Rock Hill Stuns Irmo in Top 25 Showdown: 6 Takeaways From Bearcats' 24-14 Win

Rock Hill wasted little time making a statement to open the 2026 South Carolina high school football season.

Quarterback Jonah Young threw two first-half touchdown passes, and the Bearcats forced three turnovers — including two interceptions in the closing minutes — to hold off Irmo, 24-14, in a matchup of High School On SI South Carolina Top 25 teams at W.C. Hawkins Stadium.

Irmo rallied from a 17-0 halftime deficit to pull within three points, but Rock Hill's secondary slammed the door twice in the fourth quarter.

Here are six takeaways from Rock Hill's season-opening victory:

Rock Hill's Secondary Looks Like a Major Strength

The two teams’ head coaches took contrasting approaches to their season-opening matchup.

Brand drew attention for the Yellow Jackets in responding to online talk regarding the game. As for the Bearcats, Leon Boulware stayed mostly muted in his interviews.

After watching the secondary collect two interceptions to preserve the 24-14 win, he did not shy away from heaping more praise upon them.

“I said it before, I feel like I don’t have to say it again,” Boulware said. “Those guys are going to come out now and show up every time. We count on those guys every week to do what they’re supposed to do on the back end.”

A secondary with All-State talent already with Myles Brooks and Nigel Lightner added South Pointe transfer Zymier Gordon-Miles. After Irmo rallied from 17-0 down at halftime to get within 17-14, the North Carolina A&T commit picked off quarterback Britton Davis at the Yellow Jackets 15 with 3:44 left.

“Our coaches are depending on us,” Gordon-Miles said. “We’ve got playmakers back there which is true. So, whenever we get a chance to make a play, we make a play.”

Irmo got the football back with less than three minutes left. This time, it was Donovan Franklin who picked off Davis’ pass near the Irmo 20-yard line and returned it to the 2-yard line.

Gordon-Miles got the handoff on the next play with 2:15 left to close out the scoring.

The Culp Brothers Make an Immediate Impact

Another Rock Hill newcomer who contributed was Lewisville transfer Jay'Sean Culp. He had two sacks, one in which he forced and recovered a fumble that set up quarterback Young’s second touchdown pass of the first half to Devan Erby for 14 yards.

Older brother Jalen Culp caught a 13-yard touchdown pass for the first score. Both were previously coached by Boulware at Lewisville.

“It sends a message across the state that we’ve been working all off-season,” he said. “We’re not looking to call anybody out, but we’re going to look to show up every night and play football.”

Irmo's Mistakes Prove Too Much to Overcome

The satisfaction of victory in Rock Hill’s locker room was in sharp contrast to the mood at Irmo.

It was the second straight loss for the Yellow Jackets going back to the Class 5A Division I final loss to Northwestern. Even more frustrating for Brand were the “self-inflicting” plays from the three turnovers to the 22 penalties assessed and the missed scoring opportunities.

football, Irmo — Irmo head coach Aaron Brand | GoFlashwin.com

“We’ve got to coach it better,” he said. “We’ve got to behave better, especially in between the whistle. We’re just so arrogant and not being able to answer the bell with that arrogance.

“It’s me. It’s got to be me because you can’t say the things I said and expect your team to do the things that we did, expect your team to do what we’re supposed to do and then just lay an egg. We laid an egg tonight. It was not fun to coach tonight.”

Britton Davis Gives Irmo a Second-Half Spark

Davis accounted for both Irmo touchdowns in the third quarter. He found Jay Eady for a 39-yard touchdown and scored on an 8-yard run.

Defensive lineman and University of Miami commit Jaiden Bryant had a sack. He was also occasionally joined upfront by University of South Carolina offensive lineman commit Nate Carson.

Irmo, Rock Hill — Irmo linemen jumped up to defend a pass. | Thomas Grant Jr.

Running back and Alabama commit Tai Phillips had a 17-yard touchdown run called back for a penalty and was productive during the Yellow Jackets’ first scoring drive.

Both Teams Have Plenty to Clean Up

The pregame tension between Rock Hill and Irmo produced intense, high level play.

It also produced a large number of penalties assessed to both teams. They combined for close to 35 infractions, including two back-to-back plays resulting in offsetting personal fouls.

“We’ve got to clean this all up,” Boulware said. “We had too many flags. We gave them opportunities to get back in the game. There are some things we’ve got to fix and clean up and get back to work next week.”

“It’s the first game,” Brand said. “We’ll get better. We’ll be better next time out. But it doesn’t matter who we play. If we just keep shooting ourselves in the foot over and over and over. We’ll get a 20-yard play, they bring it back. We get another 20-yard play, we get another personal foul at the end of it.

“We’re just so….we’ll get better.”

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