North-South game switches sites

The SCADA North-South High School All-Star game has gone Coastal - moving to Coastal Carolina's Brooks Stadium for the next two years starting in December.

The annual contest, sponsored by the South Carolina Automobile Dealers Association and featuring some of the top high school football seniors in the state, has been played in Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium in Myrtle Beach the past 18 years.

But organizers were drawn by the glittering one-year-old $11 million stadium - sought organizers to look elsewhere.

"When we first came here, Doug Shaw was the best facility in the area," Stan Olenik, the all-star game's operations manager, said. "Now the best facility in the area is Brooks Stadium."

Olenik said officials wanted to keep the game in the Myrtle Beach area and this was the best way to do it. They did not look at other sites, Olenik said.

Warren "Moose" Koegel, Coastal Carolina athletic director, said North-South officials approached them about the move. "We were glad to do it. We just didn't want to step on anybody's toes," he said.

No chance of that. Myrtle Beach High School will remain the training headquarters for the teams. Players and coaches will continue to stay along the Grand Strand and take part in all-star festivities. The annual North-South banquet, where the state's "Mr. Football" is awarded, will be held at the Crown Reef Convention Center on Dec. 10.

"There had been some questions about the future of the all-star game in Myrtle Beach," said John Reyelt, president of the North-South Game Committee. "We hope this announcement and the renewed support of a wonderful group of local sponsors from the area will put an end to any rumors about the game moving."

This year's game takes place Dec. 11. Olenik said the two-year agreement was to snyc up with other contracts in play like those of the title sponsor and game managers. "We didn't want there to be any overlaps," he said.

Keith Richardson, executive secretary of the South Carolina Athletic Coaches Association, said former Myrtle Beach football coach Doug Shaw helped bring the game to the Grand Strand and did "great work for high school football in South Carolina."

The best way to show appreciation and honor Shaw, Richardson said, was by keeping an important part of game week at Myrtle Beach High.

Koegel, Coastal's AD, expects his fledgling program to benefit from the high school players, coaches and their families who show up on campus for the game.

There's no doubt they'll be wowed by the school's 6,400-seat facility, which opened last fall as the school debuted its NCAA Division I-AA football program. Koegel said the school added practice fields and updated its weight room in time for this fall.

If ticket demand continues - and last season Koegel said the stadium was at 103 percent capacity - Coastal officials will look to expand, giving high schoolers an even bigger venue to end their senior seasons.

"We already feel we have the best all-star game at taking care of players," Olenik said. "Now we have this, too."