Rock Hill, S.C.
Location: Upper north central region of S.C., 27 miles south of Charlotte, N.C.
County: York
Population: 65,000
High School football teams (national rank/state rank): South Pointe (8-0) No. 4/No. 2, Northwestern (8-0) No. 23/No. 4, Rock Hill (8-1) No. 192/No. 5.
Current NFL players from Rock Hill: Ben Watson (Patriots, Northwestern), Jonathan Joseph (Bengals, Northwestern), Jonathan Hefney (Eagles, Rock Hill), Chris Hope (Titans, Rock Hill), Ko Simpson (Bills, Rock Hill).
More on Rock Hill: Click here.
Why South Pointe with an 'E?': School didn't want to be confused with nearby South Point (Belmont, N.C.).
Stephens video at South Pointe: Click here.
South Carolina by Storm: Click here.
More South Carolina football from Stephens: Dorman (Roebuck) tries to end spell; Good to be a Byrnes (Duncan) Rebel; Marcus Lattimore (Byrnes) is reluctant hero; Saturday's Dorman-Byrnes national showdown.
By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Four striking 22-foot golden statues stand at the intersection of Dave Lyle Blvd. and Gateway Blvd., smack dab in the middle of Rock Hill.
These are called the Civitas, Latin for “civic pride,” and they represent pillars such as knowledge and inspiration and energy.
They were sculpted in the image of a female “David,” Michelangelo’s masterpiece, with the hope that Rock Hill could share the vibrancy and the growth of Florence, Italy, a once fading community that eventually turned into one of the world’s most beautiful and renowned cities.
Though that dream might seem bold and overtly ambitious to some, about five miles southwest of the Civitas, past strong brick architecture and over lush green hilltops, at South Pointe High School, they scoff at the improbable.
Sure, Rome wasn’t built over night, but South Pointe’s rise to national football prominence sure seems like it.
The third-year varsity program is remarkably ranked fourth in the county by MaxPreps, and when asked how such a leap could occur in lightning bolt fashion, head coach Bobby Carroll gave an equally instantaneous response.
“We have great football players,” the barrel-chested coach bellowed. “We have great kids.”
There’s no arguing that.
* Senior cornerback turned quarterback Stephon Gilmore (6-foot-1, 190 pounds) is the country’s No. 17 recruit, according to CBS College Sports/MaxPreps national recruiting expert Tom Lemming, and committed to South Carolina where he’ll probably play on defense. “I like to have my hands on the ball,” said the soft-spoken Gilmore, who has accounted for 4,224 total yards and 43 touchdowns the last two seasons (21 games). “But I’m probably better at cornerback.”
* Senior safety and All-American candidate Devonte Holloman is a beast at 6-3 and 220 and might just end up at LSU after decommitting from Clemson this week after coach Tommy Bowden was fired.
* South Carolina-bound wide receiver Charles Holmes (6-3, 195), running back/linebacker Devin Wherry (6-0, 215), wide receiver, linebackers Harold White (11.3 tackles per game) and Pete Roseboro (10.8 tpg) and tight end Ryan Heitkamp (6-5, 220) are all either all-state or Division I sorts (or both) and all pass the immediate “wow, that kid as an impressive athlete” eye test.
They’re not just a bunch of pretty players, Carroll said. “These kids have a tenacious work ethic,” he said. “They get after it.”
And they didn’t exactly just emerge out of thin air.
In fact, the Stallions and all their acclaim – an 8-0 record, 363-40 point differential, No. 2 state ranking – must be attributed to the Civitas and Rock Hill, South Carolina’s fourth largest city of 65,000, which isn’t so large at all.
Four years ago when the state-of-the-art school was unleashed, kids and players from the town’s other two pillars, Northwestern and Rock Hill high schools – perennial South Carolina powers - spilled into South Pointe.
Rock Hill and Northwestern have each won a pair of state titles in a combined nine appearances and have produced seven NFL players.
South Pointe’s fast rise is clearly linked to its city’s brethren and roots.
“This is a football town,” Carroll said. “They just love their football.”
A majority of the coaching staff, including Carroll and defensive coordinator Strait Herron, both moved over from Northwestern.
“We emulated a lot from over there,” Carroll said. “We added some things of our own and took away some things.”
So rich and deep, so “Davidesque” in football talent, the community and schools have been able to thrive and rise above the split.
Northwestern (7-1) is currently ranked 23rd nationally. Rock Hill is 8-1 with its only defeat coming 20-0 to Northwestern, a rivalry game tagged one of the 15 best in the country in a recent book “Gridiron Dynasties.”
The three Rock Hill schools are ranked No. 2, 4 and 5 in the state according to MaxPreps and have a combined record of 23-2. The two defeats were in-house. Northwestern lost to South Pointe 28-7 earlier this month.
“I feel like I hit the mother lode this year,” said Rock Hill Herald assistant sports editor and South Carolina prep guru Barry Byers, in his 29th year of covering sports in the region.
Byers thinks South Pointe has a chance to be one of the greatest ever out of Rock Hill and the only current South Carolina team that could beat the nation’s No. 3 squad Byrnes (Duncan), which is 60 miles south.
But that matchup isn’t going to ever happen. Because of a smaller enrollment, South Pointe will end up top seed in the 4A-II state tournament. Byrnes, the defending champion, will be 4A-I.
Any state title for the Stallions at this stage would seem improbable.
Then again, the foundation was set in 2005 when their only team, a freshman squad made up of this season’s seniors, went 9-0. They took their lumps as a varsity program the next season at 3-8 before a 9-4 campaign last year.
They seemed to lose steam at the end of the season, dropping three of their last four including 31-21 to Berkeley in the second round of the playoffs.
The Stallions were not only young the previous two seasons, but physically not as strong as the other varsity programs. In the early going, Carroll ran the flex bone option, like Navy, and a 50 shade defense to combat their lack of physicality.
As the kids got bigger and stronger, Carroll went to a power game and even the wishbone to utilize a big offensive front and an array of skilled athletic backs.
The most important thing, according to Byers, has been the continuity.
“One, they’ve had great coaching, two, their weight lighting program is up there with the best of them, and three the kids and coaches have been together since they were freshmen,” he said. “It’s not real common these days for teams to stick together.”
Said Herron: “It helps they’ve been here the whole time and been trained the same way. They work hard in the weight room. For instance, our No. 1 objective this season was to get faster. Our motto was ‘if you’re slow you gotta go.’ They bought into it and it’s all worked out.“
Gilmore, who rushed for 1,145 yards and 14 TDs last year and 640 more yards rushing and 12 touchdowns this seasons, said it’s all been a learning process.
“We learned from our mistakes when we were young,” he said. “We listened to our coaches and now we’re getting rewarded for it. … We just play as a team, we practice hard and lift weights during the summer. Now we’re trying to win a state championship.”
Much like their community, these Stallions aim high.
Carroll said it's a standard not only set by Rock Hill but the state as a whole. Four of the nation's top 23 teams in the country are from South Carolina, something that Carroll throws out his chest at.
"We don't have nearly the amount of schools as Georgia or Florida or California or Texas or even Alabama," Carroll said. "But the high schools we do have people take their football extremely serious. The kids love it and the attention they're getting makes it even better."
E-mail Mitch Stephens@maxpreps.com
10 Takes from Rock Hill
Byers treated this native Californian to a first-ever batch of boiled peanuts. I’m glad and honored to have tried them, but we’ll stick with the dry-roasted kind. I much-preferred the “Meat-and-3” cuisine at “Mary’s Place.”
If Byers thinks he hit the mother lode, I cashed in on the Powerball when I met this once-in-a-lottery personality. He personifies “southern hospitality” with a
South Carolina flavor not even Mary could match.
Eat him up with his sassy Tina Fey-like sidekick Kimberly Dick in their weekly look at
South Carolina football.
Beyond flavor and personality, if there’s a more knowledgeable prep scribe in the land than Byers I have yet to meet him. And I’ve met a boatload. Beyond that, the 35,000-circulation, McClatchy-owned paper covers preps like Deion Sanders blanketed wideouts. The layouts, photography and writing/reporting is as good as I’ve seen and that includes West Coast suburban mainstays
Orange County Register and
Contra Costa Times.
See the Herald's on-line cover. If you don’t believe this passer-by, I just happened to ask Carroll about the local coverage. If he wasn’t so sincere, I would have thought I was watching a pre-dawn Herald infomercial: “Barry Byers is a phenomenal high school sports reporter. He’s got to spread himself out as 10 to cover 10 to 12 high schools locally. It’s amazing the job they do. We’re proud to be covered by the Herald and Barry Byers.”
His players definitely passed the eye-test for athleticism, but Carroll immediately should be cast in Hollywood’s next high school football production. With a booming and commanding voice and larger-than-life presence, he’s a cross between a young Charles Durning and a fit John Goodman.
Some might think Holloman hit his own jackpot landing at South Pointe. He transferred from Independence (N.C.) at the start of the school year. Turns out he had two winning tickets because Independence is the top-ranked team in the Tar Heel state. “It was a little hard coming over,” Holloman said. “But winning helps. You always have to prove yourself. Once I got here I blended in pretty well.”
Herron said Holloman was an immediate fit both as a player and personality. “He works real hard and that’s what we’re all about. With his size, I probably would have had him play linebacker in our system. But he’s played nothing but safety thus far and being his senior year I didn’t want to disrupt that.”
For two standouts and high profile players, Holloman and Gilmore are about as soft-spoken as you’ll find. They’re barely audible on our video.
Gilmore plans to follow a healthy trend around these parts and graduate from South Pointe in December to start his college career in Jan. I like that this gets student athletes focused to academics. But if it was my child, generally, I wouldn’t recommend it. I don’t think it gives a kid a huge advantage heading into their freshman season and they miss out on those final precious days of high school. Besides that, what’s wrong with redshirting in college, as long as you’re on scholarship? Extending college without financial burden is a dream journey in my book.
Herron, like just about everyone I’ve met in Rock Hill and South Carolina, passed the immediate salt-of-earth test. The former Northwestern (HS) quarterback standout has experienced a lot of life, with a half-dozen coaching ventures, an autistic son Dalton, 6, and a gifted girl Sydney, 11. He’d no doubt say they’re both gifted.
With three juggernauts in a town of 65,000, a whole bunch of folks are doing some serious teaching and coaching at the lower ranks. .
