and a pair of scores, and caught seven passes for 94 yards and another score. Quarterback Chas Dodd completed 22 of 38 for 329 yards and two touchdowns.
Summerville was an offensive juggernaut in the first three rounds of the playoffs, but sputtered all day against the swift Rebels defense. The Wave marched 65 yards for a score on its first drive of the game, but managed only 117 yards afterward. Quarterback Reid McCollum, who passed for 1,060 yards and 11 touchdowns in three playoff games, was only 11 of 32 for 108 yards. He was under pressure the entire game and was sacked two times. A.J. Green, who spent a lot of energy playing defense, was double- and triple-teamed on offense and caught only three passes for 29 yards before leaving the game late in the third quarter because of cramps.
The victory, in front of a crowd of approximately 15,000 fans, gave Byrnes a 15-0 record and its fifth state title in six years. Byrnes rebounded after losing the title game to Gaffney last year. Summerville, seeking its first state title since 1998, finished with a 13-2 record after playing Byrnes for the first time.
"It's two great programs, two great traditions going at each other," said Miller, who took over the program after Bobby Bentley took the Presbyterian job. "It's never happened before. I just feel like its another big game for Byrnes High School. We're back where we're supposed to be.''
Lattimore scored on a 2-yard run with 9:06 left in the first quarter to give his team a 7-0 lead. McCollum scored on a 1-yard run 4 1/2 minutes later to tie the score.
Photo Gallery
Summerville State Championship football
Summerville High School battled Byrnes in the Division I-AAAA state championship football game Saturday in Columbia. Summerville lost 48-9.
Lattimore broke off a 23-yard touchdown run with 6:50 left in the first half to give the Rebels a 17-9 lead. That's when disaster hit for the Green Wave.
Byrnes' Jordan Miller pooched the ensuing kickoff to the Green Wave 25, but the Wave didn't even attempt to field the ball. Byrnes recovered and four players later, Nick Jones threw a halfback pass to Jason Logan for a 15-yard touchdown to make it 24-9. The two touchdowns in 40 seconds proved to be too much for the Wave.
"If there was a turning point, that was it," said McKissick, who is 10-4 in state championship games. "I don't know why we let that happen. We just stood there and let it happen. It shouldn't have happened, but it happened."
Said Miller: "It was planned. We just tried to catch them off guard. The kid didn't back up and we knew we had the speed to cover it. If anything, we thought he would make a fair catch and down the ball on the 20. But he didn't back up, we got down there and got the ball."
Byrnes added another touchdown when Dodd completed a 17-yard touchdown pass to Logan with 10 seconds left in the first half. That made it 31-9.
"It feels great,'' said Dodd, who is Bentley's stepson. "We came out here and had a great game today, probably one of our best games of the season. We just had a great game and we were ready to do it again."
E-mail this story
Printer-friendly version
Comments
concerned2007 (anonymous) says...
Summerville's performance reflects as if the coaching staff was totally unaware of what Byrnes was bringing to this game. John Mckissick is a Legend a bright shining Star for the State of South Carolina. I watched the debacle firsthand and could not believe the defensive scheme that was put together much less the offensive scheme. Byrnes needed to be surprised. and I am sure they were pleased with what the Wave coaching staff had done in preperation NOTHING! I looked over the wave roster and found a 6ft 220lb Jr. RB(A potential Bruiser? number 23 and was surprised he was not brought in to atleast keep the Byrnes Linebackers honest. This Byrnes quarterback had all the time he needed to wait! until his receivers got open. A three man front! are you kidding me! try seven and make that quarter back for Byrnes run for his life like McCollum. Byrnes ran the same plays over and over again. Interestingly enough after the Booker T. Washington Beat Down occurred first of the season you would think the Wave coaching staff would have there players prepared for high powered fast agressive almost militaristic football. This style that has embarrased The Greenwave legendary program twice now! needs to be adopted Ie:FAST AGRESSIVE HIGH POWERED.However the men that he has delegated the duties of offensive coordinator and Defensive coordinator to should be releaved of there duties ASAP if The Mighty greenwave wishes to achieve the State title and continue Coach Mckissick's winning Tradition.The offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator are not even marginally up to this mighty programs standards. If we simply look at The greenwaves three biggest games (Booker T. Washington, Gaffney, and Byrnes Consider them total failures) With all due respect Coach Mckissick make some changes before it is to late sir. We do not want all of your hard work done in vain.
December 2, 2007 at 11:52 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
newbattleaxe (anonymous) says...
Maybe it's just time for McKissick to fully assume his legendary status and really retire. He's either on the state's TERI program, or was hired back as a "consultant" years ago.
He is a nice guy, but his football teams have dominated not only Summerville High School, but also the town of Summerville for too many years now. It seems that those boys get by and away with a whole lot more than the other students at SHS and around Summerville.
There are rumors of disciplines and grades being changed for those boys, jobs being found for their parents, and college-level (and even professional-level) recruiting schemes going on, both in- and out-of-state.
The understanding is that Coach McKissick supports all of this. Many Summervillians view it a with a very dim eye.
I'm sorry for the boys that they lost last night.
December 2, 2007 at 4:24 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JohnS (anonymous) says...
I witnessed the worst two beatings this year since the state Championship game almost 30 years ago. I reckon not many teams can say that.
Summerville is a good team for this area. The Booker T Washington team showed what real talent and teamwork can do. It seems that alot of the players were sporting beards the last few weeks. This type of behavior shows folks wanting to draw attention to themselves instead of playing as a team. I always thought coach did not want folks to draw attention to themselves in the past. Their minds were not in the game yesterday. They could have played better. Byrnes was not near as good as Booker T Washington.
AJ Green is a good talent. He could play college ball with some help. The Summerville Q-back is ok. I would hope Steve Spurrier would look at the two Summerville losses before getting a player the folks will grumble over.
December 2, 2007 at 5:36 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
u50cvh (anonymous) says...
I think you hit the nail on the head JohnS.
"...for this area..." Summerville is a powerhouse. I have seen high school football teams from Florida and Georgia, and there is nothing here that can compete with it. Yes there are bright spots, like A.J. Green and the occasional top recruit, but overall, football in the lowcountry is weak.
McKissick would be average if he spent 30 years in Florida or Georgia with those leagues. Maybe .500, if that. He spent the earlier years building a reputation by winning against below average talent, but now times have changed and wins aren't so easy anymore.
December 3, 2007 at 8:41 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
2sides (anonymous) says...
Where is JROBINSON?
December 3, 2007 at 12:07 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ticket3477 (anonymous) says...
The summerville QB had a concussion and was put back in the game...that was part of the problem. They wanted him to do what hes good at but you cant really expect someone to be at the top of their game with a concussion.
December 3, 2007 at 2:37 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
2sides (anonymous) says...
PLEASE take your beaten and stop the cryin!
December 3, 2007 at 2:48 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mggoose2000 (anonymous) says...
Let's face the facts:
1. John McKissick's program is atiquated and he needs to retire.
2. Summerville needs to hire a coach that has a new and fresh coaching style.
3. With the opening of the new High School next year, the ever present competition from Stratford and Fort Dorchester, Summerville's program will suffer.
Without change, there can be no growth!. That's not my quote, it's been around for a long time and I'm not sure who coined the phrase the first time, but Summerville's Football program is not progressive or competitive except locally. If they want to play with the big boys, they've got to change the mind set of the entire program. Retire, Coach, and let someone with a new plan have a shot.
In reality, his grandson is a part of the coaching staff. I believe he's the Offensive Coordinator. They were beaten in the State Title game several years ago because they didn't have anything new for the second half and the other team adjusted and came back from a huge half-time deficit to beat the Wave.
Any guesses why he's hanging around? My guess is he's paving the way for the grandson to take over the program. He's already gotten rid of the only two that had a chance to contend for the job once he's retired; LePrad at Fort and Guerard, whom he fired.
December 7, 2007 at 9:08 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Postandcourier.com is pleased to offer readers the enhanced ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. Postandcourier.com does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not postandcourier.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website.
Users can now build user-to-user connections, follow friends' recent posts, add an avatar that fits their personality, and more. If you have posted here before you'll need to sign up again, or if you've never posted before, start now by signing up!
Full terms and conditions can be read here.