Many years ago, when I was still working in radio, I was once pressed into service to host a weekly show called “Ask the Experts” when the regular host got sick. It was an interview show where some local “expert” on some topic or another would come in and talk about whatever it was they were an expert in for 30 minutes. That week, the guest was the director of the local sewer district. He’d just overseen a big expansion of the sewer system, so I figured it would be an easy half hour.
“So, I know you recently oversaw a big expansion of the sewer system. What specifically went into that project?” I asked. “Wider pipes,” he said. “And the good thing is a federal grant paid for it, correct?” “Yep.” “Which is good for local customers, since they didn’t have to foot the bill.” “Yep.” “And long-term, I would think that makes the area more attractive to perspective industries, with your capacity increased.” “Yep.” “Will my potty flush better now?” I didn’t actually ask that last one, but seriously, the dude gave one-word answers to almost everything I asked. I bet I asked him 50 question in 30 minutes and I was dying. I gave the phone number out A LOT, but listeners were less interested in talking to the short-answering doo doo man than you might imagine. It was, without question, the least interesting 30 minutes of radio in the history of the medium. Luckily, when it comes to the 1A state championship game, I found some experts who were a little more willing to talk and share their insight. I reached out to a couple of coaches to get their takes on how tomorrow night’s Lamar v Baptist Hill title tilt would play out. Josh Harpe is the head coach at St. John’s. His Islanders gave the Bobcats all they wanted in an early October contest before falling 50-42 to the eventual lowerstate champions. He said the biggest key for Lamar is finding a way to limit the big plays Baptist Hill QB Corey Field makes with his legs and arm. “For the Silver Foxes, their keyword is ‘contain.’ I think Corey Fields will hit some throws downfield. If Lamar can keep them from being touchdowns, that will be huge. The more they make Baptist Hill line up, the better. The Bobcats will get frustrated,” he said. Harpe said another key is to not allow what should be short gainers to turn into big plays. Baptist Hill is going to complete its share of passes with its throw-every-down, vertical attack, Lamar just needs to limit yard-after-catch. “Tackling is huge,” Harpe said. “Don’t let Baptist Hill’s play makers get in the open field. If they break a tackle or two, they’re gone.” Harpe thinks Lamar’s offense, which puts up gaudy rushing numbers and features a nice complimentary passing attack, will find success against Baptist Hill. He said his team and Cross both moved the ball up-and-down the field on the Bobcats, but hurt themselves with some penalties and turnovers. He said so long as Lamar doesn’t suffer self-inflicted wounds, they have a good chance at claiming a second state title in three years, particularly if they build a lead early. “Unless Lamar gives the game away, they should be able to win. Baptist Hill will score, but again, contain and Lamar wins in a four-quarter game,” he said. Another coach, who asked to remain anonymous, said Baptist Hill’s ability to make big plays throwing the ball down the field is very impressive. He wonders, though, if they aren’t a bit too reliant on what are often low-percentage passes for most teams. “To me, Baptist Hill is a lot like Duke basketball in the NCAA tournament. If you live by the three, you die by the three. When the threes are falling, then Duke always has a great shot to win it all, but they could go cold at any point and end up losing to a 14 seed or getting hammered once they play a good team in the Elite 8 or Final 4. Baptist Hill’s deep passing game is their version of Duke’s three-point shot,” the coach said. The coach thinks if Baptist Hill can connect on its long throws or if Lamar starts turning the ball over, the Bobcats can not only win the game, they might win it going away. There is a flip side to that coin, however. “If the deep passing game isn’t on, like when they played Cross for example, then Lamar will win this thing easily. Against Cross, Baptist Hill had lots of dropped passes and a couple of missed reads by Fields and they almost lost to them because of it. So, first thing for Baptist Hill is the deep ball has to be on, which they have a fantastic quarterback and some good play makers outside, so it’s usually on more times than not,” he said. The Baptist Hill offense rightfully gets a lot of attention, but the coach thinks Lamar’s is also very good and also cater-made to give Baptist Hill problems. “The big caveat I see for Baptist Hill is that I don’t think they have any chance of stopping Lamar on the ground. Baptist Hill just isn’t very physical on defense and that is going to cost them against what everybody says is a well-oiled machine in Lamar, so long as Lamar holds onto the ball,” he said. The coach thinks PATs could be a big factor. Lamar is very efficient in that area and Baptist Hill is not. He said he would be very happy to see a team that carries itself the way Baptist Hill does win the title…ultimately, though, he thinks the teams will trade touchdowns with the Silver Foxes emerging with a close win. Another coach who said he hasn't seen Baptist Hill but is very familiar with Lamar, said the game comes down to this...can the Silver Foxes pressure Fields with three or four, enabling them to drop seven or eight into coverage? He also wonders if the Bobcats can slow Lamar's rushing attack. Baptist Hill's receivers (and Fields) only play offense, which is very atypical in Class A. The coach wonders if that will have a negative impact in the state title game. "Can they stop Lamar not playing their best athletes on both sides of the ball? (Lamar running back) Jacquez Lucas is fast. If he gets loose, who is going to catch him?" the coach said. If only the sewer man had been as talkative…
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Baptist Hill Coach Marion Brown decided at some point there was one way and only one way to run his offense to maximum efficiency. One way.
The Bobcats are a huge anomaly in 1A football where offensive philosophy is concerned. In a classification that still features dozens of wing and bone variations and skews heavily to running the football, Brown's team runs a wide-open spread attack. They don't spread to run...the shotgun, the multiple receiver sets and the often empty backfield never make way for power formations as they do at Lewisville and C.E. Murray (two of Class A's other more prolific passing teams). In short yardage or long yardage, in the red zone or backed up against their own end zone, they throw the ball all over the field. This isn't a dink-and-dunk offense like many high school spread attacks, either. The Bobcats certainly have screen passes in their repertoire but their preference is to attack vertically, as is evidenced by the fact that they average 20 yards per completion on the season. "We're a spread offense, very fast-paced. You just do what you do," said Corey Fields, the ultra-productive trigger man of the Baptist Hill air show. Brown said that nearly every play for the Bobcats starts with an intention to throw the football. That was on display in Friday's huge victory over C.E. Murray in the lowerstate title game. The Bobcats ran one counter play, one reverse and one draw play. Three called running plays. There were other running plays, all on scrambles by Fields that started off as passing plays. "Coach gives me the option of read-and-react football," Fields said. "It's about reading the defense. If there is an opening to the outside, I can run for it." "If there is five or more yards there, I want him to take them," said Brown, who stressed that otherwise the ball should be in the air. Having a preference for an aerial attack is nothing new for Brown, who says he has worked from a similar concept since becoming head coach of the Bobcats in 2008. He did make make one major change, though, and he believes it is what has lifted his offense from productive to unstoppable and his team from good to great this year. "I made a few changes about two-and-a-half years ago. I decided I don't want any wide receiver playing defense. I need them to be fresh," Brown said. It goes beyond even that. Fields, a very gifted athlete, only plays quarterback. Brown said he's probably the best punter on the team but he doesn't let him kick. He wants all his focus on running the offense. That is nearly unheard of in 1A football where most schools have enrollment at or under 300 students and varsity football rosters in the 20s. Having offensive skill players, who are usually a team's best athletes, go both ways is essential at some schools to field a team. Even Class A schools blessed with larger rosters often have guys start on both sides in an attempt to put the best athletes on the field. Before he was an All-American defensive end at Clemson and a second round NFL draft pick. Da'Quan Bowers was a 1,000-yard rusher at Bamberg-Ehrhardt on top of being a stud efensive lineman. Before starring at cornerback with the South Carolina Gamecocks and playing in the NFL for 11 years, Sheldon Brown ran for 2,000 yards as a Lewisville High senior in addition to being one of the state's best defensive backs. Stevo Squirewell played defensive end in college and went to camp with the Green Bay Packers last year as a fullback, but at Great Falls he was a fullback, offensive lineman, defensive lineman, linebacker and safety at various points of his prep career. Nearly every all-time great from the 1A ranks was an ironman that never left the field. Even this year, Nate Walker played running back and linebacker at Cross, ditto for Mataeo Durant at McCormick. Both of those players will take part In this year's Shrine Bowl All-star game. All of Lewisville's top players saw at least some time on both sides of the ball. Jacquez Lucas of Lamar (who Baptist Hill will face for the Class A title Friday) has multiple 200-yard rushing efforts this year and intercepted three passes in last week's upperstate title game win over Ridge Spring-Monetta. Brown said he knew when he made the decision that he was bucking convention, but when he saw the kind of talent his team possessed, he knew what he had to do. "We had a slew of guys come in who were wide receivers. Very talented receivers and I knew I had something special in Corey. I wanted to build the offense around the quarterback and I needed them to focus on offense," he said. Brown said he didn't worry at all that the move would adversely affect his defense. "The challenge I made to our coaches was 'do your job,' Brown said. "We have athletes, find four other kids who can play in the secondary." The way Brown saw it, having his skill guys only play offense would accomplish several goals. It would keep them from wearing down over the course of games and the season obviously. Running a litany of deep routes all game and having to cover and tackle on defense is a physical and mental grind on even the fittest, best-conditioned athletes. Only having to do one thing on game day also means only doing one thing in practice. The receivers had the chance to truly hone their craft, work on developing their route running and other subtleties without also having to budget time to learning coverages. They have a pretty good teacher on how to play wide receiver in Brown, who played the position in the NFL and USFL. "Being an ex-wide receiver myself, it gave me the opportunity to take my time and really work with them," Brown said. Fields said being able to focus only on one position accelerated his growth and allowed him to develop chemistry with his receivers. "During practice, I was able to work on making perfect passes for them," Fields he said. Brown said Fields and his receivers (and the rest of the team) completely bought in and dedicated themselves to year-round conditioning and "giving up their summers" for workouts and "every 7-on-7 tournament I could get us in." The results show that Brown's unconventional approach has worked exactly like he planned. After a few down years, the Bobcats put up huge numbers offensively on the way to a 9-3 season last year that included a trip to the second round of the playoffs. This year, the team is 10-1 (having had one team drop off the schedule and one game wiped out by a hurricane in the regular season) with the only loss coming against Oceanside Collegiate in a contest that saw Fields go out in the second quarter with an injury. Despite playing in only 10 full games, Fields has thrown for 3,830 yards and rushed for 800 while accounting for 60 total touchdowns. Had the Bobcats played a full 10-game regular season and not gotten a first-round bye, Fields would likely have set a new state record for total touchdowns. Receiver Richard Bailey has nearly 1,500 receiving yards and 21 scoring catches. Two other receivers have more than 40 catches. The specialization and the extra coaching really show on the field. Against C.E. Murray, receivers were often facing excellent coverage as War Eagle defensive backs ran stride for stride with them. When the ball was in the air, though, they consistently made plays and came up with big catches. There hasn't been an obvious negative impact on the team's defense either. Despite being paired with an offense that often scores quickly and puts them on the field often, Baptist Hill gives up just under 18 points a game. Tyler Scott has 10 interceptions. Now, the team is playing in the season's final game and competing for the school's first-ever football state title. If they reach the top of the Class A football world, they will have gotten there on a one-way ticket. Upperstate Championship
Lamar- 35 Ridge Spring-Monetta- 14 Lowerstate Championship Baptist Hill- 54 C.E. Murray- 13 Breakdown- After 15 weeks and hundreds of games, we finally have our Class A state championship matchup. I made the drive to Hollywood Friday for the lowerstate title game and my prediction was wrong, my narrative for how the game would play out was wrong…I was wrong and dumb and wrong in every respect. I expected a back-and-forth shootout and brother, there wasn't one. I want to talk about C.E. Murray first, and don’t let any of what I’m about to say detract from what the Bobcats accomplished (I’ll be singing their praises in a minute), but the War Eagles just had a bad night. It started with a couple of drops and a turnover and I don’t know how or why it happens, but plays like that often end up spreading through a team like a bad stomach virus. The end result ends up like a stomach virus too, I guess. C.E. Murray had operated from a wide open, spread offense all year, but unveiled a wishbone attack last week against Hemingway. I thought that was brilliant, since the War Eagles had lost to Hemingway early in the year 56-35. Getting into a shootout with the Tigers seemed like a recipe for DERP and putting the ball in the air a lot against their secondary, which specialized in not only picking off passes but returning them for scores, felt like it would lead to an outcome of DOUBLE DERPITY DOO. They controlled the clock, they minimized errors, they kept it close with a team that hadn’t really had a competitive game all year, their defense played its collective hind end off and they won. On Friday against Baptist Hill, they mixed some spread and some bone and had success early on. After falling behind 6-0 early, they were able to grind out a long, nasty 7-plus minute drive, mostly on the ground to tie it up early in the second. Then they got down 12-6, but were ready to answer quickly on what should have been about a 60-yard touchdown pass. Instead, they got a drop at the goal line, turned it over a few plays later and Baptist Hill scored on the final play of the half. So instead of being tied or having narrow lead, they trailed 20-6 at halftime. I’ve also seen it over and over this year that when a team puts one in the end zone right before the half, the momentum completely carries over. In this case, it carried over in both directions. C.E. Murray had a couple of turnovers in the third and Baptist Hill cashed in on both. It was 40-13, but even after the first score that made it 26-6, the game was pretty much over, because at that point, the wishbone portion of the offense was useless for the War Eagles because the whole slow and steady winning the race thing went out the window. They had to try to get into shootout mode, which is as tough to do against Baptist Hill as against Hemingway, maybe more so. On top of all that, C.E. Murray had a difficult time getting at Baptist Hill QB Corey Fields without blitzing. Even when they got in the backfield, getting him on the ground was a tall task. It wasn’t like trying to grab a greased pig as much as it was like trying to grab a greased pig on roller skates, with rocket boosters and one of those scary spiked balls on a big chain swinging on his front, right hoof. He’s so elusive and so strong…and also such an aware player that he keeps his eyes downfield even on the scramble and makes back-breaking big plays. C.E. Murray also often had players running stride-for-stride with Bobcats receivers, but weren’t able to make plays on the ball in the air. It was a tough night, certainly, but the War Eagles had one of the three best seasons in their history. Coach Chad Wilkes, in his first year as a head coach, went 11-2 and did so while authoring a complete overhaul of the team’s offensive philosophy from the ground-heavy attack of former coach Brian Smith. Wilkes’ staff (a genuinely good group of guys) obviously deserve kudos as well for their contributions in the team making it to the upperstate finals and springing the biggest upset of the year against Hemingway. The great Darius Rush has played his last game as a War Eagle but I’m not expecting a drop-off. This isn’t a flash-in-the-pan success, I believe Smith laid the foundation for C.E. Murray to be a program that competes annually and Wilkes is completely maintaining that. Now, as for Baptist Hill, seeing them in person truly opened my eyes. I read about them every week and see the gaudy numbers they put up, but you can never be certain about the quality of their competition and whatnot. Well, I sat and watched them beat a team I KNOW is good by 41 flippin’ points. Honestly, I’ve never seen an offense like theirs in 1A football before…or much at any level, really. First off, Fields is not a product of a system. This is not a typical high school spread offense that throws 70 bajillion screen passes a game. He is not Dinky McCheckdown. They have some quick hit stuff and screens in their arsenal, but they are primarily a down-the-field, vertical passing team, as evidenced by the fact that they AVERAGE 20 yards per completion. Fields has a strong arm, is amazingly accurate and makes great decisions with the football. Now, they don’t call running plays. At all. I counted three the entire night (one on a counter, one reverse and one draw play near the goal line). Every play call is a pass play and Fields has some freedom to make changes at the line based on the defense. They roll him out a lot and he’s encouraged to tuck it and run if there’s five yards or more to be gained (he had about 80 on the ground Friday), but that’s the extent of their ground attack. I racked my brain trying to think of a comparison in Class A and there isn’t one. Even when Steve Tanneyhill brought a run-and-gun spread attack to Chesterfield, they always had a nice complimentary running game. Throwing it open to anybody in any class, Jed Blackwell from the Herald Journal suggested maybe Byrnes early in Bobby Bentley’s tenure would be a comparison. There aren’t many. Fields doesn’t do it alone. His offensive line isn’t the most physically imposing I’ve seen, but they’re tenacious and give Fields time and space to operate. Richard Bailey is a freaking stud at receiver. Not the biggest guy, but quick, run great routes and makes plays on the ball in the air. They have three guys with more than 40 grabs. Defensively, aside from one shootout with a good St. John’s team, their defense has been outstanding all year. They gave up some yards Friday night, but also forced a ton of turnovers. They are worthy lowerstate champions and their battle with Lamar has the potential to be an epic tilt… Speaking of Lamar, the top-ranked, unbeaten Silver Foxes won Friday 35-13 over a very scrappy Ridge Spring-Monetta team. That score was actually a little closer than I was expecting. According to what I read and from my super secret undercover Lamar informant, the first half looked like the rout I was expecting. Jacquez Lucas had a touchdown run and Tyrik Herion added another. Then you have Rashard Coleman, who I really like and consider one of those sneaky good players. He doesn’t put up huge numbers but he rarely makes mistakes, he runs the offense well and he’s good for a splashy play a time or two a game. Well, he had a long scoring pass and a nice TD run and Lamar was up 29-6 at the half. In the second half, though, Lamar did nothing offensively. Now, maybe with a three score lead in their pocket they decided there was no reason to give whoever they’d be playing anything else to see on tape. Maybe players had a subconscious letting up or maybe, as they did against Lewisville the week before, RS-M made a few schematic tweaks and played better on defense. I do know that the Trojans went with an empty set in the second half and let quarterback Tyson Bettis run around and chunk it a lot. They scored in the third to make it a 29-13 game. Then, in the fourth, they drove inside the Lamar 10. If they score there, it could have been a one-score game and they’d have had all the momentum on their side (just like the previous week in the comeback against Lewisville). Instead, Lucas intercepted Bettis (baited him into throwing it, I was told) and took it 103 yards to the house, which pretty much iced it. That was his third pick of the night. The thing is, if you look at the stats, the game wasn’t competitive at all. RS-M had 145 total yards including 13 on the ground next to Lamar 317 (including 210 rushing). But most of Lamar’s came early. Unproductive halves aren’t going to cut it this week. In a way, I think maybe getting a bit of a test like that will help Lamar this week, since they really were only challenged a time or two all year. Seeing a team with an athletic quarterback go empty and fling it all over the place certainly helped since they’ll see that Friday night…well, they’ll see it on steroids, vitamins, truckstop speed, helium, pure cane sugar etc. In my opinion, there isn’t a better defense in this state than Lamar’s. They’re talented, they’re well-coached, they have the fundamentals (like tackling) down to a T and also they beat the absolutely holy stink right out of you. They have an edge and a physical nature that often gives them an advantage before the game even starts. But can even that defense (combined with an offense that runs the ball well and shortens games) stop Baptist Hill? I can’t wait to find out. Previews to come all week. Suggested reading What do you call that spikey ball thing? I’m sure it has a name other than “spikey ball thing.” Throwing the ball towards Jacquez Lucas seems akin to putting a “kick me hard right here” sign on the front of your pants. Upperstate championship game
Ridge Spring-Monetta (9-3) at Lamar (12-0) RS-M gutted out a 28-24 win over Lewisville last week. Now, they got the benefit of a very friendly offensive pass interference call that disallowed a game-winning Lions touchdown pass in the closing seconds, but I don't want to minimize what they accomplished in any way. Late in the second quarter, Lewisville was up 24-0, they were ripping the Trojans through the air and their defense was completely overwhelming them at the line of scrimmage. Flipping the script on that one took some real toughness and guts. They went with more quick-hit passes, used a little more misdirection in their running game and got a lot more aggressive on defense. They also took advantage of every Lewisville mistake and took some big chances that paid off, recovering a pair of onside kicks in the second half. Tyson Bettis is a very athletic QB with good size at 6'1 and 200 pounds. He's also super slippy and evasive. Defensively, they are very tough to run on up the middle. Lamar put Williston-Elko away early last week, scoring on their first three possessions and winning 48-14. That rout came despite the Silver Foxes getting atypically sloppy with the ball (four first-half turnovers). Jacquez Lucas had 200 yards rushing on 13 carries, which qualifies as a productive night, according to the research I did on the subject. Defensively, they did to the Blue Devils what they do to most everyone, that being to not only stop them at every turn, but to physically bludgeon them in such a way that their will to compete and desire to engage in competitive activities slowly evaporated. Really, Lamar has only been challenged twice all year. They beat Crestwood (a AAAA team that made the playoffs) 17-8 and Lewisville was within 16-6 in the fourth quarter against them. Aside from those two, most of their games have essentially been settled after a quarter. That speaks to their talent, the team's excellent coaching and also a mentality they bring to the field. I make jokes about them grinding opponents to a fine powder and using those dusty remnants to fill potholes and whatnot, but they really are a lot more physical than most teams they play and they compete with an edge. They win a lot of games mentally before kickoff or at about 7-0. I don't think they are going to intimidate RS-M, but I also think this game is an easy pick. Lamar throws it pretty well and has crazy speed at RB outside the tackles, both of which will cause the Trojans problems. RS-M's O line had a tough time holding up against Lewisville last week so I expect Jeblonski Green and company to have a big game tonight. I will say that Lamar can't afford to put the ball on the ground like they did last week, but I think they cruise to a third straight upperstate championship. The pick...Lamar C.E. Murray (11-1) at Baptist Hill (10-1) This has the potential to be the most entertaining game of the high school season. Last week, the War Eagles killed Goliath and the wishbone was their slingshot. (Note to new readers, I make terrible analogies). C.E. Murray, having lost to unbeaten Hemingway 56-35 during the regular season, scrapped their up-tempo, high-octane spread offense last week and came out running the wishbone. I think that was a bold but very good strategy by coach Chad Wilkes. First of all, running a totally different offense than you've shown the whole year had to catch Hemingway a bit flat-footed. It shortened the game, limited possessions and helped minimize the turnovers that Hemingway ABSOLUTELY ALWAYS scored on. Wilkes also took Darius Rush, who has about 20 touchdowns this year and is one of the most explosive offensive threats in South Carolina, and had hm focus only on defense. Having his legs fresh probably made the difference on the team's late goal line stand that clinched the 20-19 win. Baptist Hill blistered a very good Lake View defense last week in a 46-32 victory. But leaving opposing defenses bow-legged and drooling is kind of Baptist Hill's thing as they've scored 40 or more seven times this season. Corey Fields, who I'm not convinced isn't a scary football robot bent on the humiliation of low country school children, had his usual 400-plus yard passing performance and six touchdowns. It feels stupid to use the phrase "his usual 400-plus yards passing performance" but at this point it's only news if he doesn't put up obscene numbers. The thing is, they have a pretty good defense to go along with the slap nuts, 100 mph funny car, fireworks hoo hah offensive spectacular that dazzles folks from Hollysood to Peter's Point every Friday night. C.E. Murray's sudden switch to the bone was genius on another level than just baffling Hemingway...now Baptist Hill has to be ready for both a super-productive air show and a ground-and-pound attack. The War Eagles probably have a better defense than the Bobcats but at this point I honestly don't think how good a defense facing Corey Fields is matters. At all, even a little bit. He's a special talent and his team is going to score points and if you want to beat them you have to score points too. Probably a lot of them, unless you can have long, sustained drives that limit how many possessions Baptist Hill has. Even then, though, you can't just chew clock, The long drives have to get in the end zone. I say this one goes down to the wire, is a fun-back-and-forth contest and whoever has the ball last wins. War Eagles get it last. The pick, in a close one- C.E. Murray Note: I plan to be at this game and will be posting updates on @CNR_Sports on Twitter if you'd like to follow along. Ridge Spring-Monetta- 28
Lewisville- 24 Lamar- 45 Williston-Elko- 14 Baptist Hill- 46 Lake View- 32 C.E. Murray- 20 Lake View- 19 Breakdown- Last week my playoff projections were basically a seven-layer salad of dead flies, old cheese, horse poop, belly button lint, rotting sausage, sock sweat and dog hair. I went a craptastic 1-3 on my predictions, though to be fair there were some extenuating circumstances. I was able to take in the Lewisville, RS-M game in person. That was as over as over gets when Lewisville took a 24-0 lead late in the first half, then it just kind of wasn’t. The Trojans got a long touchdown run late in the half and dang if a score going into the break doesn’t always seem to be a momentum-builder. A couple of things contributed to the run they went on. Lewisville had a couple of three-and-outs and a turnover in the third. On top of that, after they scored to make it 24-14, RS-M went for and recovered an onside kick (they got another in the fourth quarter). Lewisville ran six plays in the entire third quarter, meaning the defense was out there a long time. The Lions weren’t blessed with a ton of depth this year, so I think that started to wear them down a little as the game wore on and limited their chances at a kill shot score. The Trojans also changed things up offensively. They couldn’t squeeze a drop into the potty offensively early on. They went with a straight, drop-back kind of passing attack, which just didn’t work. Lewisville’s defensive front was just destroying them. They could run the ball very well either. So, they went with more of a quick hit passing game, which kind of loosened things up a little. QB Tyson Bettis, despite just getting hammered throughout the first half, kept coming back and as the game wore on, his elusiveness showed more and more. Lewisville helped too, in the form of some dropped passes and penalties. I give the Trojans full credit for battling back from a 24-point deficit, which took a lot of fortitude and toughness. I wanted to say all that up front before I discussed the grab bag of bullcrap that was the final penalty called in the game. I try very hard not to criticize officials here. I know many officials, they work very hard, they get it right most of the time and they are in sadly short supply. However, Lewisville got the ball back with just over two minutes left at their own 22. They drove inside the RS-M 30 and, with 12 or so seconds left, Rhett Cox hit Mikial Fourney in stride for the apparent game-winning touchdown. In Fourney’s wake, though, was a flag. Fourney was called for offensive pass interference. I was standing about five yards from where he caught the ball (around the 10) and am here to tell you, he did not push off. Fourney and a DB were doing some hand-fighting, which receivers and DBs often do. In this case it was mild and very mutual hand-fighting. It had no impact on the play at all. Lewisville’s coaches actually thought if anything, they were going to call defensive pass interference. I get that pass interference is a judgment call, but I was completely shocked at that call in that situation. With 12 seconds left, on a game-winning touchdown pass in the third round of the playoffs, I don’t want a flag deciding things. Especially on a play like that where, really, there wasn’t many of anything to throw a flag for. On top of that, they were letting pass-catchers and pass-defenders get pretty physical for most of the night, so that penalty stood out even more. Lewisville’s last season in Class A (for at least a while) was a good one, but it’s over now. I wish hadn’t ended the way it did. RS-M moves on now to face Lamar for the upperstate championship… Hey, speaking of Lamar, that’s one game I actually got right. The Silver Foxes laid the lumber to Williston-Elko 45-14.My double secret Lamar informant was on hand and said the game was never really close or competitive. Lamar scored on its first three possessions to go up 20-0. W-E did have a fumble return for a touchdown in the second quarter, but their offense never really did much of anything. Against a defense as fast, physical and well-coached as Lamar, I just really didn’t think an offense as mostly one-dimensional as W’E’s would find much traction, and they didn’t. And Lamar used all its offensive weapons to outgain the Blue Devils by more than 300 yards. They did most of that on the ground (Lucas had 200 dadgum yards on 13 flippin’ carries). Oddly, Lamar was apparently a little sloppy with the ball, with three fumbles and an interception in the first two quarters, but the talent and performance gap was so big, it didn’t matter. They’ve been a prohibitive favorite to represent the upperstate for a while and they have a chance to do that this week… There are a couple of super high-powered offenses in the low country and I wondered if they had a prayer against Hemingway. The Tigers were 11-0 going into Friday night and only two of their games were even mildly competitive. Hemingway was so explosive on offense and so adept at creating turnovers on defense and scoring on them AND at getting special teams touchdowns, I thought getting in a shootout with them seemed liked a really terrible idea. Maybe Chad Wilkes did too, because he decided not to try. C.E. Murray, who has moved to a wide open spread this year (including in a 56-35 loss to Hemingway during the regular season) came out Friday night and ran the Wishbone against Hemingway. They’d not shown that look all year. To me, a switch that drastic takes, um, solid gold taters the side of ostrich eggs. You aren’t dancing with the girl that brung you, you’re pretending to be sick, telling her to go to the party without you, then going to her house to see her sister. Seriously, that was a super bold move but also a brilliant one. You, no doubt, catch them off guard, force them to adapt on the fly AND shorten the game and limit possessions. A lot of credit goes to the War Eagle players too. It’s one thing to decide to an offensive 180, but it’s another entirely for them to go out and execute it. The defense obviously played their tails off too. That includes a crucial goal-line stand in the closing seconds. With a team like Hemingway, I wonder if going to the playoffs without really having been challenged is a good thing. They aren’t all going to be walkovers in the playoffs, no matter how good you are. They had a big senior class, a ton of talent, inspired the phrase “crank smack” and 11-1 is certainly nothing to sneeze at, but they didn’t get the ring they probably thought was within reach. C.E. Murray goes to the upperstate title game for the second time in three years, which sustains the amazing turnaround of this program over the past couple of years… I’m not shocked that Baptist Hill (or Methodist Mountain as a friend of mine calls them) upset the defending state champion Lake View Wild Gators. I was honestly torn on that game, but figured Lake View’s defense was a tiny, little bit better than Baptist Hill’s and that they might be able to have some success on the ground and let the air out of the ball a little. As with the Lewisville game, there are some other factors to consider. If you follow high school football, you know that one of Lake View’s best players was not on the field Friday night and you know why. No need to rehash all of that here. That obviously made a difference, but I can’t sit here and honestly say that his presence would have guaranteed a win. For a long time, I didn’t totally buy into the Bobcats. They put up dizzying offensive numbers last year and just left rug burns on bad teams…then got blasted whenever they played somebody who hit back. That isn’t the case this year. They are much better on defense and their offense is still a fireworks show….A good one, not you and your cousins lighting a few blacksnakes and neighbor haters in the pasture on New Year’s Eve. Corey Fields threw for 435 yards and six touchdowns. I’ve seriously run out of superlatives and adjectives to attach to the asinine assault he launches against opposing defenses every week. He has over 4,000 total yards this year despite missing most of a game and the fact that his team played only nine regular season contests. No matter who was on the field for Lake View Friday, I don’t know that it would have helped overcome his efforts. Baptist Hill v C.E. Murray has the makings of the year’s most entertaining game and I, hopefully, will be in attendance. Suggested Reading Seriously, blacksnakes just made it look like the Earth was taking a smoky poo… This guy says something about a controversial ending in Monetta but, but whose buying his jive anymore? Crossed you up. You looked zigged and I zagged. The old switcheroo… Lewisville (9-3) at Ridge Spring-Monetta (8-3)
The Lions managed to survive Mataeo's Last Stand last week, gutting out a 24-22 overtime victory at McCormick in round two. RS-M scored on a 55-yard run in the first quarter against Timmonsville and made that stick, winning 7-0. Last week, I proclaimed that C.E. Murray had the most balanced offense in 1A football. Perhaps I should have, you know, looked at everybody's stats before dropping that nugget. Lewisville has run for 2,285 yards and passed for 2,251, which is about as balanced as two fat kids on a see saw. The thing is, if you watch them, it doesn't feel that way. In round one against the Pig Innards, they threw for more than 300 and ran for less than 70. Last week they ran for more than 200 and threw for 30. Now, that was partly because of McCormick's defense and partly because they were basically playing the game in a swimming pool, but the Lions are versatile enough to take what a defense or the conditions gives them and still be productive. Not everyone is capable of doing that. Quentin Sanders, who somehow didn't make an all-star game, now has more than 2,000 yards from scrimmage and 34 total touchdowns. They have managed to big-play the opposition to death with he and the passing game weapons and the defense is playing at a peak level right now. The Trojans are not any of the things I just said, except for peak, you can't score on them, defensive part. They have a nice, dual-threat quarterback in Tyson Betts who has thrown for 982 yards (so juuuuust enough to keep you honest and prevent totally loaded boxes) and run for 585 yards, with 19 total touchdowns. Collier Sullivan leads the team with 852 yards and 10 touchdowns. Looking at their scores week-to-week, they don't blow up the scoreboard...they score 14 or 21 against good teams and the opponent doesn't score at all, and that's at. They allow 8.8 points-per-game overall, but narrow that to only 1A competition and the number drops to 3.8 a game with six shutouts, including three straight. The only caveat I'll throw in is that they have faced a lot of one-dimensional offenses, but there is no questioning their talent and execution on that side of the ball. I expect a very close and probably low-scoring game, but I like Lewisville's chances against a largely slow paced and somewhat one-dimensional offense more than RS-M's shot against an offense that can throw and run with equal effectiveness. The pick...In a close one, Lewisville Lamar (11-0) at Williston-Elko 9-2) Lamar, no kidding, played their starters for a quarter last week against HKT. It was already 35-0 and stuff was getting chippy so that was probably plenty. They had a bye the week before, so they should be ready to make this final push of the season. Really, they've been challenged twice this year. Once against a good AAAA team in Crestwood and once against Lewisville. They have a stable of terrific backs (Herion, Lucas, Green etc) they're good up front, Rashard Coleman has developed into an excellent quarterback and their defense seriously probably makes you question your decision to participate in contact sports. Williston had a good year, Tyran Parker is a really good two-way quarterback and the defense is good, mainly against teams that just run the ball...but they struggled to put away Dixie last week and aren't what you'd call dynamic on offense. They may hang in there for a quarter or so, but I really don't see this being close. Lamar and Lewisville rematch for upperstate next week. The pick...Lamar Lake View (9-2) at Baptist Hill (9-1) The Wild Gators trailed at halftime last week but rallied for a 32-12 win over a physical Cross team. Baptist Hill had a tough time putting away Green Sea-Floyds but finally did so 33-24. Corey Fields threw 454 yards and five touchdowns in that one. I'm not gonna carry on with a bunch of hyperbole about those numbers at this point because he basically does that every week. He'll almost assuredly pass 4,000 total yards for the season this week, made even more impressive than it seems when you consider he missed most of one game and they only played nine regular season contests. Lake View has its own run/pass/scary football robot under center in De'Ante Bridgett. They have a little more ability to line up, call a running play and execute it successfully than the Bobcats and a better defense, though honestly not by a wide margin at all. They are also deeper. Still, I'm honestly torn on this one because Fields is such a special talent and has the ability to light up any defense. For those not familiar with his work, he is not a Dinky McCheckdown that throws 50 screen passes a game. He can make every throw and is very effective on the deep ball. I'm tempted to go with the Bobcats here, but I say by a narrow margin, the depth of the defending champs makes the difference...maybe. The pick I reckon...Lake View C.E. Murray (10-1) at Hemingway (11-0) Hemingway beat St. John's last week 48-0. Let that sink in. Pretend to be a cheap steak and marinate in that for a moment. They didn't crank smack some 2-8 team that didn't belong in the playoffs, they beat a quality team that themselves beat AAA, AAAA AND AAAAA teams during the regular season. Martrell Davis, Keyshawn Davis and Micah Bryant had two TDs apiece. Quarterback Troy Singletary ran for 130 yards and is a good passer. I keep asking "well what happens when they don't score those delicious gravy TDs on special teams and defense?" It's as dumb a question as "why does it hurt when I throw lit firecrackers in my britches?" They do it every week, so there's no reason to think they'll suddenly stop. They are deep, senior-heavy and oozing with scary playmakers. The War Eagles had a closer than I figured battle with Hannah-Pamplico but there were mitigating circumstances in the form of three straight successful onside kicks by H-P. Elijah Bey is statistically one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the state and Darius Rush is one of the most explosive and versatile athletes there is. It got dinged a bit last week but the defense has generally been saltier than fatback...except when they played Hemingway in the regular season. They lost that game 56-35. I certainly think they are capable of winning this game, having proven they can score on Hemingway (no one scored as many against the Tigers), but Hemingway just punishes you for every mistake you make, they win their average game by 39 points and they feel like they're headed to state to me. The pick, in a close one... Hemingway
Upperstate
Lewisville (8-3) at McCormick (6-4) The Lions are coming off a 31-2 thumping of Chitlinville, while the Chiefs had a bye last week. Lewisville’s game last week wasn’t even as competitive as the score makes it sound. They scored on their first play from scrimmage (on an 80-yard touchdown pass from Rhett Cox to Demetric Hardin), had another one-play drive in the second quarter (on a 50-yard pass from Cox to Quentin Sanders) and led 31-0 at the break. Cox went for 269 in the first half and the Hand Slung All-Americans didn’t crack 70 yards of total offense until the third quarter. The big plays were impressive, but it was the performance of the defense that really stood out. Simply put, Lewisville’s defensive front completely dominated the opposition. Josh Belk was nearly unblockable and Jaylen McFadden had 17 dadgum tackles. And those weren’t of the “he touched the pile with his pinky, give him an assist” variety. These were more in the “crying school children left in his wake” style. McCormick likely needed the week off to get star running back Mataeo Durant healthy, as he battled a bit of an ankle injury late in the season. He is, without question, one of the most electric offensive skill players I’ve seen in a long time. He has stop-start ability, an unholy first step and another gear to outrun pretty much anybody. That he is a Shrine Bowler, a Duke commitment and holds a 13 or so yards-per-carry average speak to the kind of player he is. For the most part, though, McCormick’s offense is a one-trick pony…granted, it’s the best trick pony a has ever done. The pony plays the trombone while walking on a tightrope, but Lewisville has so many weapons. They are also better up front on both sides. I don’t think it’s a 42-14 rout like last year’s match-up of these two teams, but I think it is a Lion’s victory. The pick…Lewisville Timmonsville (7-4) at Ridge Spring-Monetta (7-3) The Whirlwinds doled out a plus-sized rootin’ last week over an outmatched Denmark-Olar team 72-8. They ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown, scored on their first play from scrimmage and hung 56 on the board in the first half. This team has been a little up-and-down this year. They needed two late scores to pull out a win over 2-8 McBee, but laid the wood to a good Scott’s Branch defense (to the tune of 52 points) and beat Lewisville. Where they’ve struggled is against big, physical teams. Even in the win over Lewisville they only had 180 yards of offense, but took advantage of six turnovers and ran a pair of kicks back. They have dynamic skill talent in the form of QB Jamaric Morris, RB Tyquan Eaddy and WR/KR/HOLY-CRAP-HE’S-FAST Chris Taylor. Taylor has really come on as a field-stretching receiver and momentum-shifting kick returner. RS-M goes the exact opposite route, mixing a little bit of a passing game in with a power running attack. Where they really win is on defense, though. They’ve allowed 9.7 points a game, but if you take out losses to two good higher classification teams and only look at 1A competition, that number drops to 4.3 a game with five shutouts in eight contests. Now, honesty compels me to point out that came against teams with a combined record of 25-50, but they did what a good team is supposed to do in those kind of contests and dominated. Still, watching Lewisville handily beat Wagener-Salley, who finished a competitive third in Region III, made me wonder how good that region really is. It’s hard to tell, really, because it’s so large that every team only gets three out-of-region games. Most of their body of work came against one another, so I looked at the out-of-region performance (limited as it is) of everyone in Region III. They were 6-17 in such games, including 4-6 against fellow Class A teams and 2-11 against teams of higher classification. Wagener-Salley’s only two regular season losses came in region to RS-M and Williston-Elko, but both were tight contests and last week, they were literally never it against Lewisville. You can’t always do the three-way comparison thing, but it does mean something. I also don’t think RS-M has seen many passing attacks. Timmonsville isn’t a big throwing team but they do make huge plays through the air. RS-M is at home, has had an extra week to prepare, has one of the state’s best defenses statistically and Timmonsville is facing a very long bus ride. The smart money is on them…but I’ not very smart, have very little money and think it’s sort of boring to never pick upsets. I say kick returns, explosive plays and the confidence the Whirlwinds seem to have now makes the difference… The pick, in an upset…Timmonsville Hunter-Kinard-Tyler (5-6) at Lamar (10-0) HKT is coming off a 50-10 whipping of Whitmire last week, while Lamar had an off week. HKT has been without quarterback Devante Scott for a couple of weeks, though he is expected back tonight. In his stead last week was Camry Jones, a wide receiver who apparently possesses more speed than a truck stop. Really, you don’t want a guy who has to get a Jimmy full of logs to C-Town by sun up getting drowsy at the wheel. What was I talking about now? Oh, anyway, Jones ran for 222 yards last week. I like HKT, I love seeing a school this size being competitive and successful and they are as scrappy as they come. Having said all that, they’re playing a Lamar team that’s had an extra week to prepare so… The pick…Lamar Dixie (8-3) at Williston-Elko (7-3) Dixie picked up a 38-12 win over Blackville-Hilda last week, while W-E was off. W.E. was actually my granddad’s name. That has nothing to do with this game, but don’t you sometimes want to know the man behind this silly blog a little better? You probably don’t actually, so I’ll move along…Look, Dixie hasn’t played a very rigorous schedule at all, with two wins over Ware Shoals and three victories against non-SCHSL competition. Still, they’re a vastly improved team over the past two years and figure to be a bit more of a player in the upstate in a couple of sports next year with Lewisville moving up to AA. They don’t throw it much at all, just enough for a tiny bit of balance. They are good up front and lean on RBs Deiveon Donald and Chandler Smalley offensively. The Blue Devils lost two “up” games early, but have been on a roll since. Tyran Parker is a dual-threat guy at quarterback and they have the versatility to both spread it out, or line up in the wishbone. They are very athletic on defense and even playing Woodland and Barnwell have only given up 10 points a game this year. I think they can shut down a fairly one-dimensional offense and do more than enough offensively to roll on to round three. The pick…Williston-Elko Lowerstate Green Sea-Floyds (6-4) at Baptist Hill (7-1) Since a surprising loss to East Clarendon and a blowout at the hands of second-ranked Hemingway, the Trojans have played really well, knocking off Hannah-Pamplico and Scott’s Branch their last two times out. That’s two, real quality wins. The problem for them tonight, I think, is that to beat the Bobcats, you’re going to have to score a lot of points. So long as Baptist Hill QB Corey Fields is healthy (which he apparently is) they’re going to put up silly, cartoonish, video game type numbers. GS-F has played pretty good defense this year, but even in last week’s win they had one, sustained drive, scoring once on a trick play and once on a kick return. They can probably slow the pace down a little and hold the Bobcats a bit under their average, but I just don’t think they can match them score-for-score. The pick…Baptist Hill Cross (7-3) at Lake View (8-2) If you like old-school football where guys named W.E. (did I mention my grandfather was named W.E.?) and Silas smoked in the huddle and beat the living crap out of one another running straight-Ts and wedges wearing leather helmets and no pads, this game is for you Cross had a tougher time last week with East Clarendon than I was expecting, but came out with a 26-10 victory. They are a tough-nosed team with a stud RB/LB in Nate Walker whom other school children do not like hitting or being hit by. Lake View, the defending state champ, has a little bit more offensive versatility and dynamic two-way quarterback in De’Ante Bridgett. Truthfully, they don’t have a big, signature win this year, but they gave Hemingway its most competitive game, with a pair of interception returns making the difference. I can see this one going either way, really, but based on its ability to make a few more plays in the passing game and its history of success in this series… The pick…Lake View Hannah-Pamplico (6-5) at C.E. Murray (9-1) H-P (no kin folks by that nomenclature to my knowledge) picked up a 57-22 win over Military Magnet this week, thanks in part to three rushing touchdowns from Kobe Praylow. They take a considerable step up in competition this week facing C.E. Murray, who is coming off a bye. Darius Rush gets most of the attention for the War Eagles, which is understandable since he’s a Division I commit with 15 touchdown catches, but he’s not their only weapon. Elijah Bey doesn’t get nearly the attention he should for a guy who has thrown for 1,888 yards with 26 touchdowns to three picks and a 64 percent completion percentage. This is probably also the most balanced offense in 1A (nearly 1,600 yards rushing) with a ton of offensive weapons. They’re pretty nasty on defense too. H-P may hang in for a while, but I think the War Eagles just have too much on both sides of the ball… The pick…C.E. Murray St. John’s (6-4) at Hemingway (10-0) St. John’s blasted Bethune-Bowman 46-12 last week. The Islanders got everyone’s attention early on by knocking off AAA, AAAA and AAAAA teams, but then kind of fell off the radar with a string of losses. They really shouldn’t have…all four losses were very close and all came to very good football teams. Some injuries also played a factor. They have an athletic senior quarterback in Kam Smiley THEY HAVE A REAL TIGHT END AND ACTUALLY THROW HIM THE BALL WHICH EVERYONE SHOULD DO and they run it well. Aside from a shootout with Baptist Hill, the defense was pretty salty all year too. Hemingway is unbeaten, they’ve outscored their average opponent 51-14 and they’ve really only been challenged a few times all year. Troy Singletary, Darius Taylor et al are big-play guys on offense, but the Tigers also score frequently on defense and special teams. They got two interception return scores against Lake View two weeks ago, in one of their only games where the outcome was in doubt at any point past the first quarter. They are a prohibitive favorite to win the lowerstate crown and are as good as advertised with a big, talented senior class. Just chew on this one thing, though…what happens if a team plays a clean game against them and they don’t get those gravy touchdowns? How do they handle it if someone sticks around into the second half with them? I think we may find out, because I think St. John’s has the talent to consistently move the chains and keep Hemingway’s offense off the field. I’m not calling for the upset here, but I am saying this was 30-25 game last year and St. John’s ain’t gonna lay down. The pick (closer than people think)…Hemingway Lewisville- 31
Wagener-Salley 2 Timmonsville- 72 Denmark-Olar- 8 HKT- 50 Whitmire- 10 Dixie- 38 Blackville-Hilda- 12 Green Sea-Floyds- 20 Scott’s Branch- 18 Cross- 26 East Clarendon- 10 Hannah-Pamplico- 57 Military Magnet- 22 St. John’s 46 Bethune-Bowman- 6 Breakdown- Round one of the Class A playoffs is THEORETICALLY supposed to feature close match-ups, since all the one seeds and some of the two seeds have byes, leaving THEORETICALLY evenly-matched twos, threes and fours battling. Well, not every theory turns out to be valid. People used to think toads grew out of mud and that their pee gave you tetter, or ringworm; some skin malady. Anyway, what we mostly got Friday night were railings and whoopins. The only really competitive game came in Green Sea-Floyd’s come-from-behind two-point win over Scott’s Branch. All year I’ve deemed Scott’s Branch the meat of consternation, in the pita of head-scratchers, slathered in the tzatziki sauce of uncertainty, on the plate of confusion at Sal’s WTH Diner. Thankfully I don’t have to make any more of those inane analogies about Scott’s Branch. Seriously though, you shut out Bamberg-Ehrhardt and give up 52 to Timonsville (and 40 to Cross) in the same season, I think I’m within my right to say dumb stuff like “the tzatziki sauce of uncertainty.” Grees Sea-Floyds was kind of in the same boat, really. I expected them to take a step forward this year and it didn’t really happen in the regular season. They beat Hannah-Pamplico, gave Lake View a heck of a game, but then somehow lost to East Clarendon. They didn’t do a whole lot offensively Friday, but they showed some fight, coming back from down 12-0. They got a kickoff return for a score, mounted one drive in the second half for a touchdown to go up 13-12 and then, trailing 18-13, executed the old hook-and-ladder for a touchdown with under three minutes to go. Special teams obviously played a big role, with Scott’s Branch missing on three, two-point conversion tries and allowing a kick return score. Green Sea now moves on to face the silly, pinball-like scoring offense of Baptist Hill this week… Region II pretty well flexed its muscles. Denmark-Olar is going to need some salve or lotion what the burn marks a 72-8 flailing leaves. Chris Taylor ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown and hard as it is to believe, things only got worse from there for the Vikings. Tyquan Eaddy went 65 yards to the house for a touchdown on Timmonsville’s first play from scrimmage and it was 56-8 at halftime. The Whirlwinds, to me, are a pretty scary team right now. They have explosive offensive talent and they are playing with a metric butt-ton of confidence. Their match-up with Ridge Spring-Monetta this week is a very interesting one…The score wasn’t as lopsided, but Lewisville was every bit as dominant against Wagener-Salley as Timmonsville was in their game. I felt like the Lions would be able to get some quick strike scores, because the fellows from Chitlinland haven’t really played a passing team this year and good as their defensive numbers have been this year, they’ve had the luxury of loading the box and playing man coverage. Well, Lewisville’s first offensive play was an 80-yard touchdowns pass. They had another one-play drive (a 50-yard scoring toss) and it was 31-0 at halftime and Rhett Cox was 8-of-11 for 269 yards. They did hold Lewisville below their normal rushing totals, but when you give up 269 through the air in a half, that doesn’t much matter. The only thing that surprised me was how little the Stump Whooped All-Stars were able to do offensively. They haven’t put up dazzling offensive numbers by any stretch this year, but they got NOT NAM going against Lewisville. Had less than 70 yards at the break, and man, they tried everything. Fake punts, three different quarterbacks etc. The Lions, up front defensively, simply dominated. That (plus Dixie’s dismantling of Blackville-Hilda) really makes me wonder about how good Region III was. It’s such a HUGE region, that each team only gets three out-of-region contests, so there isn’t much of a body of work against anyone but each other to judge them by. We’ll see on Ridge Spring-Monetta and Williston-Elko this week. Lewisville now heads to McCormick…I was 7-1 on my first-round playoff picks, but on one of the games I got right my narrative was off by a freaking mile. I figured, much like last year, Whitmire and HKT would be a very close, competitive game. It wasn’t. 50-10 is not that. The Wolverines were a very young team this year and I expect them to be much improved next season. The reason I thought they could keep it close was because HKT, while prolific at times on offense, has struggled defensively. That obviously wasn’t the case Friday. One interesting note in this one is that Devante Scott did not play quarterback for the Trojans. Have no clue why he didn’t, but they put speedster Camry Jones under center and that worked out OK, if by “worked out OK” you mean “ran for 222 dadgum, flippin’ yards. Good for HKT, getting a playoff win is an indicator of a good season. Now they play Lamar, so, you know… Quick Hits- I was a tad flippant on my East Clarendon-Cross prediction Friday (my entire breakdown was “aw, bless it” because I expected savage beatdown) and apparently shouldn’t have been. E.C. gave a heck of an effort before falling 26-10. I haven’t been able to find an account of that game, but Cross won what turned into a more competitive game than I was expecting and will play one of the game’s of the week this Friday against Lake View…The season of the Mr. T Haircuts has come to a close via a 46-6 whipping at the hands of St. John’s. The Islanders got 215 yards on the ground from Jalen Hammond and a couple of scores from QB Kam Smiley. They knocked off a slew of big boys early in the season, then lost a couple of very close games to very good teams. They are balanced on offense and play real, actual defense. They go to unbeaten Hemingway this week. The Tigers, really, haven’t actually been challenged in a game this season. It will be interesting to see if St. John’s can do what no one else has…Hannah-Pamplico rolled over Miltary Magnet thanks in part to three touchdowns from Kobe Praylow. This is another team that on a given week seems capable of beating almost anyone (they gave Lamar its only really challenge of the year) or losing to anybody (they lost by two scores to Green Sea-Floyds and fell to The Sausages). They will face enormous test this week on the road at C.E. Murray. Suggested Reading… You can read about HKT’s offensive exploits and other game recaps here, or you can bury your head in the sand and pretend like we don’t have problems in this house Darlene! Does Dixie play “Dixieland Delight” at big home games? I don’t know about chubby ol’ groundhogs and croakin’ bullfrogs, but I did see a boar near there once. The chitlin party came to an end…if you can believe anything this poor excuse for a journalist says. Them ol’ Trojans can be real tricky now (in the sense that they run trick plays…that statement left to stand on its own is a tad dicey). COVER YOUR FACE DENMARK! Lewisville (7-3) at Wagener-Salley (8-2)
This is a rematch of last year’s first round, when the Lions doled out a grade-one rootin’ on the Chitlinburg War Eagles. I don’t expect 64-0 again tonight. The Lions, after losing two straight on the road to Lamar and Timmonsville, righted the ship last week with a 54-0 rout of rival Great Falls. The Lions, as I’ve noted before, have as much front-line talent as anybody in 1A. Rhett Cox has thrown for 1,700 yards and 17 touchdowns this year and has developed into an effective running threat as well. Quentin Sanders is one of the state’s top running backs, Mikial Fourney and Johnny Courtney bring HUGE play ability to the WR position (that’s bigger than big play ability, obviously) and the defense is teeming with large, physical players that opposing school children do not enjoy trying to block. The Lamar game was a physical war, but the Timmonsville game was, frankly, a giveaway. The Lion had six turnovers that night and gave up two kick returns. They lost despite holding a potent Whirlwinds offense to 180 total yards. Obviously they have to play cleaner games in the playoffs and it must be mentioned that all three of their losses came on the road. Wagener-Salley has played outstanding defense this year, allowing only 10 points a game. Chitlinville, as I understand it, has been without its quarterback the past few weeks and has gone with more of a single-wing look, sticking their excellent RB Tre Davis under center. He ran for 200 yards last week. So, they might show that look again or might be back in their familiar Wing-T look. Here’s the thing, though, as you look at their schedule you don’t really see a signature win. They play six in the box and man coverage behind that most of the time and it’s obviously been successful, but that’s been against teams that don’t throw the ball much or well. They’ve also struggled offensively, scoring just over 25 a game and that is padded by a couple of blowouts over teams with one or less wins (so no wins is what I’m saying). I think Lewisville can slow down a fairly one-dimensional offense and gets enough big plays in the passing game. The pick- Lewisville Denmark-Olar (2-8) at Timmonsville (6-4) The Vikings are a team that seems to play hard, but their wins came against winless North and Estill and they average just a hair under 10 points a game. Timmonsville has a couple of big scalps on its belt (Scott’s Branch, Lewisville) and have explosive offense weapons in QB Jamaric Morris, RB Tyquan Eaddy and WR Chris Taylor, who one coach told me is the fastest player he saw in person this year. That sounds like a recipe for a big ol’ bowl of running second-half clock. The pick- Timmonsville Hunter-Kinard-Tyler (4-6) at Whitmire (4-6) Someone asked me this week if I thought Lewisville-Chitlinvania was the game of the week and I told them no, this one is…in terms of what I think will be the most exciting contest. Recall that when these two met in the playoffs last year, it was 44-42 in overtime. HKT has an exciting, athletic quarterback in Devante Scott, speed at WR and loves to spread it out. The Wolverines do not do any of those things…quite the opposite. They line up tight and run out of that scrum, but they throw it just enough to keep you guessing. Jaylen Brown is an excellent wingback who catches it well out of the backfield. Both teams have struggled on defense some this year. Haven’t seen HKT in person, but I have Whitmire and they are just really young at some spots…but I can’t overstate how hard their kids always play. I expect a shootout and another down-to-the-wire contest. I honestly feel like these teams are about even but I’ll give a very slight edge to the Scott’s dual-threat capabilities… The pick, in a close one…HKT Blackville-Hilda (4-6) at Dixie (7-3) If you look at B-H’s schedule, you’ll find exactly one close game, that being a 22-20 loss to McCormick. Outside of that, they got rolled by good teams and viciously pummeled not-very-good ones. The thing is, if you change the McCormick score to 14-7, you’ve also pretty much described Dixie’s schedule. Isn’t that weird? And did you know Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy and Kennedy had one named Lincoln? And the…nope…not finishing that joke. Nevermind. Let’s focus on football. B-H has Dawon Joyney, a versatile 275-pound man-truck that plays DL and LB. Seriously…he’s a nimble, surly dump truck like in “Maximum Overdrive.” Offensively, they try to go the blunt force trauma route with a big 220-pound QB, who pound it between the tackles and runs a sweep occasionally. If you can’t stop pure power football, they’ll probably beat you. Dixie is a little more balanced on offense and is good up front, but they beat Ware Shoals twice, beat three non-SCHSL teams, all 13 players from Calhoun Falls Charter and Whitmire, which was actually an impressive victory. I nearly went with the upset in this one and won’t be surprised if it happens, but I’ll go with the Hornets at home in a competitive game. The pick, I guess…Dixie Scott’s Branch (5-5) at Green Sea-Floyds (5-5) To me, Scott’s Branch remains a patty of confusion, fried on the grill of questions, put on the bun of uncertainty, topped with the onions of huh and served with a side of WHAT ARE YOU? In a loss last time out, they held C.E. Murray’s explosive offense to 14 points. They SHUT OUT Bamberg-Ehrhardt, limited the Mr. T Haircuts to 12 and St. John’s to seven…but also gave up 52 to Timmonsville and 42 to Cross. Obviously, there are nights when they play defense as well as anybody in the state, the other nights when they kinda don’t. GS-G is similar, though…they lost to East Clarendon, beat Hannah-Pamplico, gave Lake View all they wanted, etc. So seriously, this is sort of a toss-up. Based on what Scott’s Branch has shown itself capable of doing, I’ll give them a slight edge, but there’s honestly no telling… The pick- Scott’s Branch East Clarendon (2-8) at Cross (5-3) Bless it… The pick…Cross, by muchly. Hannah-Pamplico (5-5) at Military Magnet (2-8) Not to go off on a rant here, Chachi, but this is why I hate pre-set brackets. Nothing against Military Magnet at all, but a 2-8 team hosting a 5-5 team makes precious little sense, but that’s what happens when you decide before the first snap of the season that the number three team from Region X will host the three from Region Y. Let’s maybe go with something merit-based, eh? I’ve heard Military Magnet has tough kids who play very hard and they can score some points, but the record and stats bear out that the defense has had a rough year. H-P has been a little up-and-down, but Eric Mayes is one of the QBs 1A seems to have a lot of this year who is just as likely to run 150 as throw for 250…or he may do both. Tonight, he might. The pick…Hannah-Pamplico Bethune-Bowman (6-4) at St. John’s (5-4) This has the potential to be an exciting game. The Mr. T Haircuts can certainly score points. They have Braxton Wedgeworthy III Esq. at QB (another of the fun, dual-threat signal-callers in 1A) and wall on roller skates of a RB in Makiah Simmons. This group was 5-1 and ranked at one point this season, but hit a swoon when region play started. Basically, when they’ve played good teams, particularly physical ones, they haven’t faired well. Cross beat them 40-0, C.E. Murray doled out a 56-20 boat-racing. St. John’s got everyone’s attention by knocking off AAA, AAAA and AAAAA competition early in the year, but also struggled a bit in terms of wins and losses down the stretch. I would submit to you, though, that all four of their losses came either to VERY good teams or teams of higher classification. Aside from the shootout with Baptist Hill, they haven’t yielded more than 8 points to any 1A team this year. Kam Smiley is a VERY underrated QB and he has weapons at his disposal…including a strong running game. The possibility for a fun back-and-forth affair is certainly present…but whether it is or not, I have a strong feeling about how it will turn out. The pick…St. John’s |
TravisI am Travis, the king 0f SC 1A Football Archives
November 2021
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