West-Oak High School

West-Oak High School was created by the consolidation of Oakway and Westminster High Schools. The school serves students from approximately one-half of the land area in Oconee County, South Carolina. Both Oakway and Westminster schools had been previously consolidated in the 1960s with Fair Play, Long Creek and Cleveland community schools. Construction for the new building began in 1982, students entered in the fall of 1983, and the first class graduated in the spring of 1984.

Athletics

West Oak High School is a very sports involved school. The mascot at West Oak is the Warrior.

The West Oak Warriors currently field Varsity and JV athletic teams in the following 16 events:

• Football
• Volleyball
• Girls' Tennis
• Boys' Tennis
• Cross Country
• Girls' Basketball
• Boys' Basketball
• Wrestling
• Girls' Soccer
• Boys' Soccer
• Track and Field
• Boys' Golf
• Girls' Golf
• Softball
• Baseball

In sports, West Oaks rivals are the Wahalla High School Razorbacks and the Seneca High School Bobcats, both rival teams are located in Oconee County within 10 miles of West Oak.

Football

As of the end of the 2009 season, the Warriors are 98-180 all time. They are 56-80 at their home stadium, Warrior Field. They are 42-100 on the road. The Warriors have been to the playoffs 9 times in their history. The Warriors' best season ever was in 1988, when they went 9-3.

West Oak's 2009 football season included 10 regular season games with 5 wins and 5 losses.

The Warriors made the SCHSL Playoffs, but made a first-round exit after falling to Greenville High School at Sirrine Stadium.

The Warrior football helmet features a spear with a flag on it. West Oak football's new flag logo is symbolic in many ways. The spear itself is a tribute to the legendary Dog Warriors, Native American fighters who would spear themselves to the ground in battle - only to be relieved by victory or death. The two crossing hatchets represent the two schools that joined to create us, Oakway and Westminster, and the three feathers represent the other small towns our students come from; Fair Play, Long Creek, and Townville.

There is currently one member of the West Oak Football Hall of Fame, the late Bill Waters. Bill Waters' tragic death in 1987 prevented him from being the first WOHS Warrior to play at the Division I Collegiate Level. Prior to his death, he had signed intent to play football at Clemson University under Danny Ford.

Andy Lee (WOHS Class of 2000) is a certain future West Oak Football Hall of Fame inductee. Since graduation, he played at the University of Pittsburgh and currently plays professionally where he is an All-Pro for the San Francisco 49ers..

2010 - 2011 Season

The warriors started the 2010 - 2011 season opener against Easley High School with a 31 - 13 loss. Easley used a ground and pound gaining only rushing yards to defeat the warriors.

Following the season opener, West-Oak hosted their county rivals, Walhalla, in a classic rivalry match. After the third quarter, Walhalla led 23 to 13, and a lightning delay kicked in. After the hour long delay, the teams came back to finish the game. Dustin Wilkes, the RB, led the Warriors with 3 touchdowns, with 2 in the fourth quarter, and the Warriors scored 20 unanswered points to defeat Walhalla 33 - 23, a stunning loss for their rivals.

West-Oak then hosted Pendleton (21 - 0 loss) and Carolina (29 - 6 loss).

Following the home games, the Warriors traveled to defeat Crescent 37 - 0.

The warriors returned home to lose to Belton-Honea Path 55 - 7.

Their next game was at their county rival's stadium in Walhalla. The Warriors passed for 201 yards and ran the ball for 125 yards. The Razorbacks also passed for 201 yards and rushed for 32 more. West-Oak was led in passing by junior QB Evan Small, who threw for all 201 of his team’s yards. Senior Phillip Kern led the team in rushing with 62 yards. When asked what carried his team to victory, winning coach Jay Brannon said, simply, “Heart.” Brannon said his team by no means played perfect football but they stayed in the game thanks to their seniors. Walhalla got on the board first with a 10-yard pass reception to Issac Williamson at 9:10 of the first quarter. West-Oak answered at 6:32 with a 21-yard TD by Small. Walhalla took the lead right before halftime with a safety and a 6-yard reception to Williamson for a score, bringing the score to 15-14, Razorbacks. After a back and forth battle in the third quarter, West-Oak got the lead with a 2-yard run by Dustin Wilkes for a touchdown at 1:44 of the third. West-Oak would extend its lead early in the fourth with a 21-yard pass reception by Devin Justus at 9:12 of the fourth. Walhalla rallied in the fourth and cut the deficit to 28-27. With time expiring, and Walhalla with the ball, they kicked a field goal for the win, but came up short. The Warriors went on to win it in a thrilling match.

After the thrilling game in Walhalla, the Warriors would go on to lose the last 3 games, Pickens (35 - 21), Daniel (42 - 0), Seneca (40 - 13)

The Warriors would go on to finish 3 - 7 (2 - 4) at the end of the season.

2011 - 2012 Season

West-Oak hosted Easley, and were defeated with a massive 70 - 0 loss.

West-Oak then traveled to their rival's stadium, in Walhalla. However, they were cut short in a 21 - 9 loss after some late game fumbles.

Following two losses, the Warriors traveled to Pendleton for an expected loss, as Pendleton was 2 - 0. The game started out with the Pendleton getting into the lead. At halftime, it was 14 - 3, Pendleton. At the end of the third quarter, Pendleton still lead 28 - 7. However in the fourth quarter, the Warriors cut their lead short to 28 - 25, with help from Senior Chris Welborn. However Pendleton were able to get a first down and let time run out, final score, 28 - 25.

Wrestling

The Warrior Wrestlers are the State Champions for the 2010-2011 School year. Jeff Jordan’s Warriors posted their deciding win in the final match to edge Chapin 31-27 in the Class AAA state finals on Saturday a Dreher High School in Columbia, erasing a drought that dated back to 1994.

Trailing by one point going into the final match, Bill Sexton, wrestling in the 130-pound class, won by technical fall (being ahead by more than 15 points) and sealed the deal for the Warriors.

It allowed West-Oak to post its first team state title in any sport since 1994.

A busload of Warrior fans were on hand for the event, and erupted in thunderous cheers as their school claimed the championship.

Ranked as the top program in the classification for most of the season, the Warriors, which finished the season 35-0, were coming off a 31-24 victory over powerhouse Eastside. Eastside had won seven of the last nine state championships.

West-Oak’s road to the state championship consisted of wins over Greer, Fort Mill, Eastside and Chapin.

In Chapin (25-3), West-Oak faced a less accomplished squad at the Class AAA level. It had won four Class 2A state championships in the 1990s with the last coming in 1998.

Its lone appearance in the Class AAA finals came in 2005 where it lost to Eastside.

The Eagles, however, presented quite a challenged as they won seven matches by pin in a 60-13 win over St. James in the Lower State finals.

Members of the Warriors championship team include Jeffery Adams, Andrew Addis, Nick Bowers, James Bryson, Will Cater, Brandon Croney, Alex Dickert, Cody Eller, Patrick James, Caleb Jones, Chaise Kern, Phillip Kern, Trevor Kirk, Trent Langston, Josh Moore, Timothy Rogers, Aaron Severance, Tony Severance, Bill Sexton, Ethan Smith, Bret Walker, Randy Warren, Chris Welborn and Matt Westbury.

The 2014 Warrior Wrestlers coached competed against South Pointe High School on February 11, 2015. They won the match 35-30, and clenched the 2015 AAA title. The winners were as follows: Justin Smith Jared Smith, Ben Martin, Daniel Ibanez, Jonathan McIntyre, Bradley Moore, Jacob Richards, and Gavin James.^[1] The 2014-2015 Warrior Wrestler head coach was Greg Brewer, assisted by Mike Powell, Adam Duncan, Al Billings, and Glenn Muncy.^[2]

Band

The band is known as The Bands of West Oak. This program includes a jazz band, marching band, guard, and symphonic winds band. The band is under the direction of Colt Campbell who has been at the school since 2011. The guard is under the instruction of Audrey Reese, who came to the program in mid 2013.

Symphonic Winds

2013-2014

The symphonic winds band made up over half of the Oconee All County band, and at the Region 1 band they earned nine seats. The band also went to SCBDA Concert Festival and earned an Excellent rating. Some members went to SCBDA Solo & Ensemble contest; they were very successful. The band participated in a Christmas Concert along with the chorus and strings program. The band hosted a pre-festival concert with the middle school band, and the band also hosted a spring concert.

2014-2015

The symphonic band earned an Excellent rating at the 2015 SCDBA Concert Performance Assessment. The band is also planning to compete in the Solo & Ensemble competition at Dorman High School's Freshman Campus.^[3]

Warrior Guard

2013-2014

The Warrior Guard was extremely successful during the 2013-2014 season. They were promoted from the regional AA to the regional A because of their high score at a competition at Blue Ridge High School. The Warrior Guard went on to finish third at Gold Division Regional A.

2014-2015

The Warrior Guard had two levels this year, Junior Varsity, and Varsity. The JV Guard competed in the CIPA Novice class and received seventh place. The Varsity Guard competed in the CIPA Scholastic AA class and received fifth place. ^[4]

2014-2015 Marching Season

In October 2014 the band placed tenth at the SCBDA 3A Upper State Championships and for the first time ever were eligible for SCDBA 3A State Championships. At the 2014 SCBDA State Championships, the Marching Warriors placed nineteenth overall. This is the first time ever in school history that the band went to state finals. ^[5]

Expansions

2011 Construction

During the 2010 - 2011 school year, budgets were given to each school in the Oconee County district. West-Oak used theirs to add onto their school by adding a brand new entrance with new offices. As well as a complete new 2 story building for more classrooms to be added on. A new lunchroom expansion was also added with new glass walls and several nice features.

Notable alumni

• Jared Burton, Major League Baseball ^[6]
• Andy Lee (American football), American football punter for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League^[7]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to West-Oak High School.

• Scripps Interactive Newspaper Group: West-Oak wins AAA wrestling title

Coordinates: 34°37′14″N 83°03′00″W / 34.6206546°N 83.0498736°W / 34.6206546; -83.0498736