It's that time again, a time for blood, sweat and tears, otherwise known as football season. All three Hampton County teams will be laying it on the line on Friday nights for the next few months for their fans, their family and their school's honor.
Patrick Henry Academy starts it football season with a home game against Greenwood Christian at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 20. According to Patriots coach Mike McCoy, this is Greenwood Christian's first football team.
"We don't know anything about the school, they just added football," said McCoy.
McCoy says his team very young, especially in the line, but he is expecting the Patriots to get better and better as the season wears on.
Last year, PHA was the state runner-up in SCISA Class A. This year looks to be different.
"We're going to have to work for everything we get," said McCoy.
Estill opens its season at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 27 as it hosts Class AAA Battery Creek.
"We're planning to win," said the Gators new coach, J.C. Threatt. "We only look at it one way. Go in to win."
Wade Hampton also opens its season Aug. 27 as the Red Devils travel to Allendale-Fairfax.
In preseason scrimmages, Wade Hampton has had solid wins over Hilton Head and Edisto.
"Allendale is a quality opponent and opening the season at their place will be a tough challenge," said Red Devils' coach Jim Shuman. "I expect it to be a very competitive game as we have shown much improvement during the early weeks of preseason scrimmaging."
On Sept. 3, the Gators and Red Devils will face off in a big rival game at Estill. Last year the Red Devils won, but the question is will they be able to pull it off again?
"Estill has developed in the past few years into a very good football team," said Shuman. "They have great speed and I expect it to be a battle to the end ... Any time you play a rival that's less than 20 miles away it makes for a game that's unpredictable, tough and down to the wire."