The Border Bowl practice field can be a strange place.
It’s a place where the heated annual rivalries of high school football are suspended in time for one week and for a common cause – BEAT TEAM GEORGIA! On this field, Yellow Jackets block for Rebels and Mustangs, Bulldogs rush the quarterback from the same defensive line as Warhorses and Hornets are allowed to high-five Thoroughbreds.
It’s all part of a team-first mentality that Team South Carolina head coach and head coach of the Strom Thurmond Rebels, Antwaun Hillary, established in the team’s first meeting. There would be no place for individual egos, and Hillary says his squad responded with a great week of preparation for the fourth installment of the Border Bowl, which kicks off Saturday at Noon at Lucy C. Laney High School in Augusta, Georgia.
“The energy the players have shown over the last four days has been good and the attitudes have been good. It’s been a great week,” Hillary stated. “We talked on Monday about leaving our egos at home and what our goal is, and that’s always to win. Last year we were pretty much destroyed (by Team Georgia) and that was not fun. I think we picked a talented team and I definitely picked some great coaches so I think we are going to be ready to go.
Hillary said in an All-Star game scenario it’s always fun getting to work with players you might normally be doing your best to beat on Friday night.
“The linebacker from South Aiken (Colby Campbell) is a very good football player. He has great instincts and when he reads the play he is 100-percent to the football so he has been fun to be around,” Hillary stated. “The players we have from Aiken High are great athletes and the guys from Silver Bluff are good players, and I could go on and on. The Midland Valley quarterback (D.J. Boyd) is good, so I think we have a great chance to win. It’s been fun.”
South Aiken High School head football coach Chris Hamilton is coaching the team’s offensive line, and said he has been impressed with players from across Aiken County.
“We’ve had a great time coaching and we have a great group of kids, and the talent out here has been unbelievable,” Hamilton said. “It’s different in that you have guys coming from other teams, but I think that’s what is great about this game. The guys from North Augusta have done a great job for us on the offensive line and D.J. Boyd from Midland Valley has done a great job at quarterback for us. Those are some impressive guys, and the players we have on the defensive line are just incredible so it’s been a great week.”
Silver Bluff assistant coach Matt Hayes said he has had a great week taking in the entire Border Bowl experience. Hayes is coaching Team South Carolina’s defensive backs.
“This is a very talented defense,” Hayes said. “It was a great opportunity for me to work with some terrific coaches, and when I saw the roster I just jumped at the chance to coach these defensive backs. Both of the players from Aiken (Brayton and Kendrick Sanders) are outstanding athletes and D’Najee Whosendove from Allendale-Fairfax High School is six-foot-one, so we have some imposing athletes on the back end of this defense and they have practiced well.
“It’s been different for sure. We were doing drills and I reached down to pick up the football and it had the Barnwell Warhorses’ emblem on it, but we are all Team South Carolina this week,” Hayes added. “Coach Hillary has talked all week about winning this game. We want to showcase the talents of these players and win the game. It has been fun.”
The situation is a bit different for at least one pair of regular season rivals – South Aiken’s Tancey Richardson and Aiken’s Brayton Sanders have been close friends since childhood.
“That’s my guy right there,” Richardson says of Sanders during a break in practice Thursday at South Aiken High School. “We have been friends and grew up playing recreation league football together so when we play against each other it’s just a game, and after that we are brothers again. It’s been fun being out here with him and the guys from the other teams.”
“I’ve enjoyed being a part of this team,” Sanders stated. “Some of these guys I have known a long time so it’s been fun playing and just being around everyone.”
Rivalries and friendships aside, when the game kicks off, Coach Hillary says he has told his players their best effort will be needed to come away victorious in Border Bowl IV.
“On Saturday the game will be full speed,” Hillary stated. “The players from Team Georgia want to beat us and we want to beat them, and you may have some guys who might be on the border line of maybe playing college football so there will be recruiters there. There will be a lot on the line and a lot to play for so we are excited to get out there and compete.”