Team Capsule: West Florence Knights

WEST FLORENCE
Knights

Coach: Trey Woodberry (4th season; 28-46 overall, seven seasons)

2008 projected finish
Overall: 7-4
Region 6-4A: 3-2

Schedule
Date Opponent (2007) Pick
Aug. 29 vs. South Florence (2-9) W
Sept. 5 at Camden (3-8) W
Sept. 12 at Lugoff-Elgin (5-6) W
Sept. 19 at Darlington (2-8) W
Sept. 26 at Wilson (12-3) L
Oct. 3 vs. Greenwood (11-2) L
Oct. 10 vs. Conway (9-3) L
Oct. 17 at Sumter (10-3) L
Oct. 23 vs. Hartsville (9-4) W
Oct. 31 vs. Carolina Forest (7-4) W
Nov. 7 at South Florence (2-9) W

2007 results
(7-5 overall, 2-2 Region 6-4A)
vs. Georgetown W, 40-0
at South Florence W, 36-0
vs. Camden W, 14-7
vs. Lugoff-Elgin W, 28-6
at Spring Valley W, 14-6
vs. Wilson L, 10-5
at Conway L, 38-14
vs. Sumter L, 41-7
at Hartsville W, 17-3
at Ridge View L, 7-6
vs. South Florence W, 28-0
Playoffs
at Berkeley L, 37-6

Top returners
QB Paul Pizzuti; MLB Avery Murray; LB Justin Bostick; DE Sydney Sarmiento; DE Malliciah Goodman

Key losses
WR Charlie Abbott; DB Brandon Daniels; MLB Ryan Knox; OLB Michael Black

Projected starters
Offense
WR Lazarus Durant (Sr., 5-11/160)
LT Trey Greene (Sr., 6-6/300)
LG Chris Pridgen (Sr., 6-2/280)
C Nick Chapman (So., 6-1/270)
RG Greg Mazzochi (Sr., 6-0/225)
RT John Coleman (Sr., 6-5/280)
WR Rahmel Merriweather (Sr.,6-0/180)
WR Matt Connelly (Sr., 5-10/160)
TE Jason Ham (Sr., 6-2/200)
QB Paul Pizzuti (Sr., 6-0/190)
RB Josh McFadden (Sr., 5-8/150)
K Nick Meeks (Sr., 5-9/160)
KR Broddick Jones (Jr., 5-11/160)
Defense
LE Sydney Sarmiento (Sr., 6-5/260)
NT Darius Bethea (Sr., 6-1/270)
RE Malliciah Goodman (Sr., 6-4/260)
LB Avery Murray (Sr., 6-1/220)
LB Justin Bostick (Sr., 5-11/215)
LB Nathan Gasque (Sr., 6-1/190)
LB Kelvin Burnette (Sr., 5-11/205)
FS Broddick Jones (Jr., 5-11/160)
FS Landis Lane (Sr., 6-0/180)
CB Ty Briggs (Jr., 5-10/165)
CB Eddie Frye (So., 5-7/140)
P Alex Howell (Jr., 6-1/140)
PR Broddick Jones (Jr., 5-11/160)

Bottom line
The Knights are senior-laiden, returning nearly 30 for the upcoming season, with 18 in the starting lineup on offense and defense.
West made the playoffs for just the second time in Class 4A, with the other coming in 2004. A big part of their success came on defense. The Knights allowed an average of 12.9 points per game.
Returning starters Malliciah Goodman, Sydney Sarmiento and Avery Murray have all verball committed to Division I college programs, giving the Knights one of the best collections of defensive talent in the state, especially at stopping the run.
The secondary is young and will be tested heavily in Region 6-4A. West hopes to use a lot of different coverages and blitzes on defense.
The Knights offense struggled the latter part of the season, in part because of injuries. West averaged 11.9 points a game over their final seven contests, losing five. The development of Paul Pizzuti, along with a sustainable running gain, will go a long way to determine how far the Knights go this season.
“We don’t have a whole lot of depth at certain positions, so a big key for us is going to be staying away from injuries,” Woodberry said. “We have to get better on our pass coverage, and we need to stop turning the ball over on offense, even after long drives, which was a problem last year.
“But overall, this is a special group of players and they have high expectations for themselves.”