High school football media day
It has become an inside joke among the LowcoSports crew in recent years that we cover Lowco high school football like the soap opera it is, and every great soap opera starts with great characters.
They were on display last week for WHHI-TV’s annual High School Football Media Day, which brought a parade of football coaches and their team leaders strutting through USCB’s Sand Shark Recreation Center to mug for the cameras and talk with local media ahead of the 2025 season.
And we are blessed with an abundance of characters among the coaches in Region 6-4A, each of whom instills their own personality into their team.
Hilton Head High’s B.J. Payne was in top form, as the dean of Lowco high school football coaches noted in his deep, gravely voice, “I think a lot of people think we’re gonna be down this year … which is fine,” before the slightest twinge of a grin pulled at the left side of his face.
Conclusion: B.J. has the goods.
But the Bluffton Bobcats aren’t impressed, and coach Hayden Gregory isn’t afraid to let everyone know how confident he is in his team. Asked what the Bobcats have to do to advance deeper in the playoffs this season, Gregory didn’t hesitate.
“We just can’t hurt ourselves. That’s easy,” Gregory said. “It’s very rare that if we’re at our ‘A’ game that the other team’s gonna beat Bluffton. The No. 1 enemy we’re gonna have is Bluffton.”
The Bobcats don’t seem to have made many friends in the offseason, though, certainly not across the river. Star receiver Amare Patterson announced this summer he was transferring from Beaufort High to Bluffton, joining with North Carolina commit Carnell Warren to form a deadly one-two punch for standout quarterback Aedan McCarthy.
The potentially electric offense has the Bobcats and their fanbase posting confidently about lofty achievements that have rarely been seen from public school football teams in these parts, and that may have put a target on their backs.
The Bobcats are surely eager to take everyone’s best shot and redeem themselves after a heartbreaking loss to rival May River in the first round of last year’s playoffs. If they had nightmares about trying to stop the Sharks’ unique offense in that 46-45 instant classic, they better get ready for more of the same.
May River’s identity is clear under coach Richard Bonneville, who rolled into The Cove fully committed to the bit in a plain white t-shirt emblazoned in block letters with “SLOT-T MAFIA.” The Sharks bought into emulating Bonneville’s alma mater, The Citadel, and grinding you to a pulp in the trenches. You might beat them, but you won’t have fun doing it.
We sure have fun covering it, though. The season premiere of the best fall soap opera in the Lowco starts Aug. 15 with new episodes every Friday night until December, if all goes well.
You won’t want to miss one.
Justin Jarrett is the sports editor of The Island News and is the founder of Lowco Sports. He has a passion for sports and community journalism and a questionable sense of humor.
