One program in the Midlands is shaping the High School Football landscape in the Upstate. Three former players from Lexington High are now coaching in the state, two of them in the GSP area and the other in Columbia. (The Audio Version from last weekend's Scramble episode, is below)
Dustin Curtis is in his 1st year as Head Coach at Dorman, St. Joe's Head Coach Chris Goodman and Hammond-Columbia Head Coach Jon Wheeler all played together on Lexington's State Runner-Up Team in 2000. That team ironically lost to Dorman and their legendary Coach Dave Gutshall, who Curtis has now taken over for.
Curtis led A.C. Flora -Columbia to the program's 1st ever State Title in 2020 and is now living outside of Columbia for the 1st time in his life. The three now prominent coaches also played with Demetrius Summers, before he went on to have a standout career at South Carolina. Curtis would serve as a student manager for the Gamecocks.
Wheeler who now coaches at Hammond led that program to a State Title in SCISA Class 3A last year. His Hammond team gave defending 5A State Champs Gaffney all they wanted before falling by a TD on "The Reservation". Wheeler served as Head Coach at St. Joe's before going back home to the Columbia area. Wheeler had a 10 win season with the Knights in 2019. Wheeler went on to play DB at Wofford.
Chris Goodman who played WR on that 2000 Lexington team, was coaching in Arizona , when he came back to work with Wheeler at St. Joe's. When Wheeler left the Knights after the 2020 season, Goodman was hired as the Head Coach there. Goodman had a great run in Arizona winning three Region Titles in five seasons there. In his 1st year, at the helm of St. Joe's last year Goodman led them to a Region Title.
This year, the "Lexington Trio" have lost a combined three games. Wheeler's Hammond squad is the favorite to win the State Title in their class again. Goodman's team at St. Joseph's has been in the Class 1A State Top 10 all year. Curtis is unbeaten at Dorman in his 1st year, and they have already eclipsed last year's win total. Dorman is the favorite in the minds of many to win the Region 2 5A Title and is considered a State contender.
Those three who all come from the same tree, have already impacted HS Football in the Upstate. As the old adage goes, " One Tree, Many Branches", as those three look to be even more fruitful. We don't know where exactly the path will go from here, we just know that it started as teammates and brothers at Lexington High.
