The 2020 season marked new beginnings in Inman, as Harry Cabaniss embarked on his maiden voyage as Chapman’s head football coach. The Panthers continued to find success on the gridiron, winning their fourth region championship in as many seasons and advancing to the second round of the 3A playoffs. “During the offseason, we’ve been able to install the culture,” said Cabaniss. “I think that’s the biggest thing for our program. Last year, we brought new coaches in and a lot more schematics than anything. This year, we’re actually able to get in and say this is who we’re going to be and what we’re going to be about.” Now the page turns over to the 2021 campaign, which sees 10 out of 11 starters on offense return. Not only are the returners making an impact with their play, but also with helping their teammates improve each day. “We’re excited about them,” exclaimed Cabaniss. “It’s just nice to know that when they come off the field, we already have a way that we can communicate things and make adjustments. The coolest part about having the older guys back is you don’t have to worry about the young guys because they take care of them. I think I’ve noticed that more than anything at practice.” “The older guys out there, like (quarterback) Drew (Settle), (wide receivers) Tim (McClurkin) and DJ (Black), are making sure that these younger guys are where they’re supposed to be when we call a play out. Drew is helping our younger quarterbacks, while DJ and Tim are standing behind the receivers to make sure they’re good. That means more than anything, X’s and O’s wise.” Settle, who is gearing up for his second year as the starting signal caller, already has a couple of goals in mind. “I want to become more vocal and a better leader than I was last year,” Settle said. “I want to be more confident so that my teammates can see that they can trust me and that I’ll get them in the right position to make plays. It’s been really fun being able to get back in the swing of things like seven-on-seven’s. We’ve put in a lot of new stuff this summer, along with getting more and more reps every day to perfect our craft.” Last season, the Chapman defense was led by a core group that included Camden Gray, Andrew Colasurdo, Gabe Watson, and Ronti Jones, all of whom have graduated. The Panthers will look to a handful of returners, who saw a substantial amount of game action, to maintain the standard. “One cool thing about last year is that we played so many young guys,” Cabaniss explained. “Besides that core leadership group, we didn’t graduate a whole lot, which has been a good thing. That group passed the torch on to guys like Lance Holden, Levi Smith, Andrew Melton, and Tim on defense about the culture that’s expected. Even though we’ll be a bit young on that side of the ball, they’ve all played and have seen the (Friday night) lights.” The Panthers will also bring back a weapon on special teams, as senior Ricky Montalvo gets set for his third varsity season and second as the starting punter/kicker. He is 53 of 57 on extra points and has a career long made field goal of 45 yards. As for managing the expectations that have come as a result of their success in recent years, the Panthers are locked in on the season that lies ahead. “We talk about it as a team all the time,” Cabaniss stated. “We’re going to focus on Chapman. We’re just going to focus on that play or that practice. The expectations take care of themselves. The biggest thing for us is to hold ourselves to a certain standard. When we say to do something, we mean do it as fast as we possibly can (based on) the way we play.” “We’re going to play Chapman football and we'll let the chips fall where they may.” Chapman’s 2021 season opener is scheduled for August 27th at home against Byrnes. Game time is slated for 7:30 PM. Panthers Adding New Ways To Purchase Tickets In 2021The Chapman High School Athletic Department has announced a new ticket policy for the 2021-2022 school year. For the upcoming football season, fans can log on to GoFan.Co to purchase digital tickets for the five home football games. In the search box, type in “Chapman High School”. The digital tickets will be available until halftime of each contest. During the 2020-21 school year, Chapman sold hard tickets in advance of their football games, but began implementing the use of digital tickets near the end of the season. “We had great success using digital tickets during the football playoffs last year,” said Athletic Director Greg Wilson. “Most high schools have gone to that method, as have all college sports. It makes things go much smoother on Friday night in terms of getting 3,000+ fans safely into the stadium.” This season, the Panthers are scheduled to host Byrnes (August 27th), Brookland-Cayce (Sept. 10th), Fairfield Central (Sept. 24th), Emerald (Oct. 8th), and Broome (Oct. 29th). As the community and fans get acclimated to this new ticketing process, there are some benefits that come from making the switch over. “It allows fans to secure their tickets in advance, which hopefully gives them peace of mind,” Wilson stated. “I feel that it allows us to do a better job with game management in terms of safely getting large numbers of fans into the stadium. It also eliminates our staff from having to handle large sums of money at the game site on Friday nights.” Also, hard tickets will be sold the week of home games from 1 to 4 PM on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at the home side ticket booth. They will NOT be sold on Fridays. You must have a ticket in order to enter the campus. For all other CHS athletic events, tickets will be sold at the gate on the day of each contest. Chapman Players At The College LevelAs the 2021 Chapman Panthers prepare to strap up the helmets for victories this season to continue their legacy, a group of former Panthers will be strapping up their helmets on Saturdays this fall to compete for their current colleges. We wanted to include a list of current players competing at the college level so that Panthers fans can root them on this fall as well. Camden Gray - Wofford Gabe Watson - Lenore-Rhyne Mikele Colasurdo - Georgia State Dante Smith - Catawba Ben Rollins - South Carolina Andrew Colasurdo - South Carolina DJ Twitty - East Tennessee St If we have missed anyone or someone has changed schools please e-mail Justin Mathis at [email protected] so that we can make the addition or corrections needed to keep the list up to date.
-Justin Mathis |
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