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.
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TravisI am Travis, the king 0f SC 1A Football Archives
November 2021
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