Defense Contractor Attorney Near Anderson, SC

Dorman defensive back and Clemson football commit Kentavion Anderson is one of five finalists for South Carolina’s Mr. Football.

The award is given to the best high school football senior player in the state. Anderson would be the first winner from Dorman. Finalists were announced on Nov. 1.

Others up for the honor are J’Zavien Currence of South Point, Zyon Guiles of Carvers Ba, Zamaurious Robertson of Dillon and Tamarion Watkins of Northwestern. The winner will be announced at halftime of the North-South all-star Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Bowl in Myrtle Beach on Dec. 13.

Anderson is ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the state by 247Sports. He helped Dorman secure the Upper State’s No. 2 seed in the Class AAAAA Division 1 playoffs.

Currence is a defenisive back and quarterback who is committed to South Carolina. Before the Oct. 31 finish to the regular season, he had thrown for 1,587 yards and rushed for 785 yards with a combined 22 touchdowns. He intercepted three passes on defense.

Guiles is an offensive lineman who is committed to South Carolina. There have been only two players at his position to win the award: Kyle Young of Daniel in 1996 and Josiah Thompson of Dillon in 2023.

Robertson is a wide receiver who is committed to North Carolina. He had 58 catches for 1,206 yards with 13 touchdowns.

Watkins is a defensive back who is committed to Texas A&M and has 48 tackles with two sacks and an interception.

South Carolina Mr. Football past winners

1995 – Jermale Kelley, WR, Berea (South Carolina)

1996 – Kyle Young, OL, Daniel (Clemson)

1997 – Chris Hope, DB, Rock Hill (Florida State)

1998 – Derek Watson, RB, Palmetto (South Carolina)

1999 – Mark Logan, QB, Greenwood (Georgia Tech_

2000 – Roscoe Crosby, WR, Union (Clemson)

2001 – Moe Thompson, DE, Stratford (South Carolina)

2002 – Eric McCollom, QB, Camden (Iowa)

2003 – Trey Elder, QB, Byrnes (Appalachian State)

2004 – JD Melton, QB, Myrtle Beach (Navy)

2005 – Prince Miller, DB, Byrnes (Georgia)

2006 – Malcolm Long, QB, Gaffney (South Carolina State)

2007 – Richard Mounce, QB, Blythewood (Charleston Southern)

2008 – Stephon Gilmore, DB, South Pointe (South Carolina)

2009 – Marcus Lattimore, RB, Byrnes (South Carolina)

2010 – Jadeveon Clowney, DE, South Pointe (South Carolina)

2011 – Shaq Roland, WR, Lexington (South Carolina)

2012 – Tramel Terry, WR, Goose Creek (Georgia)

2013 – Jacob Park, QB, Stratford (Georgia)

2014 – Matthew Colburn, RB, Dutch Fork (Wake Forest)

2015 – Tavien Feaster, RB, Spartanburg (Clemson)

2016 – Gage Moloney, QB, Northwestern (James Madison)

2017 – Dakereon Joyner, QB, Fort Dorchester (South Carolina)

2018 – Zacch Pickens, DE, T.L. Hanna (South Carolina)

2019 – Luke Doty, QB, Myrtle Beach (South Carolina)

2020 – Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, DT, Gaffney (Georgia)

2021 – Jaylen Sneed, LB, Hilton Head (Notre Dame)

2022 – Xzavier McLeod, DL, Camden (South Carolina)

2023 – Josiah Thompson, OL, Dillon (South Carolina)

2024 – Will Wilson, QB, Richland Northeast (N.C. State)

Todd Shanesy covers high school athletics for the Greenville News, Spartanburg Herald-Journal and Anderson Independent Mail in the USA TODAY Network. Contact him by email at todd.shanesy@shj.com. Follow him on X, formerly called Twitter, at @ToddShanesySHJ.

The upcoming general election in Anderson County is scheduled for Nov. 4.

Voters will have the opportunity to cast ballots for a range of positions, including council seats and the mayoral seat.

The Anderson County Council has also approved a referendum on a penny sales tax.

This proposed tax is specifically for road and bridge repair and maintenance within Anderson County.

In November 2024, voters rejected a similar penny sales tax measure.

If approved, the tax would last eight years and generate $352 million for road projects.

According to county leaders, all the tax revenue will be dedicated solely to improving infrastructure.

November General Election: What to know

According to the Anderson County Voter Registration and Elections Office, to participate in the upcoming general election in Anderson County, residents must register at least 30 days before the election.

This means residents must ensure their voter registration is complete and up to date by Oct. 5.

Those who need to register or update their information can do so online, by mail with a South Carolina driver's license or DMV ID postmarked at least 30 days before the election, or in person at the county's election office, located at 301 N. Main St.

At the polling station, residents will be asked to show one of the following photo IDs.

Election Day is Nov. 4, 2025.

Here is a brief rundown of the open positions and seats in Anderson County.

Town of Pelzer

The Town of Pelzer will have three council seats and the mayor's seat up for election in November.

Council candidates Mike Matthews and Donna Ide are running for office this year.

Additionally, Councilman Cruz West recently resigned, leaving an unexpired seat on the council.

Current Pelzer Mayor Will Ragland recently stated that he will complete his term but does not intend to run for re-election.

According to Ballotpedia, candidates for Mayor included:

According to Ballotpedia, candidates for Town Council at-large include:

For the November municipal election, residents of Pelzer can cast their votes at the following locations.

Town of West Pelzer

The Town of West Pelzer will vote for two at-large council seats.

Councilmembers Jeff Lee and Johnny Rogers are up for re-election, and their seats will be contested during the upcoming election.

According to Ballotpedia, the candidates who filed for the two at-large seats are:

West Pelzer Town Council At-large

Residents in West Pelzer will cast their votes at the following precinct.

Town of Honea Path

The town of Honea Path will have three council seats open for election in November.

Current town council members in Honea Path include Ward 1 Earle Ashley, Ward 2 Sheila Caldwell, Ward 3 Jean Perrett, Ward 4 Marie Jenkins, and Ward 5 Dot Evans.

Additionally, Jim Taylor serves as the Mayor Pro Tempore.

Seats Open for the Election include the following.

Additionally, these council terms are set to end in November 2025.

According to Ballotpedia, candidates include:

Honea Path Town Council Ward 1

Honea Path Town Council Ward 3

Honea Path Town Council Ward 5

Polling locations include the following.

Town of Iva

The Town of Iva's current council includes Mayor Bobby Gentry, Council Ward 1 Elmer Powell, Council Ward 2 Dwayne Kelley, Council Ward 3 Dallas Botts, and Council Ward 4 Paul Hart.

In the Town of Iva, all four council seats and the mayor's position will be up for election in November.

All council members are currently running unopposed.

According to Ballotpedia, an unopposed candidate is automatically declared the winner without a vote.

Polling locations include the following.

Belton

The city of Belton will also have three council seats open for election in November.

Councilmember for Wards 1, 3, and 5 for term expiring November 6, 2029.

Current Belton council members include the following.

According to Ballotpedia, candidates include:

Belton City Council Ward 1

Belton City Council Ward 3

Belton City Council Ward 5

Precincts involved and the polling locations are as follows:

Town of Pendleton

The town of Pendleton also has three council seats open for election in November.

Current council members include Ward 1 Sarah James, Ward 2 Robert Mills, and Ward 3 Linda Carter.

According to Ballotpedia, candidates include:

Mayor of Pendleton

Pendleton Town Council Ward 1

Pendleton Town Council Ward 3

Precincts involved and the polling locations are as follows:

Town of Williamston

The town of Williamston has a mayor and four councilmen elected at large for four-year terms.

Additionally, two councilmen are elected for staggered terms.

The current government office includes

In Williamston, elections are held every two years, and there will be no election this year.

Starr

The Town of Starr has four council members: Ashley Price, Joseph Shaw, Jarrett Stone, and Jason Taylor.

Additionally, Starr's current mayor is Ed Sokol.

According to the Municipal Association of South Carolina, the Town of Starr and Williamston has a Mayor-Council form of government, and elections are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of even years.

Town Council elections in Starr were held in November 2024, and the next general election for Town Council will be in November 2026.

Travis Rose covers Anderson County for the Independent Mail. Reach him via email at .

South Carolina beat Anderson 112-31 in an exhibition on Friday night. Here are three things that stood out from the win.

– With the starting lineup set, the question going into the game was how Dawn Staley would utilize her bench. Maddy McDaniel was first off the bench, replacing Raven Johnson. Then Agot Makeer replaced Ta’Niya Latson.

Adhel Tac and Ayla McDowell followed, with Maryam Dauda the last to get in the game as a replacement for Joyce Edwards. However, by that point Staley was substituting based on game flow, so don’t read too much into that just yet.

It seemed like Staley wanted to get Edwards into a groove, which played into Dauda’s long sit.

– Anderson only played one player over 6-0, so Madina Okot and Adhel Tac didn’t really get tested. But Tac played to her height, grabbing eight rebounds to go with seven points.

Okot had an eye-opening game. She didn’t just play bigger than Anderson; she was quick, skilled, and smart. She hit a pull-up jumper off a dribble-drive, got behind the defense on a fast break for a layup, scored off a spin move in the paint, and found fellow transfer Ta’Niya Latson for a layup. That was just the first half.

Okot continued to have a great all-around game. She scored in the low post and the midrange, passed, defended, and even had a breakaway steal and layup. Okot finished with 17 points, 15 rebounds, six blocks, and three steals.

She wasn’t just the imposing big that South Carolina was missing last season. She was skilled, versatile, and efficient. That’s even more than South Carolina was hoping for. But boy, that basic through it up to the big girl and let her score play was nice to see again.

– The same asterisk applies to freshmen Agot Makeer and Ayla McDowell, who faced tougher competition playing for their national teams over the summer. But they did what was asked of them.

McDowell was solid, scoring six points and dishing some nice passes. But Makeer was outstanding. I’ve been hyping up Makeer for over a year, and even I didn’t expect her to look that good.

Makeer was second off the bench, and she rewarded that confidence with 16 points, six rebounds, five steals, and four assists. All offseason I said the freshmen don’t have to make a major impact; they just have to be capable of holding their own to give another player some rest. But Makeer looked like an impact player.

The big test comes next week when she faces much better competition in North Carolina.

The No. 2 South Carolina women’s basketball team tips off the 2025-26 season with an exhibition against Anderson on Friday night. These are five things to watch.

1. Does anything look different (and hopefully better)?

Sometimes you don’t learn anything from exhibitions. Sometimes you do.

In 2023, the exhibition against Rutgers was the first inkling we had that the Gamecocks had something special. The opposite was true last season. The Gamecocks were fine but not quite firing on all cylinders, which ended up describing the whole season.

On the other hand, nothing about the 2019 exhibition suggested South Carolina was going to annihilate the rest of the SEC and finish as the consensus No. 1 team.

“My expectation is to play like you’ve been coached,” Dawn Staley said. “Play like you’ve been practicing. It’s not hard, (but) it may be a little difficult for some. There’ll be some people in here. A lot of people in here, hopefully, that will see them play for the first time, and it takes a while to make that transition.”

It would be nice to see Raven Johnson knock down a three-pointer or two, Tessa Johnson be aggressive on both ends of the court, and Joyce Edwards show continued growth in her game. Does the offense operate more smoothly than last season?

Attention: GamecockCentral has an updates/game thread for every South Carolina women’s basketball game. You can find them on the NEW approximately 30 minutes before tip-off.

2. The rotation

Because of Chloe Kitts’ injury, there isn’t much mystery with the starting lineup: Raven Johnson, Ta’Niya Latson, Tessa Johnson, Joyce Edwards, and Madina Okot. But after that, it’s fairly uncertain, plus they have to learn to succeed without Kitts.

“Chloe Kitts is a dog,” Staley said. “We just have to do it a different way.”

Every year, I make this same disclaimer: Dawn Staley uses exhibitions to experiment a little, so the lineups and rotations we see Friday night might not be what we see on November 3 against Grand Canyon.

Still, we get an idea of what Staley and the coaching staff are thinking. Which players play well together? What are the substitution patterns? Does anyone get some run at a new position?

3. The transfers

We get our first look at Ta’Niya Latson and Madina Okot in garnet and black for a game atmosphere. Both players are established commodities, but both are also being asked to do some things they weren’t asked to do at Florida State and Mississippi State, respectively.

How does Latson fit in? Do she and Raven Johnson pick up like they are still in high school, running free for fastbreak layups? Is she able to produce within the team concept?

“This is my first time in CLA so I’m a little nervous,” Latson said on Thursday. “I’m just working through things. She has me seeing things that I haven’t seen on both ends of the floor. I feel like I can integrate what I do and also be a better player, a better playmaker, and a better teammate.”

Is Okot the intimidating big that South Carolina lacked last season? We’ve heard great things about how she has played in practice. Can she do it against another team?

4. The freshmen

We’re less certain what to expect from the two highly-touted freshmen, Agot Makeer and Ayla McDowell.

Staley has been pleased with their progress so far. But losing Chloe Kitts for the season means South Carolina only has 10 players. That speeds up the developmental timeline for one or both of the freshmen.

South Carolina lists both Makeer and McDowell as 6-1 guards, but the Gamecocks need more depth at the three and four positions. Could that come from one of the freshmen?

Both have reputations as good shooters, boosted by Makeer’s impressive showing in the three-point contest at GarNET & Black Madness, can one or both shoot the three efficiently enough to replace Te-Hina Paopao and Bree Hall?

Makeer has shown potential as a lockdown defender, but is she as disruptive on the college level?

“I want them to be them. I don’t want to put pressure on them because they put enough pressure on themselves,” Staley said. “They’re super talented. They are confident. They’ve been holding their own.”

5. Rule Changes

There are several rule changes this season. Most are minor, dealing with uniform specifications and administrative details. There are small changes to how traveling and “hot stove” touches are officiated.

The biggest change is the addition of coaches’ challenges. Fouls can’t be challenged, but calls like out-of-bounds and backcourt violations can.

If I’m Staley, I challenge the first out-of-bounds call of the season just to break the ice.

For more information on the rules changes, read HERE.

The Ws

Who: #2 South Carolina vs AndersonWhen: 7:00 ET, Friday, October 24Where: Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, SCTickets are free. There is no television or radio coverage. GamecockCentral will have live coverage on the new Women’s Basketball Forum.

Attention: GamecockCentral has an updates/game thread for every South Carolina women’s basketball game. You can find them on the NEW approximately 30 minutes before tip-off.