Published Tuesday, August 26, 2008 9:02 AM
Updated Tuesday, August 26, 2008 9:04 AM
Either via graduation or transfer, opting out early to be eligible for the draft, or even grades, a high school or college coach is constantly looking at tomorrow and wondering, “What holes will I have to fill next?”
Coaches can try to tailor their rosters to match up against specific opponents, but all that could go for naught if a team happens to change classifications, or new schools open up.
With the coming of the 2008 football season, all of these are facing every Lowcountry football team teeing it up come Labor Day weekend.
In Region 7AAAA – made up of Berkeley, Stratford, James Island, Wando and Goose Creek – Berkeley will have its work cut out for it in defending the 2007 region championship. The Stags will match up against much improved, hungry and lustful-for-revenge Goose Creek and Stratford.
This trinity of Berkeley County schools loves to mix it up, doesn’t matter what the sport, and the 2008 football season will prove to be no different.
In fact, given an oddity of the 2008 schedule, a big chunk of the 7AAAA puzzle could fall into place as early as Sept. 12, when the Stags shoot down Hwy. 52 to take on the Knights in just the young season’s third week.
A stimulating game of rock-paper-scissors could more easily decide the top spot in the region among these three teams, and that’s not taking Wando into consideration.
Although his Gators got the best of Berkeley in the opening preseason jamboree, Goose Creek Head Coach Chuck Reedy calls the Stags the cream of the crop in the region.
“Berkeley is the team to beat,” Reedy said. “They have the best athletes in our region year in and year out.”
Still, at the end of preseason practice Reedy called the region any team’s to take in 2008.
“Stratford will be improved … they’ve got too much going for them,” he said. “James Island will be better, too. So I think it’s up for grabs, but Berkeley is the team to beat.”
If high school football had betting lines, Reedy said Berkeley would be favored to win its first seven games.
Region 7AAAA aside, the coming season will be full of interesting storylines.
New schools Cane Bay and Ashley Ridge open their doors for the first time in 2008. The Cobras and the Swamp Foxes will compete with a lineup of freshmen and sophomores this season, pulling from such AAAA powerhouses as Berkeley, Stratford, Summerville and Fort Dorchester.
In fact, one quick look at the Cane Bay Cobras color scheme will tell you from whence they came: the royal blue of the Berkeley Stags and the black of the Stratford Knights.
State runners up in 2006, the Timberland Wolves drop down a classification to AA this fall even though talent wise the green and orange can compete with any school of any classification and nearly all of the time, win.
The 2008 Berkeley County Jamboree gave area football fans a peek at the explosiveness of the Wolves offense and defense, as evidenced by Timberland’s 14-13 shocker over Stratford, a shocker only in how the Wolves snuffed out the Knights last second effort to tie the game by blocking a PAT with 7.2 seconds remaining.
“When you’re one of the top ten teams in the state you can compete with anybody on any level,” said Berkeley football coach Jerry Brown of the Timberland Wolves.
Timberland head coach Art Craig, while not wanting to look too far ahead and to keep his team grounded, takes the bucketfuls of praise heaped upon his football team with a grain or two of salt.
“We hope to win the region championship, and make a long run in the play-offs,” Craig said, “A lot of people assume because we are going to 2-A that winning the state championship is automatic, but you have to be good and lucky to win it all.”