Familiar foes to meet for state title

By: Justin Driggers/Morning News | SCNow
Published: November 19, 2007

ORANGEBURG — For the second year in a row, the Class A state championship games come to Orangeburg.

And for the second year in a row, the Carvers Bay Bears are vying for the Division I title.

“It’s always a blessing to be back in the state championship game,” Carvers Bay coach Nate Thompson said. Thompson’s Bears have won two titles during his tenure and look to add ring No. 3 on Friday.

“To battle our way back here again is a testament to the commitment of the coaches and especially these players,” Thompson said.

Their opponent is an all-too familiar one: Chesterfield, the same team the Bears defeated in last year’s title game.

The teams meet at 3 p.m. Friday at S.C. State’s Oliver C. Dawson Stadium.

“We’re glad to be back,” Chesterfield coach Steve Taneyhill said. “I told coach (Thompson) that if he just wants to set this game up every year, we should go ahead and do that now.

“We’ve had kind of an up-and-down season. We finished third in our region and have played our last five games away from home. So we feel like we deserve to be here.”

The game will feature more than a few of the same players from last year’s teams, making this one of the few state championship games involving teams that are familiar with one another.

“It is kind of odd to be playing the same team,” Carvers Bay senior defensive end Dyrell Porcha said. “I know they’ve got the revenge factor going for them, but we both know a lot about each other.”

“We’ve had a few downfalls this season, but we’re back where we want to be,” Chesterfield running back Simpson Miller said. “We came up short against these guys last year and now we’ve got a chance to finish what we started.”

Much like last year, the Bears will pit their smash-mouth running game against Chesterfield’s more pass-friendly spread offense.

“They do a lot of things on offense, they’re very balanced with the run and the pass,” Thompson said. “Much like last year, when you play Chesterfield, you’d better come ready to play.”

Familiar foes to meet for state title

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