Cardinal Newman builds up football program. Can they make a run at Hammond?
Cory Helms stood and waited in the end zone of Sebastian Stadium early Thursday morning when the clock struck midnight.
As music from Creedence Clearwater Revival blared from the stadium’s speakers, the second-year Cardinal Newman head coach greeted his players as they ran onto the field at 12:01 a.m. It was the first minute that South Carolina Independent School Association teams could hold an official football practice ahead of the 2023 season.
Helms and the team opted for the early start as part of a three-day lock-in at the school that included a swimming party, guest speakers, practice and weightlifting sessions, a video game truck and a movie night.
“With this energy, we need to practice at midnight every night,” said Helms, a former University of South Carolina offensive lineman from 2013-17. “Guys were flying around. It is going to be fun. I told the guys we are going to work hard but we are going to have some fun. ... Any time you spend three nights with each other, you are going to get good team bonding.”
The early practice and lock-in are among the ways Helms is trying to create interest in the program, which has had its share of struggles over the past several years. The Cards went 5-6 last season in Helms’ first year and lost in the first round of the playoffs to Laurence Manning. They’ve had two winning seasons since 2006.
The Cardinals hope excitement around the program and upgraded talent on the field can produce wins as they try and make a run against perennial power and crosstown-rival Hammond, the standard in SCISA for the past two decades.
A buzz for Cardinal Newman
Thursday’s early-morning practice was a hit with the players.
“We didn’t do this in south Jersey,” said defensive back/receiver Pedro Reyes, who played last season at Absegami High in New Jersey. “I really like this. Under the lights, music, kind of a Friday Night Lights vibe.”
Participation numbers for the Cardinal Newman football program are up, Helms said, with 42 players dressed for Thursday morning’s first practice. The Cards also will have enough players to field a junior varsity and middle school program. Helms has been able to grow the numbers up by getting more kids to come out and play football plus bringing in transfers from other schools in the Midlands.
The talent of the players on the team also has improved with the additions of transfers that include Reyes, Camden’s Cortez Lane, Keenan’s Amarri King and Fort Dorchester’s Darius Bailhaim.
“Any time you create a little buzz, it naturally makes it attractive,” Helms said. “There is a lot that goes into kids’ decisions, whether it being athletics, academics, school setting. I think we struck gold a little bit and got some really good kids.”
Ben Lippen in 2016 was the last school to knock Hammond out of the SCISA postseason when a transfer-heavy team led by Division I signees Bryce Thompson and Trad Beatty defeated the Skyhawks in the playoff semifinals. The Falcons went on to win the state title that season.
Hammond has won 16 of the school’s 20 state championships since 2006 as coach Erik Kimrey built the school into a juggernaut. After Kimrey left, Jon Wheeler kept the momentum going with titles in his first two seasons.
The Skyhawks have won six straight championships in dominant fashion, with an average margin of victory of 33.6 in the title games. Hammond defeated Cardinal Newman, 49-0, last season and has given up just seven points in the last four meetings between the two schools.
“It is definitely Hammond and everyone else,” Helms said. “What Jeff Barnes has done as an athletic director with all of the teams, and coach Wheeler in my opinion is one of the best coaches in the state. They’ve got it going.
“But we aren’t focused on that and are just trying to get better. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but our guys know that and they are excited for some of the teams on our schedule. But they are excited to put the work in.”
Cardinal Newman newcomers Reyes and Lane each have Division I offers to play college football. Reyes has offers from Duke, North Carolina, Cincinnati and Vanderbilt, among others. He moved to South Carolina along with Kaiwan Lewis, a former USC linebacker standout who joined Helms’ staff at Cardinal Newman.
The 5-foot-11, 175-pound Lane had 1,210 all-purpose yards and 15 touchdowns last season for Camden.
“The coaching staff really cared about me. I felt like it was the right decision,” Lane said. “To grow up in Camden my whole life, and being raised in Camden, it has felt actually welcome and the love is genuine.”
The additions should give quarterback Duncan Skehan more weapons on offense. Skehan threw for 2,100 yards and 20 touchdowns last season.
“We’ve got one goal (a championship) and we know what that obviously is,” Skehan said. “We don’t need to say any names. We just got to put our heads down and get to work.”
Cardinal Newman 2023 Schedule
Aug. 18: vs. Trinity Collegiate
Aug. 25: at Pee Dee Academy
Sept. 8: vs. Atlantic Collegiate
Sept. 15 vs. Heathwood Hall
Sept. 22: vs. Ben Lippen
Sept. 29: vs. John Paul II
Oct. 6: at Hammond
Oct. 13: at Camden Military
Oct. 20: vs. Porter-Gaud
Oct. 27: vs. Augusta Christian
