It was introduced in the fall of 2009, and students from other Anne Arundel County public high school districts can apply to the magnet program and attend South River if they get accepted by means of a lottery system and are assigned to a middle school that is included in South River’s STEM feeder system.

South River competes in the Anne Arundel County Division of Maryland's 3A subdivision as of the 2023/2024 School Year.

The men's lacrosse team took its first state championship in 2009 winning 11-6 over Urbana High School after a regular season record of 17-1.

[10] According to the player injured, Erxleben denied the student athlete ice and later watched as they were carried off the field by two teammates.

[11] Steve Erxleben was suspended from coaching at South River indefinitely on August 24, 2010 after failing to follow administrative practices reporting the incident.

[11][17] He returned several years later and was named the Baltimore Ravens High School Coach of the Week of the 2021 fall season.

After the three students refused to stop, one School Resource Officer deployed oleoresin capsicum spray and began to arrest them.