Southside Christian (12-0) at Lamar (9-3)
So, we get a rematch of last year’s upperstate championship game. In that one, The Silver Foxes actually led the Sabres on their home field at halftime before Southside Christian rallied for a 17-6 victory. This one is at Lamar, which could make a bit of a difference. The Silver Foxes beat a very good and very hot Ridge Spring-Monetta team last week 36-16. Now, RS-M had yielded some points this year, so the 36 isn’t a big surprise, but holding Remedee Leaphart and his band of scary playmakers to 16 points represents a day’s work by the Lamar defense. Of course, they shut out A’Chean Durant and McCormick the week before so this defense is playing about as well as a team can. Offensively, they’ll spread it out some, then pack it in to the bone (which is a weird thing to say, now that I go back and read it). They play a couple of QBs, but Tyler McManus is the main guy and, of the two QBs of theirs I’ve seen, the best passer of the group. They have an embarrassment of riches at RB where Ju’Quan Toney and Pat Anderson reside (the latter dropped a cool 209 yards on RS-M last week on just 18 carries). I’ve mentioned before that I kept hearing whispers early in the season of “I’ve heard Lamar is down.” That’s kind of like sticking your hand in a tiger cage at the zoo and when he bites off your hand, saying, “Well, if this tiger was any count, he’d have bit my whole arm off. YOU SUCK TIGER!” It’s late November, four teams remain in Class A and Lamar is one of them. They aren’t real deep but they remain one of the toughest squads in this state Chad Wilkes has done an excellent job overcoming some early COVID pauses to have this team right back in contention. Southside Christian had about as tough a match-up last week as any 1A team has given them in a while, but they beat Calhoun County 28-6. Since the playoffs began, they have yielded a few points here and there (20 in three games, which is more than the 13 they gave up to Class A opposition all year) but they have still been dominant. Coaches (like, good ones) have told me they might have a shot to win AA if they were still there, because they are so much better than everybody else up front defensively and Ja’Corey Martin is a top QB that can literally do it all. They, in general, can attack you however they’d like to on offense. If you have a weakness, they will be able to exploit it. They don’t make a lot of mistakes and don’t beat themselves, which indicates they are very well coached. They haven’t lost to a Class A team, I don’t think, since 2014. Now, they were in AA for a lot of that time, but let’s not forget, that they were a threat to win that classification in 2018 and 2019, losing in the playoffs to the eventual state champions both years. Now, I’m not going to beat the dead horse right now (it’s actually dead, has been picked through by buzzards and has been pooped out on the ground adjacent buzzard nests), but private and charter schools have been dominant in most every sport when they compete in Class A and they have some built-in advantages that help on that front, but it is what it is at this point. Winning against Lamar and in Lamar are SUPER heavy lifts. The Silver Foxes will hang in there, will likely keep it close and the Sabres will know they’ve been in a fight, but I think it’s a fight they’ll ultimately win. The winner- Southside Christian C.E. Murray (7-1) at Bamberg-Ehrhardt (12-0) Friends, if you yearn for old-timey football, where guys named Clem and W.E. beat the crap out of each other, running from wedges and straight Ts sans pads and only wearing leather helmets, while coaches smoke Luckys on the sidelines and deride the injured as sissies and women, this is the game for you. Seriously, this is two of the toughest teams around, neither will throw it much, both REALLY LIKE the idea of hitting you and they play actual real defense. The only game I missed last week was Bamberg-Ehrhardt v Baptist Hill, but boy did I miss it. With the Raiders having struggled in round one with Hannah-Pamplico (a team that throws the ball well) I thought air attack of the Bobcats would be similarly problematic. Instead, they just whipped Baptist Hill on the line of scrimmage in beating them 33-7. They’re undefeated, they’ve only allowed four teams to score in double-digits and the most they’ve given up all year was 22 to Hannah-Pamplico. They haven’t destroyed everybody they’ve played, but they run the ball, they keep you from running it and dangit, in a world of slapnuts, five-wide spreads, that’s still a recipe for winning football games. And they have a variety of backs to choose from in the “ramming it down your gullet sideways” department. Quinton Banks had 152 yards last week, Nick Folk had 135 and Quincy Bias added 53 more. Defensively, they destroyed everything Baptist Hill tried to do and forced some big turnovers. Probably the biggest “WOW” score of last week came courtesy of C.E. Murray. Now, I picked them to beat Whale Branch, but I wasn’t expecting 47-0. Whale Branch was without their top RB, but still, that was a supremely talented team that had a shot to get to Columbia…right up until they didn’t. I would not have foreseen anyone dominating them to the extent C.E. Murray did. Much like with Bamberg, we really need to look back at the season and appreciate how good the War Eagles are. They lost the opener to the OC Semi-pros in a competitive game and haven’t lost since despite having two, three-week COVID layoffs. They’ve really only had one competitive game all year, that was against Carvers Bay and that came when they had only played one game in six weeks. Tyree Prunes played huge on both sides of the ball last week, Quentarius Grant ran for three touchdowns and Amond Myers scored a defensive touchdown. They have played nasty defense all year and seem to be hitting their stride at the right time. They honestly seem to play better each week at this point. This is a tough one to pick. It’s two evenly-matched teams that are similar in so many ways including offensive philosophy, good coaching, deriving enjoyment from pummeling other school children etc. I’m going with a gut feeling, though. I won’t be shocked, no matter who wins, but there is something about the momentum the War Eagles seem to have had building for the past seven weeks that makes me feel like they will carry the day. The winner- C.E. Murray
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Southside Christian (10-0) at Calhoun County (7-4)
A month into the season, I could not have envisioned writing a sentence that would contain “Calhoun County playing in the third round” unless “ain’t gonna be” was stuck in the there somewhere, or unless the sentence was followed by “PSYCHE!!!!” At one point, the Saints sat at 1-4, but that requires a bit of dissection. They lost a 54-50 shutout to Whale Branch (who is still 8-1 and still alive in the lowerstate bracket), lost to a great AAA Clinton team and dropped another “up” game to O-W. The win mixed in there was over AA power Barnwell, but then they dropped the region opener to then-unheralded Denmark-Olar and gave up 58 points while doing so. At that point, they seemed like the soup of confusion, in a howl of consternation, filled with the Saltines of inconsistency at the WTH Diner. Of course, that Barnwell win looks really good now and Denmark-Olar ended up averaging about 50-a-game. Granted, their region was a bit down this year, with the exception of Ridge Spring-Monetta, whom they beat. Then they blew out a scrappy McBee team last week for their sixth-straight win. They’re on a roll and you don’t have to look much farther that R.J. Brunson to know why. In that McBee game, he hit 8-of-9 passes for 281 yards and five touchdowns and piled up FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY THREE yards of total offense by his damn self. His Hudl profile notes that his 40 times is something like 4.48 which normally drawn an eye roll from me and a comment along the lines of “You run a 4.4 and I’m gonna go crap out a live turkey.” Well, Thanksgiving dinner is apparently taken care of. You watch his highlights and that speed is readily apparent. The Saints had 6 scoring plays of at least 40 yards and they hit a bunch of deep balls. For that reason, I think they at least have a puncher’s chance here. As I figured, C.A. Johnson was able to dent the scoreboard last week against Southside Christian but the game still wasn’t close at 42-14. It should be noted that before the game, the Sabres had given up 13 points to Class opponents all year. As good as they are up front on defense, I don’t just don’t see anybody being able to line up and have success running the ball against them. I mean, nobody else has all year, including Greer. To have a shot, you’ve got to have athletes, you have to be able to throw it and you have to be capable of popping big plays. Calhoun County can do all those things. What I’m not sure they can do is slow down Southside Christian’s offense. They’re balanced and they have an excellent trigger man in JaCorey Martin, a true two-way threat. As I’ve noted before, in recent years, when one of the top private schools is in Class A, they tend to win almost everything. As of right now, that’s how things are looking in terms of the football playoffs. Calhoun County will score (which is no small feat against the Sabres) and has the ability to maybe even make it interesting, but probably not more than that. The winner- Southside Christian Ridge Spring-Monetta (9-2) at Lamar (8-3) Man, what a matchup. RS-M held off a late charge from Great Falls last week and came away with a 48-32 victory. Lamar faced A’Chean Durant and a McCormick Chiefs team that had exploded offensively the week before and shut them out 14-0. The funny thing is, I kept hearing from people during the year “Ya know, Lamar is a little down this year.” Well, “down” by Lamar’s standards is obviously different than “down” by everyone else’s. And in the two games I saw them play this year, I sure didn’t see that myself. Admittedly, they aren’t nearly as deep as normal, but here they sit in the upperstate semifinals. Tyler McManus is back at QB after returning from injury but they are playing a couple of guys there. They play two distinctly different offenses…a spread and wishbone. I saw them against Lewisville and they stayed three TE, two backs for the entire game (when McManus was out). They’ve got a couple of excellent RBs in Pat Anderson and Ju’Quan Toney. To me, Toney is criminally underrated. Super explosive and an excellent pass-catcher. And obviously, they are good defensively given what they did last week. RS-M has QB Remedee Leaphart and since I’ve previously compared him to Mighty Mouse and a scary football cyborg sent to Earth dispirit other school children and crush their will to compete, I think you know I think highly of him. The really impressive thing about him is that when he runs, he maintains his poise and keeps his eyes downfield. He uses his legs as much to keep passing plays alive as he does to run the ball and consequently, they make a ton of big plays. Dantrell Weaver is an excellent back and they have plenty of capable receivers. I’m honestly torn on this one. If it turns into a shootout, I think RS-M wins it. On the other hands, they’ve had a tough time stopping good teams, which Lamar certainly is. It’ll be close, it could truly go either way but a home field and a good defense are the deciding factors for me. The winner- Lamar Whale Branch (8-1) at C.E. Murray (6-1) C.E. Murray won a bit of a shootout with Branchville last week 58-36 and Whale Branch took down a good Lake View team 27-12. I feel like C.E. Murray slid under the radar just a hair this year. They lost to The OC Semi-pros, then were off for three weeks, then beat Latta, then were off three more weeks. The schedule ended up being truncated, but now they’ve won six straight and aside from the gave with Carvers Bay (which came right after their second, three-week layoff) they’ve pretty much mashed everybody. They have a lot of contributors, but Tyree Prunes is a name everybody should know by now. Terrific at quarterback and a safety, he’s playing great and just in general, when you watch highlights of the War Eagles, they somehow look more physical than everybody they play. Whale Branch did an excellent job defensively last week against a talented Wild Gators team, with the defense yielding only one late touchdown (they scored early on an interception return). Xavier Chaplin plays on both lines, looks like his picture should be on the side of a can of green beans and is incredibly nimble for a dude his size. They’ve got talent at the skill spots with Joseph Hicks having scored twice last week (once rushing and once receiving). They only thing I questioned them on until last week was that basically, they’d played two good teams all year, barely beating Calhoun County and losing close to Baptist Hill. But that really isn’t an issue now given how they handled Lake View. Whale Branch has been talked up as a favorite to come out of the lowerstate and they certainly have the talent to do so. Heck, they might be the favorite here…but I’ve just got a feeling. The winner- C.E. Murray Bamberg-Ehrhardt (11-0) at Baptist Hill (10-0) Our only matchup of unbeatens (on the field anyway, BH did have to forfeit a couple of early season wins) this week takes place in Hollywood, right down from Peter’s Point (which is a hysterically funny name that makes me laugh because mentally, I’ve 7). And it features a real contrast in styles. In one corner, you have B-E, big ol’, tough ol’, let’s have a 48-minute tater kickin’ contest and see wins, B-E. They routed Carvers Bay last week. They lost their starting quarterback a few weeks ago and are playing a couple of young guys at that spot now. Really, though, they are going to hand the ball to Quintin Banks, Quincy Bias and Nick Folk and just try to step on your face, while playing good defense. On the other side, you have Baptist Hill, who flings it all over the yard. Last week that included having Harold Gathers hook up with Damon Smith FOURTEEN DADGUM EXPLETIVE ADJECTIVE EXPLETIVE times for 157 yards and four touchdowns. So, Smith is Tecmo Bowl Jerry Rice, basically. For most 1A programs, 14 for 157 and 4 scores is a season stat line. When you play for Marion Brown, it’s a game. As I’ve said before, if you roll out there and try to out-physical B-E, you’re going to lose and hurt and cry and not play football anymore. BUT, if you can toss it around (like Hannah-Pamplico did in the first round in a near upset) you can make some headway. Two great teams and if B-E can impose their will physically, they’ll win in, but I saw the Bobcats get this one in a shootout. The winner- Baptist Hill Playoff picking record 22-2 Friends, I’ve missed you and I’ve missed writing about 1A, but at the end of last year, I’d prepare my steaming batch of Class A nuggets and half the games would end up cancelled by the time Friday arrived. This year, giant slates of games would be cancelled week-to-week, or people would line up games a day or so in advance. In terms of trying to write about that, I felt like a guy in the woods who was certain he’d chased down Bigfoot, only to realize he’d spent a day in pursuit of the world’s most obese squirrel. Well, we’ve got a steady schedule from here on out since the playoffs have started, so let’s celebrate the majesty of South Carolina’s most entertaining classification…
Williston-Elko (3-7) at Southside Christian (8-0) It doesn’t seem like that long ago that W-E was like a guy at a bar who beats you up in the bathroom, leaves with your girlfriend, then takes her to your parents house, where your mom washes his socks and makes him a sandwich. They beat everybody and often ran it up in the process is my point (because my point was probably not immediately clear from that terrible analogy). Now, though, they haven’t finished over .500 since 2017. They did score a nice win over a high-scoring Denmark-Olar team this year, but also ended up on the business end of two major league rootins’ to close the season against Calhoun County and Ridge Spring-Monetta (by a combined score of 86-0). And honestly, unless their resume included “roster stocked with scary football robots and superheroes that can poop lightning” it doesn’t really matter. Barring something unforeseen, this feels like a coronation more than a competitive tournament anyone other than Southside Christian can win. Take it for what it’s worth, but since about 2011, if there is a private school present in Class A, they win Class A. The Sabres are the defending champs and seem considerably better than last year’s version, which was at least challenged in a couple of playoff games. They haven’t been this year, giving up 28 points all season…and 15 of those came in their win over AAAA Greer. Coaches have told me they are so good up front on defense, they would have a shot to win AA and would probably be competitive in AAA. People know the name of DT Michael Kennedy since he made North-South (and would have made the Shrine Bowl, were that a thing this year) but he’s one of many. Ja’Corey Martin is a true two-way threat at QB, the special teams are excellent…you have to look hard to find a weakness. When you put that up against a team that had struggles on offense and defense down the stretch, I’ve expended way more words than necessary to tell you “this won’t go well.” The winner- Southside Christian Wagener-Salley (4-6) at C.A. Johnson (5-3) Let me tell you something, the Hornets are legit. They came out of nowhere last year to have a winning season, but then ended up walking funny for a while after running into Southside Christian in the first round. This is a veteran group at some important spots, so I think the “HOLY WOW WE’RE IN THE PLAYOFFS” thing has been left behind now. Isom Harris is one of those kids who seems like he’s been starting at QB forever…like, when C.A. Johnson was a one-room school that students got to via carriage and where they had to poop in the woods because motor cars and indoor plumbing hadn’t been invented yet, he was under center. He’s at least a three-year starter, maybe four and he’s grown into an excellent QB and leader. Good passer, good runner and has some nice weapons at his disposal with guys like Dawan Rice and Ce Ce Bailey. They do a lot of split back stuff with those two and both are capable pass catchers too. Defense has been pretty good too and the team succeeded through multiple season pauses and it should be noted the three losses were to good teams (Lamar, Keenan and Wade Hampton) and those were competitive. The guys from Chitlinburg have had a bit of a down year given that they’ve made some deep playoff runs in recent years (though some of their losses were close ones against good teams). As with the past few years, they have guys up front who look like they should live at the top of a beanstalk and eat weird bone bread and a couple of really good running backs. Ian Stroman has had some big games on the ground this year but “big” is woefully inadequate when describing what Cam Davis did last week against the War Eagles of Blackville-Hilda. He had FORTY FIVE CARRIES FOR 320 YARDS AND SIX TOUCHDOWNS! It takes a bad dude to tote it 45 times in a game. He probably flosses with barbed wire and uses live rattlesnakes for belts. I think this is one of the two best matchups we have in the first round. I will say that Wagener-Salley had real trouble with a couple of mobile quarterbacks who can throw it this year and they’ll see another Friday. I think having a year of playoff experience now will be a big help to the Hornets so… The winner- In a close one, C.A. Johnson Calhoun County (6-4) Bye. The Saints, to me, have some serious dark horse, might-make-a-run potential. They were supposed to play Military Magnet in the first round, but the Eagles (0-9 and outscored 367-28 on the year) opted not to accept a beating or t-shirts emblematic of their participation in the playoffs. This seems like a really good time to remind everyone that pre-set brackets suck and we need a points system. Ware Shoals (3-6) at McBee (2-5) I have to admit, the Panthers had me stumped. I saw them against Lewisville when they were fresh off a 40-point output against Great Falls. As they plodded down the field at a glacier pace on a drive that went 17 plays, 51 yards (so three yards per play) and about 9 minutes of clock later. I thought “How in the world did they score 40?” WELL…that answer became clear in short order as their three-yard runs turned into five-yarders, then 10 as they kept the opposing defense on the field and wore them down. They are physical and they stay in that bone. They use a lot of different backs and just pound you. It should also be noted that since Johnny Kline became their coach, McBee seems to have played its best football down the stretch and into the playoffs, each year where it has been a tough out. I take delight in telling you that Ware Shoals has a 130-pound RB named Justice Lomax (a name that just oozes awesomeness…and you should go watch his highlights, BTW) but two of their three wins came against winless Calhoun Falls Charter (the other was a tight victory over Whitmire) and most of their losses weren’t real competitive. This might be a close game but I’ll take the team with the more consistent offense. The winner- McBee Whitmire (2-6) at Ridge Spring-Monetta (7-2) The boys from the Pearl of the Piedmont have had a little bit of a rough year. The Wolverines are really young, with freshmen getting lots of snaps at QB, RB and other important positions. I saw them in the year and they didn’t punt, even on 4th-and-long from deep in their own territory. Every kickoff was of the onside variety. They gamble and force you to make plays, which can apply pressure to an opponent, or, you know, not work. But if you’re running a bunch of `14 and 15-year-olds out there, that’s probably a way to give yourself more of a shot. This is a growing and learning year for them. RS-M is already growned and learned, however. Just start with QB Remedee Leaphart. On time of having an incredibly awesome name, I think he’s one of the best signal-callers in the state. Don’t forget, he led them to a state runner-up finish as a sophomore. He reminds me of Corey Fields, really, or of a football-playing cyborg sent from space to embarrass other school-age children. He’s athletic, but he runs to keep passing plays alive as well he does run for yardage. Consequently, they make a lot of big plays, as evidenced by their outlandish point totals. The defense is really good too and aside from a close loss to Calhoun County, they’ve just laid painful, awful beatings on everybody (they’ve outscored the opposition 158-8 in the last three games). They move on and have a shot to keep dong so for a while. The winner- Ridge Spring-Monetta Great Falls (6-3) at Dixie (7-2) I don’t think this is a typical 4 vs. 1 matchup. Great Falls has one of the most dynamic backfields in Class A with QB Xavier Brown and RB Foxx Moore. Both average over 8 yards-per-carry, both have run for double-digit scores…Brown has near 2,000 yards of total offense and Moore nearly 1,400 (which doesn’t even include kick returns). Brown had never started at QB until this year, but he’s not just a run around guy, he developed into a good passer very quickly. When you’re an old, unathletic person with the vertical jump of a limbless possum, that’s kind of hard to fathom, really. Moore is diminutive, but he DOES NOT shy from contact. He’ll bounce around in traffic like a bumper car, knocking elderly drivers and kids who should really be on a merry go round out of harm’s way into the wall (am I the only one who tried to disable other bumper cars at Carowinds?) before accelerating out of reach. Will Manning (a 6’7 TE) and Jordan Holmes (who has about 80 percent of his catches go for TDs) are nice complimentary weapons and the Red Devils do have 5’9, 220-pound change-of-pace back Jaylan Sanders. He’s the “oh, I’d rather not try to tackle him” balance to Moore’s “I’m tired of chasing him so I’m going to stop trying” skillset. Now, I’ll tell you tackling hasn’t been a strength for the team and they’ve gotten in some shootouts. Dixie, we all remember, had a big, senior-laden team a few years back that got to upperstate, but they bottomed out the last two seasons. Well, they rebounded nicely this year and their only losses came to Southside Christian and Crescent. They run a double wing, they use a lot of backs and appear to have a good kicking game. Having said that, their seven wins have come against teams with 15 combined victories and a lot of those were VERY close. I’m not saying they aren’t good. If you’re 7-2 and have found ways to win close games, you are, in fact good, but how will they handle a dynamic, big-play offense? I think it being the fourth time Great Falls has faced this offense this year makes a difference too. I may be wrong, but what fun are picks without an upset? The winner- Great Falls Blackville-Hilda (3-5) at Lamar (6-3) I’ve heard all year “you know, Lamar is a little down.” I saw them in person twice and the only thing I noticed is they probably don’t have anywhere near the depth they normally do. Aside from C.A. Johnson, their 1A contests were not close and when considering the three losses, understand they played a BIG BOY schedule that included Dillon, Timberland and Aynor (who they took to overtime). They run both a spread and a wishbone look. The first time I saw them was early and they were spread heavy, then QB Tyler McManus got hurt and I saw them run nothing but triple-tight, two backs the second time. They are effective at both. I was told McManus was expected back for the playoffs, so we’ll see how that goes. Even when in the spread, they leaned on the run and dadgum they’re good at it. They block downfield well, Pat Anderson is a very good back and Ja’Quan Toney often looks like a grown man playing with children…like, an overly-competitive grown man with anger issues that stiff-arms his 7-year-old son, then spikes the ball in his daughter’s face and admonishes her for poor tackling effort. Blackville-Hilda, by the standard of the past few seasons, had a down year. That really showed on defense because remember, they allowed 10 points-per-game last year and gave Southside Christian a serious challenge in the playoffs. They enter this postseason having lost 5-of-6 and gave up a lot of points while doing so. I think the Silver Foxes advance. The winner-Lamar McCormick (3-4) at Denmark-Olar (6-3) Let’s have a little appreciation for what Jarvis Littlejohn has done with D-O this year. With a killer backfield of QB Keithan Washington and RBs T.J. Williams and Chris Sanders, the Vikings averaged over 45 points-per-game and won six games after being in the “meh” to “yuck” category for a while. Now, they needed every last one of those points in a couple of shootouts and had a bit of a head-scratcher loss to Williston-Elko, but this is a potent offense that can seemingly light anybody up. I’ve honestly been a hair puzzled by the fact that McCormick hasn’t done the same thing. They obviously have a dynamic player in A’Chean Durant, who is Mataeo’s brother. As an aside, you ever notice how when a good player has a younger brother, somebody always wants to whisper, “You know, his little brother coming up is better than him” even if the younger brother is bow-legged, eats his own boogers and prefers collecting stamps to athletics? Well, trust me, A’Chean is NOT that kid. Few are as good as his brother was but he’s real dang good. Maybe the lack of eye-popping points totals is owed to a brutal schedule that included Abbeville and a season that was only seven games long. I think we’re going to get an entertaining shootout here but I think the Vikings get an intriguing matchup with Lamar next week. The winner- Denmark-Olar Cross (2-4) at C.E. Murray (4-1) I think C.E. Murray managed to slip under the radar a bit for most of the season, because they only played five games and had two separate breaks that stretched on for three weeks. So, they should theoretically be healthy and like every Brian Smith-coached team, I’ll bet there as tough as the steaks I saw at the Dollar Tree once-upon-a-time (real thing that happened and no I did not buy any). They have a North-South guy in QB/DB Tyree Prunes and after an early loss to the OC Semi-pros (that was closer than the score would make it appear) they won a close one over Carvers Bay and pretty well smashed everybody else. It’s pretty telling that if you watch highlights of their defensive players, they are usually labeled “textbook tackling” or “he squashed that WR like a bug” because that’s kind of a Smith Hallmark. I admittedly don’t know a ton about Cross, but it’s usually a good thing for them when they have a RB named Wright (and they do in Caleb). They gave Baptist Hill the toughest game they had all year, but also only beat two teams with a combined one victory between them teams and dropped one to St. John’s. Probably a quick, run-heavy game and a physical contest in both directions, but I figure it will be the first of at least a couple of playoff wins for the War Eagles. The winner- C.E. Murray Johnsonville (4-3) at Branchville (5-1) The Sausages got into some high-scoring games this year and have an excellent RB in Daquan Burroughs, an elusive guy with power that ran for near three bills on Hannah-Pamplico a few weeks ago. Branchville, though, played really good defense all year and its easy to forget they had Bamberg-Ehrhardt in a 14-7 game at halftime before getting knocked around a bit in the last 24 minutes of that one. Could go either way, but I’ll take defense in this one and that’s about all I can offer you here, Hoss. The winner- Branchville Estill (3-7) at Lake View (8-2) In retrospect, Estill’s season-opening win over Denmark-Olar was pretty impressive, but there hasn’t been much of note since then. Lake View is among the most talented teams in the lowerstate and sometimes you don’t really have to detail how horrendous the end is for a skeeter that hits your windshield when you’re doing 90 down a country back road on a hot summer day. Hit the wipers and keep on drivin’. The winner- Lake View East Clarendon (2-6) at Whale Branch (6-1) The Warriors were one TD from being unbeaten, winning their region and taking a number one playoff seed. As the guys at LowcoSports.com (check them out if you haven’t) pointed out, though, finishing second actually puts them on the opposite side of the bracket from Bamberg-Ehrhardt. So, that’s kind of like slipping on fresh dog poop and falling, but in so doing your big, dumb head cracks the ground open and reveals a gold mine. Because, you know, that happens a lot. Anyway, Whale Branch has a mega-productive RB in Joseph Hicks, who has run for right at 1,000 yards in seven games. Aside from a wild early game against Calhoun County, the defense has been consistently good too. East Clarendon, um, made the playoffs, which is nice. The winner- Whale Branch Hannah-Pamplico (4-3) at Bamberg-Ehrhardt (9-0) Am I crazy to think H-P has a shot here? The conventional wisdom is B-E is a favorite to win the lowerstate title. Go back to their game with Johnsonville, though, and you’ll see QB Zander Poston throwing for 382 yards and SIX EXPLETIVE TOUCHDOWNS. Now, if you try to beat B-E at their own game, if you go in their and try to have a tater kickin’ contest with them, you’ll end up drooling, crying and speaking in a voice that’s a few octaves higher than it is now. But, if you come in with a big passing attack, maybe you can make some headway. It’s hard to say since that hasn’t much happened this year. Also keep in mind, H-P beat Lake View, which shows they’re capable of hanging with most anybody. B-E has only given up 62 points all year and 21 of those came in a win over AAAA Airport. They are going to run the ball with a trio of Quintin Banks, Quincy Bias and Nick Folk. They haven’t been challenged this year (including by Airport) and I think they move on…but I’m just saying it might be interesting. The winner- Bamberg-Ehrhardt St. John’s (2-6) at Carvers Bay (7-3) CB has been a little up-and-down, but St. John’s has mainly just done the down part. The winner- Carvers Bay Baptist Hill struggled with turnovers in the first half and trailed at the break but rolled Scott’s Branch 56-20 Thursday night WHICH I TOTALLY WOULD HAVE PICKED! Bobcats feel like a lock to make it to the third round, to me. Allendale-Fairfax (3-4) at Green Sea Floyds (7-2) A venerable hyphenated team against one that seems like it ought to have one. Green Sea lost the opener at Blacksburg (which you can’t get to from Green Sea without fording across a river on horseback and cutting threw thick brush with a machete) and lost late to Lake View. They have a couple of productive backfield options, including Colby Thorndyke. A-F played a brutal schedule, so I feel like this isn’t the runaway it looks like on paper. Still… The winner- Green Sea Floyds It was a short season, it was a weird season…but at least it was a season, one that comes to an end this weekend.
In Class A, the finale features undefeated lowerstate champ Lake View against unbeaten upperstate champ Southside Christian. Honestly, once Lake View ripped two-time defending champ Green Sea Floyds in the opening week, the idea of them making it to the final game was a giant pile of DUH. Bamberg-Ehrhardt was certainly a worthy contender, Carver’s Bay proved to very formidable, but no one else came close to matching the number offensive weapons of the Wild Gators or the speed and general ability to hurt opposing school children of their defense. As for Southside Christian, I pretty much had them penciled in as the upperstate representative the minute I saw the new realignment plan that moved them back down to 1A. They were a VERY LEGIT contender in AA last year, they’re well-coached, have a lot of athletes and frankly have court and legislature enforced advantages over public schools. I think it makes for an uneven playing field but it is what is, or am what it am or whatever the cartoon dude with scary forearms and a fondness for leafy greens used to say (that was a reference that was both dated and totally unfunny but I actually don’t apologize for it). So, I reached out to a couple of coaches for their thoughts on the matchup. Obviously, no one knows and analyzes matchups better than other coaches…they are certainly more adept at said than some drunken goober with a blog who makes weird references to 80-year-old cartoons. One actually liked Lake View’s chances. He cited their overall athletic ability on both sides of the ball. He also expected Southside Christian to roll Lamar last week and was surprised that the game was so close. He was basing that mostly on the common opponent of C.A. Johnson whom the Sabres vigorously diddled while the Silver Foxes got by them in an overtime shootout. The other coach pretty much pronounced that Southside Christian is a step above everybody else in Class A (he said they actually belong in AA) and he expected them to win pretty handily. Southside Christian outscored opponents this year 399-65 and it honestly probably could’ve been worse than that if they wanted to be big jerkfaces and run it up on lesser opponents, but they didn’t. In the regular season, they really only faced one quality opponent, that being McCormick whom they beat 47-20. That’s the most point they scored all year and probably the most yardage they allowed in a game (A’Chean Durant and Suderian Harrison good nights for the Chiefs that evening). They opened the playoffs with a rout of C.A. Johnson. Now, I was pretty sold on the Hornets early on, but something dropped off for them after they came so close but couldn’t quite get past Lamar in a region title game. Southside Christian labored a bit with a good Blackville-Hilda team but pretty much didn’t give up NOT NAM defensively in that 24-7 win. Then they struggled with Lamar (which I thought they would) but won 17-6. Now, I’m not actually tooting my own horn there because I thought they would struggle with Lamar in the sense that it would be a shootout and I was wrong and dumb and wrong on that count. They held Lamar to 40 yards rushing, picked off four passes and rallied from a halftime deficit for the win. I felt like they’d have to open the offense up a bit against Lamar after essentially pointing and laughing at everyone for a while and just running traps, sweeps and power. Quarterback Ja’Corey Martin did hit 8-of-15 passes for 108 yards and a score. He didn’t put up gaudy rushing stats as he had in the previous to postseason outings, but still got 87 and a touchdown on the ground. Lake View outscored their opponents 254-99 but did that against a markedly tougher schedule than the Sabres faced. They played Green Sea-Floyds, East Clarendon, Johnsonville, Allendale-Fairfax, Carvers Bay and last week defeated previously unbeaten Bamberg-Ehrhardt 20-7. Like Southside Christian, they trailed in the third quarter but came storming back thanks to that deep bunch of athletic manbeasts on offense. Adarrian Dawkins, who can seriously play pretty much any skill position, scored a couple of touchdowns. Ja’Correus Ford and Michael McInnis had big runs to set up scores and QB Derrick Bethea tossed a touchdown. They did that against a defense that allowed ONE DAMN TOUCHDOWN in the regular season. So, against a monster schedule and a slate of teams that can put up points by the metric crapload, they were really only challenged twice, that being last week and in the previous game against Carvers Bay (they won 30-22). So, in a lot of ways, their playoff run mirrors that of Southside Christian. So, who wins this one? It’s a hard pick. I think Lake View will have the most offensive firepower of any team Southside Christian has faced and the most guys capable of hurting you. The Wild Gators also made a couple of game-changing plays on special teams last week. That speed translates to defense too, by the way, where they have been consistently great all year. Southside Christian can’t be one-dimensional offensively and win this, I don’t think. They don’t have to go all wacky slapnuts five-wide, but they have to throw it effectively and efficiently as they did last week. Martin is good enough to prove me wrong here, but I also don’t think they can be totally reliant on him offensively. They need someone else to pitch in. The scale-tipper here for me is probably the Southside Christian defense, particularly their front. If you’ve seen Lamar, you realize they possess a frightening and outsized array of athletic large people. They are so good up front and Southside Christian still rendered their run game ineffective. They did the same against a good front line for Blackville-Hilda. Aside from McCormick (and remember, that game wasn’t even close), nobody has peed a drop against that defense. They are consistently dominant up front and Lake View, while they have plenty of athletes, isn’t much of a passing team. Even if they could, that front line of the Sabres remains a problem because they way they harassed McManus last week led to some of those turnovers (as did the fact that they put Lamar in a position where they had to throw it). Either team CAN win this, but I think it’s close, I think it ends up being low-scoring…but I also think my initial hunch on the season end up proving to be correct… The winner- Southside Christian Lamar (6-1) at Southside Christian (8-0)
Honestly, a blind, limbless marmot could have picked this as the upperstate final. I’m not sure how he’d go about indicating such, what with not having eyes or legs or the ability to speak in a language we can understand, but it was pretty obvious is my point. Blackville-Hilda was in the mix too, but these were the two best upperstate 1A teams pretty much from the jump this year. Lamar advanced last week with a 52-28 win over Wagener-Salley. That represented some sweet, delicious revenge for the Silver Foxes, who were eliminated by the Chitlinburg All-Stars in the third round of the playoffs last year. It was actually tied 14-14 at the half, but Lamar exploded in the third quarter. McManus threw for 212 yards hitting long touchdown passes to T.J. Dolford and Derrick Higgins. Dolford plays some RB and some WR and last week looked very much like a scary rocket/robot/dragon mashup sent from the future to demoralize opposing school children and sap their desire to compete in athletics. Was that dark? It seemed a tad dark. But he had 230 total yards of offense, so I think you see what I’m getting at. Here’s the thing, though, you look at the numbers McManus posted and figure they threw it a lot, but he attempted only 10 passes and completed five. If you’ll remember, against Williston-Elko the week before, he threw for 200-some yards but nearly every yard was accounted for via scoring passes. Chad Wilkes has installed a spread, but they run out of it a lot. When they do throw, they exploit mismatches and make huge plays down the field. Higgins and Dolford are electric players that can go the distance whenever they touch the ball. Lamar can also get in a bone and just plain old maul you with a power running game. It’s sort of like they announce “Hi, we’re here to diddle your soul…would you prefer we beat you in the face with a brick or stick lit explosives in your tooter?” If you’ve got a defensive weakness, they can exploit it and Wilkes has a real knack for doing just that. The O line features a future Coastal Carolina Chanticleer at LT and four other blocks of granite besides. They’ve given up some points and they’ve been in a shootout or two, but the defense is solid for the most part. Southside Christian actually got a full, four-quarter challenge for maybe the first time all year last week but came away with an impressive 24-7 win over previously unbeaten Blackville-Hilda. The Sabres were extremely run-heavy for the second-straight playoff game, only throwing for a handful of yards but plowing a good B-H defense for 320 on the ground. QB Ja’Corey Martin led the way again, going for 144. Don’t mistake those numbers to mean they CAN’T throw the ball. They certainly can and have when they’ve needed to this year, but they have been able to overwhelm their last two opponents in the run game. The really attention-grabbing aspect of the game was how well their defense played. They limited B-H to 198 total yards and well under 100 on the ground. B-H was more “very good” than “holy crap” on offense this year, but that is still impressive and they did it in large part with a D line that blew up almost everything B-H tried to do and contained Adonis Davis, which is no small achievement. This is a tough one to pick. If you’ve read this BLAWG at all over time, you probably know where my personal feelings lie when it comes to “small town team vs. private school.” But this is about honestly comparing the combatants and proffering a legit guess on the outcome. I might give Lamar a SLIGHT edge offensively. They can do anything they want thanks to that O line and good skill people. Little more big-play zip, but the Sabres are good up front too, Martin has run like a man possessed the past two weeks and they can toss it efficiently. I don’t think they’ll be quite so one-dimensional as they’ve been able to be the past two weeks. I probably give Southside Christian the edge defensively. With the exception of McCormick running for some big yards in an early-season game, they just haven’t given up much of anything. That and the kicking game probably decide this one by a narrow margin. Let’s not forget that until they ran into the red-hot eventual champion Saluda Tigers last year, the Sabres were a pretty real threat to win the AA title. And there are, to be frank, some built-in advantages beyond just playing at home at play here. My heart says something different but my big, dumb head says… The winner- Southside Christian. Bamberg-Ehrhardt (8-0) at Lake View (7-0) Another one that poor marmot that’s lived such a rough life might could have picked out. B-E was a force in AA last year, so it’s not a shock that they’re playing for the lowerstate title. Last week they survived a tough challenge from Whale Branch but hung on for an 18-15 win. As an aside, I’d like to state how glad I am to have Whale Branch on out of the bracket. I don’t have anything against them per se, but I’m 9-3 picking 1A playoff games this year and they are responsible for two of those misses…because really, isn’t me being right the real point of all this? Once again, QB Treyton Still almost entirely carried the offense, throwing a 37-yard touchdown pass to Frank Hyland and running for a 65-yard score. The team’s other TD came via a punt return. As I’ve mentioned, I saw B-E in person this year against Great Falls. Basically, there is very little they do that leads to pants-poopin’ excitement. Good line, good QB who throws it and runs it pretty well. Good D line that holds its ground…the one exception is at LB, where they have next-level speed. On the rare occasion there is a crease or opening, they close on it like flies on stink. But, like, really athletic flies that spend their entire 36-hour life cycle running sprints in weight vests. They allowed ONE FLIPPIN’ SCORE in the regular season, but have yielded a bit more (though still not a ton) in two playoff games. They don’t make many mistakes, they are well-coached and they don’t beat themselves. My question is what has become of their RBs? They had a couple of good ones the night I saw them and through the regular season. In two playoff games, Still has pretty much had to carry the load entirely on his own. That almost wasn’t enough to beat a hot Whale Branch team. Lake View got a stiff challenge from a Carvers Bay team that had an outstanding year. It was 30-22, and Carvers Bay was throwing in the end zone as time expired with a shot to tie it. The thing about the Wild Gators is how many studs they have that can rip you to pieces. Last week it was Ja’Coreus Ford who logged TD runs for 61, 38 and 10 yards. But it could be Trey Page or Michael McInnis or Adarrian Dawkins or D.J. Bethea. Defensively, they’ve been good all year and put up solid numbers despite facing some really good offenses. This game is going to be tight and probably relatively low-scoring. Bamberg-Ehrhardt is too good defensively to get run off the field. However, Lake View has SOOOO many offensive weapons that I don’t believe even a good defense can completely contain them. I also think that Lake View’s defense is up to the task of stopping (or slowing significantly) an efficient if unspectacular offense that has increasingly leaned on one player in the playoffs. The winner- Lake View Blackville-Hilda (6-0) at Southside Christian (7-0)
This is, quite honestly, a state championship worthy matchup in the second round of the playoffs. Both teams are undefeated and both have insane “we scored this many, you didn’t score nam” differentials. The FIghtin’ Hawks have scored 257 points while yielding only 71 and that has come against plenty of quality competition. Wagener-Salley, Williston-Elko and Barnwell all ran face first into the big brick wall covered in fishhooks and fire that is the B-H defense. Five of their eight opponents have scored six or fewer points on the year. They beat a pesky Whitmire team last week 31-0. Adonis Davis did some Adonis Davis stuff at quarterback and Omarion Buckman had a big day running the ball, but it has to be pointed out they only led the young Wolverines (whose defense has mostly been overwhelmed by top-flight offenses this year) 7-0 at halftime. They’ve been good on offense this year with a dual-threat QB and strong running game, but they only put 12 up against Ridge Spring-Monetta and 22 against North/Hunter-Kinard-Tyler*^@ and they’re high-point offensively was laying 42 on a pair of opponents. You don’t have to score seventy-bajillion points-per-game to win football games obviously…running the ball and playing frightening defense is plenty enough to succeed. Not getting enough to distance themselves from people they should probably roll over on a few occasions is about the only flaw you’ll find here. Southside Christian doesn’t have quite as many impressive wins on the resume this season, but that has to do with the makeup of their region. They did beat a good McCormick team and last week they doled out a painful rootin’ to the resurgent C.A. Johnson Hornets 50-6. They forced five turnovers, the defense scored twice and they allowed a potent offense only 192 yards. It hasn’t been against a difficult schedule, but the Sabres have only given up 52 points all year (20 of those to McCormick) and have held four opponents to six or fewer points. They’ve scored at least 50 in five straight games and have done so with starters rarely playing more than a series in the second half. Much like Davis, Ja’Corey Martin can gut you with his arm or his legs. He ran for a cool 156 yards last week (and four touchdowns). They didn’t pile up big passing yards but didn’t have to and certainly can. T.J. Goldsmith ran for 120 yards last week to compliment Martin. The only question with them is how they’ll react to a full four-quarter challenge as they are likely to get against the Hawks? That isn’t something they’ve really had to do and with their starters really only having played 12 to 14 quarters all year are they at a disadvantage over someone who has been in a few real fights, has played two more games and worked together a lot more on the field? Also, a team with a dynamic QB and RB (McCormick) ran for a bunch of yards on them and Blackville-Hilda has a reasonable facsimile of that. I expect this to be a terrific game. However, I said on our podcast last week that my pick to represent the upperstate in the Class A title game is Southside Christian. I’m not going to belabor the point (because I have on so, so many occasions over the years), but there are some obvious advantages to being a private school, particularly in Class A and especially when you are the only such team in Class A. They won’t score 50 and their starters probably won’t be able to sit comfortably after the half, but the ability to secure takeaways, a solid defense in general and a bit more of an explosive offense gives the Sabres the edge. The winner- Southside Christian Wagener-Salley (6-1) at Lamar (5-1) These two teams met in the playoffs last year and it was the rare occasion when somewhat out-Lamar’d Lamar. That is to say they booted them in the taters a few times, then just kind of pointed and laughed. Usually, it is Lamar who is so dominant and so physical that the opposition can’t really do much about it. Last year, though, it was the fellows from Chitlinburg that delivered the physical whipping. I don’t think this year’s edition will follow the same script. For starters, despite having graduated four starters on the O line, I swear I think the offensive front of the Silver Foxes is actually better this year. Their only loss came to a 5A team by a single touchdown. Aside from C.A. Johnson, no one else they played really gave them much of a challenge. Despite a three-week layoff, they showed no rust last week as they left marks on a good Williston-Elko team to open the playoffs. It was 48-12 but it was a worse beating than it sounds like. It was 48-6 in the third, at which point they went with a running clock. Tyle McManus threw for 216 yards and four touchdowns and his throwing scores accounted for nearly all that yardage (32, 52, 30 and 76 yards). He also ran for a score. Derrick Higgins caught three of those. They can spread it out and throw on you or line up in the bone and ram it down your gullet, offensively. That allows them to attack whatever your weakness might be…or just screw with you if they are in a bad mood. They also locked down on what has been a very productive Williston-Elko offense. The Stump Whooped All-Stars are plenty good, complete with a group of D linemen that look like they belong on the sides of green bean cans. They aren’t as dominant as they were last year, though. They got strapped by Blackville-Hilda early in the season, but haven’t lost since. As I figured would be the case, the War Eagles had a great game against McCormick last week, hanging on for a 48-38 victory. I don’t know that it will be a blowout, but I think the front line of Lamar can neutralize the greatest strength W-S can offer, that being their defensive front. They have more versatility and big-play ability on offense and I believe they will be at Southside Christian for the upperstate title game next week. The winner- Lamar Lake View (6-0) at Carvers Bay (6-1) The Bears came up with a 33-8 win over Baptist Hill last week. Now, the Bobcats haven’t been putting up the slapnuts, video game number of the past few years, but it’s still a good offense and I feel like with Marion Brown calling plays, a team comprised of seven dwarfs, two limbless marmots, a stapler and me could probably score points. So, that’s a good defensive effort, which is something they’ve offered all year. They’ve only allowed two opponents to reach double figures and I’ve heard they have a good secondary (Tony Ball had two picks last week). They also have people named “Walker” like McBee does Wright’s. Joshua Walker scored a TD in that win and Terrell Walker had two in the fourth quarter. It’s always helpful for an athletic program when folks with great athletic bloodlines enjoy procreating on a large scale. They’ve had a great year all the way around and have some quality victories on the resume. Lake View, per some coaches I’ve talked to, is completely loaded. They beat a good Allendale-Fairfax team last week 26-6 and the one score they allowed came on a long pass play in the third quarter. I don’t think they throw it a ton, but D.J. Bethea tossed a couple of touchdowns in that one. One of those went to former QB turned scary receiver Adarrian Dawkins. They have A LOT of school children able to avoid being tackled by opposing school children (Trey Page, Ja”Correus Ford, Michael McInnis etc. and so on). They’ve given up 70 points this year and that’s come against some good offensive teams. They’ve scored defensively a good bit (did last week) and that defense has gotten better as the year has gone along. Again, I’m not calling for a blowout, but I don’t think Lake View, good as they are on both sides and with as many weapons as they have, is losing until at least state…and maybe not even then. The winner- Lake View Whale Branch (8-0) at Bamberg-Ehrhardt (7-0) The Warriors made one of the biggest statements of Round 1 and that statement was “Eat it, Travis.” I thought Johnsonville would knock them off last week. The Sausages had an impressive resume, gave Lake View their closest game of the year and had a super-balanced offense. I looked at them as a dark horse, really, who could get to the lowerstate title game and MAYBE even shock Lake View (since the two played a competitive game earlier). Well, that was worth JACK…SQUAT!!!! Whale Branch eviscerated them 52-12. Jadon Grant and Joseph Hicks both scored two touchdowns. The Warriors got a defensive score and blocked a punt. It was a dominant performance. I think I made the mistake of looking at a regular season full of blowouts over mostly inferior teams and discounted them. They did beat a good Cross team pretty soundly, but needed a Hail Mary as time expired to beat Baptist Hill (that was one of a only a handful of passes they completed all year). That 343-67 point differential DOES mean something. B-E got a rare scare last week, holding off C.E. Murray 26-20. The War Eagles (a very good team), had a chance to tie the contest as time expired. They scored on an 80-yard catch-and-run on their first offensive play. So, they scored as many TDs on their first play as all of B-E’s opponents did in six games. They had five straight shutouts coming in, but gave up 80, 60 and 35-yard scoring plays to the War Eagles. I’ve seen them in person and they are solid in every respect. Not any one thing that floors you (except for maybe speed at LB), but just good with no real apparent flaws. Now, QB Treyton Still ran for 80 yards and three scores (on 24 carries) and threw for 174 yards. He showed he could run it the night I saw them, but he didn’t log anywhere near that many totes and they didn’t throw it that much. The night I saw them and in most games I’ve read about, they lean heavily on a few backs, especially Quinton Banks. So, did he not play? Did B-E just have to take what C.E. Murray gave them, with the War Eagles opting to make someone other than Banks beat them? I don’t know, but I think they’ll need a bit more balanced offensive attack to win this one. For me, this is the toughest game on the slate for me to pick. It might be considered an upset, but I’m going to go with the red hot hand… The winner- Whale Branch Southside Christian- 58
Calhoun Falls Charter- Failed to score in this football contest Dixie- 25 Ware Shoals- 3 McCormick- 45 Whitmire- 6 C.A. Johnson- 22 Keenan- 20 Great Falls- 8 McBee- 6 Lamar- 34 Lewisville- 16 Blackville-Hilda- 12 Ridge Spring-Monetta- 6 Denmark-Olar- 40 Calhoun County- 24 Williston-Elko- 40 North/Hunter-Kinard-Tyler- 18 C.E. Murray- 52 Scott’s Branch- 6 East Clarendon- 33 Hemingway- 6 Carvers Bay- 27 Hannah-Pamplico- 20 Johnsonville- 32 Green Sea Floyds- 14 Lake View- 46 Timmonsville- 8 Bamberg-Ehrhardt- 24 Allendale-Fairfax- A bit less that Bamberg had. 24 less, actually. Estill- 22 Bethune-Bowman- 14 Baptist Hill- 30 St. Johns- 6 Whale Branch- 33 Cross- 14 Military Magnet- 26 Charleston Charter School of Taxidermy, Haberdashery and Pie- 8 Breakdown- With the season shortened because of COVID, we aren’t getting a lot of 1A teams with the chance to show their stuff in “up” games, but we had one Friday night. I’ve said that C.A. Johnson wasn’t just coasting on a cupcake wave, in Softy Ocean, just off the shore of Sucky Suck Beach. I think that meant I said they were good and weren’t just beating weaklings. Analogies and examples aren’t my strong suit. Anyway, they trailed AAA Keenan 20-2 with eight minutes left. I’ve seen Keenan in-person and I can tell you they have nice size up front, an athletic QB, a hoss of a RB and some receivers that can run. Somehow the Hornets found a way to rally for the close win. So, they trailed Lewisville in the second half and found a way to rally for a narrow victory, they roasted Great Falls (which, given how they’ve played defense since that game looks pretty impressive now), they gutted one out over a gritty McBee squad and they’ve now come-from-behind late by multiple scores to beat a AAA team. When you keep finding ways to win, it starts to get contagious and you never feel like you’re out of it. Awful easy to say “Hey, we hung with one of the big boys for a while and kept it close,” but they didn’t. Isom Harris threw a couple of picks, but he also threw three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter while hanging tough in the pocket and taking some monster shots. Now they have a somewhat improbable region championship game this Friday night against Lamar. My flash reaction is that it’s one they aren’t going to win, but then, I didn’t think they’d be playing for a region title either, so… As surprised as I’ve been by the rise of C.A. Johnson, I’ve been equally vexed by the struggles of Green Sea Floyds. The two-time defending state champions have frightening football cyborg Jaquan Dixon back for his senior year and a lot of returning talent. But something is amiss. It’s a patty of confusion, on a bun of consternation with a side order of DO WHAT fries being served up cold at the WTH Diner. They lost to Johnsonville Friday night and after leading 14-12, they just sorta got spanked. The past few years, they have put up mammoth point totals but the overlooked thing was how good their defense was. They gambled, they brought tons of pressure and they loaded up the box. They’d give up a big play here-and-there, but it worked to great effect. Now, their offense is struggling. Dixon has still put up good numbers but they managed only one offensive touchdown against the Sausages. Defensively, they couldn’t stop the run, which has been a strength. There could be lots of explanations. This is a bad year to be in your first year at a school and they do have a new coach. So, new head man Joey Price got no spring practice, no 7-on-7 work, limited practice then had to not only start the year, but start in region games that really matter. I still think losing QB Bubba Elliot (who is named like a guy driving the Leon’s Deer Cooler Mazda at a demolition derby somewhere) was a big deal. If you saw him, you realize that his presence, his play-making ability and his intelligence elevated the entire unit. I also think Johnsonville and Lake View (to whom they’ve lost) are both REALLY good. In a normal year they’d have time to work through their issues, improve, get in and then make a run. There’s only two per region this year, though, they’ve lost two and only have non-region opponents remaining. Essentially at this point, the Trojans are out of the playoffs. They finish up with a couple of county rivals and will have a shot to at least end on a good note, but not the great note they have the past two seasons… Whale Branch locked up the Region VII title Friday night with a 33-14 victory over Cross. Joseph Hicks delivered a personal and painful rootin’ to the opposition with 202 yards rushing and three touchdowns. This region was essentially decided by two plays, which shows how paper thin the margin for error is this year with the shorter season and fewer playoffs slots. Whale Branch beat Baptist Hill 21-20 on a Hail Mary as time expired in their game. Baptist Hill made one more play in triple overtime than Cross did in beating them 26-20. So, minus a mountainous dungaree soiling on the part of Whale Branch and Baptist Hill, they’ve secured the region’s two playoff spots. Cross is a really good team, they’re tougher than a Dollar Store Steak (these are things that really exist BTW) and they’re pretty much going to left out in the cold where the postseason is concerned… POLL TIME!!!! As per usual, here is the Top 10 rankings in Class A from the S.C. Prep Media Poll, followed by my ballot for said poll. 1. Lake View (11) 2. Lamar (3) 3. Southside Christian 4. Blackville-Hilda 5. Whale Branch 6. Bamberg-Ehrhardt 7. Carvers Bay 8. Wagener-Salley 9. Johnsonville 10. C.A. Johnson Others receiving votes- Green Sea Floyds, Ridge Spring-Monetta, McCormick, Williston-Elko, Branchville Lake View The Wild Gators have the best resume, have looked good every week and with Green Sea officially out of the picture are the current favorite to come out of the lowerstate. Blackville-Hilda The offense hasn’t been super productive the past two weeks, but they have an exciting quarterback, play great defense and have quality wins under their belt. Southside Christian The only reason they aren’t higher is because they haven’t played the roughest schedule, but make no mistake, this is a contender to win it all. Lamar Only loss is to a 5A team by a touchdowns. Great size, great athletes and they throw a little bit of everything at you on offense. Bamberg-Ehrhardt They just shut out a good Allendale-Fairfax team. A defense that doesn’t yield much and an offense that slowly drains your will to compete or tackle or even keep playing football. Carvers Bay Could actually be higher on the list. Excellent secondary, physical up front and has some nice wins so far. Whale Branch Put it on a good Cross team with an offense that rams a big first with giant sausage fingers down your gullet. C.A. Johnson They just keep finding a way to win every week. They vault up the rankings with a win on Friday. Johnsonville YAY SAUSAGES! McCormick One of the most exciting groups of young talent in the state. They’ve locked up second place in the region and a playoff spot already. So, it occurs to me occasionally that some of you like 1A football and like my awful jokes and terrible analogies but aren’t fond of, you know, words. So, in lieu of writing a BLAWG today, my buddy James McBee and I recorded a 1A podcast for your enjoyment. Now, I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t wan to absorb our special brand of humor, but if you want get right on down to the football talk, skip to about the 11-minute mark. ENJOY!
https://www.meridix.com/event/174540 Dixie- 42
Calhoun Falls Charter- 6 Southside Christian- 47 McCormick- 20 Whitmire- 16 Ware Shoals- 12 Lewisville- 14 Great Falls- Points are just, like, your opinion man… C.A. Johnson- 36 McBee- 24 Blackville-Hilda- 22 North/Hunter-Kinard-Tyler- 16 points and three punctuation marks Ridge Spring-Monetta- 50 Denmark-Olar- 26 Wagener-Salley- 50 Williston-Elko- 33 Green Sea Floyds- 38 C.E. Murray- 12 Carvers Bay- 13 East Clarendon- 7 Scott’s Branch- 21 Hemingway- 12 Hannah-Pamplico- 36 Timmonsville- 20 Lake View- 30 Johnsonville- 20 Allendale-Fairfax- 42 Edisto- Less than AF had, let’s not be jerks about it, Karen Bamberg-Ehrhardt- 42 Bethune-Bowman- 3? No. 2? Again, no, but you’re getting closer… Branchville- 35 Estill- 20 Whale Branch- 21 Baptist Hill- 20 Cross- 62 Charleston Charter School for Accounting, Tax Preparation and Inflatable Pool Repair- NOT NAM Breakdown- If you had the upcoming Lamar-C.A. Johnson game being for the Region II title, raise your hand…and then hop on your crap wagon and ride it straight on back to Liarsville. Look, Lamar is always a safe bet to compete for a state championship and a region title is usually a foregone conclusion. They’ve sure looked that part this year railing McBee and Great Falls and losing by a single touchdown TO A BLASTED AAAAA SCHOOL THIS PAST WEEK. Their offensive line, as per the usual, looks like it was spawned in an illicit, subterranean sports lab in Darlington somewhere and they’ve got ample athletes. Coach Chad Wilkes has also opened up the offense a bit. They can spread with the best of them, or get in a wishbone and forcibly cram it down your throat if the mood suits them. When Corey Fountain was there, he much preferred the “we’ll step on your face and you’ll just lay there and cry while we do” tact. Obviously, that worked out VERY WELL. I will say, though, that during the Coach Boyd era, one of the things I always liked about Lamar was the balance they showed on offense. They could shred you like a tater with a chainsaw anyway they pleased and would have added several big trophies to the case had 1A not been overrun at the time by lots of private schools. But I digress…C.A. Johnson hasn’t had a winning record in a more than a decade and usually has size and athletes but just never manages to put it all together for whatever reason. Enter Coach Walt Wilson, who had some decent teams at Battery Creek the past few years (a place that often struggles with wins and losses) and had some VERY GOOD teams at Calhoun County before that. They found a way to rally from a halftime deficit and hold on late against Lewisville, got a big win over Great Falls and forced three crucial turnovers to get past what I figure should be a pretty good McBee team this past week. QB Isom Harris threw for over 400 yards in that one. This isn’t about “well, they really haven’t played anybody” or whatever, the Hornets are legitimately good. They’ll be out-of-region this week but their game against Lamar is on Oct. 30 is one to look forward to… I haven’t been able to find a whole lot on Southside Christian’s win over McCormick on Friday night, but suffice it to say that barring something completely unforeseen (like giant asteroid type stuff, which I hate to even speak into existence in 2020), that win just about cinched the region title for the Sabres. That’s not a knock on the rest of the region, at this point I just figure those are far-and-away the two best teams in Region I. The Chiefs got their normal fantastic output from sophomore running back A’Chean Durant (125 yards) and QB Suderian Harrison ran for 76 more. So Southside Christian couldn’t do much to stop the McCormick ground game, but the Chiefs also attempted 23 passes, which probably tells you how the game went. They’d certainly rather not have to fool with that newfangledy forward pass business if they didn’t have to, but were in a big hole. The Sabres are likely going to win that region and should be considered one of the favorites to win the whole thing… I’ve puzzled and puzzled and puzzled on the (relatively) muted offensive output from Green Sea Floyds in the first few weeks of the season. It’s not like they’ve been thumping it around with a lower appendage or anything, but with Jaquan Dixon back for his senior year and other returning talent from the two-time defending state title winners, 14, 28 and 38 isn’t quite what I expected, but there’s some things to keep in mind. First of all, Bubba Elliot, in addition to being named like a dude driving the Skinny’s Chicken Shack Monte Carlo at the local dirt track, was a dang good QB and not easily replaced. If you saw him play, you know he was a whole lot more than a guy who handed Jaquan the ball and got out of the way. Also, those offensive numbers are trending in the right direction, having increased every week. Let’s also consider the 14 came in a loss to Lake View, the others in wins to Hannah-Pamplico and C.E. Murray. These are SO NOT pushovers. That’s real, quality competition to open the slate. They also have a new coach in place and I’ve talked to lots of coaches who have mentioned how difficult it would be for this to be your first year at a school. You had no spring practice, no 7-on-7 stuff in the summer, very limited work through early September of any kind and only a few weeks of real practice before teeing it up for real. It would be really difficult to make any substantive changes in scheme. They are on the right track, but I’m going to tell you something, they don’t get a soft touch AT ALL coming up here against the Sausages, and that is liable to be for the last guaranteed playoff spot from that region with Lake View playing the way it is… Sometimes when you play with fire, you get burned. Sometimes if you try to steal a hobo’s bean can and socks, he shanks you with a knife he made out of soap. Analogies are not my strength, for those that are new here. Anyway, Baptist Hill was fortunate to escape with a win over Cross the week before, rallying from a huge deficit and winning in triple overtime. Well, they were clinging to a 20-14 lead late over Whale Branch this past Friday, threw pick late that was returned to their 45, then allowed a touchdown pass as time expired to lose it. Jalen Reeves threw that late score and accounted for all three of his team’s touchdowns. I didn’t know quite what to make of the Warriors prior to that game, since they’d played two teams you figured they’d spank and they spanked them. Knocking off the Bobcats was a quality win. Now, they face Cross in what basically equates to a region championship game this week. Baptist Hill is past the difficult part of the region schedule and will be fine, with at least second place and a playoff spot assured minus a gargantuan pants crappin’ that isn’t something they usually do… Before I make note of another significant game, this is a good point to beg for stuff, I think. Not money (though I will totally take it if you wanna mail some) or anything but information. With more online news sources putting information behind a paywall, it is difficult to find information at times. So, if you’re a coach or fan and want to send stats, your input on a particular 1A game or want me to mention a player who deserves recognition, email me at [email protected] or DM me on Twitter at @CNR_Sports. Beyond paywalls, there are some 1A schools that fall into pockets of our state where folks communicate by having a champion hog-caller named Clem holler stuff from atop a hill. These places are called news deserts, and they aren’t the fun find of deserts you see in cartoons where there is a tempting oasis with a refreshing pool and scantily clad women with thin veils over their faces anxiously waiting to hand-feed you grapes. It’s much more like the desolate kind that Clarke Griswold wandered through with his draws on his head. What was I talking about now? Oh yeah, news deserts. So, I’ve looked everywhere I can think to look and can’t find one dadgum thing about Allendale-Fairfax. Despite being, I think, one of the two smallest schools in AA last year, they hung in there and competed pretty well. They are a much more natural fit in Class A and I felt like they were probably in for a good season. Well, they blew the doors off Edisto this past week, are 2-0 and have what ought to be a really good matchup with Bamberg-Ehrhardt coming up that will give one a big, fat, delicious inside track to the Region 6 championship. If you’ve seen them, please let me know how they’ve looked, what they run, couple of key players, if the concession stand boiled peanuts are of high quality or pretty much anything at all. POLL TIME OK, so I will post the S.C. Prep Media Top 10 poll that dropped yesterday, followed by ballot for said poll. Because I’m also a huge music fan on top of having an unhealthy obsession with Class A football, the explanations I give for each of my picks will contain an homage to the great Eddie Van Halen, who passed away last week. Lake View (10) 2. Lamar (4) 3. Southside Christian 4. Green Sea Floyds 5. Blackville-Hilda 6. Whale Branch 7. Bamberg-Ehrhardt 8. Wagener-Salley 9. Ridge Spring-Monetta 10. Carvers Bay Others receiving votes- Williston-Elko, C.A. Johnson, Johnsonville, Allendale-Fairfax, Branchville 1. Lake View I’m finding it difficult to rank teams right now, with some teams having played one game and nobody having more than a couple. With region games going first, it’s also hard to know just how good everyone is because you really haven’t seen them play anyone outside their region to compare them by. So, I’ll go with body of work here. The Wild Gators beat the two-time defending state champs in Green Sea Floyds, a team I KNOW is good. Blew out what I think is a OK East Clarendon squad and beat the sausage people, who are off to a very strong start. Here they are and here they’ll stay until further notice. They can lay claim to standing ON TOP OF THE WORLD. They can say “I’M THE ONE.” And etc. and so on. 2. Blackville-Hilda They’re undefeated and boy that rootin’ of Wagener-Salley sure does look like a big ol’ gold star on the report card at this point, huh. If they run the table against a pretty brutal schedule the rest of the way, I could totally see a scenario where they JUMP into first place. 3. Southside Christian Limited body of work so far but the way they handled McCormick warrants this selection. (NOTE TO SELF: This would not be an appropriate place for “RUNNIN’ WITH THE DEVIL’”) 4. Lamar I’ve seen them in person and they are legit in every respect. Not going to punish them very harshly at all for last week’s loss given who it came against. They are one a contender every year and are one RIGHT NOW. 5. Bamberg-Ehrhardt Interested to see what they do against a quality opponent this week, but they were contender in AA, they dang sure are one in 1A and they are unbeaten. I don’t know if they can LIGHT UP THE SKY, but they can certainly light up a scoreboard. 6. Carvers Bay Three solid victories including that opener against a good C.E. Murray team stand out to you. They are at 6 with DREAMS of going higher and higher, straight up they’ll flllyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!! 7. Whale Branch A 3-0 record and that nail biter win over Baptist Hill earn them a spot, but I’LL WAIT to watch the next few weeks unfold before moving them up. 8. Green Sea Floyds I feel like I have them under ranked a bit since they seem to be picking up steam and their one loss was to the team I’ve got at number one. You also have to know when you are the two-time defending champ, you get everybody’s best shot. Yep, EVERYBODY WANTS SOME! 9. C.A. Johnson Count me as a believer in the Hornets a team that’s shown real fortitude in scoring some close wins. They’ve given up some points here-and-there but they have an offense that can move it on the ground or in the air. It’s THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS. 10. Wagener-Salley They get the last slot on my ballot based on the fact that they trounced what looked to be a super-improved Williston-Elko team this past week. Lot of challenges left on the slate, though, so there is a MEAN STREET ahead. Teams I strongly considered for the top 10 (we’ll call this the SEMI GOOD-LOOKING list) include Allendale-Fairfax, Williston-Elko, Baptist Hill, McCormick and Johnsonville. AAAANNND we’re back…
McCormick (1-0) at Calhoun Falls Charter This unfortunately has “avert the eyes of small children” written all over it. Now, I’m an admirer of CF Charter and am glad they are able to continue fielding a team despite total enrollment of 100-ish students. They actually broke a long losing streak last year with a close win over Ware Shoals, then went winless the rest of the year. I talk to coaches at schools with three or four times the students they have and even they’ll talk about having a lack of “lineman bodies” or they’ll have size and no speed. It’s endlessly awesome that CF Charter has kids willing to play both ways and out of what should be their natural position for the good of the team. That just makes things really hard, however, especially against someone like McCormick. The Chiefs blew out Dixie last week 45-6. at least one in A’Chean Durant. Mataeo’s little brother blew up as a freshman last season and figures to be one of the state’s best RBs this year. He sure looked like one last week. He’s like a rocket-powered, um, rocket…on roller skates, going down a stupid big hill. He has a fellow sophomore in the backfield in QB Sudeian Harrison that I’ve heard a lot of good things about. Those two figure to make the Chiefs a formidable offensive force for the next three years and quite a bit more than the Flashes will be able to handle this week. Dixie (0-1) at Southside Christian Speaking of games that impressionable yungins ought not see. Dixie, after a couple of the best years in school history recently, went 1-10 last year and averaged less than a touchdown a game in those 10 losses. I saw them and they had some size but were very young and were out-athleted at most positions. Haven’t seen them this season but they managed just six points against McCormick. Southside Christian went 11-2 last year with the only losses being a close one to Abbeville and then to eventual AA state champ Saluda in the third round of the playoffs. They are back down in Class A now, have a lot of defensive talent back and figure to be a contender for a state title. So, you know, this one might not go well for Dixie. Great Falls (0-1) at C.A. Johnson (1-0) This is a huge game for Great Falls, who lost to Lamar in the opener 44-12. Since we are doing region games first, since the season and playoffs have been shortened and since only the top two teams in each region make the playoffs, going 0-2 out of the gate will be tough for folks to bounce back from. In a small region like Region II, it doesn’t eliminate you, but you would need help to get in. Great Falls is blessed with great size…not just but Class A standards but in general. Seriously, like some the linemen should be featured on cans of green beans. And they have A LOT of big bodies at their disposal, such that they don’t have to start them both ways if they don’t want to. They have some athletes too like Xavion Moore, he is smallish but also has a weeble-wobble type ability to never get knocked down. Can stop on a dime, cut, reveerse field and has more speed than an interstate truck stop. I saw them in a scrimmage against Whitmire and they ran at will, shut down the inside run game of the Wolverines and made tons of plays in the backfield. They didn’t do those things so much last week, but did get a second-half offensive spark when Xaviar Brown came into the game. He promptly went 62 yards for a TD on his first varsity snap and ended up with over 120 yards and a couple of scores. The Hornets won in come-from-behind fashion at Lewisville, winning 21-14. They have a new coach in Walt Wilson, who had some really good years at Calhoun County. They use a two-quarterback system, have good size and big roster by their recent standards. If they win this one, than can get either McBee orLamar they’ll all but lock up a playoff spot. Lamar (1-0) at McBee So, the Silver Foxes didn’t take to sucking in the offseason. They graduated four starters up front on the offensive line but might actually be better there this season. They have very large schoolchildren and always seem to. It’s like there is an unregulated sports lab out in Darlington County somewhere where they produce Lamar linemen in some weird pods or something. This is Chad Wilkes’ second year at the helm of the program and they have embraced the spread a bit more than last year, but still show some power sets and run the ball really well. They have an impressive-looking QB in Tyler McManus who threw some nice-looking deep balls in the win over Great Falls. In the first two years that Johnny Kline has been at McBee, the team has gotten off to very slow starts, gotten better as the season progressed, improved by late in the season then made nice playoff runs. Obviously, the whole “start slow” deal isn’t going to get it done now. Jahiem Wright is gone and I haven’t seen mention of anyone named “Wright” on the roster, marking the first time in 728 years there hasn’t been a skill player for the Panthers named “Wright.” Generally they are good at football and procreate in tremendous numbers. They have some good size (their kicker is 220 for crying out loud) and Kline has done a good job there, but boy somebody is gonna have to pack a lunch to beat Lamar. Blackville-Hilda (1-0) at Wagener-Salley (1-0) B-H rolled over Denmark-Olar last week. Adonis Davis is an absolute stud hoss of a QB, in addition to having an amazingly awesome name. He can pretty much do it all on offense and is a standout on defense too. W-S picked up a 22-6 win over North/HKT last week. They lost a ton of talent from last year’s team that made it to the upperstate title game, but they still have size and they still have Elijah Davis at DE. Freaky fast for 250-pounder, he is an absolutely disruptive force. I saw a highlight clip from last week where an opposing QB had to chase down an errant snap. About the time he gathered in the ball it looked like he got a hit by a wagon full of cinderblocks on fire rolling down a steep hill as Davis obliterated him and perhaps made him question his decision to play contact sports. Really important game here given the limited number of playoff spots and the overall competition in this region. Williston-Elko (1-0) at Ridge Spring-Monetta (1-0) Man, oh man what a pivotal matchup in the early going here. So, W-E has had a couple of down years, particularly by their recent standards. Last week, though, they might have served notice they are ready to start CRANKSMASHING people again. They took what I figured would be a pretty competitive Calhoun County team behind the woodshed, the garage, the barn, the silo and pretty much any other place where rootins take place out of sight. It was 48-6 and Javier Rudolph had a huge game with four total touchdowns and better than 270 yards of total offense. Oh, and throwing in the direction of Bryce Washington seems like not only playing with fire, but doing so naked after bathing in lighter fluid. He had two picks against the Saints. RS-M is, of course, the defending upperstate champs. They beat Pelion last week 26-12. QB Remedee Leaphart (because every QB in Region III has a completely awesome name) threw for 237 and three touchdowns in that one. I saw him last year and I’m going to tell you (and I don’t make this kind of comparison lightly), he reminds me in some ways of Corey Fields. The winner of this one obviously still has to deal with Blackville-Hilda and other in a loaded region, but they’ll also have cleared a major hurdle to nabbing a playoff spot. North/Hunter-Kinard-Tyler (0-1) v Calhoun County (0-1) How many punctuation marks can one team fit into a name? Why not just sprinkle in some umlauts and schwas while you’re at it. I don’t know a ton about NHKT accept that their initials sound like thecall letters of an illegal offshore radio station or an ‘80s boy band. It’s actually one team comprised of players from two schools, those being North and HKT. North has struggled with low enrollment and hasn’t won a game in a good many years so the high school league allowed them to combine forces with HKT. They have what is supposed to be an excellent WR/DB in Jamareon Tyler and hung in there pretty good last week (losing 22-6) to what should still be a good Wagener-Salley team. I don’t know a ton about Calhoun County at this point other than they had and extremely rough and kind of surprising re-introduction to Class A last week in a blowout loss to Williston-Elko. C.E. Murray (0-1) at Hemingway (0-1) I’s heard a lot of good things about C.E. Murray coming into the year, with players like Nyziah Alston Daniels and Nyzier Alston Daniels (gonna take a stab here and guess they are kin) on the D line, RB Roshaud Tisdale and LB/WR Sheldon Bradley. Still, they lost a tough, very hard-fought 14-8 game to Carvers Bay. Hemingway, just a few years ago, was probably the most talented team in Class A. They’ve hit a real dry spell now, though, with their last win having been in the 2018 playoffs. I know that last year, someone who’d seen them a few times told me they were about the youngest team they’d ever seen. So maybe that group will start to grow up as we go along, but running into the War Eagles right after a loss may not be the time that happens. Carvers Bay (1-0) at Scott’s Branch (1-0) Carvers Bay got one of the best wins of Week 1 in Class A, hanging on for a 14-8, old-fashioned tater-kickin’ contest against C.E. Murray. There was even a “putting on tights and a cape in a phone booth” moment in the form of backup QB Kayshaun Brockington stepping in for CB to help win it. Scott’s Branch also won a close one, edging East Clarendon 16-14. As I’ve already said several bajillion times, all these games are big because if you have only have four region contests (which both of these teams do) and you start 2-0, you’re almost in the playoffs minus a gigundous late-season pants-crappin’.That’s about all I got on this’n Hoss. Hannah-Pamplico (0-1) at Green Sea Floyds (0-1) Not going to lie, I was borderline shocked by GSF’s Monday loss to Lake View. The two-time defending state champions returned lots of talent (including Jaquan Dixon, who many coaches tell me is the best RB in the state) from last year. Dixon had both touchdowns the other night and possesses a crazy blend of speed and power. He almost always get positive yards and if he hits a crease then enjoy watching him disappear into the distance. Good pass-catcher too, so I’m not totally sure what happened against Lake View. I have had lots of coaches mention to me how hard it would be for any new coach this year. Particularly if that coach is altering schemes and philosophy. Green Sea has a new coach in Joey Price who got no spring practice with his team, no summer 7-on-7 work, limited workouts for most of the summer and much less of a pre-season that normal. I’m also going to say, though, that Lake View is legit good and had a WHOLE LOT to do with how that turned out. H-P lost to the sausages last week 34-20, but should have a potent ground game with Floyd Eaddy. Johnsonville (1-0) at Timmonsville (1-0) I’m sure you, like I, am thrilled to have Johnsonville back in Class A, both because this where they belong but also because it affords me the opportunity to make sausage jokes EVERY SINGLE WEEK. They beat what I figure should be a pretty good Hannah-Pamplico team last week. Timmonsville, back in a more natural geographic region in the lowcountry, beat Hemingway last week 15-0, forcing six big turnovers in the effort. Allendale-Fairfax at Bethune-Bowman The opener for both teams. The Mr. T Haircuts won a region title two years ago, but fell back to Earth last season and didn’t record a region win. Injuries had a lot to do with that, including to (I think) three QBs. SO at that point you’re just pointing at sturdy-looking tuba players in the band and yelling “Can you gimme some snaps under center, Jimmy?” Have to be honest, Allendale is one of those places in our state (and sadly we have many) where the primary means of communication seems to be carrier pigeon or a champion hog-caller named Clem standing on a high hill and hollering really loud. They don’t have newspaper anymore is what I’m saying here, but I’m interested to see how they compete being back in Class A. Despite being the smallest AA school in the state last year in terms of enrollment, they hung in there pretty well and were normally competitive. Bamberg-Ehrhardt (1-0) at Branchville Branchville is looking to follow up on a season that saw them set a school record for victories (8). They’ll have to do it without Zach Wiles, a 6’3, 200 pound, athletic QB that was the centerpiece of everything they did on offense. B-E would be a contender in AA, crushed Estill last week and is scary good. NOTE: I’ve seen conflicting schedules on this region, so if Branchville is playing Allendale and the Mr. T Haircuts are tangling with Bamberg, Lord I apologize. Baptist Hill (1-0) at Cross (1-0) Cross has slowly built itself back to where it was a few years ago after a giant outgoing senior class left the team very young and outmanned. They took some steps forward last year and might be ready to take another now. They blitzed Miltary Magnet (see what I did there) last week 44-0 with RB TYlik Green rushing for two scores and catching another one. So, they are back to stepping on people’s faces, playing ball control and good defense. Baptist Hill typically does sort of the opposite, just trying to score several hundred points a night with a high-octane, slapnuts, wide-open spread attack. They blew out The Charleston Finishing School and Truck Driver Training Institute last week 58-0. Whale Branch (1-0) at Military Magnet (0-1) WB slapped St. John’s last week 39-0 while MM lost badly to Cross. Wb “slapped” and MM “lost badly” will probably appear in the BLAWG next week. Charleston Charter Academy for Cement Mixing Technology and Oyster Shucking (0-1) at St. John’s (0-1) Diddy is running out of steam on this bad boy. I know St. John’s has a new head coach (Mike Howard) and both of these teams lost badly in week one. I have nothing else of relevance to offer. Some of us use our forced free time at home to better ourselves, to pursue worthwhile projects and clasp our loved ones a little bit closer to our bosom. Some of us use it to write about football and poop jokes. Guess which category I fit into…?
1. Cincinnati Bengals- Joe Burrow, QB, LSU Technically, the ol’ Red Rocket is still on the team, but that doesn’t seem like a thing that will be true for much longer. Even if he does, the ol’ Ginger General has pretty much shown you over the course of nine NFL seasons what he is, that being a competent QB who rarely loses you games, but rarely is the reason you win them either. If the Bengals aspire to stop being a moribund grease fire (which they actually might not) it’s time for an upgrade at the game’s most important position. Burrow is coming off one of the greatest seasons in college football history, having thrown for almost 5,700 yards, 60 TDs and having racked up a “he did what now?” completion percentage of 76.3 percent. He won the Heisman and led LSU to an undefeated season and a national title. He was very accurate on deep throws, has a moxie that teammates seem to gravitate towards, he has ideal size (6’3, 220) and is fairly athletic and elusive (he actually had mid-major interest as a basketball player coming out of high school). So why is he not considered an absolute slam dunk to go first overall by some? Well, he couldn’t win the starting job at Ohio State and transferred out, his junior numbers were fairly pedestrian, he doesn’t have a bazooka for an arm and maybe some folks view him as a product of a good system and better players around him than he’ll have in Cincy. Still, the upside is there. Once old Fire Noggin exits, the Bengals depth chart will feature Ryan Finley (meh) and Jake Dolegala (who I previously was unaware existed on planet Earth), so he’ll certainly represent an upgrade. He also has a chance to elevate the entire organization. What do the Bengals have to lose, aside from more games? 2. Washington Redskins- Chase Young, DL, Ohio State Being a Redskins fan (which I regrettably am) is kind of like having a mean, old dog for a pet. Sure, he might drop hot ones on your sofa, maybe he incessantly humps your leg, maybe he ate one of your children…but he’s still kinda cute despite the mange spots and wonky eye and you’ve had him so long that you sorta, kinda love him anyway and keep him around (Have I mentioned I’m terrible at making analogies?). We suck and have for a long time, is my point here. Still, we hired a coach who seems to know his butt from a mailbox (which is a good starting point), so MAYBE there is a reason to be guardedly optimistic. We frankly have MUCH more pressing needs than another pass rusher (offensive line, tight end, running back, wide receiver, secondary, ownership…so almost literally everything), we don’t currently have a second round selection and we’ve used a lot of high picks on D linemen in recent drafts, but Young is one of the surest things on the board and is just too talented to pass up unless someone backs up a Brinks truck to FedExFIeld with an insane amount of draft picks and treasure. Young is like the frightening offspring of a chainsaw and an ill-tempered dinosaur…the kind that flies and has rocket launcher in its wings. You know the one I mean, you took history class. Anyway, he’s an athletic freak, he had 16.5 sacks and six forced fumbles IN TWELVE DADGUM GAMES! I’ve read he may not have “great field awareness” and it is fair to note he was a non-factor in Ohio State’s playoff loss to Clemson, but there’s almost nothing else to ding him on. He’ll provide Washington with an unholy pass rush trio (along with Sweat and Kerrigan) and maybe help mitigate our shaky back end…or Washington will crap on the couch and eat another baby. Who can tell? 3. Detroit Lion- Jeff Okudah, CB, Ohio State Wow, I wrote a lot of crap for those first two picks. Time to economize on words a little. Detroit is desirous of finding someone who doesn’t suck at covering receivers, Okudah fits the bill BOOM!!!! 4. New York Giants- Mekhi Becton, OT, Louisville Every metric available indicates that having your quarterback viciously diddled by opposing pass rushers is a net negative for offensive production. The Giants are going with second-year pro Daniel Jones under center and while he had some nice moments as a rookie, the terms “escape-ability,” “elusive” and “fleet of foot” rarely appear in the same sentence with Jones’ name unless accompanied by “ain’t got no” or “flat out ain’t” so protecting him should be the top priority. There are GLARING holes at other positions, but need plus the general manager’s fondness for large people that put a hand on the ground lead us to Becton. He was already projected to go in the first round then threw down a 5.1 40 time at the combine at 6’7 and 364 pounds. So he’s a house, basically…a house with horsie legs. He had a productive career at Louisville too though he’s not quite as physical as his size would indicate (this magazine I bought says so, therefore it must be true) but that size, tremendous athletic ability for a giant human and on-the-field production indicate he’s up to the task of improving the passing and running games in New York. 5. Miami Dolphins- Tua Tagovailoa, QB, Alabama If you take out the medical red flags here, this is an absolute steal of a pick even at number five. Also, if you took poop out of a toilet you’d have a really big cereal bowl (Was that better? A better analogy than my last one? I’m thinking not, actually). The Alabama QB doesn’t have old school “traditional measurables” for the position at 6 feet and 217 pounds, but smaller guys have excelled at the position in recent years, so that isn’t really an issue. He’s a winner, he has a career 8-to-1 TD-to-interception ratio, he moves well in the pocket, he’s very accurate and has a good enough arm to make most NFL throws. However, in his brief time as a starter (about two-plus seasons) he required surgery on both ankles, suffered a broken nose, missed time with a concussion and then had a horrific hip injury late last season. It’s the same injury that ended the career of Bo Jackson. Now, by all accounts he’s recovering very well, but do you use a pick this high on a guy you aren’t ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN will be back to his old self and seems prone to further injury even if he does? The Dolphins seemed content to suck on purpose last year, but piled up lots of draft picks in the process. Do they use that ammo to move up and get Burrow or Young (a pass rusher is another need)? Do they take the best offensive tackle available here (a definite need) or give a LB corps that currently features guys that fall between “pedestrian” and “elderly person with a troubling limp” on the talent meter a giant boost with Isaiah Simmons? They could make one of those moves and try to get by with Fitzmagic or see what Josh Rosen can do with actual talent around him, but I say they go the high-risk/high-reward route with Tua. 6. Los Angeles Chargers- Justin Herbert, QB, Oregon Man, I just don’t feel good about this pick at all. Now, the Chargers BADLY need a QB. The long tenure of Phillip Rivers has ended (he packed up and took all 27 of his children to Indy) and the team’s current depth chart under center includes Tyrod Taylor and Easton Stick. I actually like Taylor, but he seems like a bridge to a younger guy. I was heretofore unaware that Easton Stick was a living person, but he’s named like an actor in a BOW CHICKA WAH WAH movie, so that’s something, I guess. Anyway, Herbert certainly LOOKS like a starting-caliber QB. He’s got the size (6’6 and 236) and ran a 4.6-something 40 at the combine, so he’s obviously a good athlete. He also has a big-time arm, more so than the guys I have going in front of him. If you just look at his overall numbers from this past year (3,471 yards, 32 touchdowns, only six picks, a completion percentage of 66.8 and five rushing TDs) he looks like a finished product. However, if you actually watched him play, you realize he was pretty up-and-down and just kinda disappeared for long stretches. He rushes throws sometimes and seems to lack touch at times. Based on his physical tools and experience, I’m sure he’ll go high and maybe the right coach and the right scheme will help him reach his full potential, which is considerable. He’s just not there quite yet… 7. Carolina Panthers- Isaiah Simmons, Freak, Clemson “Oh no. Our stud hoss, do-everything, chunk-of-hell LB retired. Whatever shall we do?” distraught Panthers fans said. Clouds part. Harp gliss is heard. Golden ray of sunshine beams down from the heavens. Look, Luke Kuechly was a special player and leader and replacing him won’t be easy. However, if the draft goes as I’ve predicted, the Panthers are in position to get perhaps the best player on the board. Take what I say with a grain of salt if you like (since I’m a huge Clemson fan) but look at the production (102 tackles, 16 TFLs, eight sacks, three picks and nine PBUs) and the unholy combine numbers. He’s 6’4, nearly 240 pounds and ran a 4.39 40…so elite cornerback speed in a defensive end’s body. He played DE, safety and LB at Clemson, a level of versatility that will make him invaluable at the next level. Honestly, his ability to blitz, drop into coverage and play the run helped mask and compensate for the lack of experience the Tigers had up front on defense. In that sense, he almost reminds you of Brian Urlacher, who played a kind of hybrid safety position in college. The Panthers would sure take that. 8. Arizona Cardinals- Andrew Thomas, OT, Georgia Up until they managed to steal Nuk Hopkins from an obviously intoxicated Texans front office a few weeks ago, WR was an area the team was going to have to address with a high pick. Prior to getting one of the best WRs in the game for a sack of magic beans, the receiving corps ranged from guys who should be meeting their friends at Hardees at 5 a.m. to enjoy a free coffee and complain about “these kids today with their saggy dungarees” (Larry Fitzgerald) and non-descript gentlemen with last names like Isabella. That problem is fixed now, though, so they can instead address an offensive line that was sort of like a well-lubed, rocket-boosted turnstile last season. Yep, just run right through it, stay between the velvet ropes and go violate the sanctity of their backfield. Thomas has “twitchy movements to mirror,” “gets to lateral landmarks in the run game,” “maintains a strong base” and other BS scouting terms which mean “is good.” 9. Jacksonville Jaguars- Javon Kinlaw, DL, South Carolina Having the likes of Abry Jones penciled in as a starter on the D line doesn’t say “this position is well-fortified” as much as it says “HAHAHAHA THROWING THE BALL IS FUN AND EASY.” Enter Kinlaw, a huge, disruptive player that is very much like an elephant on roller skates. It’s seven tons of meat rolling out of control, just goring people with those tusks and flailing hapless blockers with big leathery ears and a scary trunk. Or something like that. He’ll make them better is my point. 10. Cleveland Browns- Tristan Wirfs, OL, Iowa “Tristan Wirfs” sounds like a big corn-fed dude from Iowa…or maybe the tuba player in a mediocre polka band playing on the secondary stage at some big sausage festival. Good-natured guy in green shorts with suspenders, drinking a lukewarm Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier in between sets. Wanna hear “The fat wiener schnitzel polka?” Put a few bucks in the tip jar and he’ll get to it. What was I saying now? Oh, the Browns need a tackle, Wirfs is a good one, so they should take him here. 11. New York Jets- Jerry Jeudy, WR, Alabama Aside from their QB kissing a lady who wasn’t clean last year, the Jets kinda, sorta, semi, halfway looked like something other than the bottomless pit of ineptitude and suck that has marked the majority of their existence. They have some nice pieces in some spots…a phrase that requires the modifier “of dookie” as it applies to WR. Jeudy can help there. He’s very productive (consecutive 1,100-yard-plus receiving and 23 TDs the last two years), is a blazer, has pretty good size and is scary with the ball in his hands. Things other Jets WRs are not. Should make the team’s cootie-catching signal-caller even better. 12. Las Vegas Raiders- CeeDee Lamb, WR, Oklahoma “I tell ya what man, we need somebody who can scare a defense and suck the life out of them. I feel like maybe we could sign Dracula or something, man, but then we could only play night games and hope they don’t sell garlic in the concession stands, man. Or silver bullets…which actually might apply more to Wolfman, but who knows if you’re getting the wolf or the man, man. I’m looking at a wolf and thinking he can play Mike LB for me, man, because he can eat up blockers. Like, literally eat them, which might get a flag, man. But if it’s just the man, man, then who is that man? Now this guy here is named lamb, but he’s more like a goat or something, man. He climbs mountains and has a beard and makes funky-smelling cheese. I think they have horns too, which really helps wiggle the chicken stick in the happy house, man. I think horns are scarier than fangs, man. The next great horror movie should star this goat guy we’re drafting, man.” Thanks coach. 13. San Francisco 49ers- Henry Ruggs, WR, Alabama With only two pick in the first four rounds, I can actually see the 9ers trading back to stock up a bit. I say this like I have any clue what the hell I’m talking about. I write a blog about high school football and meat. So I’m pretty much yanking scenarios about team strategy out of my hind end. A corner or some youth on the O line would be helpful, but maybe they can upgrade at receiver to compliment Deebo Samuel and George Kittle and make Jimmy G’s job a little easier. Ruggs isn’t the biggest guy, but he has more speed than a Kentucky truck stop, has to be accounted for at all times and will take the top off defenses with his ability to stretch the field. Could really transform the 9ers attack. 14. Tampa Bay Buccaneers- Jedrick Wills, OT, Alabama Remember that stuff I said about not letting opposing defenses savagely flog your QB? You may not…that was several picks ago and we’re both different people now, Angie. Anyway, it’s especially applicable when your QB should be playing checkers on the front porch of a country store, or whittlin’. Tom Brady is an upgrade over the finger-licking, seafood poaching, interception machine that has led this offense previously, but let blitzers dole out a few good rootins to him and he’s done. So, drafting this large person to block people seems like a good move. 15. Denver Broncos- Derrick Brown, DT, Auburn Ideally, Denver would be taking a WR or OL here, but the top couple of guys at both positions are already gone. They could get desperate and reach at one of those positions, but desperation and reaching aren’t the way to go. Don’t settle for “aside from the ear hair and smelling like cheese, she’s not bad” when “HEY GIRL, LET’S VIOLATE SOCIAL DISTANCING STANDARDS” might walk through the door a little later. They should take the best player available and that’s probably Brown, who plays a premium position and fits the “disruptive, scary elephant on skates, Kinlaw” mold. He could make a good unit great. 16. Atlanta Falcons- C.J. Henderson, CB, Florida Diddy is running out of steam and has used so many words already. I’d say if you play Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Teddy Bridgewater twice each in your division, you might want, like, dudes that can cover. Henderson is a big, physical DB that would instantly be the best guy in Atlanta’s secondary. 17. Dallas Cowboys- Trevon Diggs, CB, Alabama They could use help at WR, TE or at DE, but CB is also a need and Diggs is the best guy on the board that fits a need. Now, he played some offense early at Alabama, then transitioned solely to defense as a backup, then missed half a year with injury and finally got in a full season in 2019. So, he needs to ripen into a finished product. He’s like a green nanner. Just stick him in a bag next to the microwave and he’ll be ready to make pudding or go on your cornflakes before you know it. No clue what that means, but he’s a big, physical corner with good ball skills that often converts turnovers into touchdowns. 18. Miami Dolphins- Joshua Jones, OT, Houston Now that “Project: Let’s Suck for a Year” has ended, Miami can start plugging holes with all the tasty draft booty they accumulated. Given that Julie’n Davenport and Jesse Davis are slated to man the two offensive tackle spots, drafting someone not named Julie’n Davenport or Jesse Davis to play tackle seems like a sound move. Jones is a bit of a “nanner in a bag” prospect that needs to improve his technique and footwork, but he’s got the size and athletic talent to develop into a really good player. 19. Las Vegas Raiders- Patrick Queen, LB, LSU “I tell ya what man, I’m a big fan of Queen. I watch this guy play, and there’s all kind of Galileo’s and Bismillahs and fat bottom girls flying around the huddle, man. He’s a killer queen. He will rock you and he’ll make those stomps and claps and stuff like they do in the song. My other favorite queen was Marie Antoinette. She had all that cake, man. I love German Chocolate Cake. The Germans, man, they just do their own thing with chocolate and cake and coconuts. I’ve never heard of a German palm tree, man. The thing about the Germans is David Hasselhoff knocked down the wall and made them free, man. They had a queen who didn’t give them any cake. It’s crazy, man.” Good talk, coach. 20. Jacksonville Jaguars- A.J. Terrell, CB, Clemson Having plugged a big hole up front with their first pick, the Jaguars can take to patching up a leaky back end (NOTE: “Leaky back end” just made me laugh because despite all the physical evidence to the contrary, I am five). He has the build you look for in a modern corner at 6’1, with long arms. He’s an excellent athlete (ran a 4.4 at the combine) who can mirror and stick with most any receiver and didn’t get challenged a whole lot. This magazine says he has “thin lowers” which gets you punched in the face where I’m from…I’ve read further and they mean “stick legs” I think. Obviously didn’t have a great performance in the national title game against LSU, but very few corners looked against them this past year and no one does when a QB can stand in the pocket forever. Room for improvement but he’s competitive and talented and can grow into a nice starter for the Jags. 21. Philadelphia Eagles- Justin Jefferson, WR, LSU Last year, the Eagles receivers fit into the categories “old,” “injured” and “why are you paying this person.” Getting viable targets for Carson Wentz has to be the absolute top priority and a great one falls into their laps at number 21. Jefferson has good size and speed and holy crap was he productive last year, catching 111 balls for 1,540 yards and 18 touchdowns. He has good hands, runs good routes, fights for the ball in traffic and has a mammoth catch radius. Any WR from a wide open, slapnuts, spread system will have to adjust to the pro game, but I don’t think that’ll be much of an issue. He walks in as a starter, in my opinion. 22. Minnesota Vikings- Kristian Fulton, CB, LSU Following the departure of (checks notes) everyone in their secondary, the Vikings need to grab some back end help. Fulton did get in trouble for falsifying a drug test in school, but the Vikings once employed a player who had, um, a plastic ding-a-ling full of freeze-dried pee pee to pass a drug test, so I don’t think this will be an issue. In his defense he was a young kid then and has done great since. Good size, good athletic ability and allowed only a 40 percent completion rate the past two years. He’s still a work-in-progress who needs to work on some things (tackling, sticking with good route runners), but the talent is definitely there. 23. New England Patriots- Yetur Gross-Matos, DE, Penn State The flat-balled, practice-taping, soulless hoodie-wearing serpent of Foxboro is in the odd position of having A LOT of holes to fill. That Brady guy left, which would seem to create a dire need, given the whole greatest of all-time,, six Super Bowl wins status he attained. Maybe they go Jordan Love here, but I’m not feeling that (given how quarterbacks get pushed up the board, he might be gone by this time anyway). They really need to give whoever ends up playing QB some help in the form of WRs and TEs that aren’t old, elfin or generally ineffective. They could use a LB or safety too, but I say they address a pressing need for a pass rusher. In addition to having an awesome name, Gross-Metos would bring some big-time juice to the edge. He had 9.5 sacks last year and 15 TFLs. He’s quick into the backfield and obviously knows what to do when he gets there. He’s a bit spindly (Spindly sounds like the forgotten, somewhat underfed, eighth dwarf. Unrelated, with everyone in quarantine and lockdown now, do you think all the other dwarfs try to avoid Sneezy? And is he like “Come on guys, I’ve been sneezing for like 100 years. I don’t have ‘Rona.” And they’re like “I don’t know dude, you better go see Doc just in case” and he’s like “Doc isn’t actually a doctor you dickweed, it’s a nickname.” Anybody else think that? Just me?) but when he fully fills out he should be a monster. 24. New Orleans Saints- Tee Higgins, WR, Clemson The Saints obviously have one of, if not the, best WR in football in Michael Thomas who set a new NFL record with 149 receptions last year. Their next leading receiver was a running back, then a tight end (that caught 106 fewer passes than Thomas), then receiver Ted Ginn Jr. (119 fewer catches than Thomas), then a back-up running back, then a back-up TE, then A DADGUM QB and then another WR. To get the most out of Drew Brees in his waning years, the team has to give him more than one WR, a running back and a bunch of Who-ey WhoTheHells to throw to. I’ve seen some scouts opine “well Higgins only ran a 4.58 and not 4.51.” Like seven one-hundredths of a second is a thing you can discern with your own eyes. Higgins goes 6’4 and 216 pounds, is plenty fast enough, and has freaky, video game body control, particularly in the air. You don’t throw up 50-50 balls to him, they’re about 70-30 balls, because he almost always wins. Playing not much over half of Clemson’s snaps because of lopsided scores, he still had 1,100 yards and scored a touchdown every fifth time he touched the ball on average. You might could argue he’s a duplication of Thomas and I’ll argue that ain’t a bad thing at all. 25. Minnesota Vikings- Jordan Love, QB, Utah State OH NO HE DIDN’T!!! OH YES HE DID!!!! SAY WHAT SAY WHAT?!?! Look, this probably won’t happen, but I figure Love is going in the first round somewhere. Kirk Cousins just signed an extension, but it’s not super long-term, the team may want another option at some point and needs a young QB to start grooming, so for our fun purposes here we’ll say they bypass more urgent needs and take Love. On top of being named like an early ‘90s R&B star, one who alternately sings of wanting to love you tenderly for the duration of the evening and wishing to see you “Bounce that Donk” on the dance floor, he has excellent size (6’4, 224), athletic ability and plus arm talent (aside: remember when we said stuff like “he can really fling it” instead of “plus arm talent?). The 2018 version of Love (3,600 yards, 32 touchdown passes, only six picks and a 64 percent completion rate) would’ve gone way higher than this. Alas, 2019 does count and his completion percentage and yardage dropped, he threw just 20 touchdowns and an FBS-worst 17 interceptions. The talent around him wasn’t as good, Utah State was often outmanned and he suffered as a result. Lotta bad decisions, lotta indecision and his mechanics regressed. He isn’t ready now, but has the talent to maybe lead a team down the line. He could be Patrick Mahomes 2.0 or Jameis Winston’s more likable doppelganger. Who knows? 26. Miami Dolphins- D’Andre Swift, RB, Georgia How apt to have a RB named “Swift.” That’s like having a QB named Thrower McStrongArm, or an OL named “Bigboy O’Blocksgood” or a long snapper named “Snappy Snap Snap.” Those are all common names, right? Anyway, he’s compact, powerful, swift, productive and will combine with Jordan Howard to give Miami a potent 1-2 punch at RB. 27. Seattle Seahawks- Austin Jackson, OL, Southern Cal Have I brought up the whole “your QB getting B-slapped regularly impedes offensive production” thing? Russell Wilson is a borderline magician, but even he needs better protection that he’s been provided with. Jackson isn’t a polished, finished product but at 6’5, 322 he ran under a 5.1 at the combine and has the power/quick feet combo teams covet in a left tackle. 28. Baltimore Ravens- Kenneth Murray, LB, Oklahoma In the playoff loss to the Titans, Baltimore’s linebackers didn’t look like a matador waving a cape at a bull as much as they did a frail, aging matador on crutches, waving a cape at a bull made of cannonballs and barbed wire with pistols in its horns like the one on that Bugs Bunny cartoon. Murray goes near 245, flies all over the field, averaged nearly 15 tackles-a-game and shores up a serious weak spot. 29. Tennessee Titans- A.J. Epenesa, DL, Iowa This selection will make NFL history as it marks the first time two guys named “A.J.” have been taken in the first round. (Clemson’s A.J. Terrell being the other). I completely made that up, but it’s not like you’re gonna check. With Jurrell Casey surprisingly being traded for, like, a pack of Twizzlers and a coupon for potted meat, the Titans have a huge need on the DL. Epenesa is a high-effort guy, he’s versatile (was also a big-time basketball player and track-and-field guy in high school) and had 11.5 sacks last year. Perfect size at 6’5, 275 to play Casey’s old end spot in the 3-4. 30. Green Bay Packers- Laviska Shenault Jr., WR, Colorado His nickname is apparently “2 Live” so I’m tempted to say Green Bay fans will love him long time but that’s too obvious and I’m better than that (I’m clearly not since I did it anyway). Aaron Rodgers doesn’t just make chicken salad out of chicken crap, he makes filet mignon and succulent lobster tails out of horse hair and moldy biscuits. To get the most out of his final years he needs more talent to work with. Shenault’s numbers dipped some last year from a breakout 2018, but he’s probably the strongest WR available this year, he scored 17 TDs the past two years (including seven on the ground, so you can use him a lot of ways), he gives Rodgers a big target and, from what I’ve read, he persevered through a lot of personal tragedy. So he’s mentally strong and mature, two more great traits to bring to the table. 31. San Francisco 49ers- Jaylon Johnson, CB, Utah I’m tempted to put Ross Blacklock here to replace DeForest Buckner and offensive line help is needed (maybe Cesar Ruiz is the pick) , but Richard Sherman will be 32 this year and Emmaneul Moseley kinda came out of nowhere last year and you wonder if he can repeat his solid 2019. So corner it is. Johnson is a physical, long press corner with a lot of upside. I’ve pretty well shot my limit on poop jokes and old rap lyrics, so if you think of something funny to say about a cornerback from Utah, hit me up on Twitter @CNR_Sports. 32. Kansas City Chiefs- Damon Arnette, CB, Ohio State Jonathan Taylor is also a consideration here as a RB would give Andy Reid another play purty (something an old lady from my childhood called toys) on offense, but the cornerback room for the Chiefs at this point is just some guy named Chet, sweeping up the floors while barking out stuff like “Don’t bring that weak mess to my side of the field” reliving the childhood dreams of NFL fame cut short by an unfortunate and ill-conceived dare to run naked through a revolving door. I’m not making sense at this point, am I? Arnette doesn’t have tremendous deep speed but he’s strong, has prototypical size and played well the past two years. Neither rain, nor snow, nor dark of night nor a crazy-a$& kamikaze deer running into my car will prevent me from offering my playoff picks this week. The latter of those things did prevent me from authoring a look back at last week, for which I’m sorry…but you’d really need to take that up with the deer. I’ll have some thoughts next week on some action and inaction on realignment and competitive balance at the League level, but right now, on with our third-round Class A playoff picks!
Ridge Spring-Monetta (8-4) at Blackville-Hilda (9-2) The Trojans went on the road last week and picked up a very hard-fought win over a game Whitmire team 38-30. Blackville-Hilda. Blackville-Hilda, after a bye week, thumped McBee 36-12. That was a telephone-pole sized mental hurdle for them, since they lost to those same Panthers in the second round of the playoffs last year. These two teams, being region mates, have already played one another this year, with B-H taking a convincing 42-14 victory. I don’t expect this game to be that kind of a blowout, but I do expect the same outcome. Both teams have very good, very athletic QBs (Remedee Leaphart at RS-M, Adonis Davis at B-H) both of whom have unbelievably awesome names. RS-M throws it a bit more, but I’d rank them pretty close to even on that side of the ball. However, RS-M lost a ton of starters on defense last year. They aren’t bad by any stretch but when they’ve played good teams, they have given up points. That includes 30 to Whitmire last week, 40 to Wagener-Salley…they gave up 25 to Williston-Elko and 20 to Denmark who don’t necessarily fall into the “good teams” category. On the strength of a defensive that has been a bit more stingy this year, give me the Hawks… The Pick- Blackville-Hilda Lamar (9-2) at Wagener-Salley (11-0) The boys from Chitlinville completely shut down the young, but very formidable offense of McCormick last week in a 44-0 junk-kicking. If a 44-point margin is a “junk-kicking” then I’m not sure how you’d characterize Lamar’s 64-0 win over Ware Shoals. Like really vigorous, repeated junk kickings in ski boots or something? I’ll have to work on that. So now we get the matchup we’ve all pretty much anticipated since the first week of the season. These are the two best teams in the upperstate and it’s a shame they aren’t meeting in the upperstate title game. Lamar has not only been here before, they’ve been here repeatedly. They’ve played for four straight state titles and would have a longer string than that if they’d not had to contend with several private schools in the years prior. They have a dominant, senior-laden offensive line, an athletic, gamer of a QB in Cam Galloway and an array of backs whose skill sets fall somewhere between “will step on your head” and “you ain’t catching him, Hoss.” They’ve also begun to toy with a spread in the past few weeks, sometimes flexing Galloway into the slot or at RB. Now, coach Chad Wilkes WANTS to run the spread, but with the talent on hand it just made sense to bludgeon people into submission every week. MAYBE they’ve tinkered with the spread to give Wagener-Salley something else to prepare for (they’ve both known this matchup was coming for a long time) or maybe they feel like the Chitlinburg 11 are so dadgum good at running the ball, controlling the line of scrimmage and stopping the run that they need to at least present the threat of a passing attack to beat them. Maybe they’ve looked at recent history and seen W-S pillaging and marauding through the regular season only to get boat-raced by teams that throw the ball in the post-season. Wagener-Salley has not really played in a competitive game this season. Their closest contest was a 42-20 win over Fox Creek. In region, Blackville-Hilda kept it close for a half before falling 49-12. The thing is, aside from Blackville and Ridge Spring-Monetta, they really played anybody. Out of region they faced a Fox Creek team that turned out to be in for a down year, and Pelion and Eau Claire who, to be polite, turned out to be Pelion and Eau Claire. Region III was very good, but man was it top-heavy. They haven’t played a team of Lamar’s caliber this year. The Silver Foxes, meanwhile, are battle-tested, having played Gray Collegiate, Cheraw, Lake View, Pageland and AAAA Darlington. They didn’t win them all, but their two losses were of thee close and last minute variety. A lot of people have Wagener penciled in as no worse than the upperstate champion and there is no doubt they have the talent to do that. They are well-coached and have been growing towards this exact moment for five years…BUT, I don’t think it’s a minor point that they’ve barely broken a sweat this year. That obviously means you’re good, but it also means I have no indication of how you can deal with someone punching you in the mouth. And Lamar is GOING to punch you in the mouth. Maybe the torch gets passed tonight, but what fun is it to do a silly football and meat BLAWG without a picking an upset here and there. I’ll take experienced, battle-tested and blessed with scary, large school children in the trenches to pull out a squeaker. The Pick- Lamar C.E. Murray (8-2) at Green Sea-Floyds (9-1) There are some who think that the Trojans are a prohibitive favorite to not only make it back to state but to repeat as Class A champions. I was probably among those, until I really thought about it. Now, GS-F is LOADED with talent. You know the names by now (QB/Quarter-Mile Dirt Track Driver Bubba Elliot, RB/Cheetah Jaquan Dixon) and know they are liable to hang half a hundo on anybody. The defense gets overshadowed by the gaudy stat-wagon that the offense has become, but it shouldn’t, having allowed 100 points in 10 games, with 36 of those coming in a competitive loss to a AAA Aynor team that went unbeaten in the regular season. In six games against fellow Class A competition, they’ve yielded 28 points. This is what I started thinking about, though…C.E. Murray has operated just a hair under the radar this year, but they have just clicked right along, physically mauling most everyone they’ve played. They have one of the best defenses in the state with the 84 points allowed in 10 games not even really telling the story, since lots of those points come with games well out of reach for the opponents late. Offensively, they run the ball and run it very well. I’ve thought for a few weeks now that C.E. Murray is the only team in the lowerstate who can beat Green Sea-Floyds precisely because they play real, big boy defense and have the potential to keep the Trojans on the sidelines with long, ground-based drives. Having said that, being capable of beating someone is different than actually beating them. Green Sea’s big-play potential and stifling, downhill defense that is particularly effective against the power running attack the Eagles favor makes them tough to beat and gives them a slight edge I’m only picking one upset this week, but I might be picking the wrong one… The Pick- In a “closer than everybody thinks” special…Green Sea-Floyds Cross (7-4) at Lake View (8-4) I’ll be succinct here. Major hat tip to Cross for bouncing back from a winless 2018 to earn a winning record and two playoff wins. They are a tough, physical team with an offense that has come around in the past few weeks after struggling all of last year and most of this one. Lake View, though, is teeming with young talent, they make lots of big plays and LAW MERCY did they give a good Branchville team a grade 1 toolin’ last week (it was 60-6). The Wild Gators pull away late to advance to the lowerstate title game… The Pick- Lake View Overall playoff pickin’ record- 15-1 Ridge Spring-Monetta (7-4) at Whitmire (6-4)
The Trojans picked up an impressive victory last week over Great Falls by a 47-0 count. They put a pretty good Red Devils team away early, leading 25-0 a play or two into the second quarter. They actually did a lot of their damage through the air, with Remedee Leaphart (I don’t know if it’s possible to have a more awesome name than that) throwing for nearly 300 yards. D.B. Harris had a big night catching the ball and, it being RS-M, they certainly ran it well with Collier Sullivan scoring on an 80-yard run. The shutout they pitched was impressive too, because Great Falls has some field-stretching weapons (D.J. Adams, Xavion Moore and others) and teams from this region sometimes get bitten early in the playoffs by teams that stretch the field a bit, because it’s not something they see a whole lot of. Whitmire enjoyed a bye last week. They will not spread the field…they will mostly line it up in ultra-tight formation and slam it down your gullet with a scrum attack. If they get three or four yards, they’re happy, because then they just want three or four more, then three or four more. They piece together crazy-long drives that drain the clock and you’re your soul and will to compete at times. Coach Charlie Jenkins does a great job, obviously. The Wolverines were mired in the state’s longest losing streak when he took over several years back, now they are winning region titles. He takes a lot of chances, but I don’t see them as gambles. I think he makes it incumbent on the opposition to not make mistakes and to stop them from doing what they’re good at. So, they go for it on fourth down frequently and attempt an onside kick on every kickoff. You night end up with good field position, but they also might get a recovery right after a six-minute drive, then follow it with another six-minute drive. Your defense gets gassed, they pull a rabbit out of their hat and make a whole quarter disappear and suddenly you’re behind the eight ball. They aren’t going to throw the ball a lot because they aren’t good at it. What they are gonna do it ram it right down your gullet with a bevy of speedy backs and 240-pound fullback (Chandler Crumley) who is like a moose on a skateboard going down a hill with the ball in is hands. Whitmire is certainly capable of or winning this game…they are capable of being a handful for anybody, really. I think the schedule of each is a good barometer of this game. RS-M’s four losses came to two really good AA teams (Saluda and Batesburg-Leesville) and two really good Class A teams (Wagener-Salley and Blackville-Hilda). They also had a blowout road win over a good Class A opponent…that was Whitmire, back in early September. This one will be closer but I think the end result is the same. The Pick-Ridge Spring-Monetta McBee (3-8) at Blackville-Hilda (8-2) This a rematch of last year’s second round that saw the 3-7 Panthers score a massive upset on the road of the 8-2 Hawks. We have exactly the same scenario this year in terms records. Essentially, you have to toss McBee’s record out the window when sizing them up because they played one of the biggest, big-boy schedules imaginable. They opened with four OK to very good AA teams, then played Green Sea Floyds, then Lake View, then another tough AA opponent in Blacksburg. They then won two of three games in region play (just like last year) with the only loss being to Lamar. They aren’t a spread-y as they were last year in Johnny Kline’s first season at the helm. They go with multiple-back sets and use tight ends some. They are primarily a running team. They’ll ride the legs of Elijah Williams and Jaheim Wright heavilyIf you know nothing else about McBee, know this…they have a judgy sign that points at you in an accusatory way about speeding, and an endless supply of running backs named Wright. They beat Dixie last week 30-0, but that wasn’t much of a surprise. The Hornets didn’t have much to match up with the Panthers athletically-speaking. B-H had a first-round bye, but when last we saw them, they were busy absolutely mopping the floor with five straight opponents, including a very good Ridge Spring-Monetta team. They throw it a little more than in past years and have an excellent trigger man in Adonis Davis, another awesomely-named, duel-threat 1A quarterback. They have three or four legit, frontline RBs, including Daylon Dickerson, a good O line and a defense that played well all year but really excellend down the stretch. It is worth mentioning that the Hawks are the only team to give Wagener-Salley much of a challenge, standing toe-to-toe with the crazy, chitlin’-slinging man-beasts for a half. McBee can go in loose, playing with house money and the knowledge they pulled this upset last year. They’ve played top-level competition, but it has to be mentioned that when they’ve played REALLY good teams, the results haven’t been or real close. They are capable of winning this one again…but I think the safe money is on the Hawks, who are as good defensively as last year but with a more explosive and diverse offense. The Pick- Blackville-Hilda Ware Shoals (4-7) at Lamar (8-2) The only game I missed in last week’s slate was Ware Shoals’ win over HKT. I’m not sure what happened to HKT, a squad that was playing well before getting violently diddled in the regular-season finale by RS-M, then losing last week. Someone reminded me that in 1A, one injury can sometimes wreck you. If your QB gets hurt, he’s probably also a starting safety and kick returner and probably punts too. So, it could have been something like that. Credit to Ware Shoals, though. Their three regular season wins came against a non-SCHSL private school and a pair of opponents with two combined wins. Their defense had struggled all year, but they totally shut HKT down. I’ve been a fan of Demarius Goodman since seeing him play in person last year. I didn’t see his name mentioned in any write-ups, but Jake Calvert threw a touchdown pass and ran for another score. That’s great and it’s a nice step forward for a program that has been struggling in terms of wins-and-losses for a decade. Any future steps in the right direction will have to come next year, though. Lamar is a legit contender to win the whole thing. They have a nasty, senior-laden line that seems to enjoy pummelling opposing school-children, they have a dynamic, playmaking QB in Cam Galloway and they’ve started mixing in some spread concepts the past few weeks to compliment a “shove it up your bucket” running attack they’ve always had. It is also worth mentioning they gave up one offensive score in region games and that came late in the fourth quarter against Great Falls with a running clock and backups on the field. They win and win big. The Pick- Lamar McCormick (5-6) at Wagener-Salley (10-0) The Chiefs advanced by beating Williston-Elko 56-35 last week. IN fact, if you look only at their 1A competition this year, McCormick has scored, 41, 41, 44 (in a loss), 42 and 56 points. They are doing that with the all-freshman backfield of QB Suderian Harrison and RB A’Chean Durant, who runs and plays very much like a bullet in shoulder pads. If you’re a Chiefs fan, just think about the possibilities in the future as those two supremely talented skill players get bigger, stronger and more mature. As long as they have a decent line in front of them, I think this is a team to watch starting next year…but it will totally be next year. The boys from Chitlinville can physically mash most anyone who wants to have a tater-kicking contest with them (huge up front on both sides), but they can also throw it a little bit now, they seem more adept defensively against the pass and you’re not running it on them, which is sort of McCormick’s bread-and-butter. If my picks hold, we get Lamar v Wagener-Salley next week. The Pick-Wagener-Salley Lake View (7-4) at Branchville (8-2) This is about the only game this week that gives me pause and causes a little indecision. Lake View, coming into the year, was replacing 20 starters, so my expectations were not especially high. Instead, they won six games in the regular season, gave Dillon, Marion and Lamar decent to very good games and absolutely slaughtered Denmark-Olar last week. Really, the only non-competitive game they played all year was against defending 1A champs Green Sea Floyds. This is a run-heavy team and they have Swiss Army knife, do everything, cheetah/robot football ninja in Adarrian Dawkins. I’ve seen film of him at pretty much every skill position on offense and he can go the distance whenever he touches the ball. I’m told by a few people they will be the team to beat next year in 1A (depending on what happens with realignment, obviously). Branchville was off last week but had one of its best regular seasons in recent memory. It starts with their excellent senior quarterback Zach Wiles. Go look at his senior highlight film and you’ll see why Branchville is sitting at 8-2. He’s a big, mobile kid with a heck of an arm. He’s sort of the X factor here. However, you start looking at their schedule and you see a lot of wins against teams with two or fewer victories. They did beat Whitmire and narrowly got by Cross, but they also got crushed by C.E. Murray and lost to Denmark-Olar. Teams that really get physical have given them problems and the Wild Gators can sure do that. The Pick, in a close one-Lake View Scott’s Branch (3-8) at C.E. Murray (7-2) Brian Smith goes against the team he coached last year…and honestly that’s about the only interesting angle you’re getting in this one. C.E. Murray already beat Scott’s Branch badly a few weeks ago, the road team here has three wins against teams with a combined three wins, the Eagles are playing top-level defense and they’ll roll into the third round where I think we’ll get a state championship level matchup. The Pick- C.E. Murray St. John’s (4-6) at Green Sea Floyds (9-0) St. John’s is another team you need to keep in mind when you start looking toward 2020. They have young talent on offense (freshman QB) that is going to get better. They won a dog-fight over The Mr. T Haircuts last week 6-0. That says quite a lot about how hard and well their defense played. They’ll give it everything they’ve got this week, but man Green Sea is so good on both sides and has SOOOOOOO many weapons. You really start looking at their schedule, you realize they had one close win and one close, competitive loss to the unbeaten AAA team that later beat Dillon. The Trojans roll and set up a great one with C.E. Murray next week. The Pick- Green Sea Floyds. Last week’s record- 7-1 Great Falls (5-4) at Ridge Spring-Monetta (6-4)
The Red Devils got in the playoffs with a gutty win last week at Timmonsville. They broke out an entirely new offensive attack, going with a wishbone for the majority of the game. That allowed them to mount a long, time-consuming drive late in the game. They scored the game-winning touchdown with under a minute to go. Great Falls, at one point, was on a roll, winning three-of-four and moving into the Class A top 10 rankings. The defense was making stops for losses in bunches, the team was starting to find a running game to compliment their spread passing attack…and then they had a three-week layoff. A game with Camden Military was cancelled, then came the planned off week, so they went 21 days without a game right before hitting the region slate. Having your routine thrown off for that long is deleterious (and also a giant bowl of suck), and it hurt. They did not look like themselves in a blowout loss to McBee (though McBee certainly had something to do with that too), they looked a bit better against Lamar (in another loss) then took another step forward last week against the Whirlwinds. They aren’t deep, but they are good up front and have some big-time playmakers in D.J. Adams, Kell Brown, Xavion Moore et al. Ridge Spring-Monetta had four losses, all by wide margins, but it’s sort of relevant to note those came against a couple of top end AA’s (Batesburg-Leesville and Saluda) and two REALLY good 1A region teams (Blackville-Hilda and Wagener-Salley). They finished the year, though, with perhaps their best game of the year, absolutely CRANKSMACKING a good HKT team 54-6. They have an awesomely-named and productive QB in Remedee Leaphart (18 total TDs) and uber productive RB (Collier Sullivan). They throw it OK, but their bread-and-butter is still trying to try to step on your face in the run game. Often times, teams from this region have some trouble when they run into spread-y teams. Because their region is so large, they only get three out of region games…of those three, only one spread it and chunked it much, then almost nobody in their region does. So, they are unaccustomed to what Great Falls brings to the table. If RS-M forces turnovers like they did last week (they had SIX!!!!) then this will be a runaway. If Great Falls takes care of the ball, can get their athletes in space and put the Trojans behind the chains, they’ve got a legit shot. In the only first-round game that features two teams with winning records squaring off, I’m going to lean to the experience, depth advantage and mostly mistake-free offensive philosophy of the Trojans. The Pick- Ridge Spring-Monetta. Dixie (1-9) at McBee (2-8) I’ve already held forth in another BLAWG entry about teams with one and two wins being in the playoffs so I’m not going to trod upon that path again. I’ve seen Dixie in person. They have good size up front, actually, but those guys are really young and they really just don’t have any team speed. McBee’s eight losses came to five AA teams, Lamar, Lake View and Green Sea Floyds. That’s a big-boy schedule right there. The thing is, they were 2-8 last year against the same schedule and ended up in the third round of the playoffs. They do have team speed in the form of, um, several people with the last name “Wright” (as per usual in McBee. They might go on a run similar to last year’s and I don’t think this game will be especially close. The Pick- McBee HKT (6-4) at Ware Shoals (3-7) The steaming barf bucket that is preset brackets gives us a 6-4 team at a 3-7 squad. HKT was playing really well, to the point that I thought they might give Ridge Spring-Monetta some trouble last week. I was wrong and dumb and wrong. They experienced a bit of a pants-poopin’ in that one, turned it over six times and lost by a seven-touchdown margin. Truthfully, unless they have that sort of performance in back-to-back weeks, they should cruise in this one. Ware Shoals’ three wins came over Calhoun Falls Charter (to whom they also lost this year), one-win Dixie and Miss Linda’s Finishing School or somesuch. I’ll continue to sing the praises of Jermarious Goodman, who at times looks like the offspring of Tecmo Bowl Bo Jackson and a bottle rocket. You can put him at any skill spot on either side and he’ll thrive, but he won’t be enough here. The Pick- HKT Williston-Elko (3-7) at McCormick (4-6) This is a tough one to decipher. W-E posted its worst regular season record in more than 15 years. My understanding is the school enrollment has dropped and thus the number of athletically talented school children on hand has dropped. They did finish with wins in two of their last three games, though one of those was against North. The thing is, they played three good to holy crap great AA teams out-of-region (Allendale-Fairfax, Silver Bluff and Barnwell), then lost to the good teams in their region and beat up on the bad ones. So what are we actually looking at them? It’s hard to tell. Tres Rimes (Class A has the most kick-ass named QBs) has better than 1,500 yards passing, most of which has gone to AJ Chandler, so they’ve got some talent. McCormick has an all-freshman backfield in QB Suderian Harrison and super-stud RB A’Chean Durant. They played some big boys out of region and accounted for themselves pretty well. This one is kind of a coin flip to me, but I say in one turns into a high-scoring game (both defenses have struggled at times) the best overall player on the field, despite his age, makes a big play late to win it. I think that player is Durant. The Pick, in a close one- McCormick Cross (5-4) at Military Magnet (1-7-1) Cross is a physical team that, while a bit limited offensively, plays some serious, tater-kicking defense. That will be more than enough to advance to the second round. The Pick- Cross Denmark-Olar (4-6) at Lake View (6-4) I didn’t know what to think of the Wild Gators coming into the year, what with them having lost 20 starters from the year before. The young guys came along quickly, obviously, and I’ve had a coach tell me they might the team to beat the next two years. Their only losses this year came to Green Sea Floyds, Lamar (in OT), a good AAA team in Marion (in a close one) and Dillon. So, not much to knock them for there. Their MO is to run the ball and they can do that in the “neener neener can’t catch me” manner or the up-the-gut, blunt force trauma method. Adarrian Dawkins is a threat to score it whenever he touches it. Denmark-Olar started off well, but limped down the stretch a bit. They are capable of hanging in there in this one, but I kinda don’t see that being a thing… The Pick- Lake View NOTE: Hemingway (0-11) lost to Scott’s Branch Thursday night. Given that whole 0-11 part, I think you can accept that I woulda gone with Scott’s Branch. Bethune-Bowman (2-8) at St. John’s (3-6) The Mr. T Haircuts managed to sneak in with an at-large berth. They have one of Class A’s best players in RB Jesus Benjamin but outside of him they don’t have much to scare you offensively and their defense has had a rough go of things. The Islanders are very young on offense and had a tough time against a rough schedule but they’ve got some thumpers on defense and I say they earn the right to go face the defending state champs at Green Sea Floyds next week. The Pick- St. John’s. First of all, my apologies for the lack of previews and reviews the past week-and-a-half. I would certainly have preferred to be breaking down Estill or Green Sea or making extraneous CRANKSMACK references than covering a trial, but sometimes duty calls. I’ll give my previews and picks for the first round of the Class A playoffs tomorrow, but there are a few other matters that need to be discussed first.
I’m sure you’ve heard by now about the situation The OC (Oceanside Collegiate) finds itself in. In the course of thumping Phillip Simmons 70-0 the other week, they inserted a few JV players into the game. That would be fine had those players not also taken part in a JV game the night before. The South Carolina High School League did away with the eight-quarter rule a few years ago, which allowed athletes to play in a JV game on Thursday and varsity game on Friday (ideally as a back-up or special teamer). The OC’s head coach (Chad Grier) said he misunderstood the rule. He claims he believed that players were allowed four quarters of participation, which could be spread out over JV and varsity games. Now, I’m not going to question his integrity or honesty here…I think he was in North Carolina when the eight-quarter rule was abolished in our state. However, the primary thrust of the rule was player safety and built on the concept of recovery time between games. Recovery time is precisely why the rule was changed. I’m a nimrod blogger and newspaper scribe and I know that. It is part of a coach’s job to understand the rules he is playing by. If neither he nor anyone on his staff knew the intent of the rule, that’s completely on them and with player safety being of paramount importance in the eyes of the SCHSL, running afoul of that should bring a stiff penalty. To the League’s credit, they delivered one. They ruled that The OC had to forfeit four games (JV players apparently dressed but did not play in three other games) and were slapped with a $16,500 fine. That’s significant, but this is where the laws of unintentional consequences come into play. On the field, The OC was 9-0, won a region title and the number one playoff seed that comes with it. Had they stayed at number one, they would’ve faced Latta (a six seed) in the first round. Had they won, they would’ve then faced a stiff test from either Bamberg-Ehrhardt or Mullins. Moving on from there would likely have meant a third-round showdown with scary, unbeaten, holy-crap-are-they-awesome Barnwell. Surviving that one would have gotten them to the AA lowerstate title game. Instead, they dropped from a one to a four seed, so they get a much tougher first-round game than they would have otherwise (against one-seed Andrews, the Region VII champion), but if they win that one, they’ll play either Whale Branch (a four seed) or a Phillip Simmons team that is only a two seed because the forfeits imposed on The OC moved them up from third in their region to second. The OC, as already noted, gave them a 10 touchdown flogging already. If they win there, it’s then Woodland/East Clarendon/Johnsonville or Calhoun County (good teams but not in Barnwell’s class), then a perspective matchup with ONE of the heavyweights they’d have had to run the gauntlet of if seeded first. No knock on the teams in the lower end of the bracket, but their path got considerably easier thanks to their punishment. We also need to examine how any of this is fair to Andrews. They followed the rules, won a region title and by all rights should be playing an actual four seed in the first round, not a one seed dropped to a four because of forfeits. I know some folks are of the “well, you gotta play ‘em sometime” school of thought and that’s fine, but there’s an angle those folks don’t consider. Andrews would likely have dragged the rightful four seed from Region VI (a three-win Burke team that got one win via forfeit from The OC), then moved on. If they now don’t get out of the first round, they stand to lose a considerable amount of gate revenue that would have been generated. A loss in the first round that wouldn’t have been a loss otherwise hits them in the wallet. Oh, and aside from the second round, The OC, if they keep winning, will be at home until state, which they wouldn’t have been otherwise. So, while I appreciate that the league put some actual heft behind their talk about how seriously they take player safety, I don’t believe they went far enough. Let’s not forget that The OC has already gotten their wrist slapped this season for hitting with shields on the first day of practice. So, combined with the four games in which they violated the four-quarter rule, they essentially have five rules infractions on their resume in about a three-month span. Actually, if you look at each instance of a player who dressed on Thursday and Friday as a separate violation, The OC is guilty on dozens of counts. Much as it would suck for the kids and despite what they actually did on the field, The OC should have been hit with a playoff ban. There is certainly precedent on that front. Blythewood, in 2007, (as memory serves) ran afoul of rules about when they could go with full pads when practice started and had an earlier infraction in spring practice. They were banned from the playoffs. Boiling Springs, from what I’ve been told, got a playoff ban a few years back for having an eight-grader take one snap in a spring game. And we all remember Goose Creek getting hit with a playoff ban for VERY limited use of one ineligible player. This isn’t any different…in fact, I’d argue that this is considerably worse since it violates what is now considered the most important tenant of League policy; that being player safety, health and well-being. Athletic-centered charters like The OC already get a gigantic leg up on traditional public schools when it comes to attendance area, getting to cap their enrollment (thus deciding which classification they will compete in), having a greater percentage of their student body made up of athletes and non-traditional school days (half of their day is dedicated to athletic training and practice). That doesn’t even touch on coaches that don’t have to teach. Now, on top of all that, they have run afoul of League rules multiple times and still get a playoff slot. The League’s website used to be emblazoned with the saying “A champion is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.” I guess that doesn’t apply anymore. Back in 1A there is a problem with who made the playoffs as well, but it has nothing to do with breaking the rules. Of the eight teams competing in the first round of the upperstate bracket (multiple teams have byes), three of them have winning records (and two of those play one another). In the lowerstate, there are two. Now, 1A teams will generally have worse records than those from larger classifications because they often play AA and AAA team out-of-region, teams that have a built in advantage in terms of number of athletes walking the halls. But we aren’t talking about 4-6 teams with three “up” losses on the ledger. Dixie, at 1-9 is in the field. Ware Shoals and Williston-Elko, each at 3-7, are in the field. Military Magnet made it with one win and Hemingway, winless 0-10 Hemingway, is not only in but hosting a game. We have this situation for a number of reasons. First, in the last realignment, the SCHSL made Class A too small. I’ve held forth on this at length on many occasions, but I think they did so to give the tiniest schools in the state (Calhoun Falls Charter, North etc.) some kind of puncher’s chance at being competitive. Unfortunately, there isn’t a classification you can draw up that will make schools with 100 kids competitive in much of anything. Many Class A schools, at this point, are small charters and academies that essentially play a sport or two and don’t field football teams. That’s not healthy for the class as a whole come playoff time in most sports. There’s also the issue that Class A schools are the most likely to have teams fold for lack of participation (the baseball and softball playoff brackets featured some two-team districts for that reason, which is ridiculous) or have schools closed down altogether (Lincoln, Creek Bridge). For that reason alone, Class A needs to be larger. Then we have preset brackets, which are total, steaming garbage piles. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, that is where it is decided ahead of time “OK, Region I, you get X number of teams in the playoffs, Region II, you get X many” and so on. It’s also decided in advance that the number three seed from this region hosts the number four team from this region in the first round. Not to pick on a young Hemingway team I’m certain will be considerably improved next year, but with Creek Bridge closing, Region VI has four schools and only three of them play football. The “top three” from that region (so, every team) make the playoffs. The number one seed gets a first-round bye and each of the other two host. So even though Hemingway did not win a game, they not only get a playoff game, they host it. One solution is for Class A to be made larger in the next realignment (which I sadly don’t see happening). Failing that, the structure of the playoffs needs to change. It’s ludicrous to assign playoff bids based on “well, you play in this region, so congrats, Bo.” We need to go back to a points system, which rewards a full body of work and puts the best teams in the field. This year, there would still have been a glut of teams with losing records in the field, but, just for example, Timmonsville could have gotten in instead of Hemingway. Granted, Timmonsville was only 2-8, but that’s two more wins than Hemingway had (and one of those two was against Hemingway, incidentally) and one more than Military Magnet or Dixie. But they aren’t in because their four-team region gets three bids and Hemingway’s three-team region gets three and Dixie’s five-team region gets four. It also wouldn’t hurt my feelings if, minus making Class A larger, we went to 16 playoff teams. Right now, 24 of the 29 football-playing schools get in. That’s watered down worse than a liquor drink at Applebees. To me, a playoff bid should be a reward for a good season and pit the best against the best. It’s hard to say we’re getting that under the current system. Calhoun Falls Charter (1-5) at Ware Shoals (2-6)
These two teams met in the first game of the year in a contest that did not count toward region standings. The Flashes won that one, breaking a years long losing streak, but haven’t tasted victory since. Most of their losses haven’t been especially close, either, including a 45-point loss to Whitmire last week. Ware Shoals had only a win over Oakbrook on the resume until they absolutely rolled Dixie last week. This was a 14-13 contest the first time around so, it’s likely to be close again, but if the Flashes can win either this one or next week against Dixie, they’re in the playoffs, which would be a huge step forward for a program the has struggled for so long. Ware Shoals is probably already in, but could improve their seeding with a victory. McCormick (3-5) at Whitmire (6-3) This game is for the Region I title and the sweet, delicious number one seed (and first round bye) that goes with it. The Wplverines roughed up CF Charter last week and are playing well in general, having clicked off four straight wins. Chandler Crumley (the fullback/piledriver/angry oxen) had a big game on the ground as did his speedy compliment Jaquan Tindell-White. The thing about the Wolverines is they put a ton of pressure on you by onside kicking on every kickoff, usually eschewing punting and going for it on fourth down etc. That can blow up in your face sometimes, but it usually doesn’t for them. They bank on the fact that if they apply lots of pressure and force you to have to make plays, you often won’t. And seriously, it’s such a mental crotch kick to have them run that scrum for 12 plays, 70 yards and eight minutes, then they recover an onside kick and your defense has to trudge right back out on that field. McCormick had a three-game winning streak snapped last week by St. Joe’s, but who cares? It was an out-of-region game on the road against a ranked AA squad. They hung in there and scored some points and accounted for themselves pretty well. In their previous three games, they averaged right at 40 a contest against lower-level AA opponents and in two region games. A’Chean Durant is the guy to watch, the electric freshman running back with super-awesome bloodlines (Mataeo is his brother). Should be a great one. Lamar (6-2) at Great Falls (4-3) The Silver Foxes laid down the CRANKSMACK of the week last Friday in blowing out Timmonsville 70-0. In that game, from what I understand, they actually showed some four-wide spread stuff for the first time this year and moved athletic QB Cam Galloway to WR and RB a bit. Now, with the playoffs coming up and them likely facing a trip to Wagener-Salley in the third round, I wondered if they were putting one more thing on tape for Wagener to worry about. My super secret Lamar informant said he thinks it was just a matter of letting the seniors have a little fun with the game well in hand in their final home game. Whatever, with a line and athletes like they have, they can kinda do whatever they want. Great Falls was playing its first game in three weeks, looked rusty early and got behind McBee. Rather than take a conservative approach and attempt to lose close, coach Tom Butler took some gambles to try to give his team a chance to actually win. I like that, since a loss counts as a loss whether it’s 21-14 or 49-7. They have athletes who can make plays on anybody (guys like D.J. Adams) and they have talent in the trenches, but not much depth. I’ll be at this game, so follow along at @CNR_Sports if you you’re interested. McBee (1-7) at Timmonsville (2-6) The 1-7 next to McBee’s name is deceptive. They played a big-boy, “holy crap y’all are playing who?” kind of schedule out of region. They took some lumps, but they also blew out a pretty good Great Falls team last week. Eerily similar to how things went for them last season when they started 0-7 and made it to the third round of the playoffs. Here’s a shocker, there is a person with the last name “Wright” on the McBee roster who is good at football (Jaheim). They have other weapons too and that might be plenty this week against a young Whirlwinds team coming off savage beating against Lamar. Williston-Elko (2-6) at Blackville-Hilda (6-2) I don’t know the health status of Blackville-Hilda QB Adonis Davis…and I may regret being flippant here, but I don’t think it matters. That seems odd to say when talking about W-E, but it’s been a rough year from them, with wins over North and Estill tucked among a series of one-sided tail whippings. It sure feels like this one is a foregone conclusion and that W-E will need a win over Denmark-Olar next week to even make the playoffs. Wagener-Salley (8-0) at Denmark-Olar (4-4) Another game that just feels like a formality. D-O has had their moments and is a physical, quality football team, but the boys from Chitlinville have basically won the region already and feel like they are head-and-shoulders and hips-and-knees and shins-and-toes better than anybody they’ll face until a likely matchup with Lamar in the third round of the playoffs. HKT (5-3) at North (0-8) This is a great region but there aren’t a lot of great matchups in it this week. HKT is the kind of team that might sneak up on somebody in the playoffs. North hasn’t won a game in a few years. Not much need to dig into this one very far. Baptist Hill (5-3) at Military Magnet (0-6-1) Baptist Hill scored 70 gojillion points last week (roughly)against Charleston Charter etc. et all and so on Academy and probably will this week. That’s not really proving much, since that will represent two blowouts of winless teams. Now, next week when they face St. John’s might be more interesting than anyone thinks. Charleston Finishing School for Aspiring Anglers (0-6) at St. John’s (2-6) The Islanders had a brutal schedule out-of-region that featured a private school juggernaut, the OC Semi-Pros and a road trip to the friggin’ Waxhaws (depending on how old a map you’re looking at). But they pitched a shutout last week against Military Magnet. They are very young on offense but against like-sized, reasonable competition, that defense is going to win them some games, including this one, most likely, against a Riptide team that gives up 53 a game. Bethune-Bowman (2-6) at C.E. Murray (5-2) The Mr. T Haircuts are likely going to go from winning a region crown in 2018 to not making the playoffs this season. They have a great RB in Jesus Benjamin (who should be playing in an all-star game and it’s ridiculous a kid with his numbers isn’t) but the defense has struggled and the offense often has aside from Benjamin. C.E. Murray is pretty much on a region title victory tour at this point, having destroyed Branchville last week, their only real contender. This is a team people need start paying more attention to. Trying to move the ball on their defense is like trying to cut down an oak tree with a toothbruch…like a soft-bristle one. Antonio McKnight is a two-way stud, they have a dominant running game and it sure feels like they are on a collision course with Green Sea deep in the lowerstate playoffs. Scott’s Branch (2-6) at Cross (4-4) Cross ran all over the Mr. T Haircuts last week and in doing so broke the 21-point threshold for the first time in two full years. It’s good to see them rising back to prominence after a winless campaign last year resulting from one of the youngest rosters in the state. They are apparently growing up and getting back to thumping heads on defense. They’ve been a bit offensively challenged but maybe last week was the breakthrough they’d been looking for. Scott’s Branch is hard to get a beat on. They’ve beaten to not-very good teams, lost close to one OK team (Timmonsville) and gotten routed against a couple of really good teams of higher classification. They did win their last time out (pretty impressively over the Mr. T Haircuts) and had an off week last Friday to heal up for the stretch run. Hemingway (0-8) at Green Sea Floyds (7-1) Hemingway has scored 26 points in eight games and allows nearly 40 a game. They are on the road against the defending state champions, who have one of the best and most explosive offenses in Class A paired with a bunch of crap kickers on defense. So, you know, this might not go real well for them. Whitmire- 56
Calhoun Falls Charter- 6 Ware Shoals- 41 Dixie- 13 St. Joe’s- 55 Ware Shoals- 20 Lamar- 70 Timmonsville- The Whirlwinds failed to score in this football contest. McBee- 56 Great Falls- 7 Blackville-Hilda- 37 Estill- 6 Hunter-Kinard-Tyler- 26 Denmark-Olar- 22 Willison-Elko- 46 North- Not as many as Williston. Let’s not pick on North. Wagener-Salley- 40 Ridge Spring-Monetta- 6 Baptist Hill- 79 Charleston Charter Academy for Snack Cake design and tadpole studies- 6 St. John’s- 31 Military Magnet- Love. Love sounds nice. Cross- 36 Bethune-Bowman- 14 C.E. Murray- 44 Branchville- 18 Green Sea Floyds- 42 Lake View- 6 Columbia- 25 Hemingway- 7 Breakdown- There has been a bit of perception this year that Class A is a three-team race between Wagener-Salley, Lamar and Green Sea Floyds. Now, those are certainly three of the big favorites to win it all, but I think some other teams merit consideration for that top tier, led by C.E. Murray. They laid it Branchville pretty good Friday, beating them 44-18 in a game that as I understand it wasn’t actually that close. Branchville was 7-1 coming in and though they only had one game I would put into the “quality win” category (a blowout of Whitmire), they have a good QB, can score a lot of points and had played alright on defense. The War Eagles rolled them, much like they did a tough Cross team their previous time out. They have a stud two-way player in Antonio McKnight, who in addition to being a North-South All-Star is a frightening manbeast who is better at football than most opposing school children. He’s far from a one-man show, though. They play real defense in Greeleyville,(have allowed 54 points all year) have proven they can run the ball on anybody and match up favorably with almost anyone physically. Their two losses came by a combined four points to Mullins (a AA team that stands 6-2) and Lee Central (also AA, 5-2). There’s almost no scenario shy of a plague of locusts descended on the lowcountry under which they aren’t going to win out against Scott’s Branch and Bethune-Bowman, claim a region title and a number one playoff seed. Now, the one from that region gets a bye, plays a home game, then probably goes to Green Sea,. That will be an absolute war… Speaking of those other three dominant teams, they all demonstrated why they belong in that category by doling out savage, awful diddlings to their outmanned prey. Wagener-Salley easily dispatched RS-M, the last team on their regular-season schedule with much of a prayer of offering even mild resistance. They are absolutely owning a deep, good region. They are physically just much better than everyone they have played. They’ll win the region, get a bye, then be home out in the playoffs, with the only bump in the road being a likely third round matchup with Lamar. Much like C.E. Murray-Green Sea, that is a semifinals-caliber matchup and one I can’t wait to see. Lamar drilled Timmonsville, which wasn’t much of a shock, though the depth and vigorous nature with which they holed out the Whirlwinds was a bit. Timmonsville had hung in their and at least kept things somewhat respectable most weeks. My understanding is that the Silver Foxes, for the first time, showed some spread looks and actually moved Cam Galloway around a bit, including at WR. Maybe they’ll start incorporating that stuff a bit more into the offense or maybe its one more thing to make Wagener-Salley look at and prepare for. They have Great Falls and McBee left. Lake View, who has put up a good fight against almost everyone (including Lamar and Dillon to an extent) just got buried by Green Sea. That game was about over before it even started, with Jaquan Dixon ripping off a 70-plus-yard TD run, followed immediately by a lost Lake View fumble that led to a quick, short-field score. The GSF offense is basically a giant with a tiger head and razor claws and a bazooka in a fortress with a snake-ridden moat and flamethrowers. Yeah, it’s exactly like that with Dixon and Bubba Walalce and Anwain Graham. So, if you start giving them freebies, you’re pretty much done. Much like C.E. Murray and Wagener-Salley, they’ve pretty well sewed everything up with their only game remaining being against winless Hemingway. They’ll claim a region crown and number one playoff seed and likely wait for a third-round showdown with C.E. Murray. Quick hits- Not many this week what with the smaller slate of games with region action ongoing, but anyone else notice that Whitmire has cracked off four straight wins? They will be playing for a region title and number one seed this week against a McCormick team that has proven more than capable against fellow Class A teams. It’ll be rocking behind the wall, next to the public course in the Pearl of the Piedmont Friday night….If we’ve established who the favorites are (and I think we have) who has the look of a dark horse? I’m going to offer HKT (who is on a nice little run at this point) and possibly McBee. The latter of those rolled over a pretty good Great Falls team last week after going 0-7 against one of the toughest schedules in Class A. Keep an eye on them… There are a couple of items away from the field that need to be discussed. First, the competitive balance committee formed by the SCHSL to study the athletic imbalance between traditional public schools and their private and charter counterparts, has sent an initial list of ideas on how to level the playing field a bit. You can read a full story on it right here, but the basic ideas are as follows… Option #1-Use a multiplier that vary from 1.35 - 2.0 for Private, Charter and Magnet Schools. This would bump the non-traditional schools into higher classifications. Option #2- Competitive Balance Factor (CBF). The CBF takes effect when a private, charter, or magnet school achieves a threshold level of points based on the team’s overall finish for the two previous seasons; if the total number of points exceeds that threshold (which could vary among sports) then that team could be bumped up one classification. The CBF has no ceiling so a team could potentially ascend one class every reclassification. Option #3-In the smaller classifications(Class AAA, AA, A) separate the private, charter and magnet schools from the traditional public school for the playoffs. This will allow everyone to compete in a region but have separate playoff brackets for State Championships. Option #4-You see no need to change what we currently have in place. I’m not going rehash my position on privates and charters (if you are so inclined you can read those here, here and also here) but basically, the current system is inherently unfair, slanted against traditional public schools and needs to be fixed. I’d love for number one to be instituted but it has ZERO chance of passing. That idea has been floated before and legislators from Greenville and Charleston (can’t imagine why they piped up on the issue) basically threatened to disband the SCHSL and put prep athletics under the State Department of Education. Also, some of the private schools reminded everyone that the children of powerful lawyers walk their hallways. Option two is interesting, but to me it doesn’t address the root of the problem. It waits for the problem to manifest itself more fully, then takes punitive action. It almost says “now, y’all better not be TOO good.” I like and have previously endorsed option three. There are enough non-traditional private schools now to have a competitive and robust playoff bracket in almost every sport. That way, they are still present to balance out region where needed and get to compete in the league, but they compete for TITLES with other folks who follow the same rules they do. It is encouraging that the committee has been formed and that this is finally be discussed, but there’s a big difference between discussing the matter and nutting up and actually taking action on it…action that might spark cage-rattling and legal threats. The other issue is the situation at Oceanside Collegiate (or the OC as I like to call them). According to multiple outlets, there is an allegation that they violated the four-quarter rule last week. You probably remember that the league did away with the eight-quarter rule a while back, which allowed kids to play both JV and varsity games in a given week. Citing player safety and the need for recovery time, the league decided a player can EITHER play JV or varsity in a given week, but not both. The complaint filed against The OC is that they had players participate in both games against Phillip Simmons. I wonder… The OC won that varsity game 70-0. They’ve won most every week by blowout, so, is this the first and only time this has happened? I don’t have an answer, but it’s an obvious question to ask. One angle I’ve heard is that they misunderstood the rule and played kids in two quarters of each game. Again, just speculating here, but it would seem doubtful, would it not, that they suddenly misconstrued the rule eight weeks into the season? I’ll withhold further judgment until the SCHSL investigates the matter. If they are guilty of this infraction, however, the League has to issue STIFF punishment, and that view has nothing to do with my stance on private and charter schools. If every measure has to be taken in terms of player safety, folks who fly in the face of that (intentional or not) have to be punished, otherwise the “WE HAVE TO PROTECT THE KIDS) stuff is all empty words and crappy PR. It would also be the school’s second infraction of the season, with the first happening in the first day or two of practice. The last time I recall a program (and if I’m forgetting one, someone please let me know) getting two infractions of this kind in a season, it was Blythewood in 2007. They were defending AAA state champs and they got themselves a playoff ban. IF The OC gets a second one, it’s hard to see how the SCHSL can justify doing anything but a postseason ban. Seems like precedent has been set… Poll Time! As per usual, the S.C. Prep Media Class A top 10, followed by my ballot… 1. Wagener-Salley (7) 2. Green Sea Floyds (4) 3. Lamar 4. (tie) Blackville-HIlda, C.E. Murray 6. Lake View 7. Branchville 8. Hunter-Kinard-Tyler 9. Whitmire 10. Ridge Spring-Monetta Others receiving votes- Baptist Hill, Cross, Denmark-Olar 1. Green Sea Floyds 2. Wagener-Salley 3. Lamar 4. C.E. Murray 5. Blackville-Hilda 6. Lake VIew 7. Branchville 8. Hunter-Kinard-Tyler 9. Ridge Spring-Monetta 10. Whitmire Whitmire (5-3) at Calhoun Falls Charter (1-4)
The Wolverines had a little bit more of a tussle with Dixie than I was expecting last week (they only led 8-7 at the half) but they pulled away for a nice 24-7 victory. Chandler Crumley, who is sort of like a cross between an angry pile of bricks and a ball peen hammer, led the way with 75 yards and a couple of scores on the ground. The Flashes lost to McCormick 41-0. Look, CF Charter has a victory this year which is a nice step forward considering the struggles they’ve had in recent seasons and the good news is they get to face the team they beat (Ware Shoals) next week. They win that and they are likely in the playoffs. Huge accomplishment for that program if they pull it off. Whitmire has won three straight, though, and likely has too many weapons for the Flashes to counter. McCormick (3-4) at St. Joe’s (6-1) With Region I having an odd number of teams, somebody is always left with a bye or an out-of-region game and this week, that is the Chiefs. They come in playing really well, having won three straight and that streak was preceded by a near upset of Fox Creek. A’Chean Durant has absolutely lived up to the hype, billing and bloodlines this season at running back. The fact that he’s only a freshman should probably induce pants poopins in defensive coordinators throughout Class A. Have fun stopping this guy for the next three years everybody. They’ve been playing really well on defense too. This is going to be a pretty heavy lift, going up against a AA St. Joe’s team that has pitched three shutouts. It has to be pointed out they’ve really only played one good team (Southside Christian) and lost to them, but they’re legitimately good and will be tough at home. The thing is, the grand scheme of things, this game really doesn’t matter a whole lot. The Chiefs will be playing Whitmire next week for a region title and number one playoff seed. Whatever they accomplish in this one is just gravy. Dixie (0-8) at Ware Shoals (1-6) Welcome to the world of pre-set playoff brackets, where this late October game between a pair of teams with one (non-SCHSL) victory between them is pretty much for a playoff spot. Region I has five teams, four of them get in, so this is an important game. I’ll give Dixie credit for a good defensive performance last week against Whitmire in a game where I expected them to get drug. They have some good size, but they are REALLY young and don’t have a whole lot of team speed. Ware Shoals won its opener over Oakbrook Prep, then lost a 14-13 heartbreaker to Calhoun Falls Charter and haven’t really been competitive since. I like do-everything, football Swiss Army knife/shape-shifting-ninja Demarius Goodman a lot and his speed could be a big difference in this one. Again, despite the records, this is someone’s big chance to punch their post-season ticket. Timmonsville (2-5) at Lamar (5-2) It’s finally nut-cutting time in Region II as they start playing the games that matter. Timmonsville might still be walking funny and talking an octave or two higher than normal after the unholy bludgeoning that Green Sea Floyds laid on them last week by a 62-8 score. The thing about the Whirlwinds is, they are on their third coach in three years, they’re really young and they have played a big-boy, no-joke schedule. Marion, Green Sea, Lee Central, East Clarendon…it’s been rough aside from their games against Scott’s Branch and Hemingway. From what I can tell, they play pretty good defense and hang in there, but are really young on offense and have struggled to scratch out points this year. A trip to Lamar in a game that really matters isn’t necessarily a recipe for getting well. It’s more a recipe for pain and suffering and losing and having your dreams set on fire. The Silver Foxes were off last week and lost the previous time out to Gray Collegiate. It is odd to see Lamar with two regukar season losses, but look at those came to. They lost a close game at Pageland and narrowly lost to Gray (a failed two-point conversion in the final few minutes was the difference) while holding a potent AA offense to its fewest passing yards of the year. As I said when it happened, if you’d have bet me Lamar would end up with more passing yards than Gray I would literally have bet my actual butt against that happening and today I would be here with no butt, trying to figure out how to sit and perform other tasks. They really didn’t throw it a lot, but Cam Galloway hit some big pass plays. I don’t suspect that will be necessary tonight. Galloway and that stable of RBs should find the sledding considerably easier this week on the ground. Great Falls (4-2) at McBee (0-7) You’d think after 7 games you’d have a decent handle on what a team has, but man I sure don’t with the Panthers. The 0-7 makes you think this will be an easy walk over game for the Red Devils, but you really have to examine that schedule a bit more. McBee, like Timmonsville, has played a frightening gauntlet of grizzly bears and knife-wielding clowns. Seriously, AJ, Chesterfield, Green Sea, Lake View, Blacksburg…being a 1A school and going 0-7 against that lineup is understandable. A lot of those weren’t close but dang if they didn’t up and almost beat Blacksburg last week, just like they did last year before winning two-of-three in the region and winning a pair of playoff games. From what I understand they are still using a spread, but not near as much as last year. They are back to the bone and like to get the ball to Jaheim Wright as much as possible. If you don’t know anything about the Wright family, just trust that they are good at football and are into mass procreation. It seems like there are four or five Wrights on McBee’s roster every year. Great Falls had two weeks off after a game with Camden Military was cancelled due to heat (something I’ve never heard of) and they had their scheduled off week last Friday. If I were them, having won three-of-four, I would not have been real keen on that long a layoff. The one upside is they should be fully healthy. Their defense is playing really well right now, making tons of negative yardage plays and forcing a lot of turnovers. I’ve discussed all the offensive weapons they bring to the table before. Tommy Seagle is throwing the ball well, they’ve developed a nice running game and D.J. Adams, Xavion Moore and others are big plays waiting to happen. This should be a really good football game. Blackville-Hilda (5-2) at Estill (2-5) Blackville-Hilda scored on of the most impressive wins of last Friday when they not only beat a hot Ridge Spring-Monetta team, they laid a savage 42-14 beatdown on them. They did that despite losing QB Adonis Davis to injury. Z’Ontre Kinard came on and played well in his stead and Daylon Dickerson had 126 yards rushing. The Hawks also scored twice on defense. I certainly hope Davis’ injury doesn’t keep him out long, but I don’t think it will matter tonight. Since their upset of Allendale-Fairfax, Estill has beaten winless North and gotten knocked around pretty badly by everyone else. Denmark-Olar (4-3) at HKT (4-3) HKT is coming off its first win over Williston-Elko in 16 years, which tells you a lot about the state of both programs. The defense came up big, with Kron Lowery and Katwan Shuler combining for five sacks. Denmark struggled a bit with Estill before taking an eight-point win. Malik Palmer went for 149 on the ground in that one and scored twice. There are bigger “name brand” games and ones with more on the line, but this is as even a contest as will probably take place tonight. Ridge Spring-Monetta (4-3) at Wagener-Salley (7-0) Boy, this seemed like a titanic clash in the making a week ago. A battle between two red hot teams peaking at the right going at it for a region crown and number one playoff seed and…now it doesn’t. At all. RS-M got worked pretty good by Blackville-Hilda last week. Collier Sullivan is a heck of a player, having run for 225 yards and two touchdowns last week, but I just think the boys from Chitlinville are on a different level than everyone else. They’re closest game this year (admittedly not against a monster schedule) was a 42-20 flogging of Fox Creek. The closest against a 1A competitor was a 37-point diddling of a good Blackville-Hilda team (the one who laid it to RS-M) last week. Until they get a deep enough in the playoffs to face Lamar, I don’t know that they’ll be challenged very much. Williston-Elko (1-6) at North (0-8) W-E is having its worst season in 15 years and will likely need to beat Denmark-Olar in the season finale to even make the playoffs. Despite those struggles, tonight will be a chance for them to get out some frustrations and at least notch a second “W” against a North team that has the state’s longest losing streak. Baptist Hill (4-3) at the Charleston Charter School for Propane and Propane Accessories (0-5) Speaking of getting some frustrations out…The Bobcats suffered one of their worst losses in recent memory last time out, getting an M-80 stuck in their tailpipe by Green Sea Floyds. They’ve had two weeks to stew on that and this week they face a Charleston Charter team that has lost its last three games by a combined score of 159-0. On the bright side, Charleston Charter has a sweet nickname (Riptide) and is right across the street from Rodney Scott’s BBQ. St. John’s (1-5) at Military Magnet (0-6) The Islanders have lost five straight against a pretty rugged slate. They are young, (like zygote or fetus young) on offense but aside from a few games when they’ve been totally outmanned, they always come to play on defense. I have a feeling their losing streak ends tonight against a Military Magnet team that is struggling on both sides of the ball right now. Branchville (7-1) at C.E. Murray (4-2) With both of these teams having already gotten by Cross, this is a de facto region title game. Huge stakes on the line here. Branchville narrowly got by Cross last week 24-22, but they are in the midst of one of the best seasons in recent memory and have a dangerous dual-threat weapon in QB Zack Wiles. He’s a big kid with a live arm that is probably their biggest rushing threat as well. The only thing I question on them is this…they did blow out a good Whitmire team and edged Cross, but the rest of their wins have come against teams with a combined record of 6-23 and four of the wins come courtesy of Colleton Prep, a non-SCHSL opponent. Their one loss was to a pretty physical Denmark-Olar team and my understanding is Cross at least matched them physically, or perhaps even won the physical battle up front. C.E. Murray is as physical as it gets. They go the blunt-force trauma, “oww, you stepped on my face” power running game route on offense and possess one of the nastiest and most physical defenses in 1A (they have allowed 36 points this season). They’ve stood toe-to-toe with ranked AA, very solid AA teams in Lee Central and Mullins and they blew out Cross two weeks ago. Branchville is a very good team but I like C.E> Murray’s chances to put the region title on ice tonight. Cross (3-4) at Bethune-Bowman (2-5) The Trojans are coming off back-to-back tough region losses. They nearly upended Branchville last week and kind of took it on the chin against C.E. Murray the week before. They aren’t going to score a lot of points on a given week (last week was the first time they scored more than 20 since late 2017) but they’re physical and play good defense. The Mr. T Haircuts have one of the state’s most underrated players in RB Jesus Benjamin, who just quietly knifes through opposing defenses for 200 yards a week. There isn’t a whole lot on hand to compliment him and their defense has struggled. Honestly, with Branchville and C.E. Murray still to come and having lost (surprisingly) to Scott’s Branch last week, this about their last chance to notch a third win and maybe get in the playoffs, but it’ll be a tall order. Columbia (0-7) at Hemingway (0-7) You hate to put it this way, but this is a chance for one or the other to not have a winless campaign. Columbia has been outscored by the opposition this year 283-94. Hemingway has lost its seven games by a combined total of 280-19. So, who knows? Green Sea Floyds (6-1) at Lake View (5-3) With both of these teams only having winless Hemingway left on the slate, this game is for the region title and a number one playoff seed. Lake View has three losses, but let’s keep in mind one came to Lamar in overtime, one came to AAA heavyweight Dillon and a very good AAA Marion team. Oddly, this was a team almost totally lacking in experience coming into the season and they’ve tweaked their offense, barely throwing the ball, but they’ve had tremendous success. Adarrian Dawkins is a super exciting player who will line up pretty much everywhere on offense. Since their lone loss (to AAA Aynor) Green Sea has obliterated McBee, Baptist Hill (who shuts out Baptist Hill, seriousl?) and Timmonsville. Offensively, they have top, top end skill talent (Bubba Elliot, Jaquan Dixon) but it’s time to start paying that defense some more serious attention. Take out the Aynor game, and they’ve allowed 51 points all year. They are tough as crap to run on, which might complicate things for Lake View. I like the Trojans here, but still, there’s a ton on the line and it could get interesting. Calhoun Falls Charter (1-3) at McCormick (2-4)
The Flashes were off last week but lost badly to Trinity Byrnes their last time out and have dropped three straight since opening with a win over Ware Shoals. The Chiefs have gone in exactly the opposite direction. They lost their first four (to AAA Crescent, to a pair of good Georgia teams and in overtime to Fox Creek) before absolutely crap rolling Eau Claire and Dixie the past two weeks. They aren’t a one-man show on offense entirely, but they do lean heavily on freshman RB A’Chean Durant, who had 133 yards and four TDs last week against Dixie and 200-plus against the Shamrocks. CF Charter has some weapons with QB Avant Harris and a couple of nice receivers, but depth gets to be an issue with a roster of 17 and the Chiefs, offensively are on fire right now. Whitmire (4-3) at Dixie (0-7) The Wolverines come in having won three of their last four games, including a 32-3 thumping Ware Shoals last week. Chandler Crumley is like a pile of cinderblocks in a wagon rolling down a mountainside on fire …he’s large fullback that is difficult to tackle is my point here. The guy to really watch out for this week, though, is Jaquan Tindell-White, the speedy compliment to Crumley’s blunt-force trauma between-the-tackles. Most of the outside stuff in that scrum offense goes to him and I think that is where they will have some success. Dixie has some pretty good size and apparently has some help on the way (having beaten Whitmire in JV action by a pretty wide margin earlier this week) but they are super young and don’t have a lot of speed. If the Wolverines take care of business here, they should be able to get by CF Charter next week and play McCormick for the region title on the last night of the regular season. Timmonsville (2-4) at Green Sea Floyds (5-1) So, the Whirlwinds come in on a little bit of a roll, having won two straight after an 0-4 start. Now, honesty compels me to point out those two wins have been by a combined total of 10 points over a pair of 1A schools with a combined record of 1-12…but those four losses all came to AA and AAA schools, pretty good ones at that. Honestly, given who they are playing this week and next week (Lamar) I don’t think we’ll get a true picture of this team until the final two weeks of the year. They are young and for the most part have hung in there and played good defense. That’s great and it’s something to build on but I don’t think it’s going to help this week. GSF is kind of on a different level right now in terms of depth, talent, execution etc. They laid a verified CRANKSMACK on a pretty good Baptist Hill team last week, beating them 47-0 and holding them 100 yards of offense. Read that again…HELD BAPTIST HILL TO 100 YARDS AND NOT NAM POINTS. Better days are coming for Timmonsville and they won’t throw in the towel here, but they may also need said towel to bite down on. McBee (0-6) at Blacksburg (4-2) The grisly gauntlet of broken dreams and butt floggings that is the McBee out-of-region slate ends tonight with another doozie, against a good AA Blacksburg team. Hand it to the Panthers, man, they play a real, big-boy schedule. Lake View, Green Sea, North Central, AJ and now this’n. Now, this was a surprisingly close game last year…I don’t expect it to be this time around, but they should be more than ready for region play when it starts next week. Don’t forget, they were 0-7 against this schedule last year, won two-of-three to make the playoffs, then won two post-season games. Don’t write them off just yet. Ridge Spring-Monetta (4-2) at Blackville-Hilda (4-2) This is a really important game for both teams, for reasons beyond their annual battle for the bronzed hyphen spittoon. For B-H, a loss likely means no better than a third-place finish in Region III, which equates to only one home playoff game. RS-M has to win this one to make next week’s game at Wagener-Salley a de facto region title contest. The Trojans labored a bit last week, needing to rally for a 30-20 win over a solid Denmark-Olar team. Helping on that front was scary football ninja/maniacal QB-squashing robot Tray Dean who had FIFTEEN FREAKIN’ TACKLES and recovered a fumble from his DE spot. The amazing and awesomely-named QB Remedee Leaphart (a name that makes him sound like the unbeatable bad guy in a gladiator film or a giant stuffed panda, I can’t decide which) had 225 yards of total offense and three scores in that game. B-H bounced back from their loss to Wagener-Salley with a nice win over HKT. Adonis Davis (who competes with Remedee Leaphart for coolest QB name in the state) is obviously a huge threat to with his legs and arm behind a good O line and with a bevy of weapons at his disposal. This could actually be one of the more entertaining games in 1A this week. Estill (2-4) at Denmark-Olar (3-3) Since surprising what has turned out to be a pretty good AA Allendale-Fairfax team, Estill has beaten winless North badly and gotten blown out four times. D-O sure feels like they are just a rung or so below the top contenders. They beat Branchville and gave RS-M and Blackville-Hilda both really competitive games. Their defense should be the difference in this one. Williston-Elko (1-5) at HKT (3-3) I still can’t get used to seeing (1-5) next to Williston’s name. I guess when a program has the kind of prolonged success that they have, you start to take it for granted or feel like they are somehow impervious to the giant ebbs and flows in talent that 1A schools have to contend with. They aren’t, though, and are coming off a pretty sound rogering at the hands of Wagener-Salley. They do have a good QB in Tres Rimes (every QB in this region has an amazing name) who is on pace for about a 2,000-yard passing season. It’s hard to get your head around, but Williston really, really needs this game for playoff purposes. Region III gets five bids and I think we agree Wagener, RS-M and Blackville are locks. North and Estill are likely on the outside looking in, which leaves Williston, Denmark-Olar and HKT competing for the final two spots. None of the three has played one another yet, so it isn’t much of a stretch to say the playoffs kinda start for both of these teams tonight. Wagener-Salley (6-0) at North (0-6) The kind of game you hope ends quickly and with no injuries. Bethune-Bowman (2-4) at Scott’s Branch (1-6) If you’re Scott’s Branch, this kinda feels like the start of the playoffs for you. Region V gets four bids (out of five teams) and beating Cross or C.E. Murray in the final two weeks of the season sure doesn’t feel like a thing that’s going to happen. Honestly, though, you take away the 36-15 win over a struggling Military Magnet team and Scott’s Branch has been outscored this year 214-42. The Mr. T Haircuts have had some rough nights defensively against good teams and don’t score a ton of points. They are a bit one-trick pony-ish on offense, but dadgum that pony does a good trick. It tap dances on a high wire while juggling lit road flares and playing the oboe. Jesus Benjamin is one of the best backs in the state, he’s put up gaudy numbers this year but last week’s performance is one to really stand back and admire. In a win over Military Magnet, he ran for 376 yards and had 448 total yards of offense. He get ANYWHERE close to that this week at the Haircuts win it going away. Cross (3-3) at Branchville (6-1) This game figures to be a whole lot more competitive that the records would indicate. Branchville is 6-1, but only one win was against a team with a winning record (Whitmire). Now, they blew their doors off, but the rest of their wins are against winless Military Magnet, winless North, one-win Scott’s Branch, the winless Charleston Charter School for Etc. and So On and Colleton Prep. The loss was a shootout to a pretty good Denmark-Olar team. Doesn’t mean they aren’t legit, just means they haven’t had to prove it, really. Zack Wiles is a big, athletic QB with a good arm and a nose for the end zone. Cross took it on the chin last week to C.E. Murray and remain offensively challenged. Still, they can play some keep away on offense and are dang good on defense. This one could be interesting. McCormick- 41
Dixie- 14 Whitmire- 32 Ware Shoals- 3 Gray- 28 Lamar- 26 Timmonsville- 10 Hemingway- 6 Blackville-Hilda- 38 HKT- 12 Ridge Spring-Monetta- 30 Denmark-Olar- 20 Estill- 57 North (An oldie but goodie) WHITE CANDY BAR!!!! Wagener-Salley- 54 Williston-Elko- 16 Green Sea Floyds- 47 Baptist Hill- Not 47. We don’t have to be jerks about it. Legion- 59 Charleston Charter School of Diplomacy and Frog-Gigging-If the spread was 60, they barely covered. Bethune-Bowman- 38 Military Magnet- 10 Calvary Day- 48 St. John’s- 12 Branchville- 33 Scott’s Branch- Scott may have a branch, but he had no points C.E. Murray- 33 Cross- 7 Lake View- 48 McBee- 3 Breakdown- With nearly everyone having started region play at this point, there was only one “up” game, that being Lamar’s narrow loss to Gray Collegiate. I figured that would be a close, down-to-the-wire affair and it was, with the difference being a failed two-point conversion attempt by the Silver Foxes with 2:13 left in the game. What I was wrong about was the means by which the game would play out. If you’d told me before the game Lamar would throw for more yards than Gray, in the game I would have bet my actual butt on that outcome…and today I’d be weird, no butt guy, walking around with no means of sitting down. Gray came in with the most prolific passing attack in the state and Lamar came in really not wanting to throw the ball much at all if they can help it. Now Gray had an efficient night tossing it around, hitting 14-of-19 passes, but they went for only 131 yards, so it was major league Dinky McCheckdown stuff. Cam Galloway made some big plays in the passing game for Lamar, though, hitting 6-of-10 for 182 yards. Another odd twist was that aside from 52 yards from Galloway, the Silver Foxes found pretty tough sledding on the ground. KZ Adams had 174 yards rushing for Gray. I know it looks odd to see Lamar with two losses in a season, but when you look at the two losses closely, you see not much of anything to worry about. They lost a close game at Pageland and were a two-point conversion play away from sending a game with a AA sports academy into overtime. They’ll be fine, probably starting this week when they open region play with Timmonsville… From a name standpoint, Green Sea Floyds v. Baptist Hill was an attractive matchup, certainly and I thought the game might at least be entertaining and it was in much the same way watching a pack of lion chase, kill and eat a three-legged deer is entertaining. The one thing I thought that Baptist Hill might be able to do was stretch the field a little, hit some big plays in the passing game. From what I’d been told, Green Sea has a bit of a downhill defense, which makes sense no more than they see the spread. It turns out that “haven’t had to defend the pass” and “can’t defend the pass” are way different things. They overwhelmed the Bobcats, got a ton of negative yardage plays, held them to negative total rushing yards and only 100 yards of offense. For the Trojans, it was the usual suspects on offense (Bubba Elliot, Jaquan Dixon). Now we just kind of sit back and wait a few weeks for them to face Lake View in a game that should be for the region title and about the only actual challenge the Trojans have left. Baptist Hill isn’t a bad team by any stretch, but they aren’t putting up the gaudy, pretend, video game offensive totals of the past few years. I wouldn’t be shocked to see them in a dog fight with St. John’s for their region at the end of the season…just a hunch… C.E. Murray-Cross was another game that going in seemed like it might be a decent contest, but turned into a one-sided tail-whipping. Cross is a bit offensively challenged just to start with. They haven’t scored 20 points in nearly two seasons, but have been successful this year eating some clock and playing really good defense. That formula just didn’t work against the War Eagles who are playing some of Class A’s best defense right now. They’ve allowed only 36 points all year and only seven in two games against 1A competition. They were also able to have a lot of success running the ball on Cross (which hasn’t happened much this year). I’m sure you stand shocked and amazed that a Brian Smith coached team is stepping on people’s faces in the run game and just kinda going “nah” on defense. They get an off week then they’ll take on a hot Branchville team in a game that will essentially be for the region title. There weren’t a lot of other big matchups or “name” showdowns last week. Now, Ridge Spring-Monetta having to rally for a comeback win against Denmark-Olar turned out to be a good one. With Williston obviously just having a down year RS-M is about the only thing between Wagener-Salley and a region crown (and the number one playoff seed that comes with it). They get a tough one at Blackville-Hilda next week, then face the boys from Chitlinville, likely with everything on the line…I also did want to mention one noteworthy individual achievement from this past week. I’ve mentioned Jesus Benjamin from Bethune Bowman on several occasions. Old-school plow-horse back who logs a ton of carries and accounts for most of what the Mr. T Haircuts do on offense. Watching highlights he may not be super big or fast, but he’s a patient, smart, tough runner than you better bring some friends to help tackle. Well, Military Magnet must not have any friends, because he had 448 total yards including 376 on the ground Friday night. An unbelievable, all-time great performance. Pol Time You know the drill by now. The first poll is the actual S.C. Prep Media Poll, followed by my ballot for said. 1. Wagener-Salley (7) 2. Green Sea Floyds (2) 3. Lamar (2) 4. Lake View 5. Blackville-Hilda 6. C.E. Murray 7. Branchville 8. Ridge Spring-Monetta 9. GREAT FALLS 10. (tie) Baptist Hill, Denmark-Olar 1. Green Sea Floyds 2. Wagener-Salley 3. Lamar 4. Lake View 5. Branchville 6. C.E. Murray 7. Blackville-Hilda 8. Ridge Spring-Monetta 9. Great Falls 10. Baptist Hill Suggested reading… You can read capsules of several games right here, including one detailing Jesus Benjamin’s big night…or you can choose not to. I ain’t the boss of you, Hoss. Green Sea Floyds is good at football. The team that plays next to the public course, behind the wall in the Pearl of the Piedmont is over .500 now and figures to lock up a winning record the next two weeks. |
TravisI am Travis, the king 0f SC 1A Football Archives
November 2021
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