They've only been around two years, but Gray Collegiate Academy, an at-large school in 1A, played the first game of Week Zero yesterday when they dropped a 28-14 decision to perennial contender Gilbert of Class 3A.
It was a strong showing for a school that competes in the South Carolina High School League as an at-large team in the lowest classification, 1A. I recently went to Gray Collegiate's practice fields at Seven Oaks Park in Irmo to learn more about the new school's interesting football journey.
For Gray Collegiate Academy, life as an at-large school is tough. The Eagles have no home field, belong to no region, can earn no titles and cannot compete in the state playoffs. Even simply scheduling opponents has been tough, says head coach Adam Holmes.
"It hasn't been easy at times to just find games and stuff like that, because when all those other teams are in region play they're not really wanting to play other games and stuff like that, so we had a bit of a time and stuff like that," Holmes says.
"But a lot of teams were very helpful, we got some teams, we kind of mixed it up between public and private schools and we were able to fill a 10-game schedule. But it hasn't been easy for all of our sports obviously because you've got to go out and get so many games."
Next year, however, that changes. With reclassification, the Eagles will compete in region 3-2A with C.A. Johnson, Eau Claire, Fox Creek, W.J. Keenan and Saluda. For that, Holmes is ecstatic.
"When it came out our guys got excited about it knowing that we're going to be playing games around here," Holmes says. "Obviously it's a good region, good teams around here for all our athletic sports as well. So we're excited we're going to get that opportunity in 2016."
Located on Leaphart Road in West Columbia, Gray Collegiate is a public charter school, meaning it's students come from all over the Midlands.
"We've got kids from the Northeast side of town, from Lexington, Irmo," he says. "Kids are travelling all the way from Lugoff. Really we're getting them from all over the Midlands area that want to take the experience of what we offer here athletically and academically."
Last year the Eagles finished 2-8. They're hoping to improve on that record this year having benefitted from a full spring practice, a summer full of workouts and 7-on-7 competition and some legitimate talent.
"We want to make a big run this year," Holmes says.
