Clemson Football: Could State High School FB Championships return to Tiger Town?

It’s been nearly a decade since the SCHSL state championships were held in Clemson football’s stadium. That could be changing very soon.

While most Clemson football fans will always remember Tommy Bowden as the guy that couldn’t quite get the Tigers over the hump, he did do several key things for the building of the program.

Bowden was instrumental in the hiring of Dabo Swinney as the next Clemson football coach, as well as the beginning phases of construction on new facilities and was vocal about getting the South Carolina State Football Championships up to Clemson.

Since 2012, though, the SCHSL Class 3A, 4A and 5A state championships have been held at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, typically on a Saturday. The Class A and 2A state championships have been at Benedict College, which is also in Columbia, typically on the Friday beforehand.

According to reports from The State’s Lou Bezjak, Clemson University is presenting a proposal that would move all five games to the same venue, potentially rotating between Death Valley and Williams-Brice Stadium.

The idea behind the proposal would be that the games are made into an experience, rather than just another normal high school football game in a bigger stadium. The universities would take a bigger part in the planning with the hopes of making it a better experience for the athlete.

The one drawback from having the game at Clemson has always been the long travel to the upstate for teams down in the Pee Dee, Grand Strand and Lowcountry, whereas Columbia is a centralized area.

That being said, I still think this is a great idea.

It will help with recruiting and allow the prospects more exposure, as a result. Both of the schools in the state have different things to offer and I think it would be a special experience for high school athletes to get to potentially play in both Williams-Brice and Death Valley during their time in state title appearances.