Bulldogs kick off the season in Cheraw

BENNETTSVILLE— The Marlboro County High School Bulldogs are set to kick off this year’s football season with one goal in mind: play smart.

Head Coach Quin McCollum said, “Every year, you hope to gradually improve and make progress on the previous year. Hopefully, you’ll see a more seasoned and more mature team. However, we are still a very young team.”

The Bulldogs lost 20 seniors last year and out of that group, McCollum said they had a significant role on the team.

“What you should see is we have some very good skill players who are returning and we hope to give the fans something they can be proud of on Friday nights,” McCollum said.

The Bulldogs kick off the season in Cheraw where they will take on the Braves in a non-conference contest Friday night at 7:30 p.m.

McCollum said he has a host of players he expects to make tremendous impacts on the field this season. “We saw some guys that really stepped up when it came down to it,” he said of the off-season 7-on-7 scrimmages. “For instance, our starting quarterback right now, Tashon Boatwright, had a real good 7-on-7. Justin Purvis (wide receiver) had a really good 7-on-7…A lot of these guys, I can’t really name all of them, had really good summers. One of the things that happened over the summer was that these guys were committed to us. We had 6:45 a.m. workouts Monday-Thursday. It means something to them and they are committed to being better student-athletes.

Last season, the Bulldogs finished 5-5 in the regular season, with an overall record of 5-6 following a playoff loss. McCollum said compared to previous years, the boys got a taste of success and this season they plan to build on that to experience bigger and better things. The Bulldogs are currently ranked 22 in the SC Class AAA high school football rankings, according to MaxPreps.com.