"Good Evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Chesnee High School."
For anyone that has attended football games at Chesnee over the last thirty years that is a very familiar refrain and for all of those years it has been spoken by only one man, Bruce Mahaffey. Mahaffey is a proud alumni of Chesnee High School and when he took his place behind the microphone against Legion Collegiate Academy this past Friday night it officially began his thirtieth season being the voice of the Eagles. "I have enjoyed every game I have been a part of at Chesnee High School,” Mahaffey said. “I've seen a lot of good players come through Chesnee and it's been a thrill to call their names out. A lot of players I saw through the years are now grown with kids of their own and come to me with fond memories." Bruce’s investment in the Chesnee community doesn’t end at just his job behind the microphone as he has served of the school board and is also currently serving his fifteenth year on the Chesnee City Council. All three of Mahaffey’s children (Lesley, Carole, and Jeremy) have graduated from Chesnee along with his grandson Jackson, a former Eagles football player, who is currently serving in the U.S. Army. "I graduated from Chesnee High School and while growing up I would ride through town and see people and stores to which I would say, ‘Someday, I want to be a part of that,’” said Mahaffey. “After my kids started getting involved with little leagues and programs we just started to get more involved in the community. My love is not just for Chesnee football but it is for everybody I come in contact with in the city of Chesnee.” Bruce's daughter, Carole, had a funny story to share about Jackson and her father's dedication to Chesnee High School. "I remember when Jackson was due,” said Carole. “My dad joked ‘Well, you know I will be there, unless it’s a home varsity football game.” Bruce will tell you he loves all the Chesnee football players but there is one in particular that stands out, his grandson Cole Hoskyns, who is a two-way starter for the Eagles. "I've watched him for the last three years on this field and it's been amazing to watch him and how he's progressed,” said Mahaffey. “He holds a big place in my heart and he is a joy to be around." "Hearing my grandpa's voice on Friday nights is an indescribable feeling,” Hoskyns explained. “Coming to almost all the home games as a little kid I looked up to the kids whose names he was calling out at the time. It’s just an indescribable feeling standing under the lights on Friday night and hearing him call out my name. It’s also a little extra driving force to play well so he gets to say my name a couple extra times when we play at home." Bruce is the "Voice of the Eagles" and to some Eagle fans, it’s the only voice they’ve ever known as Chesnee's public address announcer. "Bruce has been announcing since I played flag football,” recalled Nick Linder, who serves as the spotter for Mahaffey. “His voice over the speaker is all that several generations of people know. Thirty years is unreal." Bruce is not the only member of his family with a dedication to Chesnee High School as Bruce's wife, Brenda, served for many years as a substitute teacher at the school along with a number of other roles throughout the years. When the Eagles return to the field this Friday night to host St. Joseph’s in a pivotal region matchup for Chesnee, Mahaffey will be right there behind his microphone welcoming everyone to Chesnee High School. On Monday afternoon in front of their home crowd the Chesnee girls tennis team swept their season series against Broome by capturing a 5-1 victory.
"I'm glad to come away with a strong victory over Broome tonight," said Chesnee head coach Kunagee Cohen Nesbitt. "We got a great effort from our seniors Mattie Martin and Eva Vaca who came with big wins." The Eagles got victories in every match except the number one singles where Broome's Lacy Harris came away with the win (6-2, 6-0). Ansley Mossburg grabbed the win in number two singles (7-5, 6-1) while Mattie Martin captured the win in number three singles (6-0, 6-3). In number four singles Eva Vaca came away with a victory for the Eagles (6-1, 6-0) but it was Lanie Arrowood in number five singles who came away with the biggest victory (6-0, 6-0) as she didn't lose a set point on Monday afternoon. Faith Stewart and Olyvia Stowell got the win in the number two doubles for the Eagles (6-1, 6-1) as they helped seal the victory in the match. "We hope this win will help build some momentum and we can finish this season out strong," said Cohen Nesbitt. The Eagles will return to action on Wednesday to face Spartanburg before facing Landrum on Thursday. As the old saying goes "as the offensive lines goes, so goes the offense" and on Friday night that rang true as the Chesnee offensive line, with five returning starters, paved the way for the Eagles who rolled up over three hundred rushing yards while picking up a 27-16 win over Legion Collegiate Academy.
“The most experienced part of our team is the offensive line," said Chesnee head coach Clay Lewis. "When you have experienced kids you have to lean on them and they have to go out and produce like they did tonight.” While their dominance isn't always noticed by outsiders the Chesnee offensive lineman isn't really worried about that as the only acknowledgement they look for is from their teammates and coaches. “It doesn’t matter to us if we get credit from anyone other than our teammates and our coaches," said Chesnee senior lineman Corey Seay. "They are quick to give us credit and our quarterback tells us every play how good of a job we do up front.” Chesnee got off to a fast start to open the game sparked by a forty-four yard kickoff return by KJ Valentine to open the game. On the second play from scrimmage Praise Edrington took the pitch from quarterback Nyquille O’Fair and took it deep in to Lancer territory. Camden Burns punched it in a few plays later from four yards out to put the Eagles up 6-0 with 10:21 left in the first quarter. The Eagles continued to build on their lead as O’Fair ran the ball in from one yard out to put the Eagle up 13-0 after the Ian Harris extra point with 2:20 left in the first quarter. On the drive Bryson Thompson picked up a key fourth and two to help continue the scoring drive. O’Fair picked up his first passing touchdown of the season with 4:28 left in the first half when he found Cole Hoskyns for an eleven yard touchdown pass as Hoskyns barreled through a pair of Lancers to complete the touchdown reception. After Ian Harris added his second extra point of the night the Eagles increased their lead to 20-0. Holding the Lancers out of the endzone on their opening position of the second half, the Eagles offense added to their lead as Adam Parks punched it in from nine yards out to give the Eagles their largest lead of the night at 27-0 with 6:31 left in the third. Legion Collegiate tried to get back in it as Joey Hylinski found Ian Graham for a sixty-two yard scoring strike and after Nathan Kelly converted the two point conversion they were able to pull within 27-8 with 5:47 left in the third. On the ensuing Chesnee position, the Lancers caught a break and recovered a Chesnee fumble inside the Eagles twenty yard line. They made the Eagles pay for the mistake a few plays later as Hylinski found Liam Graham for a five yard touchdown strike and after another Nathan Kelly two point conversion Legion Academy was able to make the score 27-16 with 4:13 left in the third quarter. The Eagles had the biggest play of the fourth quarter as they converted a key fourth down with under two minutes to play deep in Lancer territory that allowed the Eagles to take a knee and run out the clock to seal the win. The Eagles defense bottled up the Lancer rushing attack as they held them to negative thirty-five yards rushing as the Eagles held them to negative twenty-nine yards in the first half. The Lancers has less opportunities to rush the ball in the second half as time and score were not in their favor and the Chesnee defensive front was able to harass quarterback Joey Hylinski all night to help limit the Lancer offense. Chesnee as a team finished with 319 yards on the ground as senior backs Camden Burns and Adam Parks led the way as the duo combined for one hundred and fifty yards on thirty two carries. Burns finished with eighty-three yards on eighteen carries and a score while Parks finished with sixty seven yards on sixteen carries and a score. Bryson Thompson and Nyquille O’Fair each finished the night with forty-seven yards rushing while O’Fair also completed two passes for thirty yards with one being the eleven yard touchdown to Hoskyns. Defensively the Eagles finished four sacks and four tackles for a loss as Colby Davis led the way with two sacks and Cole Hoskyns added a sack of his own. Corey Seay was one of four Eagles with at least one tackle for loss while Dylan Bennett picked off a Hylinski pass which was Bennett’s second interception of his career. “This is big for our kids as it has been a long and hard offseason," said Lewis. "These kids have worked their tails off since we were allowed to come back in June. It is very rewarding to see these guys get a win." Next Friday the Eagles will host the St. Josephs Knights in the second of four region games to open the season. The Knights defeated Blacksburg 20-6 to open the season on Friday night. The Chesnee volleyball team kept their record perfect on Tuesday night as they defeated Landrum 3-0 (25-19, 25-9, 25-22) to go undefeated through their first trip through region play.
"It's a nice place to be because this region is tough," said Chesnee head volleyball coach Katie Jolley about her team being undefeated in region. "It's been a battle and we've learned things along the way but I'm happy to be sitting in first place after the first time through region." The Eagles were down 5-3 early in the first set but soon tied the game at 5-5. From that point on they didn't look back as they captured the first set 25-19 to go up 1-0 in the match. Chesnee won the second set 25-9 and the victory was sealed by some outstanding play by junior Kaitlyn Barrett who helped account for the team's final five points through a kill along with four straight service points. She finished the night with fourteen kills, two blocks, eight digs, and three aces. "Kaitlyn was huge right there going five for five in that set on kills," said Jolley. "She also got back there and made a service run making it difficult for them to make an attack." The third set was a very competitive match for both teams as the Eagles jumped ahead early before Landrum was able to take the lead 21-19 when the Eagles took a timeout. After the timeout the Eagles responded with a 6-1 run to win the match 25-22 behind some strong play along their front line especially from their senior middle hitter Jessa Beach, who finished the night with three blocks. "During that timeout I told the girls we just needed to go back to the basics and do what we know how to do," said Jolley. "Jessa came up huge and put the ball away three different times in a row and when you a senior middle that will do that in a tough situation that's big. She really energized our team right there." AC Yelton, this past weeks MaxPreps South Carolina player of the week, led the Eagles in kills on Tuesday night with nineteen while Holly Hines led the team with thirty-six assists and two aces. Shenandoah Bishop led the team with nine digs against the Cardinals. Chesnee will now look to repeat their feat through region play again as they start their second trip through the region on Thursday in a home match against Blacksburg. The Chesnee Eagles are in a new classification, and a new region, but will once again face some familiar faces this season when they step on to the football field. The Eagles will be in Region II-2A this season where they will be joined by rivals Blacksburg and Landrum along with former region foe St. Joseph’s with the only unfamiliar team being one of the newest programs in the state, Legion Collegiate Academy, led by former South Pointe head coach Strait Herron. While Blacksburg is a familiar team to the Eagles they will have a new look as Jet Turner will take over the reins of the Wildcats program after spending the last few years at Woodmont with some pretty good success. The name is a familiar one to Eagles fans as he was the former head coach at Broome before taking over at Woodmont and his offenses are well known for being a tough to defend ground based rushing attack. St Joseph’s is coming off of a strong 2019 season where they went 10-2 with a 3-1 region record. Landrum will once again be led by longtime coach Jason Farmer and will be the Eagles only road game in the region as Legion Collegiate is playing all of their games on the road this season. Outside of their region Chesnee only has one other road game as they will travel to Airport after region play is over before returning home to play two county rivals in Broome and Woodruff. Chesnee fell to Broome and Woodruff late in both games last season and will look to get some revenge on the two county teams this season. Being in 2A should be a benefit for the Eagles as they now go from being one of the smallest 3A programs last season to now being one of the larger 2A programs this year. Coach Lewis thinks playing schools of similar size should help the Eagles, “It should help when it comes to depth when we play schools that have similar numbers as us.” Despite being an undersized team compared to their opponents last season the Eagles made it to the second round of the playoffs after picking up a win on the road over Seneca before falling in the second round to Union County. The Seneca win was a big win for the Eagles for several reasons as it was the 100th career win for Head Coach Clay Lewis, it was their first playoff win since 2014, and it was also the first road playoff win for the team since 2009. Unlike in years past where a team’s region schedule is at the end of the season, this season all SCSHL teams will kick off their seasons playing their region schedule. Coach Lewis said you have to be ready from the opening kick to have a chance at a region title, “Normally we use our non-region schedule to build and prepare our team for region. Having our region games first puts a lot more pressure on us early as the first four games will determine playoff seeds and the region championship.” The team will feel the full benefits this season of having a full year of strength and conditioning under Coach Lewis’s watch. The team has greatly improved this summer in the weight room. “We had a 100% turnaround from last summer,” said Lewis. “When we were finally able to get back in the weight room, especially our seniors came in, and we could tell that had been at home getting their work in.” The team’s work away from the coaching staff revealed a lot about his team to Lewis as he added, “the work they put in at home shows us this is a hungry and motivated group.” A Little About The EaglesChesnee is heading into the 2020 season with a year under head coach Clay Lewis and three returning All-Region members: Corey Seay, Cole Hoskyns, and Ian Harris. The Eagles have the task of replacing two year starter Jacob Kimbrell at quarterback, who is now a member of the Wofford Terriers. They will hand over the reins of the offense to senior Nyquille O’Fair. O’Fair was two of three passing for eleven yards while gaining forty-eight yards on sixteen carries in limited action as the backup last season. Lewis is excited about the athleticism O’Fair brings but also his understanding of the game. ”He is an athletic kid but he is very smart,” said Lewis. “He understands where everyone should be and how it works. He is going to step in and have a big season for us.” There will be some new faces at running back for the Eagles as they lost Rodney Alexander, Avery Fogle, and Jacob Aparis to graduation. Bryson Thompson and Camden Burns are the Eagles top two returning backs as Thompson will play the A-Back position along with Praise Edrington, Trevor Blankenship, and Michael Paslawski while Burns will play the B-Back position along with Brandon Mills and Adam Parks. Chesnee will be young at wide receiver as they will be replacing the top three players from last season at the position but are expecting big things from KJ Valentine, Blake Scruggs, Ryan Walker, Matthew Froemel, Daveon Stradford and Lorenzo Duren. They will be returning tight end Cole Hoskyns to once again help out the passing game as Hoskyns had eleven catches for 206 yards and a pair of scores last season. The offensive line will return all five starters from last season as Corey Seay, Brayden Sprinkle, Caleb Rentz, Parker Robinson, and Jose Guzman. Seay, and Sprinkle will lead the group as both averaged a grade of 75 or better last season. Lewis is excited about the offensive line heading into the season. ”Our strength offensively should be up front with our offensive line with the experience they gained last year,” said Lewis. Chesnee will be returning nine starters on the defensive side of the ball including on the defensive line where the Eagles will be returning defensive ends Cole Hoskyns and Colby Davis who combined for 100.5 tackles, 29.5 tackles for loss, 14 sacks, and forced 7 turnovers last season. “Cole is an All-Region player and Colby was right behind him,” said Lewis. “Those two have been in the battles and we expect great things out of them this season.” The Eagles graduated their two primary defensive tackles to graduation last season but have Jacob Ingle, Parker Robinson, and Jaden Gossett battling for playing time. Ingle has 16.5 tackles last season with three tackles for loss with a pair of sacks while Robinson had 4.5 tackles and a sack last season. Linebacker is another key group for the Eagles as they return Corey Seay, Camden Burns, Brandon Mills, and Dylan Bennett. Bennett finished last season with 55 tackles and seven of them for loss while Seay finished third on the team in sacks with 4.5 to add to his 38.5 tackles. Mills had 42.5 tackles while Burns had 41 tackles and two sacks. Both Burns and Bennett scored defensive touchdowns last season. In the secondary Chesnee will return Nyquille O’Fair, Lorenzo Duren, and Bryson Thompson while KJ Valentine will be coming up from the JV team to help out this season. Duren led the team with six pass breakups and two interceptions last season. The Eagles key focus for this season in the secondary is developing depth. ”We can put two good corners and two good safeties but we have to develop some depth behind them,” said Lewis. One place the Eagles didn’t have a question mark this offseason was in the kicking game as they return punter Cole Hoskyns and kicker Ian Harris. Coach Lewis said it was big to have both of them back this season. “It means a lot having both of them back,” said Lewis. “The kicking game is one third of the game.” Harris was 37 out of 40 on PATs and made four field goals with his season long being from 42 yards out while Hoskyns averaged over 33 yards per punt last season. “He is kind of invaluable kicking wise,” said Lewis about Harris. “He works at it, not just at practice, but in the offseason and on the weekends.” The Eagles will kick off the season in a home matchup against Legion Collegiate on September 25th. Eagles Player Spotlight: Nyquille O'FairThis year the Eagles will be expecting big things out of senior quarterback and defensive back Nyquille O’Fair. O’Fair played primarily defense last season for the Eagles where he finished last year with 19.5 tackles and three pass breakups along with an interception. He also had eleven yards passing and forty-eight yards rushing in his limited action on offense last season.
“Nyquille is a very athletic, and smart kid,” said Chesnee head coach Clay Lewis. “He knows what everyone is supposed to be doing and he has really grown over the offseason physically as well as gotten faster. I’m looking for big things from him this season.” Nyquille says that he is looking forward to taking over the starting quarterback role this season. “I’ve played football my whole life,” said O’Fair. “It is something I’ve have always looked forward to and something I’m really excited about.” One thing O’Fair says that he has learned from his coaches and this crazy offseason is to just keep going, “You have to battle through adversity,” said O’Fair. “Mistakes will happen but you have got to battle through adversity every time. We have grown up so much from last season and I’m really excited about the upcoming season.” O’Fair really blossomed as a basketball player this past season for the Eagles and he thinks that will benefit him on the football field. “It prepared me as a leader,” said O’Fair. “As a leader on the basketball team I knew they were needing me every day to step up and be consistent.” Chesnee head basketball coach Andy Pitt thinks that O’Fair’s success on the basketball court will help him on the football field this season as well. “I think the fact that he was thrust into a leadership role for our basketball team will benefit him,” said Pitt. “I know he has added muscle this offseason and I think he’s ready to lead.” When asked who has helped him the most to get to this point O’Fair quickly pointed his finger at his parents, Jewel and Jermaine O’Fair, saying “My parents have really helped build me up to this point.” The Chesnee volleyball team extended their winning streak to four games in a row by defeating Greer Middle College 3-0 (25-20, 25-16, 25-13) in a road region matchup on Thursday afternoon.
The Eagles got a solid night from senior AC Yelton who recorded twenty-five kills and a lot of those kills were setup by junior setter Holly Hines who recorded thirty-six assists on Thursday night. Junior Kaitlyn Barrett backed up her impressive performance on Tuesday with another strong performance on Thursday recording eight ace serves along with eight digs. Chesnee also got a nice performance on Thursday from senior libero Shenandoah Bishop who recorded nine digs along with three ace serves. The Eagles will return home on Tuesday to face Landrum in attempt to finish their first trip through region play with an undefeated record. In front of a large socially distanced home crowd the Chesnee volleyball team won their third straight game after defeating St. Joseph's 3-0 (28-26, 25-19, 25-13) with a great all-around performance by the Eagles on Tuesday night. Both teams played a nail biter in the first set but in the last two sets it was all Eagles as they controlled the game from the second set on.
"In the first game we had a lot of errors as we kind of shot ourselves in the foot with some of our serves and hitting errors," said Chesnee head coach Katie Jolley. "Once the girls got comfortable and confident we put everything together as we played a great match tonight. It's hard to beat us when we're playing like that." The first set saw both teams tied at 23-23 late but from that point on the set was either tied or switched hands between the two teams seven different times before the Lady Eagles finally got the win. The Eagles got two great serves from junior Kaitlyn Barrett on the final two points of the set, including an ace serve to go ahead, and then a kill by Barrett from the left side of the net to win the set 28-26 and go up 1-0 in the match. In the second set the Eagles only trailed twice, 1-0 early and 10-9 midway through, on their way to a 25-19 win that was capped by an ace serve from Barrett. Barrett had a great game for the Eagles as she recorded ten kills, eleven digs, and four aces on Tuesday night. "Kaitlyn has been doing great all year," said Jolley. "She stepped back there and stayed confident on those serves and made some tough serves they weren't able to return well." The third set saw the Eagles fall behind 5-1 early but they came storming back and tied the set at 5-5 on a kill by AC Yelton, who led the team with eighteen kills on Tuesday night. With the two teams tied at 10-10 the Eagles had Holly Hines step up to serve for the team where Chesnee claimed six straight points including four aces from Hines to put their lead at 16-10. From that point on the Eagles didn't look back claiming a 25-13 win in the set on another kill by Yelton and claiming the match 3-0. "Our girls were really hitting their spots with their serves once we got past the first set," said Jolley. "They did a great job getting the other team out of their system." Chesnee got strong performances from the whole team on Tuesday night. Outside the performances from Barrett and Yelton, senior Jessa Beach got six kills and three blocks while controlling a lot of the action around the net. Junior Holly Hines had a great run of serves in the third set but also added thirty-six assists to her total on Tuesday night while senior Shenandoah Bishop added ten digs from the libero spot. The Eagles will return to action on Thursday night as they travel to Greer Middle College in another region matchup before returning home to face Landrum next Tuesday. The Chesnee volleyball team made it two wins a row to start the season as they won their home opener 3-0 (25-12, 25-14, 25-11) over Brashier Middle College on Thursday night. The win also puts the Eagles at 2-0 in region play to start the season.
Kaitlyn Barrett and AC Yelton led the Eagles attack as Yelton recorded a team high sixteen kills while Barrett also added eleven kills of her own. While Barrett and Yelton excelled picking up the kills Holly Hines had a great game setting up those kills as she recorded thirty-two assists in the game. Shenandoah Bishop had a great all-around game for the Eagles on Thursday night as she recorded eight digs on the defensive side while adding four service aces as well. The Eagles will look to continue their strong start on Tuesday when they host St. Joseph’s at 7:00 PM. Chesnee volleyball won their first match of the season along with their first region win of the season as they defeated Blacksburg 3-0 (25-8, 25-13, 25-6) on the road Tuesday night.
AC Yelton and Katelyn Barrett picked up right where they left off last season as Yelton recorded seven kills and seven digs while Barrett also had twelve kills pf her own. Holly Hines added fourteen assists and seven aces to the Eagles performance on Tuesday while Shenandoah Bishop also added seven digs. The Eagles volleyball team will be back in action on Thursday for their home opener against Brashier Middle College as it t is scheduled for a 7:00pm start. Also on Tuesday the Eagles girls golf team came in second place at the the Palmetto Preview in Prosperity, SC which was an eighteen hole event featuring some of the top high school golfers from South Carolina. The Eagles finished 15 strokes behind Lexington who took the crown with a +7 team score and also captured the individual title with Molly Hardwick who finished the day with a (-6). Chesnee's Sydney Roberts and Isabella Britt finished behind Hardwick in second and third place respectively as Roberts finished just one stroke behind Hardwick. It's the second straight strong showing from the duo as they led Chesnee to opening wins in region play in a tri-match over St. Joseph's and Greet Middle College last Wednesday where Isabella Britt took home the medalist honors. Olivia Roberts also had a top ten finish for the Eagles as she took home 9th place. The Eagles will be back in action on Thursday as they host Boiling Springs at Meadowbrook at 4:30pm |
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