Dixie (3-2) at McCormick (0-4)
If it is possible for a shutout loss to be a feather in your cap, then Dixie has a gigundous ostrich plume in their derby. Yes, they were shut out by Ninety-Six, but it was a 12-0 game and we’re talking about a ranked AA team that hung 62 on Emerald, 57 on St. Joe’s and 45 on Crescent. They played some grown man defense and now they’ll be facing their first Class A opponent of the year. The Chiefs have struggled mightily on offense in the post Mataeo Durant era (14 points in four games), but that’s to be expected. I mean, deer move real fast, but if you hog tie and blindfold them, then TRY RUNNING NOW BAMBI! What was I talking about? The Chiefs aren’t lacking in talent at all. Watch some highlights of Silas Cannady and I promise you’ll see a guy capable of totin’ the tater and making some big plays. Part of McCormick’s problem has been playing a really rugged schedule…of course, that holds true tonight, so… Whitmire (3-2) at Ware Shoals (0-6) The Wolverines are coming off a 29-0 thumping of the Mr. T Haircuts. In that game they got 114 yards and two touchdowns from Jaylin Brown and Chandler Crumley added 81 yards. Nate Stanley ran for a score and ran a pick back for six. Those three sentences are a perfect microcosm of Whitmire’s attack. They have any of about 6 guys who are liable to get carries on a given night and hurt you. They run that scrum, which let me tell you as a reporter how miserably hard it is to get a good picture when what you get on every play is a pig pile of 11 dudes surging in one direction. The thing is, they do run some outside stuff better than most teams in that offense do and about the time you start crowding the line, they’ll burn your butt with a wheel route. They’re scrappy as all get out and play very hard. Now, I saw Ware Shoals last week in its marathon quintuple overtime loss to Great Falls. I know they’ve had some bad losses this year, but I was impressed with the degree to which those kids don’t quit. Both teams had guys that scarcely left the field for four quarters and five overtimes. They played their tails off and they have some guys who can play. They rotate quarterbacks and Jermarius Goodman made some nice plays when he was under center as did Ben Webb. Their receivers aren’t blazing fast but they got open and caught the ball and the Weaver kid at RB is a thumper. As long as they keep fighting like they did last week, they’ll win a game before the season ends, just probably not tonight. Camden Military (3-0) at Great Falls (3-2) In an odd quirk caused by that blasted hurricane, these two teams played Ware Shoals four days apart, with both getting close wins. The Red Devils gutted one out last week. Really, they dominated regulation, but they just couldn’t finish drives. Ware Shoals scored on its opening possession, did about nothing for three quarters and change, then scored with five seconds left to force overtime. I think it actually hurt Great Falls that they ran the opening kick back for six. Considering Ware Shoals had lost to Bob’s Backyard Bearcats or whoever and were 0-5, they might have thought it was going to be an easy night. Coach Scotty Steen agreed with that assessment. You have to remember this is a super young team. That young talent (guys like Hunter Funderburk, Quay Bowser, Kaleb Funderburk, Xavian Moore) are all underclassmen, so there will be peaks and valleys. I think a good strategy is to throw it in the general direction of Kelton Talford. Seriously, it’s like trying to cover a tree when you’re lined up across from him. A really athletic tree with sticky hands. Like maybe one of those really mean trees from “The Wizard of Oz” that rebuked Dorothy for pulling apples off them. He’s tall is what I’m getting at here. And Bowser, Hunter Funderburk and Moore are crazy good compliments who are going to be names Class A fans need to get accustomed to hearing. It’s good to see such a venerable program back and winning again. That said, Camden Military is not a pushover this season. I don’t know a ton about them but they’re 3-0 and have a very athletic quarterback in Zequan Seward, so the Devils don’t need to take anything for granted. Gray Collegiate (1-4) at Lamar (4-0) The top-ranked Silver Foxes haven’t played since September 7, which I’m sure Gray Collegiate is thrilled they get to play a really well-rested Lamar team. I bet they are just dying to hit somebody at this point. Lamar hasn’t put up the unholy offensive numbers they did last year, but they still score plenty and their defense actually looks better than the 2017 state title winning edition, if such a thing is possible. Gray, I think, is probably better than its record shows. They did get their doors blown off by White Knoll, but they lost to The OC Semi-Pros by one, Dreher by four and Gilbert by seven. So, they’re 12 points from being 4-1. Even with the big boy schedule they’ve played, though, I don’t know if they are ready for what’s about to hit them. Lake View (2-2) at McBee (0-4) The Wild Gators got their crap handed to them in a taco shell when last they played on September 7. Of course, that was against AAA powerhouse Dillon, who hands lots of people their crap, so that’s not really a big deal. They lost close to open the year to a good AA tea in Hannah-Pamplico, then doled out some grade 1 rootins to the Sausage People and South Robeson. I hate it for McBee, who very recently was competing for state titles, but they are really young, they have lost a bumper crop of talent in the past few years and they’re giving up 47 a game, they’ve only scored 31 points in four games and, you know, it may not go well for them tonight. Timmonsville (4-1) at Hemingway (2-3) Count me as a big believer in what Coach Baker and the Whirlwinds have going in Timmonsville. They are 4-1 and that lone loss was to AA Lee Central in overtime. Jamaric Morris is a scary dude with the ball in his hands, be that as a quarterback or a defensive back who just picked your pocket. They also have an excellent RB in Fanando Jackson, who went for over 200 yards on a pretty good Scott’s Branch defense last week. Hemingway started off the year by being on the business end of a 62-point cranksmacking at the hands of Lamar. They lost badly to Carvers Bay and Andrews but did beat a C.E. Murray team that struggling a bit last week. They have individual talent that rivals anyone, but man, it’s hard to get past the junk kickings they’ve absorbed. I’m not sure what to think of them right now. They are the bologna of confusion, fried on the grill of misunderstanding, sandwiched by the bread of HUH, slathered in the mustard of misgivings and served on a plate of “who are you really?” at the WTH café. If they somehow come out of this one with a win, then I’ll be convinced they’ve found their way. Blackville-Hilda (2-2) at Hunter-Kinard-Tyler (1-3) HKT had scored one touchdown in three losses before laying the wood to Estill hard and heavy in a 50-7 win last week. They’re young, and breaking in new skill talent. The Hawks lost to the Chitlintown boys last week 28-6. Their other loss came to a bodacious AA team in Barnwell and they have two quality wins over the Mr. T Haircuts and Allendale-Fairfax. They are throwing it a tad more than in recent years, but they are big up front, they are physical and they want to gut you with a soap shiv…or something. If HKT’s youth has started to mature this could be interesting, but it sure feels like a night where the Hawks are just going to win it in the trenches. Ridge Spring-Monetta (2-2) at Denmark-Olar (3-1) The Trojans are probably still sky high from their win over Williston-Elko last week. They withstood a big night from freakish man-beast Keshawn Toney to take a 30-22 win, their first over W-E in a while. I feel like this is a matchup where the records aren’t that big a deal. RS-M has played a rugged slate, while D-O hasn’t so much. That isn’t a knock on what they’ve accomplished, but it’s a big leap from the Mr T Haircuts, Branchville and North to Saluda and Batesburg, Biggun. This is usually when the Trojans start to get on a roll. Wagener-Salley (3-1) at Williston-Elko (1-3) This is a huge game in Region III. Having already lost to RS-M, W-E will be all but eliminated from the region title race with a loss tonight. I won’t lie, I’m surprised a bit by how the Blue Devils have struggled. I know they’ve played a beefy schedule and had a big group of senior graduate from last year. I just figured with their overall numbers (50-some on varsity) and a couple of transcendent talents like Toney, they’d cruise right along as always. The Chitlinville All-Stars won an old-fashioned tater-kicking contest over a physical Blackville squad last week. If they win tonight, it all but sets up a region title game with RS-M in two weeks. The numbers would all say they are the favorite, but its worth mentioning that what seems to give them issues at time is an athletic team that can spread it out and throw it…which W-E certainly can do with Toney. Estill (0-4) at North (0-5) Not intending this as a shot at either school, but it’s an opportunity for one or the other to notch a rare win. North has the state’s longest losing streak and has yielded at least 42 points in every game this year. Estill has scored a touchdown this year. Bethune-Bowman (2-3) at Military Magnet (0-5) Military Magnet lost by 10 to Branchville, 13 to Academic Magnet and two to North Charleston. So, they’ve been in some games. They are geared to keeping it close, gnawing up the clock and letting the air out of the ball from that scrum on offense. The Mr. T Haircuts have a solid running attack with Jesus Benjamin and an experienced and athletic guy under center in Braxton Wedgeworth III, esq. But for whatever reason (maybe a new coach, new offense and some new starters up front) that isn’t equating to points right now. They got shut out by Whitmire last week while turning it over three times and aside from the North blowout, just haven’t put points on the board. If they struggle again tonight, it might be a rough season. Calvary Day (3-0) at St. John’s (4-1) The Islanders have become one of my favorites to emerge from the lowcountry. They are outstanding on special teams, they balance the run and pass well and the offense seems to be asserting itself more and more as the season goes on. Josh Harpe is doing an excellent job with a pretty young team. They’ll have a tough one with Baptist Hill in late October, but I could see them running the table or going 8-2. Keep an eye on them. Um, got nothing for ya on Calvary Day, Hoss. Branchville (3-1) at Scott’s Branch (1-3) I thought Branchville might be a team that could surprise people this year. They are senior heavy and went 4-6 last year…but they struggled with Military Magnet, got thumped pretty good by Denmark-Olar etc. They might be on the menu at the same place as Hemingway. Scott’s Branch has real talent and a good coach but are struggling offensively. Maybe this week, with the level of their schedule dialed down just a hair, is the start of something. Cross (0-5) at C.E. Murray (2-3) I don’t know what has happened to have the War Eagles struggle defensively the way they have during a three-game losing streak, but I don’t know that it will matter tonight as they play struggling Cross tonight, one of the youngest teams in Class A. Creek Bridge (0-4) at The Charleston Finishing School for Bona Fide Suitors and Tractor Lubin’ (0-4) The Riptide have scored some points here and there, which seems like will be enough to take this’n.
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Before I commence with the foolishness, my apologies for the lack of previews and reviews in the last week. With Hurricane Florence forcing so many postponements and cancellations, there were only a handful of Class A games last week, since the heaviest concentration of small schools was in the path of the hurricane. Things aren’t much better for some of our friends now, with the resulting flooding still having some out of school and out of their homes. If you’ve seen images from places like Nichols, you understand how profound and lasting the damage is and will be for the foreseeable future. Water is a funny thing when you think about it. It’s one of the two or three things that are essential for our survival. When we lose control of it, though, and it goes where we don’t want it to be, it can go from lifegiving, to life-wrecking. I’m just a dude with a football and meat blog, but if there’s anything I can do for any of my Class A friends, please shoot me an email at [email protected]. If you are having your life turned upside down by the storm or the hurricane, please know I and a lots of other folks are praying for you.
Now, on with aforementioned foolishness. Dixie (3-1) at Ninety-Six (3-0) Regular readers know I am pretty high on the Hornets. They have a solid stable of backs, they’re good up front, the defense has been solid and they have a lot of upperclassmen. They seem pretty well built for a run in the Class A playoffs, but what they’re facing this week is a mighty heavy lift. Ninety-Six has just been throwing down one scary rootin’ after another this year. They aren’t stalwarts on defense by any stretch (having yielded 46 to Emerald, 42 to St. Joe’s and 33 to Crescent), but consider that they won all those games by at least two touchdowns. Now, last I heard their stud hoss QB is indefinitely suspended and I have no idea how that will impact their silly, pinball-like offensive production. I’m guessing Dixie’s best chance is to play keepaway and hope someone with my level of athletic ability is under center for the Wildcats. Ware Shoals (0-5) at Great Falls (2-2) The Purple Hornets have had about as rough a season as imaginable. They are 0-5 and three of those losses are to non-SCHSL competition, including one to Camden Military on Monday. They also lost to the Living Room Rangers or Backyard Bombers or somebody. I understand overall numbers is a big issue for them now, which a lot of small schools deal with at times. That would include Great Falls, who came into the season not having won a game since mid-2015. They are 2-2 now and have some legit weapons, including noted tall person Kelton Talford a near impossible cover at wide receiver. They don’t have a lot of depth and were pretty beat up after their loss to AJ, but they’ve had two weeks to recuperate. I’ll just remind everyone that Ware Shoals hung 77 on Great Falls two years ago and we’ll leave it at that, OK? Bethune-Bowman (2-2) at Whitmire (2-2) This could turn out to be an endlessly fun game. The Mr. T Haircuts picked up a 10-8 win over HKT two weeks ago. They aren’t putting up quite the gaudy point totals of the past few years, which may be attributable to a new offensive philosophy (the Power I, mainly) and the absence of graduated running back/man tank Makiah Simmons. They still have an athletic and experienced field general in Braxton Wedgeworth III, Esq. They actually do appear to be considerably better on defense this year, however. Whitmire was a big winner over North two weeks ago. In that game they got 111 yards and two scores from C.J. Wicker, 72 yards from Chandler Crumley, 60 from Kyle Hunt and touchdowns from Matthew Prather, Christian McLaren and Hunter Alexander. So every male student at Whitmire can play running back apparently. Seriously, they have run that scrum and spread the sugar around really well on offense giving you a lot to think about. This feels like two pretty evenly matched teams and a really good matchup. Scott’s Branch (1-3) at Timmonsville (3-1) Timmonsville was off last week but beat the brakes off of Marion two weeks ago. They did so with the unrelenting awesomeness of RB Fanando Jackson and QB Ja’Maric Morris. I’ve raved about Morris for a couple of years. He’s basically a lightning bolt with a rocket launcher attached (I don’t know that you can attach rocket launchers to lightning bolts actually, but you get my point). I wasn’t as familiar with Jackson, though. I watched some film on him and there’s a lot to like. He breaks a lot of tackles, he’s a big hitter on special teams and defense and in the open field he has the unique quality where he doesn’t looks like he’s running that fast until you notice that he’s pulling away from defenders who are futilely grabbing at air and pretending to pull their hamstrings so they don’t have to go back in and deal with him anymore. Timmonsville has also put up much better numbers on defense this year. Scott’s Branch is 1-3, which I do consider a bit of a surprise. I like their talent with guys like Amonte Brown and Coach Brian Smith always gets the most out of the talent he has on hand. The thing is, tonight will be the first time they’ve faced a fellow Class A team with their previous four contests all being against AA and AAA competition. Now, they’re playing a dang good Class A team tonight, but this should be a more accurate measuring stick for them. Wagener-Salley (2-1) at Blackville-Hilda (2-1) NOW THEN…this is a huge region match-up. I’m not saying it will settle the region race, because RS-M and Williston will certainly have a say, but I am saying this is big-time game for September. The Chitlinville boys have been off the past two weeks because of an off week and the hurricane. When last we saw them, they were flogging a decent Eau Claire team unmercifully. Blackville-Hilda also hasn’t played in three weeks but were able to grind out a close win over Allendale-Fairfax when last they played. This is going to be an old-timey slobberknocker, a throwback to when dudes named Clem and W.E. smoked in the huddle and beat the crap out of one another wearing leather helmets and no pads, because only sissies wore pads. Two power run games slamming into the teeth of defenses that are both excellent against the run. The Stump Whooped Gladiators are probably a little ahead of the Hawks in terms of program building, but B-H throws it a little more and a little better. This should be an excellent game with big implications. Denmark-Olar (2-1) at North (0-4) The Vikings are an improved team…North has scored six points total in four games and give up 45-ish a game. So let’s just move along… HKT (0-3) at Estill (0-3) Not to give short shrift to these two, but they’ve scored one TD combined this year, though that has come against pretty good competition. HKT is really young, particularly up front. It’s odd to see a team that typically lights it up out of a wide-open spread struggling the way they are. I ain’t got much for you on Estill, Hoss. Williston-Elko (1-2) at Ridge Spring-Monetta (1-2) Don’t let those records fool you, this another huge game in Region III. Williston was off last week but got in the win column last time out against Allendale-Fairfax. In that game, Keshawn Toney demonstrated why he will be a Division I tight end next year. He went off for more than 100 yards receiving and just to be blunt, when they get him the ball, there isn’t much defenses can do to stop him other than pray that he’ll slip or step out of bounds. Their first two losses weren’t as competitive as I expected but they came against VERY good AA teams in Barnwell and Silver Bluff. RS-M hasn’t played since August 31 in a big win over a scrappy Whitmire team. Here again, I think schedule has more to do with that 1-2 mark than any deficiencies they have. They are nasty up front on both sides and don’t fiddle around with finesse much on offense. They also have all three starters at LB back this year and all three of those guys racked up 100-plus tackles last year. This will likely be a “let’s kick each other where it hurts until somebody blinks” contest, similar Blackville-Hilda v Chitlinburg. RS-M has struggled for years to get past Williston…let’s see if this is the year. Baptist Hill (2-2) at North Charleston (1-2) North Charleston has already gotten worked by Calhoun County and St. John’s and now their facing the resurgent Bobcats. Since they moved uncoverable receiver Rashard Maxwell to QB, Baptist Hill has been a scary, monster with meat hooks for hands and laser eyes. He accounted for NINE FLIPPIN’ TOUCHDOWNS against Academic Magnet. So, you know, this might not go well for the home team tonight. Branchville (2-1) at Military Magnet (0-4) Branchville laid a whoopin’ on the Charleston Cipherin and Wildlife Management School of the Arts and Auto Repair last time out. They are senior heavy and might be in some games people aren’t expecting them to be when region play starts. Military Magnet has some athletes as evidenced by their showing at the state track meet a few months back, but it isn’t translating to offense, where they average about 10 a game. The defense has kept them in all but one game, though. Waccamaw (0-3) at St. John’s (3-1) I’ll be succinct here… Waccamaw has given up 176 points in three games. St. John’s is 3-1, they hung 45 on North Charleston two weeks ago, they’re only loss was a competitive one to a good AA AJ team, they’re outstanding on special teams, they have a lot of offensive weapons and that’s all I’ve got to say about that. Hemingway (1-3) at C.E. Murray (2-2) This will be a very telling game. Hemingway certainly has some individual talent, but they have gotten blown out in all three losses, and the one win was a close one to the Sausages. They handled the Sausages, but that’s it. The losses did come to Lamar, Carvers Bay and Andrews, though, so level of competition has to be considered. C.E. Murray was 2-0 after two close wins, but has been on the bad end of things in their last two games against Mullins and The OC Semi-pros. But again, consider the level of competition there. I like QB Antonio McKnight, who from what I’ve seen throws it well and brings some nice athletic ability to the field. This one will tell us a lot about both teams. Cross (0-4) at Lake Marion (1-3) I don’t know a whole lot about Lake Marion. They bombed Military Magnet (WAKA WAKA) but have been on the business end of three shut-out beat downs since. Cross, which features all of two seniors, is just crazy young, up front especially. It’s odd to see a program of this magnitude struggling, but at tiny schools the talent can ebb and flow and sometimes you have a year where a young team gets kicked in the teeth, then grows to the point where they do the kickin’ in years to come. I figure that’s the case here, but for now, they’ve lost 26-0, 46-0, 47-0 and 47-0. Maybe this is an opponent they can have some offensive success against. Note: My apologies for not having previews last week. About the time I would normally have been writing them I was sitting on 285 loudly cursing the person who decided rush hour on Friday in metro Atlanta was the PERFECT TIME TO CLOSE TWO LANES OF TRAFFIC. On the plus side I did find a restaurant that had a chitterlings platter and neck bones on the menu. I opted to pass, but they had spectacularly awesome BBQ chicken with a delightfully spicy sauce (photo evidence to follow).
Dixie- 41 West Oak- 22 Fox Creek- 42 McCormick- 6 Greenwood Christian- 46 Ware Shoals- 28 Whitmire- 42 North- 6 Andrew Jackson- 47 Great Falls- 2 Lamar- 33 North Central- 7 Timmonsville- 29 Marion- 6 Hannah-Pamplico- 36 McBee- 9 Silver Bluff- 48 Denmark-Olar- Maybe it was nothing, maybe it was something, who are we to say? Mr. T Haircuts- 10 Hunter-Kinard-Tyler- 8 Williston-Elko- 22 Allendale-Fairfax- 14 Baptist Hill- 72 Academic Magnet- LADIES AND GENTLEMEN…KEITH WHITLEY!!!! Garrett Academy of Learning and Whatnot- 46 Military Magnet- MORE OF THAT SOLID COUNTRY GOLD!!!! St. John’s- 45 North Charleston- 14 Branchville- 52 Charleston Charter School for Physics, Higher Math and VCR Repair- 21 Mullins- 42 C.E. Murray- 8 Kingstree- 46 Cross- Hey… Edisto- 26 Scott’s Branch- 7 Latta- 42 Creek Bridge- 6 Green Sea-Floyds- 32 Loris- 28 Carvers Bay- 42 Hemingway- 6 Dillon- 41 Lake View- They played Dillon, you can figure this out Breakdown- Our Class A buddies were 7-11 against larger classifications this week. That included another “we scored a lot and you didn’t so much” defensive manhandling by Lamar. I talk a lot about the edge they bring to the field, how they hit you so hard that you have trouble digesting meat and making babies later in life and all that is true, but there is something else that needs to be noted. They play a 4-3, they rarely come out of it, they don’t blitz or stunt much and don’t have a lengthy “coverages” chapter in their playbook. They play you straight up and tackle well (and also hard). I think that’s really smart. Rather than jam a bajillion assignments in the heads of 16-year-olds, they keep it relatively simply and let their athletes react, win one-on-one match-ups and slowly drain the will to compete in contact sports out of you. They are scheduled to start a pretty rugged month-long slate this Friday with a game against Cheraw, but what with the that hurricane a’comin’, I doubt that any games are being played down there this week. Whenever they’re on the field again, though, Jacquez Lucas will run for a bunch of yards, the defense will kick somebody in the face and they’ll build on a streak that has them winners in 39 of their last 40 games, which is remarkable… After scoring 14 points in their first two games (which would have been a subpar quarter last year) Baptist Hill moved studly WR Rashad Maxwell (who had 19 flippin’ TD catches last year) to QB in hopes of giving the offense a jolt. Well, it’s been a yellow pills at the truck stop kind of jolt. They hung 60 on Burke last week, then dropped SEVENTY DADGUM TWO on previously unbeaten, AA Academic Magnet. I bet that had to smart. See what I did there? Smart? Cuz, Academic Magnet kids are like, intelligent and stuff? HERP DIDDLY DAW HAW!!!! Anyway, Maxwell had one of the most cartoonishly freakish stat lines I’ve ever seen in that one, throwing for 265, running for 269 and accounting for nine touchdowns. That gives him 16 touchdowns in two weeks, which would a pretty good season for a lot of QBs. I wondered how anyone could ever come close to duplicating the made-up looking stats of Corey Fields and while it’s only a two game sample, it a HOTAROCKY sample. Having seen him play in person twice last year, I’m not that shocked by the rushing stats. He’s not a real big guy, but he’s an upper level athlete. And maybe, a receiver is actually the perfect person to put at the controls, since he obviously knows the offense really well. It does take one of the best receivers in the state out of running routes and torching opposition, but it doesn’t seem have had a negative impact the past two weeks. The thing is, as you look forward, they only have two games left (St. John’s and Green Sea-Floyds) that figure to even be competitive. This move could be the spark that lights the fuse to another deep playoff run… I admitted after their hot start that I had undersold the Timmonsville Whirlwinds just a tad, in large part because I didn’t realize that QB Jamaric Morris has returned after transferring. Well, a look at the tasty buffet of stats and numbers he piled on his plate Friday night shows why his presence makes a huge difference. In the win over Marion he had 82 yards rushing and two touchdowns, he threw for 58 yards, he kicked three PATs AND had six tackles and a pick on defense. The thing is, he isn’t a one-man band at all. Fanando Jackson rushed for 187 yards and two scores himself. I made it a point to find some highlight film on him. He’s one of those guys that as you’re watching him, it doesn’t look like he’s running that fast, then it dawns on you he’s pulling away from defenders who are sheepishly grabbing at air or pretending to have pulled a hammy because they have no prayer of catching him. Very smooth, fluid athlete and another guy who makes big-time contributions on both sides of the ball. New Coach Ron Baker has his team at 3-1 with the only loss being a nail-biter in OT to a pretty good AA Lee Central team. Just looking at the numbers, the defense has obviously taken a big step forward this year. They are off this week (and wouldn’t have played even if they weren’t what with Florence spinning our way) but two of their next three should be real challenges in Scott’s Branch and Green Sea-Floyds. They don’t open region play until October 12, but when they do, it’s against Lamar. So, their chance to make a statement overall and to slay the giant, scary, fire-breathing, iron-plated dragon with razor teeth and machete fingers is all laying right in front of them in the next five weeks. As an aside, you are no doubt aware that Whirlwinds LB Ty Eaddy suffered a severe concussion in that game and had to be airlifted from the field. That’s a scary thing for him, his family and teammates to have to endure, it was obviously a very serious injury and hopefully you’ll join me in keeping the Eaddy family and larger Timmonsville family in your prayers… Along with the rejuvenated Baptist Hill, I think a team that is definitely starting to have the look of a contender is St. John’s. They rolled North Charleston 44-14 Friday. What I like about what Coach Josh Harpe is doing down there is how nicely they spread the wealth offensively. Tyrone Hicks had three touchdowns on the ground and QB Tyler Durham threw for two. They are also, and this is key, great on special teams. They had another kick return score and Alex Marchisello had a field goal and five extra points. He has legit leg strength to about 50 yards. I can’t even start to tell you what an advantage having a kicker like him makes in Class A, where I am seeing more and more teams just go for two and squib kickoffs. When games are close and teams are evenly matched, the kicking game can win or lose it for you in a hurry. If you look at their schedule, you see a tough matchup with The OC Semi Pros out of region, Waccamaw (who has been outscored 176-34 this year), Calvary Day (I don’t know what that is) and two region games where they’ll be huge favorites (Military Magnet and the Charleston Charter 80s Action Show). They close out the regular season with a game against Baptist Hill that I think is for a region title and number one playoff seed… None of the other “up” wins were very surprising. Dixie ran for nearly 400 yards in a physical reeming of AAA West Oak. Deiveon Donald and Chandler Smalley are a terrific one-two punch in the backfield, they have experience and size up front and a defense that’s definitely improved over last year. They get an improved, scrappy Great Falls team this week (the game has been moved to Thursday), then face a big-time test in a really good AA Ninety-Six squad, then hit region. Whitmire obviously won’t be a pushover by any stretch and maybe McCormick is better than they’ve been able to show against a tough schedule, but as of now the Hornets are probably a favorite in Region I…Williston-Elko’s win over Allendale-Fairfax almost shouldn’t count as an “up” win since Allendale has fewer students than Dixie and only one more than McBee or St. John’s and there is no good reason they SHOULD NOT BE IN 1A, but don’t get me started on realignment. Anyway, Williston’s scary man beast of a TE/WR Keshawn Toney had seven grabs for 107 yards and two touchdowns in that game. They are supposed to start region play this week with another winnable game against Estill, but then get Ridge Spring-Monetta and Wagener-Salley back-to-back, which seems like a mighty heavy lift given their start, but I sure wouldn’t count them out…Green Sea-Floyds broke a two-game skid with a tight win over Loris and I couldn’t find an account of that game so let’s assume they ran ball well and blah blah... As for the losses, I don’t think there’s any reason for anyone to downgrade Lake View or make brown in their britches worrying about the long-term prospects of the Wild Gators. Yes, they lost in lopsided fashion Friday but did so a team that is almost certainly going to play for the AAA state title and will beat lots of AAA competition far worse than they did Lake View. They are supposed to play Marion this week but there’s no way that’s happening, then we get a marquee match-up as they battle Lamar. After that, it’s hard at this point to see anyone but Green Sea-Floyds giving them much trouble, unless Hemingway gets things turned around. Even if you give them an “L” against the Silver Foxes, I think if you look at that schedule and see a 7-3 team, you still feel like they have a chance to come out of the lowerstate…Some teams we are accustomed to seeing light up the scoreboards are continuing to labor. HKT did score its first touchdown of the year Friday but still fell to the Mr. T Haircuts 10-8. The soothing salve for their offensive rash isn’t likely to be found this week as they play one of the nastiest defenses in their region with the fellows from Chitlinvania. Cross has been shut out in all four of their games and coming up on the docket are Baptist Hill, AAA Lake Marion, C.E. Murray a pretty respectable team in Branchville, the Mr. T Haircuts and a good defensive squad in Scott’s Branch. Cross lost tons of firepower from last year (including a Shrine Bowl RB) have only two seniors and are WAY young in general. They might find the end zone but it’s tough to look at their slate and find many wins at this point, unfortunately. Given their reputation as one of the toughest nuts to crack in the lowerstate, I figure this is a year where young guys take their licks, realize that doing so sucks, and start doling out the licks next season. Suggested Reading Before I present the links in semi-humorous fashion, one serious note. I go to a lot of games, I watch some film online and I talk to coaches for info for this blog, but one of my best resources for Class A info is newspapers. I hope that you will support the papers that are willing to dedicate time and manpower to covering the Class A football we all love so much. Subscribe if you can, buy a single copy if you happen to pass a rack or just click the links I put here every week and maybe share them with friends you think would like the stories. Every little bit helps. Thanks! You can read lots of game capsules here and also here, or you can not read them and say you did, but you’ll soon be consumed by the giant spider that inhabits your tangled web of lies, Jimbo. Every time I see Fox Creek’s mascot’s name I am tempted to make a joke about a panel van with a flashing neon “free candy” sign in the window and always decide I shouldn’t. After losing by 36 to Whitmire, one could say that things went south for North in a hurry…if one was into directional humor. Jesus Benjamin is at good football. COACH…MY ANKLE IS PINCHING. I HURT MY GIBLETS. I CAN’T GO BACK IN AND CHASE FANANDO AND JAMARIC ANYMORE! Do they play “Dixieland Delight” when Dixie scores a touchdown? They should. And they should change their mascot to a Chubby Ol’ Groundhog while they’re at it. Editor’s Note: My apologies for the tardiness of this post but I decided to use Monday to pursue the other topic of this blog (photo evidence to follow)
Dixie- 38 Carolina Christian Cavaliers- 6 Laney- 40 McCormick- You know, not as many as Laney had. We don’t have to be jerks about it. Ridge Spring-Monetta- 38 Whitmire- 8 Great Falls- 26 Lewisville- 22 Lamar- 26 Darlington- A raging debate among physicists Lee Central- 14 Timmonsville- 12 North Central- 61 McBee- 13 Blackville-Hilda- 16 Allendale-Fairfax- 13 Denmark-Olar- 28 Branchville- 13 Bethune-Bowman- 42 North- It’s called math, kids Wagener-Salley- 58 Eau Claire- 6 Baptist Hill- 60 Burke- 6 Wade Hampton- 41 Estill- Really big yolks! Academic Magnet- 27 Military Magnet- 14 St. John’s- 18 Garrett Tech Academy Middle College- 6 The OC- 44 C.E. Murray- 16 Timberland- 47 Cross- Who doesn’t love action cartoons? Bamberg-Ehrhardt- 28 Scott’s Branch- A round number. I don’t mean divisible by 2, I mean its shape is round. West Columbus- 27 Creek Bridge- If you took the “m” out of “not many” you’d be left with this Aynor- 24 Green Sea-Floyds- 16 Hemingway- 28 The Sausages- 14 Lake View- 53 South Robeson- 6 Breakdown- It was a good week for our Class A friends as they posted a 7-8 record against the larger classifications Friday. I took in one of those in person as Great Falls rallied to knock off rival Lewisville for the first time since 2013. This is one of the best rivalries in the state and it wasn’t much fun to watch it become so non-competitive over the past few years as Lewisville had a bumper crop of athletes come through and the Red Devils struggled at times to field a team. Well, in his second season as the head coach, Scotty Steen has helped author a huge turnaround. This isn’t just about level of competition, Great Falls is 2-1 because they are legitimately improved. The defense has done an outstanding job of forcing turnovers and has improved immeasurably against the run. They did give up a few big plays in the passing game Friday (one when someone took a bad angle on a tackle and another when a nice play fake left a guy wide open) but have gotten better there too. The offense is still adapting as they move away from the spread and towards more of a zone-oriented power running game but Elijah Simpson showed some nice pop and power on the ground last week. Then there is a 6-foot-6 receiver Kelton Talford, who has become as difficult a cover as there is in Class A. Seriously, watching most guys try to cover him is like watching a legless o’possum try to outjump a giraffe on a trampoline (note to new readers, I’m terrible at both analogies and examples). Just loft a high one in his direction and odds are he’s winning the jump ball. It was a really good, back-and-forth game too that sort of embodied everything I love about Class A football to start with. It MATTERED to all those kids on both teams, most of whom never left the field. For their teammates, their school and their community, they left every bit of themselves on the field. It got chippy, there was an ejection, it was as physical as all get-out and the huge Great Falls contingent went nuts when the Devils forced a late turnover on downs to all but clinch it. Lewisville (who is sadly not in Class A anymore) will be fine in the long-term, they are just very young and have a lot of injuries to contend with right now. It’s great to see a proud program with some history like Great Falls be back to playing competitive football again. They get what looks like a very stiff test this week at AJ… Lamar won “up” again and did so (again) by shutting out a AAAA Darlington team that was averaging over 30 a game coming in. So far, everyone who has played Lamar has been like that nervous guy at the public restaurant trough, unable to squeeze out even the tiniest drop. In three games, the Silver Foxes defense has allowed NOT NAM POINTS! The opener against Hemingway, in retrospect, came against a team that has continued to surprisingly struggle offensively. The next week they savagely cranksmacked a physical Pageland team while allowing big, fat nothing, now they’ve taken a AAAA team with nice skill talent and left them squirming uncomfortably in their chair, craving the relief only ice and a big tube of linament can provide. Offensively, they aren’t quite matching the flashy output they had last year, but Jacquez Lucas ran for 156 yards and Cam Galloway had 146 Friday. I’m not sure that even matters, though, when you play D the way they do. Throwing a little less and focusing even more on your super-productive run game may actually be an aid to the defense, really. I also still think Lamar is up about 14-0 when they walk on the field most nights. They play with a hard, intimidating edge and even AAAA teams aren’t immune from its impact. They play a North Central team this week that isn’t a pushover by any means (with big wins over Columbia and McBee the past two weeks) but then Lamar runs what will be a difficult month-long gauntlet even for them as they face Cheraw, Lake View, Gray Collegiate and Timmonsville… Unless your mother named you “Awesome McBadass” or “Jimmy Jack Weinercastle” or something, you probably don’t have a cooler name than Adonis Davis, who helped Blackville-Hilda come from behind to beat Allendale-Fairfax. The QB accounted for 64 yards on a late, game-winning march that moved the Hawks to 2-1. I kind of like what I’m seeing from B-H under new coach Corey Crosby. They seem to have retained that physical “we’re going to grind you down to a fine powder and line our field with your dusty remnants” mindset they’ve had as they showed improvement the past few years, but they appear to have balanced the offense just a tad. They were basically running a single-wingy kinda thing recently where a forward pass was either considered a crazy trick play or a fruitless act of desperation. Adonis had four completions for 51 yards in clutch time when they were driving and trying to take the lead. That will serve them well down the line as they get begin region play against a lot of teams that are fairly one-dimensional offensively and that don’t see the ball in the air a whole lot… I wasn’t shocked by any of the other “up” victories. Wagener-Salley roasted Eau Claire in a game that seemed ripe for a roasting from the start. I’ve seen Eau Claire and they have decent size up front and go super no-frills on offense, running between the tackles and mixing in a little bit of option. It’s a bad idea to play “we’re gonna run right at you and you run right as us and let’s see how it goes” with the Stump Whooped All-Stars…St. John’s bounced back with a nice win over Garrett. I think that AJ loss really doesn’t look bad at all now in retrospect and the Phillip Simmons blowout win looks a tad better even. Tyler Durham threw for more than 140 and ran for another 41 to lead a balanced attack. They are good on special teams, spread the sugar around well offensively and if you start looking forward, you can honestly see a scenario where their only competitive games might be with The OC Semi-Pros and Baptist Hill…Speaking of those Bobcats, they shook off their offensive funk, set it on fire, lifted it high in the air with a cane pole and paraded it around town as they hung 61 on Burke. From the blurb I read, Rashad Maxwell, the team’s uber-stud WR, played QB and did OK, if by “OK” you mean “threw for seven touchdowns.” I’m not sure if that position switch was because of injury or just to jump start the offense (if you know, hit me up at [email protected]) but it obviously worked. They get an improved Academic Magnet team next, then gt what should be a couple of wins before facing Green Sea-Floyds…SPEAKING OF GREEN SEA, they lost to Aynor, giving up a late lead. I still like their chances long-term with a veteran roster and overall toughness, but after two games they should have a good shot to win (Loris and McBee) we’ll really know where they stand in the following three weeks when they get Baptist Hill, Timmonsville and Lake View...McCormick lost to Laney last week, but it wasn't the Laney I thought it was. It was one in Georgia, not the one in North Carolina where Michael Jordan played. But, you know, I got to make a Luc Longley joke out of it so I TOTALLY STAND BY IT, AM NOT SORRY AND DO NOT APOLOGIZE!!! Poll Time As per usual, I’m putting my 1A poll that is part of the S.C. Prep Media Poll, followed by the actual S.C. Prep Media Poll. You’ll note that I still have Lamar number one (duh), dropped C.E. Murray from two, but not very far, moved Lake View and Chitlinville up, brought St. John’s back to the party and welcomed Great Falls in for the first time in a long time (just edging out Blackville-Hilda). 1A 1. Lamar 2. Lake View 3. Wagener-Salley 4. Dixie 5. C.E. Murray 6. Ridge Spring-Monetta 7. Timmonsville 8. Green Sea-Floyds 9. St. John’s 10. Great Falls 1. Lamar (15) 2. Lake View 3. Wagener-Salley 4. C.E Murray 5. Ridge Spring-Monetta 6. Dixie 7. Timmonsville 8. Hemingway 9. St. John’s 10. Blackville-Hilda Suggested Reading You can read lots of game capsules involving Class A teams here and here or you can keep embarrassing your family with your no-count ways, Stanley. Great Falls beat Lewisville according to this article but it is super suspect. This reporter is a hack deluxe. Unless you are named Hercules Python Jr. or Fat Willy Taterflinger or something, B-H’s QB has you beat. Cross lost and whatnot BUT LOOK AT THAT SMOKE RING! |
TravisI am Travis, the king 0f SC 1A Football Archives
November 2021
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