Loris looks to reload on defense, continue dominant tradition

The Loris defense has been known as one of the best in the state.

Year after year, that side of the football has shut down most of its opponents and had outsiders double-checking to see if some of their season-long statistics can possibly be right. And for some reason, it hasn’t seemed to matter that coach Jamie Snider is replacing roughly half his defense each fall.

Whatever’s in the water at Loris may take care of that again.

Despite seven new starters on defense, Snider expects it to be more of the same.

“The defense is talented; it’s just a lot younger,” he said. “There are four returning starters there, but there are some talented players. They just don’t have experience. When that experience catches up with that talent …”

We know by now what that could mean.

A year ago, Loris posted five shutouts and allowed only 9.9 points per game en route to a Class AA, Division I Lower State championship game appearance. But that only tells part of the story.

Two-thirds of the points the team gave up all season came in two losses to three-time defending state champion Dillon, meaning the Lions allowed fewer than four points per game in the other 11 contests.

Loris won all of those games, and only two teams kept it within single digits.

However, Snider is moving on without Toast of the Coast defensive selections Jordan Hemingway (also a North-South selection and Region VIII-AA Defensive Player of the Year), Levi Moody, Junior Long, Stacy Dozier and Charoldric Williams.

Since many of those players were also contributors on offense, the Lions will be a big green there, too. However, the person running it is anything but.

Quarterback Ta’Jay Williams completed 62 percent of his passes for 1,508 yards and 15 touchdowns while running for another 520 yards and nine scores. His passing yards number set the school’s single-season record, and along with his rushing, he put up more combined production than any other quarterback in Snider’s five overall years time with the team (four as head coach). Only Myrtle Beach’s Drayton Arnold was responsible for more touchdowns in 2014 than Williams.

He’ll have a trio of backs around him, and outside of Dozier, new faces will primarily be catching his passes, too.

If nothing else, the consistency of the Loris defense should provide a nice cushion.

“Obviously I think some of it is coaching. But I think some of it is tradition,” Snider said. “Those kids starting on defense, they don’t want to let it fall on their watch.”

This story was originally published August 10, 2015 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Loris looks to reload on defense, continue dominant tradition."