District Five high schools gearing up for another promising football season

For Immediate Release – August 4, 2016

District Five high schools gearing up for another promising football season

IRMO- The pads are back on and fall camps have opened for high school football teams. Chapin, Dutch Fork and Irmo are all preparing for the 2016 season in which all three schools will play under new classifications as assigned by the South Carolina High School League (SCHSL).

Chapin jumps up to Class AAAA and will play in region five that includes AC Flora, Dreher, Lower Richland and Orangeburg-Wilkinson. The Eagles are led by Justin Gentry, who enters his seventh season as head coach and are coming off one of the best seasons in school history. Chapin advanced to the third round of the playoffs before falling to Union County and finished the season at 11-2. “Our players and coaches have had a good offseason and are looking forward to the new year,” Gentry said. “We graduated a quality group of seniors last season, but we have been impressed with our returning players and the new guys.”

Dutch Fork will move into Class AAAAA in a packed region five that includes fellow District Five school Irmo. The rest of the region features Blythewood, Lexington, River Bluff, Spring Valley and White Knoll. The Silver Foxes finished the 2015 campaign strong after a slow start with a 9-4 mark. They fell short to Dorman in the second round of the playoffs. The Silver Foxes are led by Tom Knotts who enters his seventh season as head coach. “The goal is always a state championship,” Knotts said. “You want the kids to have fun and learn, but the ultimate goal is to win a state championship and we think we’ve got a group to compete.”

Irmo showed improvement in the 2015 season punching its first ticket to the playoffs under head coach Reggie Kennedy. The Yellow Jackets enter this season with high hopes under Kennedy, who begins his third year at the school. “Really excited to build off what we did last year making the playoffs and finishing second in the region,” Kennedy said. “I really like moving into this new region and classification because it will create even more rivalries here in the Midlands.”

All three schools kickoff the 2016 season August 19. Chapin hosts River Bluff, Dutch Fork hosts Independence and Irmo will travel to Nation Ford.