Personal Injury Attorney in Rock Hill, SC.

ROCK HILL, S.C.

J’Zavien Currence once dominated at receiver as an 8-year-old going against older football players.

While athletic youth players that age are usually just handing the ball off or performing jet sweeps, Currence figured out how to run routes and haul in deep passes.

Currence, a four-star safety committed to the University of South Carolina entering his senior year at South Pointe, continued to play up during his early football years. He’s competitive in various other sports while training on the gridiron with his father throughout the year, and since those games in elementary school, he’s wanted to be on the football field.

“I scored like 30 touchdowns in one season,” Currence said. “That’s when I, really, was like, ‘Yeah, it’s on.’”

Currence had multiple Division I offers when he was in eighth grade.

The 6-foot-3, 210-pound defensive back’s work ethic is impressive. As much as Currence loves the game, he understands the work that goes into it. He goes through every workout, practice, drill — and even tests in the classroom — with the same competitiveness.

If Currence isn’t at football practice, playing basketball or running track, chances are he’s training with his dad or helping out with Rock Hill’s youth programs.

“There’s no greater feeling,” Jay Currence, the Stallions’ wide receivers coach, said about his son. “You get that taste of success, you just want to keep driving on and expose it to other players around who have the same goal, the same dream. J’Zavien is all about uplifting people around him, and that’s a wonderful thing about him that we enjoy — he has real good intentions at heart.”

Jay Currence, a former Northwestern wide receiver, has taught J’Zavien a wealth of football knowledge.

The father of the Gamecock-bound safety joined South Pointe’s coaching staff following its inaugural varsity season in 2006. Bringing tradition and history to what will become his son’s alma mater has been special.

While his dad once wore a Trojans’ uniform, J’Zavien Currence relishes playing for the Stallions and feels there isn’t really bad blood among any of the Rock Hill programs. The three high schools in “Football City, USA,” have fierce rivalries, but Currence ultimately wants the best for each of them — as their success elevates the city’s community.

“It’s by example,” South Pointe head coach Bobby Collins said of the younger Currence. “He’s not a big rah-rah guy. He’s not the guy who’s trying to run up to the front of the team and give a massive pregame speech. His biggest attribute is saying, ‘Hey, let me get on the field and show you guys, with my pads, what I can do and what I can do well.’ And everybody follows from there.”

Currence didn’t necessarily envision becoming a Gamecock, but the Palmetto State’s flagship school feels like home.

Jadeveon Clowney and Stephon Gilmore are among the South Pointe graduates whose pictures and names are displayed inside South Carolina’s indoor facility. Head coach Shane Beamer recruits the Rock Hill area well, and Currence loves his future staff already.

Currence — who gives thanks to his grandmas, parents, siblings and cousins for making him who he is — has always been around football. He grew up watching Florida games on Saturdays and following the Patriots and Ravens in the NFL.

The most enticing part of watching high-level football for Currence? Understanding how these players at the top of their game are providing for their own families.

“It’s a full circle moment,” Currence said. “To be honest, I’d never really seen myself going to South Carolina as a kid. Never really thought about it, always thought I was going to be a Gator. But growing up and getting recruited by the head coach and coaches there, the people, it’s just a big heartbeat. Everybody has the same motive.

“There’s no bad blood; There are no ill intentions. Everybody acts the same every time you go there. It’s a place that makes you fall in love with it, and they did it for me.”

The Charlotte Observer

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Looking for somewhere new to eat? Odds are York County has it, or it’s on the way.

This area has more than two dozen restaurants that opened this spring, or that announced plans to open. Many of those planned spots are coming soon. Rock Hill is heavy on new places to eat, but there are options in Fort Mill, Tega Cay, Lake Wylie and Clover, too.

Here’s a look at the freshest entries to the York County food scene. Click on links for each to find out more information.

â–ª Rey Azteca opened a Rock Hill location at 2124 Celanese Road in March. It’s the same Mexican food restaurant that’s been in Lake Wylie for two decades.

â–ª Nathan’s Famous held its grand opening in March, selling New York-style hot dogs and burgers at 1818 Bagwell Circle in Rock Hill.

â–ª Napoli’s Pizzaria opened in March, at 2435 Hwy. 160 West in Tega Cay’s Stonecrest shopping center. The menu has New York-style pizza, stromboli, calzone and dessert.

â–ª Yoshi Ramen is right beside Napoli’s in Tega Cay. Yoshi’s menu has Japanese rice bowls, chicken, fried rice and more than a half dozen ramen options with toppings.

â–ª Empire Pizza opened its newest location last month at 343 Technology Center Way in Rock Hill. That’s a short walk from the Rock Hill Sports & Event Center.

â–ª Tandoor opened in late March, bringing Indian cuisine to 991 N. Anderson Road in Rock Hill.

â–ª Peaceful Palate opened April 4 at The Power House in Rock Hill. The food hall stop has wings, empanadas, salmon and sides.

â–ª Savvy Eatz also opened April 4 at the Rock Hill food hall. The Jamaican menu features jerk and curry chicken, turkey, shrimp and oxtail. There’s also juices and smoothies.

â–ª Sully’s Steamers opened its steamed bagel sandwich shop in Rock Hill on April 4. Sully’s is at 220 W. White St., part of The Thread.

â–ª The Original Noodle Company had its grand opening April 4 in Lake Wylie. The 4070 Charlotte Hwy. site offers noodles, dumplings, stir fry and other dishes.

â–ª The Soda Lab is a new soda shop at The Corner Market in Clover, which opened April 4 at 518 S. Main St.

Read Next

Food and Drink

January 7, 2025 6:00 AM

â–ª Paco’s Tacos & Tequila opened on Monday, April 21, in Fort Mill. The Tex-Mex restaurant based in Charlotte is in the former Taco Molino space at 1328 Broadcloth St., in Kingsley.

â–ª Jekyll & Hyde Taphouse & Grill has storefront signs up and is hiring for its new location in Baxter. The steak, burger and drink spot at 993 Market St. in Fort Mill is the former Lucky Duck and Six Pence Pub site.

â–ª Dilworth Neighborhood Grille plans a summer opening at 940 Market St. in Fort Mill. The neighborhood restaurant bar setup in Baxter replaces Killingtons, and formerly Beef ‘O’ Brady’s in that space.

â–ª Phat Burrito will replace Center Theatre Pizza & Ice Cream on Main Street in Fort Mill. The Charlotte-based restaurant offers burritos, tacos, quesadillas and sides.

â–ª Bites Cookie Shop announced they’ll open in downtown Rock Hill this summer. The 105 Hampton St. shop is the second location for the New York-style cookie shop.

â–ª King of Fire will grow its popular pizza food truck brand by adding a North Main Street shop in Clover.

â–ª The Cattle Car is hiring for its burger, bar and grill concept coming to 111 N. Main St. in Clover.

â–ª Mac’s Speed Shop bought property in Fort Mill three years ago, and now multiple news outlets report the Charlotte-based barbecue restaurant plans an opening this year with sister restaurant SouthBound. The Hwy. 160 West site is across from Baxter, beside Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

â–ª The Halal Guys are signed on to open in Pendleton Village, across from Lowes Home Improvement in Fort Mill. They serve chicken, beef and falafel in bowls, sandwiches and gyros.

â–ª Mama Lina Pizza & Pasta is signed to open at Avery Plaza in Fort Mill. The Italian restaurant will share a building with Dunkin’ Donuts near the intersection of S.C. 160 and Springfield Parkway.

â–ª Bear Walrus plans an opening at 130 W. White St. in Rock Hill. The pop-up eatery moving to a storefront setup is known for wood-fired meat and grilled oysters.

â–ª Three Count Brewing aims for a summer opening in Rock Hill. The wrestling-themed brewery from a team of locals will go in at 148 S. Cherry Road.

â–ª Vampire Penguin is coming to downtown Rock Hill, at 212 E. Main St. The dessert shop offers shaved snow treats.

â–ª Adventurer’s Table is a board game-themed restaurant slated to open in the former Mellow Mushroom and Wild Wing Cafe spot in Rock Hill. The 1948 Cinema Drive spot is between Dave Lyle Boulevard and a movie theater.

â–ª Flora Coffee will open at 221 Cherry Road in Rock Hill. They started as a mobile coffee cart with coffee, baked treats and other items like plants.

This story was originally published April 21, 2025 at 5:50 AM.

More than two dozen homes across the Rock Hill region sold for $1 million or more in March, along with banks, commercial sites, warehouses and land primed for new development.

There were 25 homes in York, Lancaster or Chester counties that hit the seven-figure mark, according to county land records. Fort Mill had 10 of them. Lake Wylie had four, while Rock Hill, Indian Land and Tega Cay had three each. York and Clover each added one.

A River Hills home in Lake Wylie and a Walker Road home in Rock Hill were the most expensive sales, each at $1.6 million. Those homes were built in 1973 and 1996, respectively. They’re part of a growing number of homes across the region that have added home value over time.

At least the past two years have set records across the region for million-dollar home sales. The 25 sales in March were almost as many as in January and February combined (29). Last year, March and April combined for 25 million-dollar sales.

Use the map below for details on the March million-dollar home sales. Blue icons are March sales, and black ones are sales from earlier in the year.

Sales weren’t limited to homes. Here’s a look at the other high-dollar deals, according to land records:

â–ª Dallas, Texas-based Leon Capital Group bought the 120,000-square-foot distribution warehouse at 2690 Commerce Dr. in Rock Hill. The March 5 sale for $11.5 million includes nearly 8 acres between Commerce and Waterford Park drives. The site is about halfway between Interstate 77 and the Catawba River.

â–ª A Chicago company with properties across York County bought three South State Bank sites. One at 1127 Ebenezer Road in Rock Hill sold on March 13 for $4 million. It’s more than 9,100 square feet. Another at 817 Dave Gibson Blvd. in Fort Mill sold on March 13 for $3 million. It’s a nearly 9,300-square-foot building on 2 acres. The sale at 801 E. Liberty St. in York happened on March 12, for $1.5 million. It involves three properties and the 4,000-square-foot bank building just off South Pacific Avenue.

â–ª Waxhaw, North Carolina-based company Teleo bought 280 acres in Lancaster County on March 13 for $2.4 million. It’s two properties, and the smaller 7-acre one has a home on it that was built in 1962. The home is on Bethea Road, but the larger property stretches west off Hwy. 903 on the southeast side of Lancaster. The new owner has the same listed address as homebuilder Kinterra Custom Homes.

â–ª The Dave’s Hot Chicken restaurant site on Cherry Road in Rock Hill sold on March 26 for $2.2 million. The 2,200-square-foot fast food site at 2476 Cherry Road was part of the Aldi grocery store site right beside it, near where Cherry and Anderson Road meet.

â–ª A York company bought nearly 2 acres of commercial property at 221 Hands Mill Hwy. in Rock Hill on March 18 for $1.9 million. The sale includes two warehouses at a combined 12,000 square feet of space. It’s the White Tiger furniture location, beside the Sportsman pistol range.

â–ª Homebuilder Taylor Morrison bought another 23 lots in the Ridge at Sugar Creek subdivision on March 4 for $1.9 million. Townhomes are selling there starting in the mid-$400,000 range. The new Indian Land neighborhood is just west of Harrisburg Road, and south of the Estates at Sugar Creek area where Taylor Morrison is also building homes. The lots are located on Beacon, Beacon Heights and Miles Gap roads.

â–ª A 3,200-square-foot office building in Rock Hill’s Riverwalk area sold March 5 for $1.5 million. Financial advising company BNA bought the suite that was built in 2015. It’s at Herrons Ferry and Rapid Run roads, beside Riverwalk’s Piedmont Medical Center Trail and the Catawba River.

â–ª Homebuilder D.R. Horton bought 14 home lots in the Ferguson Crossing subdivision in York on March 28 for $1.3 million. The properties are on Saloon Drive and Court House Avenue.

â–ª Pennsylvania-based COP Lancaster bought more than 1 acre of undeveloped commercial property off U.S. 521, or Charlotte Highway, in Indian Land for $1.3 million. It’s a wooded area beside a strip mall, between the highway and the Bridgemill neighborhood. The parcel was previously part of the property that became Bridgemill, a community of more than 800 homes and townhomes.

â–ª Catawba Holdings bought 205 acres in Chester County from Charlotte-based Pinetops South. The March 21 sale for $1.2 million involves a large parcel with frontage along Boyd and Old Columbia roads, south of Chester.

â–ª Homebuilder LGI Homes bought 18 lots in Chester County on March 7 for $1.1 million. The Tristen Road properties are part of a new subdivision east of the Lancaster Highway interchange on Interstate 77.

The Herald

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John Marks graduated from Furman University in 2004 and joined the Herald in 2005. He covers community growth, municipalities, transportation and education mainly in York County and Lancaster County. The Fort Mill native earned dozens of South Carolina Press Association awards and multiple McClatchy President’s Awards for news coverage in Fort Mill and Lake Wylie. Support my work with a digital subscription

Thousands of new jobs are expected to come to the Rock Hill region in the next few years, according to state workforce department projections, at a growth rate higher than anywhere else in South Carolina.

New South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce figures forecast a 21,012-job increase between 2022 and 2032 for York, Lancaster and Chester counties. The 179,471 jobs in 2032 would be up 13.3% in a decade. The Charleston area is next highest among a dozen workforce regions, at 12.7%.

If those counts materialize, the Rock Hill region would remain the sixth-largest workforce area in the state.

Job growth coincides with population growth, where York County recently became the seventh county statewide to top 300,000 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Lancaster County passed 100,000 residents and has the third highest population growth rate in South Carolina, and highest in the two-state Charlotte metro area, since 2020.

A Flourish chart

The state workforce department tracks and projects numerous factors related to employment, from layoffs to secondary education training programs needed to support industries. The 2032 estimates “convey an optimistic vision” of ongoing employment patterns, analytics writer Lainey Stalnaker said in the first of a multi-part workforce department blog series posted on March 24.

“This data allows the state to plan for expected employment growth, including the types of jobs and employers that are growing,” Stalnaker wrote.

In the Rock Hill region, more than half a dozen industries or occupations will have grown by 50% or more between 2022 and 2032, according to the new data.

Warehousing and storage jobs would increase 70%. Securities, commodities and other financial trading jobs would go up nearly 53%. Other industries on the rise, according to the projections, are transportation and warehousing (48%), company management (39%), insurance (35%) and social assistance (31%).

Of 87 listed industries, only five are projected to lose jobs by 2033. Textile mills (-12%), crop production (-9%), forestry and logging (-6%), rail transportation (-3%) and miscellaneous manufacturing (-2%) make up that list.

Trade, transportation and utilities would grow by nearly 5,400 jobs. Professional and business services are next at nearly 4,900 jobs. Education and health services would increase by more than 4,200 jobs.

A Flourish table

By growth rate, the biggest movers among occupations across the Rock Hill region are interpreters or translators (71%), nurses (65%), data scientists (53%), occupational therapy assistants (52%), personal financial advisors (52%) and broadcast technicians (50%).

Occupations projected to lose jobs by 2032 include legal secretaries and administrative assistants (-21%), metal fabricators (-13%) and machine operators (-13%).

The most total new jobs would come in transportation (3,078), business and financial operations (2,189), sales (1,962) and management (1,929). The biggest declines come for fast food cooks (-100), secretaries and administrative assistants (-55), executive secretaries (-39) and legal secretaries (-30).

A Flourish table

While projections rely on the best available data on job creation, the loss or addition of any one project can drastically sway the region’s employment outlook. And county economic development teams are constantly looking for opportunities.

At the end of February, the Rock Hill region had at least five projects worth $160 million in discussion for tax incentive deals with York, Lancaster or Chester county councils. Lancaster County officials noted a recent trend in retail interest there, after Costco and Target announced they’d open in Indian Land.

The most prime example of how quickly employment outlooks can change may be the property off Exit 81 at Interstate 77 in Rock Hill.

A $2 billion project to bring the Carolina Panthers headquarters and training facility touted thousands of new jobs across a variety of industries, before the project collapsed due to funding disagreements between the team and city.

This week Rock Hill will start the rezoning process for 220 acres it owns there, to prime the property for new life. The city envisions a large life sciences or advanced manufacturing campus. It’s part of a city-wide focus on those industries that also includes other large areas near the interstate, particularly on the south side.

It’s not just the job count but the types of jobs — high pay, community fit, emerging industries — that matter, Mayor John Gettys told The Herald last week in discussion on the former Panthers site.

“We want jobs that don’t exist in Rock Hill,” he said.

This story was originally published April 1, 2025 at 8:21 AM.

Officials said no local or known students were involved

ROCK HILL, S.C. (WBTV) - A teacher in Rock Hill, South Carolina, was arrested on Monday for sexual exploitation of a minor, according to the York County Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff’s office said on Monday, March 31, they arrested Douglas McAlpine, 37, on five counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor.

McAlpine is a middle school teacher at Castle Heights Middle School and is also a track coach at Rock Hill High School.

A spokesperson for the York County Sheriff’s Office said that “the content was online and involved digital files of child sex abuse material.”

“The files were allegedly distributed from an account belonging to McAlpine, but the content was not created by him,” according to the York County Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff’s office also said that no local or known students were involved.

Rock Hill Schools released the following statement:

Today, Castle Heights Middle School teacher Doug MacAlpine was taken into custody by law enforcement. MacAlpine is also the boys and girls track coach at Rock Hill High School. He is now on administrative leave. While we understand there may be concerns, we want to reassure our community that no students were involved in this situation, and at no time was the safety of our students or staff at risk.

The safety and well-being of our students remain our top priority. We are fully cooperating with the appropriate authorities as they handle this matter.

Rock Hill Schools holds all employees to the highest professional and ethical standards. We expect all staff members to serve as role models and uphold the trust placed in them by our students, families, and community. Any actions that compromise that trust are taken seriously and will be addressed in accordance with district policies and legal guidelines.

We understand incidents like this can be unsettling; however, we are committed to supporting our staff and students at Castle Heights and Rock Hill High. As this is an ongoing law enforcement matter, we are unable to provide further details.

We appreciate the continued support of our school community as we remain committed to providing a safe and positive learning environment for all students.

Rock Hill Schools

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