Do SC charter high schools have on field advantage | Palmetto Politics – Charleston Post Courier

“They think Oceanside’s going to beat us by 30 or more,” he said.

But it had been a good week of practice, and the Gators were confident they could pull an upset, said Jaiveon Jamison, the team’s quarterback.

“I feel like we can beat them tonight,” he said.

Just after 7:30, the referee blew the whistle and Oceanside kicked off to a line of Lake Marion players in their mismatched white or black helmets.

Lake Marion’s moment of truth came quickly. After an incomplete pass and two minimal 1-yard carries, they had to punt only minutes into the first quarter.

It did not go well. The snap fell loose onto the turf only to be recovered by Oceanside on Lake Marion’s 5-yard line. Oceanside’s first touchdown came moments later.

“Damn,” Davis muttered from the sideline.

It was a difficult first half for the Gators, especially on offense, though the Lake Marion defense managed to largely stymie Oceanside’s running game, forcing them to the air.

The Gators hustled off the field at the half. The score: Lake Marion 0, Oceanside 17.

The home stands were sullen. Among them, Eric Paulding, who owns a trucking business and is the father of one of the Gators. He didn’t think it was a fair fight.

“I don’t think it’s right,” he said. Oceanside “should play against their own caliber.”

A league of their own?

That’s a solution favored by many traditional public schools. The public charters should play in their own division against each other, they argue. A similar bipartisan proposal in the state Legislature would create a charter-only postseason.

Lawmakers want to automatically move public charters up one or two classifications, meaning Oceanside would be promoted to Class AAA or AAAA.

But public charters strongly oppose those fixes because they don’t apply to all schools.

“You want to stack the deck against these people? I just don’t understand,” state Rep. Jeff Bradley, R-Hilton Head Island, said at a Sept. 11 Statehouse hearing on the issue. At a later hearing, he said forcing the public charters into their own league “sounds like separate but equal. I thought we go rid of that.”