Calhoun Falls (1-3) at McCormick (0-5)
The Flashes lost to Christ Church last week 50-6 and fell to Southside Christian 58-(I'll let Heart handle Calhoun Falls' end of the score). McCormick fell to Allendale-Fairfax 34-12, but that's not a bad showing for a winless team that had scored 18 points in three games going against a pretty dang good AA squad. The points surge can be directly related to the return of running back Mataeo Durant from injury. He's not just a spark plug for McCormick's offense, he's the starter, gas tank, carberator and pine tree air freshener all rolled into one. With him at full health, the Chiefs figure to kick it into another gear and run over the Flashes...so, I've already shot my limit on car analogies. Whitmire (2-4) at Ware Shoals (2-4) Whitmire, to me, showed more in last week's 34-26 loss to a good Bethune-Bowman team than it did in its two wins. As I've mentioned before, the Wolverines lost 18 seniors from last year, a tough blow to even a AAA or AAAA school, much less the smallest public school in the state. It's impressive how many kids the Wolverines have out for football, though, and Charlie Jenkins is legitimately building a program behind the brick wall, next to the public golf course. Maybe the new starters are starting to grow into their positions and the team is improving. It sure seems like it. Ware Shoals had its two-game win streak snapped by Crescent last week. Region I may not be the toughest in the state, but I honestly think it's the most wide open, so this is a really big game. Timmonsville (1-5) at Great Falls (0-6) You hate to start marking teams off this early, but with Region II only getting three playoff bids, the loser of this one is going to have an awfully tough time making it to the post-season with games against Lamar, Lewisville and McBee still to come. Great Falls lost to North Central 46-0 last week and had a difficult time generating any offense or impeding the running game of the Knights. The Whirlwinds have lost a lot of games close, including a 14-12 game against Scott's Branch last week. Great Falls will honor the 25th anniversary of it's 1991 undefeated state title team tonight. That team beat Timmonsville for the state title, so you know what that means...it means they beat them that year. Actually no relevance to this game at all. Lewisville (6-0) at McBee (3-2) Another huge region opener The Lion pounded C.A. Johnson (do you C.A. Johnson WOO HOO!) 52-0 last week. It was a well balanced rootin', with the Lions holding the Hornets to minus four yards of total offense, Trey Keels throwing for over 270 yards and the team running for more than 200. The special teams, led by Johnny Courtney, accounted for one score and set up another. McBee, of course, is a whole different animal. They busted out of a two-game slump with a big win over Mullins last week. Those two losses should come a caveat or an asterisk or maybe a sticky note that says "hurt folks" on it. They were without five starters, including stud running back Dashonnell Wright, but appear to be back to full strength now. If Lewisville wins, it sets up a de facto region title game against unbeaten and top-ranked Lamar next week. They can't get caught peaking forward, though. Blackville-Hilda (4-1) at Hunter-Kinard-Tyler (2-3) The Hawks proved quite a lot with last week's 20-2 win over the Chitterling Crusaders (Wagener-Salley). I was impressed with the team's 3-1 start, since they've been down for a few years, but wondered if all they'd done was the school-yard equivalent of beating up Larry, the husky kid who smelled like soup and saved his boogers in a Ziplock bag. Those three opponents they'd beaten were a combined 2-14. But they came out and not only beat previously-undefeated Wagener-Salley, they shut their offense out. Quarterback Derek Faust had a good game running the ball and making plays on the rare occasions the Hawks throw it, but the defense really stole the show (you can read more about the game right here). This is a big, physical team and it is time to start taking them seriously. HKT beat a struggling Estill team by eight last week, but had lost two straight previous to that and has been dealing with some tough injuries. Estill (0-5) at North (0-5) Probably the best chance each team has to win a game this year. Bout all I got on this one, Hoss. Wagener-Salley (4-1) at Williston-Elko (3-2) The Stump-Whooped All-Stars were rolling prior to last week, coming fresh off a 60-point effort against HKT and a quality win over Bethune-Bowman. They had nearly 300 yards of offense, but turned the ball over and had a little trouble getting Blackville-Hilda off the field and were held out of the end zone all night. Things don't get easier, as they now face a resurgent Williston team and the possibility of going 1-2 in the region after that 4-0 start. The Blue Devils started 0-2 and were not putting up the hot-a-rocky, dang-a-mosey, offensive numbers we're used to seeing from them. Of course, that came against two good teams from higher classifications. They've scored 99 points the past two weeks, so the ship seems righted. Last week, in a big win over RSM, Tyshawn Allen ran for 193 yards and three touchdown for the Devils...ON 12 FLIPPIN' CARRIES! So tackling Tyshawn obviously presents issues for opposing school children. With a win tonight, Williston's October 21 game against Blackville-Hilda certainly shapes up as a battle for first place in Region III. Charleston School for Vacuum Repair (0-6) at Baptist Hill (5-1) The school from Charleston (I've created so many variations of the name I forget what they're actually called) might walk funny or have eyes that don't blink at the same time after falling behind Lake View 41-0 last week AT THE END OF THE FIRST QUARTER!!!! Baptist Hill suffered its first loss two weeks ago and didn't put up the crazy video game numbers it did early in the season in last week's 22-0 win over North Charleston, but the passing attack led by quarterback Corey Fields should probably have a good night against the struggling Riptide team. So is their mascot a reference to water currents or the short-lived 80s TV show I enjoyed as a child? I'll check on that. St. John's (3-3) at Military Magnet (0-6) St. John's beat something called Oceanside Academy, who I bet are crazy awesome at beach volleyball and competitive sand castle building, badly last week. Military Magnet lost to Stall 35-12 last week in their most competitive game of the season, so... Branchville (2-3) at Scott's Branch (3-2) Scott's Branch's three wins come against teams with a combined 4-12 record (paging Larry, put down the Ziplock bag) but their two losses against pretty good to very good teams (Manning and Bamberg-Ehrhardt) were competitive. Branchville beat Palmetto Christian Academy last week...and thus ends the relevant things I have to offer on this football contest. Cross (4-1) at C.E. Murray (2-2) Cross shut out Lake Marion 22-0 last week and scuttled Baptist Hill's unbeaten start the week before that. The team's only loss was a close one to a very good Timberland squad several weeks ago but since then, even with key injuries, they've essentially diddled the championship aspirations of their opponents. Nate Walker is a threat to score from anywhere, but they have a stable of productive backs and defense that's pitched two shutouts, held Timberland to 13 and the aforementioned high-powered Baptist Hill to 18. This is a legitimate title contender. C.E. Murray gave up a halftime lead and fell to a good Hemingway team 28-12 last week. Still, Coach Brian Smith has some excellent players in the trenches and Darius Rush, a do-everything Swiss Army knife weapon on offense who one coach told me was the most explosive athlete in Class A. Marinate on that for a second. This is a huge region game right out of the box with the winner having an inside track to the title. Creek Bridge (0-5) at Hannah-Pamplico (3-2) Hannah-Pamplico is riding a nice three-game winning streak, having kept it alive with a game-winning touchdown pass with 15 second to go last week against Waccamaw. Good for the Raiders, who have enjoyed one winning season in the past 12 years. Creek Bridge was off last week but lost to C.E. Murray 43-0 the week before that, which continued their trend of allowing many more points than they score. That's the kind of thought-provoking analysis you come to this blog to read, I know. Hemingway (4-1) at East Clarendon (0-5) The Tigers have pieced together a very nice resume so far, with three "up" wins, last week's surprise over C.E. Murray and the lone loss being a competitive game with Andrews. East Clarendon has given up at least 47 points in each of its last three losses. So, you know, this one might not go well for East Clarendon. Lake View (5-0) at Green Sea-Floyds (3-2) Green Sea is having a nice season, with three wins, a couple of very close losses and offense that produces big numbers on the ground. Lake View is ranked second in the state, scored 41 points in a quarter last week, eats live possums and craps bullets...which would seem to be all the information one would need in breaking down this match-up.
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Christ Church- 50
Calhoun Falls Charter- 6 Dixie- 49 Greenwood Christian- Tell em 'bout it Whitney Crescent- 47 Ware Shoals- 20 Bethune-Bowman- 34 Whitmire- 26 North Central- 46 Great Falls- Tell em 'bout it Dwight Lamar- 35 Crestwood- 21 Lewisville- 52 C.A. Johnson- Tell em 'bout it Dean Wormer McBee- 40 Mullins- 28 Scott's Branch- 14 Timmonsville- 12 Blackville-Hilda- 20 Wagener-Salley- 2 Denmark-Olar- 42 North- 6 Hunter-Kinard-Tyler- 22 Estill- 14 Williston-Elko- 44 Ridge Spring-Monetta- 28 Baptist Hill- 22 North Charleston- Tell em 'bout it Gene (RIP GENE) R.B. Stall- 35 Military Magnet- 12 St. John's- 53 Oceanside Academy- 6 Lake View- 59 The Charleston Finishing School and Bricklaying Academy- 6 Branchville- 19 Palmetto Christian Academy- 3 Hemingway- 28 C.E. Murray- 12 Cross- 22 Lake Marion- Tell em 'bout it Sgt. Schultz Green Sea Floyds- 26 Camden Military- Tell em 'bout it Alison Hannah-Pamplico- 19 Waccamaw- 15 Breakdown- First of all, my apologies for the tardiness of this post, but sometimes work has to come before writing goofy blog entries about football. I mean, it doesn't come before it by choice, but I like having the ability to store perishable food items and flush my toilet...because I'm spoiled and weak. My great grandiddy didn't have no fancified refrigerators and functioning commodes. He ate dirty taters, raw, right out of the ground, and old salted pork, did his business in the creek next to hungry bears. But I digress... With nearly everyone already into their region schedules, we had fewer "playing up" games last week. It was a good week on that front, though, with Class a schools posting a 6-4 record against teams from higher classifications. Your winners included Lamar over Crestwood, Lewisville over C.A. Johnson, McBee over Mullins (so the beastly Region II accounted for half of the "up" wins), Baptist Hill over North Charleston, Cross over Lake Marion and Hannah-Pamplico over Waccamaw. The one that really sticks out, obviously, is top ranked Lamar not only beating a AAAA team, but beating a good AAAA team and doing so handily. Crestwood actually returned the opening kick-off for a score, so Lamar trailed for the first time this season. From there, though, The Silver Foxes doled out a 35-14 rogering. My confidential, embedded Lamar correspondent said the team didn't do anything fancy, they just played solid in all phases and physically whipped a school five times their size. The numbers back that up, as Lamar attempted only nine passes. Jaquez Lucas had 139 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, Tyriek Herion added 122 and the awesomely-named Jeblonski Green ran for two scores. For a long time I enjoyed watching Lamar because they had a crisp, well-run, balanced offense with some surprises and wrinkles added almost every week. They aren't like that now, really, having gone to a much heavier ground-based, three-back offense last year. They had maybe the most explosive back in the state last year (Tre Caesar) and this year have three guys that log a lot of carries and consistently move the chains. The switch has obviously been a good one, since the team has won 14 in-a-row dating back to last year (including the state title game). Slightly longer drives, perhaps, have helped keep the defense fresher...so it's sort of like a box baking soda in your refrigerator. You know, it's cool to have leftover fish and collards, you just don't want to have to smell them every time you open the door. So, it's like a big, scary box of baking soda that wears a helmet and runs a 4.5 and drinks your blood. The two-day delay obviously did not aid me in crafting better metaphors, but you get my point. The defense, in this 14-game winning streak, is allowing 6.8 points a game. Lamar has this Friday off, then opens the region with what figures to be one of the games in the year in Class A against Lewisville. Speaking of the Lions, they laid waste to C.A. Johnson (do you C.A. Johnson...woo hoo!) 52-0 Friday and that was with a running second-half clock. The previous week they had a little bit of a sloppy game against Eau Claire, with a couple of touchdowns being wiped out by penalties and three turnovers. They clicked on all cylinders last week, though. Trey Keels threw for more than 270 yards on only 12 completions, the rushing attack ripped off yards in giant chunks, the defense held the Hornets to negative four yards and the punt return team accounted for a score and set up two others. A lot of people are already looking toward next week when Lamar and Lewisville face off...The Lions are not among those looking ahead, though, since they face a now-healthy McBee team Friday. After losing two straight while Deshonnel Wright and others were out, the team bounced back to knock off Mullins last week. Region II will be a three way world war type of situation between the three schools and we'll have a pretty good handle on who has the inside track in the next few weeks, since Lewisville opens the region by playing McBee and Lamar. The already thin ranks of the undefeated got even thinner Friday as Wagener-Salley lost to Blackville-Hilda 20-2. I was pretty sold on the Pig Innard All-Stars based on the fact that I saw their level of improvement from 2014 to last year and saw their 4-0 start as the next step in that process. Granted, they only had one win that I would've put in the "quality" category (Bethune-Bowman) but they were winning by wide margins and racking up insane, video game-type rushing numbers. That obviously ceased Friday, when they were only two points away from having their score explained with a dumb video link or a reference to a white candy bar in my scoreboard. I wasn't sure what to make of Blackville-Hilda coming into that game. They were on a three-game winning streak, but those games came against teams with a combined record of 2-14, so there was a possibility they were feasting on a sweet, delicious cupcake of a schedule. I think in completely shutting down a highly productive Chittlin' Town offense, we have evidence that they are legitimately good. I haven't seen the Fighting Hawks in person, but I've talked to some folks who have. Their size stands out...that goes both up front and in the backfield. They are running a sort of funky single-wing-ish offense that utilizes two quarterbacks. They run some QB sweeps and stuff, but it's a steady diet of "oww Blackville, that hurts" right up the gut. As we've already discussed, running the ball, owning the clock and playing good defense is a perfectly acceptable way to comport ourself on the football field. Quick hits- Big congrats go to Lake View defensive back Dwane Nichols for being selected to the Shrine Bowl roster. He was the only Class A player so honored. The. Only. One. I know good players are going to get left off the roster because there are more good players than spots for them and many will be selected for the North-South game, but Class A always seems to get the crap end of the selection process. Unless a player has a bunch of D-1 college offers, they are rarely picked. On-field production is way down the list of criteria that seems to be considered, which is a shame since a guy who runs like a deer and can bench press a house at a combine sometimes can't tackle or block or keep from messing his pants on the field. Class A players are FAR more likely to play both ways than in other classes, the epitomize what high school football should be and I wish more of them got all-star recognition for it. Someone give me a hand, I need help getting off this high, high horse...The 59-6 warping Lake View laid on the Charleston School for Culinary Arts and Moped Repair (or whatever the actual name is) was actually far worse than I imagined. It was 41-0 AT THE END OF THE FIRST QUARTER! So they were on pace to score 164 points, which I think is a lot. Stone Spivey, who sounds like he should be tag-teaming with Chief Wahoo McDaniel, returned two interceptions for touchdown in the opening frame. The aforementioned Nichols, who also plays quarterback, accounted for three touchdowns in the first 12 minutes. Hard to see how they don't finish the regular season undefeated and continue to leave scores of butt hurt school children in their wake...Hard not to be happy for Hannah-Pamplico, who is sitting at 3-2. The program has had one winning season in the last 12 years but is now riding a three-game winning streak and kept it alive in dramatic fashion, getting an Eric Mays touchdown pass with 15 seconds left to down Waccamaw 19-15...Now for our weekly AA update. My favorite non-Class A player, Mullins running back Willie Nelson, had a touchdown last week against McBee, but his team still lost 40-28, so I don't guess he got to celebrate it much. When you lose, THE PARTY'S OVER real quick. SNERK DIDDLY DAW HAW HEE! Suggested reading Lewisville doled out a most inhospitable railing to C.A. Johnson and Great Falls had a tough time on the road against North Central. Just a warning, though, dude that wrote that stories is hacky deluxe. They tied in a rousing game of "who has more hyphens in their name" but Williston-Elko won a game of football against Ridge Spring-Monetta. You can read capsules on wins by Cross, Denmark-Olar, Blackville-Hilda and others here, or can make other life choices and suck as a person. You be you, Hoss. Southside Christian- 58
Calhoun Falls Charter- < 1 Dixie- 43 Spartanburg Christian Academy- 22 Ware Shoals- 40 Greenwood Christian- 7 Whitmire- 16 Branchville- 6 Lamar- 55 East Clarendon- 14 Lewisville- 22 Eau Claire- 12 Hannah-Pamplico- 20 Timmonsville- 14 Blackville-Hilda- 26 Denmark-Olar- They lacked points Williston-Elko- 55 Estill- 12 Wagener-Salley- 60 Hunter-Kinard-Tyler- 12 Ridge Spring-Monetta- 45 North- 12 Cross- 51 Baptist Hill- 18 Allendale-Fairfax- 56 Charleston Taxidermy Learning Lab- Love Green Sea-Floyds- 53 Military Magnet- 6 Hanahan- 28 St. John's- 7 Bethune-Bowman- 22 C.A. Johnson- 20 C.E. Murray- 43 Creek Bridge- NOT NAM Scott's Branch- 22 Edisto- 10 Hemingway- 44 Waccamaw- Tell 'em bout it Beavis Lake View- 44 South Robeson- 14 Breakdown- I thought Cross v Baptist Hill was going to be a whale of a match-up, of course I also thought the Magic Bullet blender was going to revolutionize my kitchen. Did you ever see the infomercial for that thing? A British guy and his hot wife had a bunch of friends stumble into their house one morning. They made milkshakes, smoothies, mixed drinks, alfredo sauce, chicken salad and nachos in that amazing device. Why anyone is making nachos and chicken salad early in the morning is a question I'd never really considered until just this second, but we'll ponder that later. The fat friend ate the nachos, the drunk friend took a margarita and an old lady, who looked like she was smoking a couch, helped herself to some soup...because nothing goes with an unfilitered Marlboro quite like a steaming hot bowl of tomato soup. Well I bought one and broke it the second time I ever used it. My hopes and dreams of impromptu parties with smoking soup lady and a world of culinary possibilities were ended by a handful of frozen strawberries. Well, Cross played the part of the frozen strawberries Friday night...which may be the worst analogy I've every made. In Cross, you had the estabished team that returned much of the talent from a squad that narrowly lost to Lake View in last year's post-season. Baptist Hill was sort of a feel-good story, bouncing back from a couple of lousy seasons to storm out to a 4-0 record behind the gaudy production of quarterback Corey Fields, who came into the game with more than 1,200 passing yards, 14 touchdowns and no picks. They had a couple of wins over pretty good AA teams that had beaten them badly the year before, but Cross is obviously a completely different animal. Even with its starting quarterback out of commission and with a freshman lining up at center, they doled out a physical whipping. That back-up QB (Torrest Richardson) ran for two scores, Nate Walker had 167 yards on only 13 carries and five different players scored a rushing touchdown. This isn't the end of things for Baptist Hill, which should be 8-1 headed into the season finale against St. John's, but it's a statement from Cross that they belong right alongside Lake View and C.E. Murray in the lowerstate championship discussion. They face C.E. Murray in two weeks in what could decide the Region V championship. Does the Magic Bullet have a "remove poop from chittlins" setting? Is that segueway worse than the strawberry analogy? Probably, yes. Anyway, the folks from Chittlin'ville (Wagener-Salley) remained among the ranks of the undefeated with a 60-12 rogering of Hunter-Kinard-Tyler. I'd read that HKT quarterback Devonte Scott was nursing a shoulder injury and given that he went 2-of-7 for 35 yards, I suspect that may still be the case, since they are normally a spread it and chunk it offense. Wagener-Salley has already matched its win total from last year and is enjoying a terrific season thanks to a no-frills offense that pummels opposing school children with a stable of athletic backs like Tre Davis Tyquaun Williams behind a big ol' offensive line and a defense that's yielding eight points a game. Now, they only have one real signature win so far this year (over Bethune-Bowman) but they'll have chances to get two more in the next two weeks facing a suddenly-resurgent Blackville-Hilda team and Williston-Elko. There weren't many "playing up" games this week, with Class A schools going 3-3 against teams of higher classifications, with your winners being Bethune-Bowman over C.A. Johnson, Hemingway over Waccamaw and Scott's Branch over Edisto. The lack of those match-ups was partly due to some teams already having moved into the region portion of their schedules, while other teams played out-of-state or private schools. Really, there weren't a ton of great match-ups this week...it was a big fat bowl of meh, but that will change this week as nearly everyone will begin their quest for playoff spots with critical region contests. Quick Hits- While I totally crapped the bed on selling Cross-Baptist Hill as a titanic clash of 1A powerhouses, I did say Hemingway would roll Waccamaw, which they did. That was almost as bold a call as when I once proclaimed "I bet if I take off my pants in line at Burger King, I'll get some crazy looks." I was right that time too...Lamar won again in blowout fashion last Friday despite not piling up huge offensive numbers (just under 300 total yards). I've been kind of surprised that the Silver Foxes haven't had one guy emerge as an explosive offensive weapon, but Jacquez Lucas, the awesomely-named Jeblonski Green or someone else seem to get near 100 yards rushing and a couple of touchdowns every week. They don't throw it much anymore, but there's obviously nothing wrong with running the ball, eating the clock and stepping on people's souls defensively. They have two huge tests coming up as they face AAAA Crestwood this Friday, they get a week off, then face Lewisville in a game that could put one or the other in the driver's seat in the region...Blackville-Hilda has won three straight and allowed 12 points total in those victories. The only catch is that the combined record of their three recent victims is 1-12, but the wins have come in impressive, you could even say dominant fashion. Somone I know has seen them and said "they got some men down there." This week against unbeaten Wagener-Salley will give us a much better idea as to whether they've taken a step forward as a program after a few atypically down years, or have just reaped the benefits of dining on sweet, delicious creampuffs the past few weeks...Ridge Spring-Monetta's Rocky Israel had 164 total yards of offense and four touchdowns Friday night, which is pretty good when you consider he touched the ball five times. I'm not a coach or anything, but that seems good...Not gonna pick on anybody right now, but have a look at each region and tell me how it's fair to have a pre-determined number of playoff teams from each just based on the number of teams in the region? There are a couple you can easily pick out that don't, at this point, really need a guaranteed four or five playoff teams...And my weekly outside of Class A blurb, I was again unable to find a stat line for my favorite AA player, Mullins RB Willie Nelson. Man, that is....CRAZY! HERPY DERPDY DIDDLY HAW!!!! Suggested reading The playoffs...THERE'S A BETTER WAY PEOPLE!!!! Blackville-Hilda defeated Denmark-Olar Friday, thus securing the golden hyphen trophy for another year...not really, but they should play for such a thing. You can read capsules on several games, including wins for Ridge Spring-Monetta and Wagener-Salley here...or can be a big stupid jerk about it. Everyone is tired of your attitude Russ. This one had all the makings of a classic...right up until the game started and Cross savagely beat Baptist Hill. Ware Shoals beat somebody-or-another. Southside Christian (4-0) at Calhoun Falls Charter (1-1)
Calhoun Falls Charter was off last week and has only played two games so far this season, for some reason. Southside Christian is ranked second in the AA polls, which is curious since three of their wins are against not-very-good Class A teams and their four opponents combined are 5-11 on the season. Clayton Coulter had more than 300 yards passing and four touchdowns last week in a win over Dixie, the defense has only allowed 18 points this year, the Sabres beat Calhoun Falls Charter 55-0 last year and, you know, this may not go well for the Flashes. Spartanburg Christian Academy (2-2) at Dixie (2-2) Dixie has, wisely, dialed back their schedule a bit this year, which is a good idea for a program that has struggled for several years, has a new coach and is trying to gain some traction. They beat Camden Military two weeks ago and now take on Spartanburg Christian Academy. I'm not even going to pretend to know by butt from a mailbox where SCISA is concerned (though I do have a guy for that) but I do know SCA lost to Thomas Sumter Academy 14-13. I was surprised to learn Thomas Sumter Academy's mascot was not the Gamecock, which is strange, since Thomas Sumter's nickname was "The Gamecock." They're named "The Generals," which is still a means of honoring Thomas Sumter, I guess since he was one. They could also have named themselves "The Planters" or "The jaunty wig wearin' soldiers" and both would've been accurate where ol' Thomas is concerned...no YOU'RE talking about irrelevent crap to distract people from how little you know about these teams. Let's move on. Ware Shoals (1-3) at Greenwood Christian (1-3) I've got big fat nothing on this game too, other than Greenwood Christian's coach is named Jolly Doolite. That sounds like the name of Santa's laziest elf. "He's got a real sunny dispostion, but he won't put together a doll house for crap, Santa. You need to light a fire under him. Ware Shoals actually trailed Great Falls 22-0 last week early in the second, then scored 72 straight points to win in a rout. Janius Jefferson racked up nearly 200 yards rushing on the night and scored five touchdowns for the Purple Hornets. They were rightly excited about a huge blowout win and given the program's struggles the past few years, who can blame them...now, I'm not here to tell anybody how to do their job, live their life and raise their kids, but if it was me, and it ain't, I don't think that excitement would compel me to go for an onside kick up 40 in the fourth quarter...but that's just me. Whitmire (1-3) at Branchville (1-2) I don't think you can actually get from Whitmire to Branchville. Seriously. You have to get out of your car at some point and cross a stream on a donkey or something. Anywho, Branchville was off last week, but Whitmire was on the business end of a vigorous rootin' from Lewisville, losing 62-8. They allowed 500 yards of offense and managed only 100, 70 of which came on one play. Coach Charlie Jenkins, whose name sweats and poops greatness, has done a good job building a program at Whitmire and has some young talent on hand, but when you have 160ish students and lose 18 seniors, it's going to take time to plug all the holes and develop those young players. This is a game they should have a good chance to win, however. East Clarendon (0-4) at Lamar (4-0) East Clarendon lost to Latta 48-14 last week, while Lamar whipped Eau Claire 48-7. The Wolverines have averaged just nine points a game this year, the Silver Foxes have allowed only 2.5 a game. This isn't really an irresistable force meeting an immovable object, it's more like an anemic gnat with a hernia and a missing wing meeting an immovable object. NOTE TO SELF: Work on crafting better analogies. Timmonsville (1-3) at Hannah-Pamplico (1-2) Timmonsville is probably better than its record indicates, with competitive losses to Lee Central, North Central and Wilson on the resume so far this year. HP beat the sausages...I should rephrase that, they defeated Johnsonville 36-35 and showed some mega stones by going for two (and the win) after scoring a touchdown in the final minute. Blackville-Hilda (2-1) at Denmark-Olar (1-2) The Fighting Hawks appear to be taking a step back toward contention this year, with back-to-back wins. I'm told they run a sort of funky single-wing offense with two quarterbacks and have tremendous size. Denmark-Olar did win over Branchville last week, but prior to that had scored a total of six points in two games...the Hawks have allowed just 12 points in their last two games. This isn't really an irresistable force meeting...wait, have I done this already? I've done this already. This is a region game, by the way. Does anyone but me have trouble grasping the fact that we have region games being played already? Estill (0-2) at Williston-Elko (1-2) After an atypically slow start, Williston-Elko got it going a bit last week, knocking off AA Woodland 29-14. The team still hasn't shown the offensive firepower you expect from a program that has scored 70 bajillion points in the last 10 years (I'm estimating and am not good at numbers). They had only 30 points in the their first two games and the 29 points last week was aided by four interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown. Tyron Parker did have 110 yards on the ground in that one. Estill didn't play last week, hasn't shown much in the way offense either, but hasn't been terrible on defense. HKT (1-2) at Wagener-Salley (3-0) This is a fairly big game this early in the season between a recent state champion and a team that is definitely on the rise. It's hard to know what to make of HKT right now. They beat the team on their schedule they should have beaten (Edisto, badly) and lost to the two teams you figured they'd lose to (Calhoun County and Fairfield Central). Unfortunately, junior quarterback Davonte Scott (a huge two-way threat) has an injured shoulder and had to come out early in last week's loss to the Saints. If he can't play, that's bad news with the team going against the Creek Slung All-Stars. Wagener-Salley got the best 1A over 1A win last week, in my opinion, knocking off previously unbeaten Bethune-Bowman. The special teams played a huge part in the win, with two first-wuarter punt returns for scores. A healthy Scott might make this interesting and a bit of a shoot-out, but minus that, it sure feels like Wagener-Salley will keep on rolling. North (0-3) at Ridge Spring-Monetta (1-2) North is struggling pretty badly right now. They're losses havent been close, including those coming to struggling Branchville and C.A. Johnson (DO YOU C.A. JOHNSON!?!?! WOO HOO). RSM got kicked around pretty good playing up against good teams in Saluda and Batesburg-Leesville, but bounced back to throttle Whitmire its last time out. The team's match-up next week with Williston-Elko figures to be a pretty good measuring stick game for both teams. Cross (2-1) at Baptist Hill (4-0) This is the game of the week in Class A football. Baptist Hill is the feel-good team of the year in Class A, starting 4-0 after winning five games the past two years. Quarterback Corey Fields is a big reason why. In four games he has 1,228 yards passing, 14 touchdown passes and NOT NAM interception. Richard Bailey (23 catches, five touchdowns) and Rashad Maxwell (23 and two) are his favorite targets and the scary prospect for everybody is that all three are juniors. Cross is 2-1, but they've played a growed-up man's schedule that included Timberland (whom they nearly beat) and AA Kingstree (whom they diddled 38-0). That win last week came despite Cross's starting quarterback being out and several other starters missing. Their stable of backs (Nate Walker, Kendale Gadis and Qwan Felder all had at least one rushing touchdown) was more than enough to make up the difference. Torrest Richardson had three interceptions, so he vs Fields should be an interesting battle. Cross beat Baptist Hill 30-6 last year, but it's worth noting that the Bobcats have already beaten two schools this season that routed them last year. This should be a great one. Allendale-Fairfax (2-1) at Charleston School of Cosmetology and Haberdashery (0-4) This doesn't need much analysis. Charleston has lost its four games by a combined score 209-0 and are playing a ranked AA squad in A-F. But on the bright side, the kids will get some exercise and, um...that's probably about it, really. Military Magnet (0-4) at Green Sea-Floyds (1-2) GSF is another team that's probably better than the record indicates. They lost in overtime to Aynor 22-20, then fell 28-14 last week to Loris. They are a power running team with several productive backs, though Mahammud Graham is the primary threat and had 85 yards and both touchdowns last week. Military Magnet has struggled on defense and has given up more than 50 points twice. Exercise, mamas will be proud of 'em anyway, etc. Hanahan (1-3) at St. John's (2-2) Hanahan opened with a win over May River, which honestly sounds like somebody's grandmama, then then lost three straight. Last week was a close one for them as they fell to Berkeley 26-25 despite a 161-yard rushing effort from Jerry Bradley. St. John's beat up on North Charleston last week and have the awesomely-named LaRhynz Givens at running back and a good QB in Cameron Smiley. Outside of those things, I've got big fat nothing for you on this one, Hoss. C.A. Johnson (1-2) at Bethune-Bowman (3-1) The Mohawks suffered their first defeat of the season last week, falling to Wagener-Salley 29-6. The kicking game put the team in an early hole and they obviously found the offensive sledding tough against the guys from Chittlin' land. Playing a struggling Hornets team should give them a chance to rebound and take out their frustrations...the unhealthy kind your doctor says you need meds for that scares the neighbors and led the court to rule that you couldn't own another parakeet. You know what I'm talking about...or don't, since I don't either. Let's just move along. C.E. Murray (1-1) at Creek Bridge (0-4) Coach Brian Smith and the War Eagles are probably just glad to get on the field after a two-week layoff. They had an off week built in, but the closing of Lincoln High School in late May left a hole in the schedule they weren't able to fill, leading to the long stretch between games. I had an interesting chat with a coach recently, one who's pretty plugged in...he thinks Detrel Rush from C.E. Murray is the most explosive athlete in Class A this year. When you think about some of the studs playing in 1A (many of whom are mentioned above) that's high praise indeed. I'm not going to sit here and pretend to know a lot about Creek Bridge, but I'll give them some credit on one front. They've played a completely beastly schedule this year, playing up in all four contests. The games haven't been close, but against fellow Class A teams, they could be more competitive. We'll see. Scott's Branch (1-2) at Edisto (1-2) Scott's Branch's 1-2 record is really not that bad if you look at it closely. The two losses came to Bamberg-Ehrhardt, one of the top teams in AA 25-6, and 28-0 to a 3-1 AAA team in Manning. Edisto broke the state's longest losing streak with a close win over Eau Claire last week. Thus ends the relevant things I have to say about this match-up. Waccamaw (1-2) at Hemingway (2-1) This could be a 1A over AAA upset in the making. Waccamaw lost by 41 points to Carvers Bay last week...who scored 41 points, so I'll let you figure out how many Waccamaw scored. It's the educational portion of the program. Hemingway rolled over Kingstree and Johnsonville to start the year and acuitted themselves well in a loss to a good Andrews team last week. Here's another team that doesn't schedule weenie sewing circles and Cub Scout troops. Good on you Hemingway. Lake View (3-0) at South Robeson (0-3) I have no idea what to tell you on South Robeson, a team from North Carolina, other than they are 0-3 and lost to someone or something called Purnell Swett two weeks ago. Purnell Swett? Lake View is 3-0, they are probably the favorite to win the lowerstate crown right now and South Robeson will lose to them, even if Purnell shows up to help them out. Southside Christian- 35
Dixie- 35 fewer points than Southside Christian had Blackville-Hilda- 26 McCormick- 6 Ware Shoals- 77 Great Falls- 22 Lewisville- 62 Whitmire- 8 Lamar- 48 Eau Claire- 7 Pageland Central- 40 McBee- 16 North Central- 24 Timmonsville- 7 Calhoun County- 33 Hunter-Kinard-Tyler- They scored what that white candy bar is named C.A. Johnson- 39 North- 8 Wagener-Salley- 29 Bethune-Bowman- 6 Williston-Elko- 29 Woodland- 14 Baptist Hill- 20 Academic Magnet- 19 Battery Creek- 54 Charleston Charter School for Finger-painting and Equestrian Activities- zip Garrett Academy Polytechnic Institute- 56 Military Magnet- 16 St. John's- 48 North Charleston- 18 Cross- 38 Kingstree- 0 Bamberg-Ehrhardt- 25 Scott's Branch- 6 Aynor- 47 Creek Bridge- 18 Latta- 48 East Clarendon- 14 Loris- 28 Green Sea-Floyds- 14 Hannah-Pamplico- 36 The sausages- 35 Andrews- 44 Hemingway- 22 Lake View- 54 Mullins- 30 Breakdown- First off, my apologies for the lack of previews or week in review last week. I had a family member get married and was out of town for several days as a result. I mean, I really love 1A football and sure do appreciate all of you who read my silly musings, but if you were chilling in Charleston with lots of free food and tasty adult beverages, you wouldn't have written a preview about Hannah-Pamplico v Johnsonville either. Don't say you would have. Also, rest assured my cousin paid dearly for the transgression of scheduling his wedding on a football Friday...he asked me (and another equally goofballish cousin) to deliver a speech at the reception...after the open bar had been serving for a good 90 minutes. That worked out really, really well for him. But I digress. We're still in the time of the season when a lot of Class A teams are "playing up" and it was a pretty good week on that front. Class A teams went 7-11 against larger classes, with your winners being Lake View (54-30 over Mullins), Hannah-Pamplico (36-35 over the sausage demons), Cross (with a 38-0 whipping of Kingstree), St. John's (a 48-18 victor over North Charleston), Baptist Hill (with a 20-19 win over previously unbeaten Academic Magnet), Williston-Elko (29-14 over Woodland) and Lamar (who pantsed Eau Claire 48-7). I told you some time ago that my secret, embedded lowcountry pigskin poobah said Lake View looked like one of the teams to beat. With most of their starters back from last year, a big talented offensive line that injures opposing school children and a stable of backs, they were his favorite to represent the lowerstate in Columbia. WELP! Looks like he knew what he was talking about as they ran for six touchdowns against AA Mullins...then threw a couple for the same reason you pointed and laughed at Jimmy the booger-eater after you smoked him in the face in dodgeball in 4th grade...because he wasn't going to do anything about it. The only thing about Lake View that bugs me is something they largely can't do anything about, which is their schedule. Their remaining opponents are 4-20 on the season, so they aren't going to be tested until the playoffs start and aren't really going to be proving anything with the string of big victories that are to come. They'll just be picking on ol' Jimmy for the next seven weeks. Baptist Hill remains, to me, a team that is flying under the radar but deserves a lot of attention. Now, I don't know how good Academic Magnet is (the team they beat Friday) but I do know that's a team that beat Baptist Hill 50-14 last year. It's the second time Baptist Hill has doled out a whoopin' to a AA team that beat them last year (Garrett High Academy A&M Lowcountry Campus being the other). Quarterback Corey Fields, who already has a game with 500 yards of total offense on his resume this year, went for 289 and three touchdowns in the air against the smart kids and Richard Bailey caught eight balls for 157 yards and a score. The Bobcats should rightly get some attention this week as they'll be taking part in one of Class A's biggest contests Friday, facing Cross. Cross, just oh by the way, with its starting quarterback out for most of the game and several starters, umm, not available for the first half, we'll phrase it that way, completely trucked Kingstree 38 to NOT NAM. Torrest Richardson was pressed into action under center when the team's normal QB got gored or cut or something and needed stitches. He obviously did a good job there and at defensive back where he picked off three passes. As an aside, maybe don't throw it at Torrest...that doesn't seem to be an effective offensive strategy. Nate Walker ran for 167 yards for Cross. I'll have a full preview of this match-up later in the week, provided some cousin doesn't elope between now and then. Normally a Class A team losing to a school from a higher classification doesn't phase me much. I authored the definitive work of our times on the struggles inherent in the enrollment gap...or either it was a turd on an onion roll that confused people with too many numbers, I guess that's up to you...but the point here is that bigger schools usually have more athletes walking the halls, greater depth, more money for coaches etc., so bigger schools should beat smaller ones as a general rule. However, I was fairly well taken aback when I saw how badly Pageland Central worked McBee. My understanding is that Pageland is a little down this year, they already lost badly to Lamar (a team in McBee's region) and the Panthers have wins over a AAAA team and a good AA team this year. So Pageland 40, McBee 16 just didn't seem to make sense. As luck would have it, I do have a McBee guy to contact for just such emergencies...he's different than my soothsaying lowcounty/Lamar guy I mentioned earlier, but he told me McBee has five starters out injured, including Dashonnell Wright. If you've seen him play, you understand what a tremendous loss that is on both sides of the ball. He's like a crazy cross-breeding of a logging truck and a cheetah with the ball in his hands. Not really sure how that would work, you know, is it a big hairy truck, or is it a cheetah body with 18 wheels and a "how's my driving call 1-800-blah-blah" sticker on the back? The point is that he can run past you or over you and you don't take a talent like that off the field without a drop-off. The Panthers are off this week, which will hopefully give he and others time to get healthy. With the way Lewisville and Lamar are playing right now, they'll need their crazy truck-cheetah and all other hands on deck when region play begins. Quick hits- Ware Shoals came into Friday averaging seven points a game, then scored 77 against Great Falls. I've checked the math on that and can confirm they improved their scoring average...Lamar gave up its first touchdown of the year against Eau Claire on a 91-yard run by Jarquise Carter early in the game. That proved to be kind of like goading a bear or messin' with Sasquatch or accusing a gorilla's mother of working in a house of ill repute. The Shamrocks had 14 yards the rest of the game. It's pretty impressive, though, to think in four games, Lamar's defense hasn't gotten burned, gotten out of position, blown an assignment etc ONE FLIPPIN' TIME!...Blackville-Hilda won its second straight game and has allowed just 12 points total in those two victories. The Hawks are big, they run a funky offense and I'm glad to see them having success. I don't like seeing traditional powers down for too long and they've struggled for a few years. They have a winnable game coming up against Denmark-Olar, then we'll see how improved they are when they face Wagener-Salley the following week...Speaking of the Stump-Whooped All-Stars, they got the best Class A v Class A win of the week with a 29-6 victory over Bethune-Bowman, who came in unbeaten. Wagener-Salley ran two kicks back for scores early and rolled from there. They're 3-0 and can match last season's win total this Friday when they face a beat-up HKT squad. They, along with Bethune-Bowman and Baptist Hill, are one of this year's feel-good turnaround stories in Class A...Lewisville rolled up exactly 500 yards of offense in a rout of Whitmire while giving up exactly 100 yards, which is pure symmetry, or just a meaningless stat I'm making too much of, one or the other...I didn't see a box score or stats, so I don't know how my favorite non-Class A player (Willie Nelson of Mullins) did against Lake View, but he'll have a chance at another big game next week when the Aucs are ON THE ROAD AGAIN. SEE WHAT I DID THERE? HERP DIDDLY HAW HEE!!!! Suggested reading Cross is better at football than Kingstree. You can read capsules of lots of games here, including Lamar's win over Eau Claire and Lake View's victory over Mullins, which will allow you the chance to laugh at my incredibly funny Willie Nelson joke all over again. Hunter-Kinard-Tyler has some players hurt and was the rare victim of a shutout on the scoreboard Friday, but they are never shut out in the comma department, so there's that. Williston-Elko is better at football than Woodland. I used that line already didn't I? Yep. I checked and I sure did. I'll try to do better. You can read these capsules on Scott's Branch and the Chitterling Monsters, or can choose not to and pretend to know what happened. You're not fooling anybody, Bo, we know the truth. The following games have been rescheduled because of the forecast of terrible weather...not that bad weather forecasts always come true.
Marion at Creek Bridge, Thursday at 7:30 Aynor at Green Sea-Floyds, Thursday at 7:00 Timberland at Cross, Thursday at 7:00 Branchville at Denmark-Olar, Thursday at 7:00 Lamar at Darlington, Thursday at 7:30 Baptist Hill at Burke, Thursday at 6:30 Buford at Lewisville, Thursday at 7:00 McBee at Cheraw, Thursday at 7:30 Timmonsville at Lee Central, Thursday at 7:30 Chesterfield at East Clarendon, Saturday at noon Bethune-Bowman at North, Saturday at noon Hemingway at Johnsonville, Saturday at 3:00 For a full list of rescheduled games across the state, go to SCHSL.org |
TravisI am Travis, the king 0f SC 1A Football Archives
November 2021
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