Countdown to Kickoff in Swansea!

To help celebrate and commemorate the history that is Swansea Tiger Football, the voice of the Tigers, Brady Henderson, has been releasing an article every day with Swansea Football History to count us down to the time that toe meets leather between the Tigers and Raiders on August 21st at Doug Bennett Stadium. Be sure to check here every day to read Brady’s daily article!

After beating Calhoun County the week prior by a score of 29-16, in Bucky Stroud's third season, the Tigers were 7-2 with losses to only Chapin and Silver Bluff, both games lost by 1-score. But the Tigers went undefeated in Region Play before heading down to Cordova. For the first time in the 2002 season, the Tigers were the 10th-ranked team in 2A football heading down to Cordova.

While the Tigers were playing great football in 2002, so were the Cougars. Edisto was 8-1 prior to the Region Championship Game. Their only loss? To Silver Bluff on September 6th in Aiken, by a score of 33-20. Not only was Edisto undefeated in Region Play, but they were also the 3rd team in 2A.

The stage was set on the first day of November for a top-ten Region Showdown.

That night, the Tigers came up on top to win the 21st Region Championship in program History. In the 20-8 win, junior Swansea running back Brian Simmons carried the ball 11 times for 103 rushing yards. Senior Quarterback Chris Oliver scored on a 5-yard run himself and then threw two touchdowns. One of those was to Senior Tight end Jeremy Wilder and junior receiver Whitney McDaniel.

After the game, here's what Head Coach Bucky Stroud had to say: 'We didn't make that many adjustments at halftime. I think that we just started wearing them down there in the second half, and that was a big difference in the game. Our defense as a whole played a great ballgame, and I was really proud of that. We didn't expect to win like this, but it was a tough game regardless of the way it looks.'

The 2002 Region 4-2A Champs went into the first round of the 2A playoffs and beat Saluda at Home, 18-14. In the 'Battle of the Tigers' in the second round of the playoffs, Swansea welcomed Blue Ridge from Greer, SC. For Blue Ridge, that night when they beat the 7th-ranked Swansea Tigers 26-20 has gone down in their history books as one of the best, if not the best, wins in program history before they lost to Abbeville the next week in the playoffs. That was the furthest Blue Ridge football has ever made it in the history of their program.

The 2002 Swansea Tiger football team was a special one, and will go down as one of the 'greats', including their HUGE win over Edisto that night on November 1st in Cordova, 20-8, to win the 21st Region Championship in Program History.

I’d like to give a big thank you to P.J. Whitten, a Swansea Alum and member of the 2002 Region Championship team, for giving me the pictures and information to write this article.

Sincerely,

Brady Henderson