It's been a rough stretch for Aiken High School's football program, which hasn't notched a winning season in its last eight and is on its fifth head coach during that span.
Despite that, these Hornets have shown in the preseason that they have some fight - and interim head coach Heath Corley said that can be traced back to a strong locker room eager to turn around the team's recent struggles.
"They do it for each other," said Corley, who is now leading the program after Dwayne Garrick stepped down at the start of the school year after one season with the Hornets. "They know that it's going to take absolutely everybody pulling in the same direction to get over that hump and try to see some rewards from all the work that they've put in."
Aiken started its last preseason week with what the Hornets knew would be a physical scrimmage against Barnwell, one of the favorites in Class AA, and Corley felt that his players answered the call despite a few missed plays here and there and were able to match physicality with a veteran team.
"That's this crowd," he said. "They're hard-working. They're hard-nosed kids. They like football. That's the biggest thing. And they like each other, so it makes it a little easier."
Aiken was winless last year, extending the team's losing streak to 15 games, but there were chances for a pair of wins against Airport (a 14-12 loss) and South Aiken (42-41) that showed that the Hornets were making improvements.
A big example of that was on the offensive line, which is something Aiken hadn't figured out in a few years but started making strides last year with a young, thin group up front.
"That's the group that's going to trigger what we're doing," Corley said. "They're all back this year. They're all a year stronger and more experienced. This year, we're fortunate enough to have a little more depth on that side. Last year, if we ever had to sub in or out it was a drastic change, and this year it won't be that big of a change. They'll all get to play together this year and again next year, so we'll have that group for a while."
Sophomore quarterback Tanner Padgett has stepped up and will look to run the offense despite losing a couple of key weapons in the offseason. Corley saw plenty of bright spots from him in Monday's scrimmage against a talented, experienced Barnwell defense.
"Tanner's going to be fine. First off, he's a very smart kid and he understands the game," Corley said. "That's some pretty good first live reps as a varsity football player. We've got some tough people on our schedule, but as far as flying around and physicality it hopefully doesn't get much better than it did tonight. Everything will start slowing down for him.
"All of our young skill guys that didn't get a super ton of reps this summer in 7-on-7s had to just step right in with a couple of kids leaving. It's going to be a process with them, so we've just got to help them along and stay positive with them. They're picking up on stuff pretty good."
Trevron Washington is expected to be one of the leaders among the skill guys, and his contributions to the team have already extended beyond the field.
"We call him Twin. He's a senior. He's one of our few seniors that's had any experience," Corley said. "He does a good job with the kids. He helped hold the locker room together when all the transition was going on. We've honestly got a great class of sophomores, and they've played together for so long that they hold each other accountable kind of naturally and it's kind of rubbed off on everybody. It's a group effort. We've got a great locker room right now.
The Hornets' defense took its lumps last season, allowing 43.2 points per game. The offense can help more in that regard this year by picking up first downs and extending drives, which will in turn help keep the defense fresh and able to use their speed to their advantage.
"Just fast. They're a quick bunch on that side," Corley said. "... They run to the ball, and they play the game the way it's supposed to be played."
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