The lights were out at McAlpine Stadium Friday, the same day the S.C. High School League issued sanctions against the Marlboro County Bulldogs football team.
                                 Photo| Cheris Hodges

The lights were out at McAlpine Stadium Friday, the same day the S.C. High School League issued sanctions against the Marlboro County Bulldogs football team.

Photo| Cheris Hodges

<p>Cory Johnson became the head coach of the Marlboro County Bulldogs football team in March and several players from his old team in Clinton transferred to the school. The SCHSL deemed one of those transfers ineligible.</p>
                                 <p>Photo| Instagram</p>

Cory Johnson became the head coach of the Marlboro County Bulldogs football team in March and several players from his old team in Clinton transferred to the school. The SCHSL deemed one of those transfers ineligible.

Photo| Instagram

<p>MCSD announced the new athletic staff in March.</p>
                                 <p>File Photo</p>

MCSD announced the new athletic staff in March.

File Photo

<p>File Photo</p>

File Photo

The Marlboro County Bulldogs 2024 season started off as the high school comeback story of the year. However, an anonymous letter from North Carolina seemed to bring this Cinderella story to a halt on October 25th.

The Bulldogs forfeited a region game against Loris, giving the Lions the region crown. The Marlboro County School District said the game was canceled due to electrical issues at McAlpine Stadium.

Wednesday, the South Carolina High School League held an executive committee meeting to address the eligibility of eight Marlboro County transfer students. The sanction relief appeal was denied by the League.

The League ruled that Marlboro County High School will be fined $500, up to $4,000 for every student deemed ineligible who played this season. The league staff will continue to investigate the players and their addresses to see if they actually live in the district. At least one player was already deemed ineligible by the league. SCHSL executive committee member, Shawn Foster, wanted each student to be investigated so that the seven who may be eligible would have relief from sanctions.

That means every game the player dressed for has to be forfeited by the Bulldogs. The Herald-Advocate sent an email to the league to see how many games the team will have to forfeit. The league said reach out to the district.

The MCSD release a statement, reading in part:

“Prior to the start of the 2024 High School Football Season, allegations were anonymously sent to the South Carolina High School League questioning students’ parents’ marital status, church attendance, places of employment, ownership of property other than the student’s residence, weekend travel, and questions regarding the familial relationship’s of students to their adult siblings. The District understood these allegations to be communicated immediately following the

announcement of the hire of the new head coach of the High School Football team. Prior to allowing any of the transferring students to participate in competitive events, Marlboro County School District submitted all required documentation to establish the eligibility of each

student, and each student’s eligibility was verified by the South Carolina High School League.

Although the students’ eligibility determinations were initially accepted by the SCHSI, the SCHSL, without notice to or knowledge of the District, contacted the District’s new head coach’s former employer in North Carolina to gather more information related to the allegations contained

in the anonymous letter. The information received from the Head Coach’s former employer regarding the anonymous letter, along with subjective information obtained from personal social media accounts, led to sanctions against the District from eight players being determined as not being eligible to participate in competitive athletics. The sanctions included monetary fines and forfeiture of any games the football team won that ineligible players participated in. An appeal hearing was held today, and although six of the eight students were determined to in fact be eligible, the sanctions against the District and Team were still upheld due to two players remaining ineligible. Marlboro County School District has notified the South Carolina High School League of its intent to further appeal the decision, and anticipate a subsequent appeals hearing being scheduled in the coming days.”

In their opening statement, William Freeman, the district’s attorney said the MCSD never had a chance to address the allegations from the league involving the players. But Freeman said the district has had the executive director of student and support services, Michael Dease, make unannounced visits to the students’ addresses in the district.

MCSD superintendent Helena Tillar said that current head coach Cory Johnson was supposed to take over the team for the 2025 season, but she said when Johnson returned to Clinton, he was fired by the school for interviewing with Marlboro County.

The league said they don’t have proof of a bonafide change of address for the students, which includes utility bills showing the move to the new address.

In March, the school district announced the hiring of new head football coach and athletic director, Cory Johnson and Matt Quinn.

Johnson, who was head coach of Clinton (NC)High School, was named the Marlboro County Bulldogs head coach and started on July 1, according to MCSD Superintendent Helena Tillar. Johnson was previously the defensive coordinator at Scotland High School in Laurinburg, NC, before becoming the head coach in Clinton. He replaced former head coach Quin McCollum, who is now the assistant principal at Blenheim Middle School of Discovery and is no longer working in athletics with the district.

In his final season as head coach, McCollum’s team went 3-7. In March, Johnson told the Herald-Advocate, “I think that we need to first build relationships with the kids and then after we build relationships with the kids, we need to work in steps on becoming a true team. We need to insert core values, effort, attitude, and toughness to the kids and they can carry those values way beyond football. Once we do that and everyone gets on the same page and we’re all on the same mission we’ll start putting Ws together on the daily.”

Johnson said it isn’t just about the next football season, he wants to make sure the athletes are prepared holistically.

“When we become better human beings, the winning will take care of itself,” he said. Johnson knows how seriously the community takes football and he feels he’s a good match for the program because he feels the same way.

“I take it very seriously, it is my ministry, it’s how I give back to the earth. We are going to build champions in life daily.”

Quinn, who was named athletic director in March, said that he was bringing a positive atmosphere and positive relationships to the athletic program in the county.

“Creating opportunities for our student-athletes in every single sport, to exceed expectations on and off the field. Putting as many of our student-athletes into college athletics as possible, SAT, ACT prep. Anything we can do to push them to the next level we’re going to do it,” Quinn said.

But Quinn’s time as AD was short-lived. In June, it was announced that he’d be the head football coach at Chesterfield High School. While the district made a public announcement about Quinn’s hiring, there wasn’t any word given about why he left the district.

Johnson was elevated to AD shortly after Quinn’s departure.

The 2024 season started in Santee against the Lake Marion Gators on August 23.

The Bulldogs won the game in a blowout, scoring 51 points. The final score was 51-6.

“It felt good to be back under the lights and the kids did a great job of executing on all three levels of the game,” Johnson said following the game.

The next week, the Bulldogs came home to face the Cheraw Braves. Though it took two days because of a weather delay, the winning for the Bulldogs continued. They beat the Braves 52-7.

Next, the Bulldogs headed to Scotland to face the Fighting Scots and the first big challenge of the season for the team. The Marlboro faithful traveled to Laurinburg, N.C., putting more fans in the stands than the home team. At that point in the season, the 40-28 victory had been the closest margin of victory of the season.

The winning streak for the Bulldogs continued, but rumblings about ineligible players started circulating online. Media members began making inquiries to the South Carolina High School Athletic League about the program.

Tillar addressed the MCSD school board in September and said, “There’s always some suspicion when you’re winning,” Tillar said at Monday’s board meeting. “I want to share with you an inquiry I received from Ms. Tonya Brown (WPDE reporter). It says, trusting all is well, I obtained some information today that Marlboro County High School’s football team has been found to be in violation of having ineligible players on the team. I’m told the South Carolina High School League has sanctioned the football team for the violation. The league’s public information officer sent me the following: …please contact the school about this information.”

Tillar went on to read where Brown asked the SCHSL what actions had been taken against the Bulldogs. The league’s response, according to Tillar, “This is from Charlie Wentzky, he’s the deputy commissioner for the South Carolina High School League, he said, so it appears that our public information director redirected the news outlet to the school, which is what we would do if there is a sanction and what we will do if there is not a sanction as it is your story to tell either way. As I stated on the phone, if Marlboro County had a sanction from the high school league, you would’ve had verbal and written correspondence indicating what the penalty and sanction were. There are false rumors and information circulating. I suggest that the district gets out in front of this narrative.”

She went on to say, during the September board meeting, “I’m here to tell you today,” Tillar said, “All of our players are eligible and have been cleared by the high school league. We have no sanctions from the high school league and I think we need to put that to rest. I did want to share that because you know how the rumor mill is. It can be damaging and that’s why we went to the high school league to take it up with them. One thing we’re going to do is we’re going to follow the rules and regulations and do the right thing. That’s the only way that we operate.”

Also in September, the game between the Bulldogs and North Myrtle Beach was forfeited because of safety concerns, giving the Bulldogs a two-week break before heading back to the field. The winning continued against Conway, Aynor and Georgetown. But on Oct. 18, the Bulldogs lost to the Dillon Wildcats, suffering their first loss of the season.

Then the lights went out in Bennettsville last Friday night. The Bulldogs forfeited the game to the Loris Lions after the district reported that there were electrical problems at the stadium.

The forfeit gave the Lions the AAA Region 5 title. A district spokesperson said the Bulldogs will play on Friday night at home.

So what happens next?

Just take a look at Richland County District 2’s Ridge View High School. Back in 2022, the school was sanctioned by the SCHSL for playing ineligible players. According to The State, “input from Blythewood High School leadership is what prompted the district investigation. Blythewood is a fellow Richland 2 school and one of Ridge View’s main rivals in athletics. It was also brought up Monday that Richland 2 said its own investigation was inconclusive.. In a statement provided to The State, Richland 2 said the students in question “met the district’s enrollment guidelines, which require three proofs of residency.” But, “the SCHSL’s ‘bona-fide change of residence’ is separate and apart from the district’s enrollment guidelines. While a new student may be properly enrolled in a school/school district, he/she must meet the League’s ‘bona-fide change of residence’ definition to be eligible to participate in sports.”

In the case of Ridge View, the team had to forfeit eight victories and pay a $500 fine.