Dan Brown
St. Johns Cavalier quarterback Ellis Hammond rolls out for a pass during the first week of fall practice.

Cavaliers make jump to 11-man ball

Not only is St. John’s gearing up for its season opener at home against Lauren’s Academy, but the Cavs will take the big step up to 11-man football.

Until this year, the Moncks Corner private school has played 8-man football.

“It’s the same game,” said Cavaliers head coach Bill McCall. “You still have to tackle the guy with the ball.”

McCall spent much of the spring on a PR campaign working to convince his team that the jump up to 11-man football isn’t the leaping of tall buildings in a single bound that they feared.

“The guys were a little intimidated at first this spring, but I told them playing 11-man football will actually be easier on them in that they have three extra men on their side of the ball as well.”

The Cavs’ biggest problem is in manpower.

Fielding a team of just 18 players, most will play both ways, which means conditioning and fatigue will play a huge factor in the early going as the sweltering heat of a Lowcountry summer extends well into autumn.

“We’re coming along,” McCall said. “We spent the summer pretty much learning the basics so as we go along things will be kept pretty simple this season.”

The only difference between 11-man football and 8-man is that there are three more guys on the field lining up on each side of the ball.

“You still have to run the plays, throw the ball and tackle in 11-man football that you do in 8-man.”

It will be a whole new ball game for the Cavs this fall.

New region.

New league.

New game.

“The move up from 8-man to 11-man football was one of simple logistics,” McCall said. “There weren’t that many schools fielding 8-man teams anymore. We were driving farther and farther to fill out our schedule. There are other teams in our region in the same boat we are so we’re not alone in what we’re doing.”

The Cavaliers play in Region 2 of the Independent School Single A Classification of the South Carolina Independent Schools Association (SCISA). As far as the players are concerned, the region is wide open.

They can’t wait to get started.

“I’m looking forward to getting at it,” said senior quarterback Ellis Hammond. “We’ve been working hard all summer to get ready. It’s pretty much the same game.”

From under center Hammond said he could see the progress the team has made in making the transition to the larger game.

“We played a scrimmage game last week and I thought we played really well,” he said. “Our first three games are at home so it’ll be nice to get the season started in front of our home crowd.”

The St. Johns Christian Academy Cavaliers are Kevin Bellamy, Tyler Dupree, Sam Stivey, Abram Bancom, Jason Roberts, Brandon Sublott, William Johnson, CJ Downey, Brook LeCroy, Stefan Castellucci, Brandon Biggs, Joe Orving, Stephen Orvin, Eric Parker, Matt Spall, Wesley Mears, Ellis Hammond and Chase Wright.