One final ride: Chester ranked No. 1 in 2A behind father-son head coach-senior QB duo

It’s the last ride for Chester head coach Victor Floyd and senior starting quarterback Trooper Floyd.

The father-son duo enter their final season together, but they refuse to get caught up in the moment.

Trooper said the thing about football that comes most naturally to him is leadership. He has been around the game his entire life, watching Victor lead Chester (twice) and Brunswick (GA). That experience gives the 6-foot-3 quarterback a bit of calm ahead of his final high school season.

“It’s not too many pressures that are building up,” Trooper said. “I’ve been made for this moment since I’ve been a little boy, being on the sidelines. I’m really made for this moment.”

Trooper took over the full-time starting quarterback role in his sophomore year after playing sparingly as a freshman. He threw for 4,071 yards and 37 touchdowns and ran for 667 yards and seven touchdowns in his sophomore and junior seasons.

Victor has high expectations for his team; his expectations for Trooper are even higher.

However, it’s that push for excellence that has helped Chester to a 17-8 record over the past two seasons including a 10-3 record last season, Chester’s first 10-win season since its undefeated state championship campaign in 2018.

“(Trooper) probably can handle pressure because I put so much on him,” Victor said. “I don’t expect him to make mistakes. When he makes them, I’m like, ‘You know better.’ It’s probably a little hard on him. He’s handled it extremely well because I’m a pressure guy. I am going to put pressure on players. He probably gets it by far the worst.”

That point is echoed by senior starting center JaBrell White, saying Victor doesn’t treat anyone with any sense of favoritism.

White has been friends with Trooper since elementary school and has witnessed the growth the quarterback has made both physically and mentally.

White said that Trooper’s top qualities are his wisdom and work ethic.

“He’s really determined, if he wants something, he’ll go get it,” White said. “I know he did a lot of speed training (in the offseason) to get faster. He wanted to get faster and he did. I just feel like he’s one of the hardest workers on the team. He’s always going to go that extra step to be better than the opponent.”

Victor isn’t the only person with high expectations for Chester as the Cyclones dropped from 3A to 2A for the next two seasons following realignment.

The South Carolina Prep Media preseason football poll ranked Chester as the No. 1 in 2A, receiving nine of the 17 first-place votes to Clinton’s seven.

The ranking doesn’t add any additional pressure to Victor or his team; it just gives them more to back up.

Clinton is the lone reason Chester isn’t coming off back-to-back region championships. In each of the past two seasons, the two programs met in Chester’s regular-season finale with a region championship on the line. The Red Devils were victorious both times, winning 48-20 in 2022 and 14-6 last season.

While Clinton isn’t in Chester’s region this season, Floyd said dropping down to 2A hasn’t made the football any easier for the Cyclones.

“We still got Fairfield Central, Saluda, Strom Thurmond,” he said. “To me, 2A right now is tougher than 3A. (Class) 3A only has 30 teams and it’s thinned out, but I think 2A competition is really steep, and we understand we’ve got work in front of us. Our kids are used to people doubting us, so people actually thinking we’re going to do something is new to us. We’ll be fine with that part of it.”

Victor Floyd is heading into his 31st year of coaching overall. He got his first head coaching gig at C.A. Johnson in 1998.

Trooper is his youngest child, but the longtime head coach has no thoughts of retiring after his son graduates.

“I still got a bunch left in the tank,” Victor said. “I’ll probably hang around for a little while longer, and I’ll probably stay around a little while longer and go from there. Definitely until (Trooper) gets out of college. Once he gets out, I may re-evaluate some things, but I’m definitely in it for a few more years. ... Honestly, I could hang around for 10 more. I feel like I’m in pretty good shape. I’m not burnt out or anything. Still got some tread left on the tire.”

Chester opens the season at home against Lancaster on Aug. 23. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.