ROWESVILLE - It’s a new day for the Bethune-Bowman football team.

Head coach Glynn Darby is now at the helm and the Mohawks are competing in a more formidable region (Region 5-A). More important, Bethune-Bowman’s first regular season game on Aug. 29 will allow it to officially put to rest a forgettable 2007 campaign.

“We’ve had some seniors say ‘Coach, let’s take on a new motto - Losers Make Excuses, Champions Make Arrangements,” Darby said. “They feel that they want to be champions this year, so they changed the mindset and they set a new motto and that’s the motto we’re going to go with.

We’re going to forget about what happened last year and just concentrate on this new beginning and not make excuses and go ahead and make arrangements to be champions.”

If the 2007 regular season for Bethune-Bowman were a movie, the running title would be “Nightmare on Charleston Highway”. It started with a high profile preseason loss to SCISAA opponent Orangeburg Prep, followed three weeks later by an in-game skirmish against Hunter-Kinard-Tyler.

The latter proved costly as the Mohawks were placed on probation one year by the S.C. High School League. The penalty also carried a post-season ban which forced the Mohawks to miss the playoff for the first time in 24 years and not participate in any preseason jamborees.

Through it all, the Bethune-Bowman football team has accepted the punishment and with the probation period ending Aug. 27, are anxious to turn the page.

“We try to forget about everything that happened last season and what we’ve done is concentrate on this year’s team,” Darby said. “We said this is a new beginning. We’re changing the mindset. Whatever we did last year - the losses or whatever incident happened - it’s history. We no longer want to think about it.”

The key for a turnaround campaign is the play of his offensive line, which Darby called the “strength of his team.” Seniors Chris Williams (6-3, 275 lbs.), Daquan Berry (6-2, 255) and Trevelle Stephens (5-10, 210) and junior left tackle Josh Matthews (6-5, 315) and center Rondre Ritter (5-10, 215) will try to provide leadership and open holes in the Mohawks’ Wing-T formation.

Orchestrating the offense will be quarterback Ben Hogges (5-8, 140), who returns for his senior campaign. Sharing the backfield with Hodges are fellow returning senior starters Danny Berry (5-9, 155), Craig Jones (5-9, 150) and Dequinton Grayton (5-10, 165).

The Mohawks will utilize a 4-3 defense with Williams and Stephens seeing double duty on the defensive line at the tackle spot. The linebacking corps will be anchored by Ritter in the MIKE position and junior Ashton Robinson (5-10, 175) on the outside.

Junior Qwaishan Glover (5-9, 155) will start at strong safety, while Jones and senior Lamar Chase (5-7, 135) will man the corners. The place-kicking duties will be handled by Williams, backed up by Danny Berry.

Darby acknowledges the Mohawks will need a lot of “hard work” and “luck” if they are to beat out Top 10 teams Bamberg-Ehrhardt, Calhoun County and Allendale-Fairfax for the region title. Nevertheless, he’s encouraged by the increased roster numbers and believes not playing in any jamborees will give the Mohawks the element of surprise going into the new season.

“I think we can possibly sneak in the back door on one of those three, if they shut their eyes on us,” Darby said.

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