ST. MATTHEWS — Walt Wilson likes to listen to the radio on his way to practice each day.

Specifically, the surly coach whose mantra is to “never sugarcoat anything” likes to listen to sports talk. Down in St. Matthews, he tends to tune in to 107.5 FM. He did just that Wednesday afternoon as he headed to the field to get his Calhoun County football team ready for tonight’s 7:30 p.m. Class A Division I Upper State title game at two-time defending state champion Chesterfield.

Maybe he shouldn’t have.

“The line is, we don’t have a chance in hell,” Wilson said. “That is what the line is, and the great Jim Baxter said 11-on-11 we come up short. He said he doesn’t think we have the athletes to match up with Chesterfield. Right before practice, I was pulling up, and I let some of my kids hear that. One of the interesting things he had to say was that we didn’t have a lineman that could line up and block (Chesterfield Shrine Bowl defensive tackle) Moon Edwards. I’m like, ‘OK, we are used to that. Just be careful what you say a Saint can’t do’.”

Most coaches would leave it at that. Point made. Baxter is a respected mind in the small world of South Carolina prep football — he runs the SCVarsity.com Web site — but true to his “never sugarcoat anything” way of operating, Wilson wasn’t done because Baxter, apparently, had more to say about the Saints.

“He said, ‘Come Saturday, Calhoun County will be rolling out the basketballs’,” Wilson said. “That’s fine. Until we change it, until we get a picture up on that gym wall, right now, basketball owns all the rights. Everything they got they earned. That’s the way I feel about it. Until we can get a picture up as state champions Calhoun County will just be a basketball school. You play football just to pass the time ... so, I expect that out of Jim Baxter. But, he stakes a lot of his opinions about us on when we scrimmaged his son at Brookland-Cayce. We still beat the (heck) out of them, but you know and I know we are a long way from the team that beat Brookland-Cayce.

“How can you come out your mouth and say we don’t have the athletes to match up? Oh my goodness, you know, I actually used to be (upset) when people said all we had was athletes. Now, I’m upset because they are saying we don’t have enough athletes. I don’t sugarcoat it. He was saying that we couldn’t outcoach (former South Carolina Gamecocks’ star quarterback and current Chesterfield head coach) Mr. (Steve) Tanneyhill. Basically, that is it in a nutshell because the way he said it didn’t make any (darn) sense. I probably have more athletes on my bench than Chesterfield has altogether. That is one thing we are not short of. I just want the opportunity. Like I told my kids, ‘You get one chance to make Mr. Baxter choke on them words.’ I do have 107.5’s number locked in my phone, and you know I will do it.”

Wilson’s vitriol is born from a burning desire to achieve a longstanding goal for his team — practice on Thanksgiving. Practice on Thanksgiving means Calhoun County will have punched its ticket to the state title game, Friday, at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium. And, honestly, it’s a continuation of an “us against the world” theme he has preached to his Saints, who have lost just two football games the past two seasons, through this football season.

To be fair, Baxter was right about Chesterfield having athletes. Defensively, the Rams are led by Shrine Bowl defensive lineman Moon Edwards, who has 17 tackles for loss and eight sacks. Linebacker Brandon Williams leads the team with 142 tackles; David Ratliff has 125 and Josh McCall has nine interceptions and eight touchdowns while Eric McQueen has four touchdowns and eight interceptions.

“They are winning games defensively,” Wilson said. “Everybody raves and rants about their offense, but the defense is the backbone of their team. They swarm to the ball. I will be honest, I look at the film and I swear they are playing 15. They are small, but they are quick and they get after it.”

Speaking of offense, Tanneyhill’s team packs a mighty punch. Quarterback Seth Truesdale has passed for 3,500 yards and 42 touchdowns this season, his main targets being Johnathan Murvin, who has 65 catches for 1,400 yards and 16 touchdowns, and Sergio Johnson, who has 63 catches for 1,150 yards, 400 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns. Wilson is quick to point out that his team has yet to see an offense as talented as Chesterfield’s.

“But, now, I’m going to tell you, defending the pass is our strength,” he said. “That is why we love 7-on-7s. Unfortunately, in our region people don’t throw the ball. When we get you in the spread, we are smiling because, first of all, you have to block our front four and my DBs are not too shabby. So, we love teams that throw the ball. Now, Chesterfield can run the ball out of the spread, but that is how we have been playing all year. Nothing they are doing is something we are not ready for.

“Still, I’ve never seen cats that small do what they do,” he added. “They have to be 5-6, 5-7, I swear to you and they do some amazing things. When’s the last time you seen somebody throw a fade to a 5-6 cat? Guess what, if you come to the game Friday, they are going to try it and the funny thing about it is, I would say, seven out of 10 times they come down with it.”

That being said, Wilson is more than confident that his athletes can match up with the Rams. At least, the Saints have the high-profile recruit numbers on their side. Senior offensive tackle Eric Mack is a South Carolina commitment and an Under Armour All-American, defensive end/linebacker/wide receiver Brandon Golson is a Shrine Bowler, an Offense-Defense All-American and a South Carolina commitment, and quarterback/safety Shamier Jeffery figures to be one of the state’s top recruits next year. Less-heralded Dante Stewart is a standout at tailback and defensive back and is headed to the North-South All-Star game. And, Wilson said, the Saints have fate on their side.

“Everything Chesterfield got, they earned,” Wilson said. “Nothing was given to them. We are coming. It’s time for a change. I truly feel like it’s our time. I just feel like Friday night is going to be something special. People in Calhoun County are excited. We are taking a fan bus, and we are looking to see if we need to take two. When is the last time that happened for a Calhoun County game? People are excited. We are playing for St. Matthews. We are playing for all these people around here will have something to talk about at the barbershop. It’s a big day for CC.”

T&D Sports Editor Brian Linder can be reached via e-mail at blinder@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5553.

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