Iron Horse boys' basketball team wins 100th victory in program's history

Philip Simmons High School boys’ basketball coach Garrett Campbell would probably like to forget his team’s first game in the history of the new school. 

It was Nov. 28, 2017, and the opponent was North Charleston. The results were crushing. The Cougars blasted a bunch of Iron Horse freshmen and sophomores, who, in reality, were a junior varsity team playing a varsity schedule. The final score: North Charleston 101, PSHS 26. 

But Campbell remembered the game and would go on to use it to measure just how far the Iron Horses have come since that first game. 

Fast forward to Nov. 22, 2025, when the Iron Horses topped Charleston Math & Science, 55-21, in Day 2 of the Riptide Invitational. Not only did the triumph give the Iron Horses a 2-0 record to start the 2025-26 season, it was also the 100th victory in the program’s brief history. 

The Iron Horses didn’t even need a decade to become one of the better teams in the state, producing all-state players and four 1,000-career-point performers under the direction of Campbell, one of the state’s top young coaches. The Fab 4 who reached 1,000 points included Jaylen Green, the Haight brothers, Miles and Marc; and Robert Watson. 

Campbell poured a solid foundation that first season and focused on fundamentals. 

“We’ve had a great team chemistry, and that really helped,” said Campbell, who played basketball at Myrtle Beach High School and walked on to play for the College of Charleston and its legendary coach Bobby Cremins. “The quality of the kids, on and off the court, was outstanding. Not only that, I was blessed with skilled players who knew how to play basketball.” 

The team will be quite different than last year’s version when Blake Darby and Hudson Hatch, both at 6-foot-9, gave PSHS one of the best inside presences in the Palmetto State as the Iron Horses finished with a 19-6 record and won the Region 6-AA championship with a 10-0 mark. 

Darby, who averaged 9.1 points and 6.6 rebounds a game, graduated, while Hatch transferred to the Christ School in North Carolina. Hatch, also an outstanding golfer, averaged 10.8 points a game, hitting 58 percent of his shots. He also averaged 6.6 rebounds. 

Still, there is talent on campus, including 6-4 Hopper Afman, who averaged 6.8 points and 2.6 rebounds last winter. 

Junior Jack Mevold, 6-4, 200 pounds, is equally at ease as a power forward or shooting forward. 

Palmer Driggers, the younger brother of last year’s point guard Corbin Driggers, directs the offense from his point guard position. He can read defenses, is deft in his ball distribution, and is solid fundamentally on defense. 

The Iron Horses basketball team has had success in its first two games. The Iron Horses also had success in their just-completed football season as coach Eric Bendig guided his team to a Region 6-AA championship and a berth in the third round of the playoffs to finish with a 10-3 record. 

Six of those footballers are now transitioning to basketball. The six players will make up 40 percent of the roster. 

“The key will be incorporating the football guys,” Campbell said. “That’s critical.”