First of all, my apologies for not posting a review of last week as normal. My wife got sick, very considerately passed that nasty bug onto me and let me tell you, I am SUPER PRODUCTIVE AND MOTIVATED TO DO EXTRA when I have snot coming out of my face. I’m better now, though, and ready to jump into my upper and lowerstate picks…
Lamar (10-1) at Dixie (10-2) Once we had a representative sample of games to go by and a bracket showing us which region was matched up with which, this pretty much felt like the matchup we were going to get. That Lamar is here is not a shock, obviously. We’re almost to the point that you can call the upperstate championship game the Silver Foxes Invitational. Since Corey Fountain took over the program in 2014, they’ve gotten here every year. Last week, they ended the season of the boys from Chitlin Junction with a 37-17 win that actually wasn’t as close as it sounds like. The Stump Whooped All-Stars scored the game’s final points with less than two minutes on the clock. My super secret, embedded Lamar informant told me that it looked like Wagener-Salley was working against its tendencies a bit, going to the air more than have in most any game this year. There are plusses and minuses to not dancing with the girl that brung ya. I mean, how big is her daddy and does he have anger issues? Plus, who are you dancing with instead? What was I talking about now? Oh, honestly, Chitlinville had a great season, they won a region title but I don’t think what plays they called were going to make a difference. Unless Lamar absolutely messed themselves, they were going to win because they are just a better team. They aren’t throwing it quite as much since QB Cam Galloway went down, but when you are as good up front as they are and have two jumbo boxes of “holy crap” in the backfield like Jacquez Lucas and Malik Johnson, whatever you can get through the air is just gravy anyway. Dixie absolutely belongs here. They have held seven opponents to eight or fewer points, they have some signature wins (Christ Church and Ridge Spring-Monetta) and they operate with efficiency on offense. Last week, they came up with a 26-6 win over McBee. (As a quick aside, let me congratulate McBee Coach Johnny Kline on an amazing late-season run in his first year as a head coach. When they were 0-6 and getting railed every week, I thought it was a rebuilding year chalked up to lots of talent having graduated, a new coach and a new offensive philosophy. They got better as the year went on, his kids kept playing hard and good things happened. To end up in the third round of the playoffs is a mark of a great season in my book. Let’s please not forget the job he did or that Scotty Steen did at Great Falls this year. Both deserve kudos for the improvement they helped deliver). But I digress…Dixie is senior laden, especially up front on offense and they keep it simple. By “keep it simple” I mean “stomp on your face with a 230-pound man/tank named De’Iveon Donald.” He delivered most of the offense against McBee, though fellow back Chandler Smalley provided a nice compliment as well. They are physical, no frills, don’t throw it much and don’t beat themselves. Defensively, they aren’t huge, but they are tough as crap, quick and obviously very good. They are a lot like Lamar actually…but that isn’t really a good thing. Just as I said last week about Chitlinvania, it is really hard to out-Lamar, Lamar. To me, if you can’t spread the Silver Foxes out at least a little bit, don’t threaten to throw the ball or don’t throw a lot of misdirection at them, it’s going to be really hard to get much going offensively. Part of the reason they are so good is that they are just flat-out more physical than most people they play. They bring an intimidating presence to the field that you can almost feel. This will be one of those games that will be like two guys standing a few feet apart and headbutting each other in the face until someone passes out or wets their pants. Dixie has had one of their best seasons in history, they have a lot to be proud of, but until I see somebody line up and physically beat Lamar, I just can’t predict that it will happen. The Pick- Lamar Hemingway (7-5) at Green Sea-Floyds (8-3) Look, I’m not one to toot my horn…let’s just say that someone who produces a Class A football and meat blog and uses analogies about people headbutting one another until they mess themselves said before the season started that GS-F was a strong dark horse contender to come out of the lowcountry. Now here they sit, playing for the lowerstate championship for the first time in school history. No one should look at what Coach Kiefer and his team have accomplished and think it is flukey or a flash in the pan. Along the way, they beat Loris for the first time in 34 years, they beat a game Timmonsville team, they knocked off Hemingway and they have absolutely cranksmacked their last four opponents (by a combined score of 239-50). They did all that despite having to halt their season and lives for a month in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence. That in itself should tell you what kind of team they are. I went down to Green Sea Wednesday to do a story (which you should totally read) and what I found was a great group of guys who have completely bought into Coach Kiefer’s system. He told them when they arrived that they shouldn’t settle for 6-6 seasons, that they should expect more. They’ve poured themselves into his offseason strength and speed program and every player I talked to relishes the physical style they play. I was also impressed by their overall attitude. They are proud to have gone somewhere the program has never gone before, but they also want to lay a foundation for the future. In the years to come, they want GS-F to be thought of alongside Lamar, Lake View, Hemingway and other Class A powerhouses. I love that. Last week, to be blunt, they kicked defending lowerstate champ Baptist Hill around. From the little bit I saw of them practicing, they will take a deep shot here and there, but they’re pretty much in a bone/wing offense and run a little option out of it. Not gigantic up front, but good and they have the athletes to make it go. Here’s a hint, teams comprised of laughably unathletic people like me don’t average 60 a game. Jaquan Dixon, Anwain Graham and others provide them with lots of firepower. This week, they get a rematch against Hemingway. When these two met on October 19, GS-F trailed 21-14 late. They scored with three seconds left and immediately went for two. They got it, and pulled out a 22-21 victory. So, they are evenly matched and both teams have improved since then. Hemingway couldn’t have started out much worse, going 1-3 and just toting a couple of rootins. But you have to look at who those came to (Lamar and Carvers Bay), the fact that they have a new head coach and lost 16 starters from last year. They’ve found their way since then, going 6-2 down the stretch. The two losses came to GS-F and Lake View, who they got a successful rematch with last week. They have as much front line, top-drawer talent as anybody. Darius Williams regularly maims opposing school children. He’s listed at 6’3 and about 220 but he looks much bigger on film. Against Lake View, he lined up at DE and OLB and often either dispatched would-be blockers like annoying insects or was just running to space…perhaps because no one wanted to try to block him. He was a terror in Lake View’s backfield. Offensively, they list him as a tight end and he does look good running routes, catching the ball and stepping on people, but he’s such an athlete that they sometimes use him almost like a wingback. They bring him in motion and run jet sweeps with him. Have fun tackling that. They also have Darius Taylor, who mainly plays QB but gets sprinkled around to other skill spots too. He is just electric in the open field. This should be another great game, one that could certainly go either way…but boy, the Trojans are red hot on offense and their defense shut down that prolific Baptist Hill attack last week, so… The Pick- Green Sea-Floyds
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McBee (4-8) at Dixie (9-2)
This seems like a good time to acknowledge the job that Johnny Kline has done at McBee. The Panthers have lost a ton of athletes the past two years, guys who brought them an unprecedented level of success on the gridiron and beyond. Aside from Lamar, they’ve played the roughest schedule in Class A and they certainly took their lumps as a result, plus Kline brought a radically different offense to town, installing a spread in a place that a few years ago attempted something like 12 passes in a season. Despite all that, here they sit in late November, still playing football. They went on the road last week, they bent but never broke and pulled the biggest upset of the playoffs so far with a win over Blackville-Hilda. I thought their offense might give the Hawks some trouble early, but I assumed they’d get worn out by the punishing running game of Blackville-Hilda and overwhelmed by the big, fast, scary monsters that comprise the Hawks defense. I think I said something ridiculous like Blackville-Hilda would grind them into a fine powder and use those remains to make hoe cakes or something. Well, I was wrong. Part of that was them making stops when it mattered most, part of it (to a lesser extent) was because of Blackville-Hilda miscues and then, given the totality of things, I think that maybe Region III wasn’t quite as strong top-to-bottom as I thought. This week they go to a Dixie team having one of the best seasons in program history. They are similar to Blackville-Hilda in that they are big up front, they just pound you with a variety of RBs that look like rocket-powered tanks and they are physical as crap on defense. The difference is that this group is more experienced, they’ve shown no indication that they beat themselves with missed opportunities and they are a lot more battle-tested. They beat Christ Church, they won at Whitmire, they absolutely clamped down on Ridge Spring-Monetta and their two losses were competitive games against dang good AA teams in Ninety-Six and Landrum. It might be close for a while, the Panthers have weapons in Jaheim and Tyrece Wright and McBee has already proven me wrong once in these playoffs, but I say De’Iveon Donald has a big game on the ground and the Hornets play for the upperstate title next week. The Pick- Dixie Wagener-Salley (10-1) at Lamar (9-1) It’s a shame this is a third round playoff game. You’ve got number two visiting number one in what figures to be one of those games that I call a tater-kicking contest. Seriously, each side will equip itself with sturdy footwear, they’ll stand a few feet apart and just kick each other where it hurts until someone doubles over and taps out. Unless somebody breaks a screen pass loose for a big gain, I doubt there will be 100 yards passing between the two. What you’ll get is some old-school, phone booth football where the two will just try to pound the rock and wear each other out. Since losing to Fox Creek early in the season, the boys from Chitlin Junction have only been tested once, that coming in a 14-point win over Ridge Spring-Monetta. This is an experienced team, they have size up front and man alive do they have some athletes. Go watch the highlights on Qunetiz Barnes and tell me how much fun it looks like to try to tackle him. Almost as much fun as it is trying to catch/tackle/compete-in-football with Jacquez Lucas and Malik Johnson from Lamar. The Silver Foxes have made a few tweaks offensively since QB Cam Galloway went down. They spread a little, but they often go with two or three back looks…so basically, they find lots of creative ways to have Lucas and Johnson trample your souls. To the extent anybody has any success of any kind against the impenetrable wall of flames and granite and bazookas that is the Lamar defense, it is through the air. I just don’t know that you can line up and out-physical the Silver Foxes. I may be wrong, but I’ll have to see that to believe it can happen. Expect a physical war and a great game, but also expect to see the Silver Foxes playing for the upperstate title next week. The Pick- Lamar Green Sea Floyds (8-3) at Baptist Hill (7-2) This has the makings of a thrilling shootout, or a one-side tail-whipping, or something in-between. It’s hard to say. Both of these teams come in on real hot streaks. Green Sea-Floyds has won six of their last seven and in the last three weeks have beaten a good C.E. Murray team 64-26, a resurgent McBee squad 68-0 and Creek Bridge 63-8. Baptist Hill, as you know by now, started 0-2 but made the bold move of taking one of the state’s best WRs in Rashad Maxwell and putting him at QB. They haven’t lost since. The first five weeks of that experiment (admittedly not against the toughest schedule) saw them score between 58 and 78 points in every game. They’ve ONLY (a very relative term) scored 28 in each of their last two. What gets overlooked as they heap up tons of pinball-like offensive stats is how good their defense is. They only gave up 17 to the The OC Semi Pros in their opener and have allowed six or less five times. They did give up 27 to St. John’s in a 28-27 win, but the Islanders had one big-play touchdown and another non-offensive score. They aren’t throwing the ball near as much as last year or as early in the season, but if you can run for 400-ish yards like they did last week, I say go ahead and do that. Green Sea isn’t much interested in throwing the ball at all. They’ll just pound you with Jaquan Dixon, Anwain Graham and QB Bubba Elliot, who I’m certain must race on dirt tracks on the weekend. They are good on defense too, but it should be noted that their last lost came by a 37-22 score to a team with an athletic QB that spreads the field (Lake View). Of course, that was two weeks after Green Sea had spent a month not playing football because of a hurricane. They’ve definitely played a tougher schedule than Baptist Hill. I’m torn and honestly think this could go either way and be close or not be close in any direction. Baptist Hill’s quick-strike ability, Maxwell’s overall excellence and that underrated defense tell me they aren’t gonna lose this…but sometimes, wisely or not, you tell your head to get bent and get crazy and impetuous and go with your gut and a red hot team to pull an upset… The Pick- Green Sea-Floyds Hemingway (6-5) at Lake View (7-3) These two teams faced off on October 25 and Lake View ran away with that one 39-21. Of course, stuff that happened a month ago means NOT NAM at this point. Lake View, since a respectable but losing effort to Lamar has won five straight. They hammered McBee, they beat Green Sea-Floyds, blew out Creek Bridge, then took big wins over Hemingway and St. John’s. So, three teams that are still playing and another very good squad. Hemingway is the pudding of confusion, in the bowl of unanswered questions, topped with the Cool Whip of consternation at the end of the buffet line at the Who Are You Country Diner. They were 1-3 and getting slaughtered against a tough schedule early, then they seemed to find their way and notched a few quality wins, then they lost two straight, now they’ve won two straight and are still standing on Nov. 23. They have as much top-drawer talent as anybody with scary bear on roller skates Darius Williams, Darius Taylor et al. But they’re young at a lot of spots and that has shown at times. They certainly CAN win this. But Lake View has excellent athletes of their own (Adarrian Dawkins being high on that list) they’ve been better on defense, they have more signature wins and if you look at their three losses you see a close one to Hannah-Pamplico (a very good AA team), Lamar and Dillon. So, two teams that regular football teams comprised of human school children never beat. The Wild Gators play for the lowerstate title next week. The Pick- Lake View. Dixie- 27
Ridge Spring-Monetta- 13 McBee- 18 Blackville-Hilda- 14 Lamar- 48 Williston-Elko- 22 Wagener-Salley- 42 Whitmire- 7 Baptist Hill- 28 Branchville- 6 Green Sea-Floyds- 64 C.E. Murray- 26 Hemingway- 28 Bethune-Bowman- 6 Lake View- 46 St. John’s- 15 Breakdown- There were a few upsets by the seeds, but there was only one “holy crap who beat who with the which now” result in the second round of the Class A playoffs, that being McBee’s victory over Blackville-Hilda. I mentioned in my picks last week that I felt like the Panthers could give the Hawks a little bit of trouble. My reasoning was that Blackville-Hilda almost never sees anyone who spreads or stretches the field, so McBee’s new passing attack could prove a bit problematic. I in no way predicted a McBee win, though. I think I said it might be close for a bit but then Blackville-Hilda would grind McBee up into a powder and use their vanquished particulates to thicken their stew, or something. I just thought they were too big, too physical and too good on defense to lose this one. From what I read, McBee did get a couple of big plays if not consistency and did struggle to stop Blackville-Hilda’s power running game. However, the Hawks scored only once on six trips into McBee territory, they dropped a lot of passes and they dropped a couple of potential picks. So, they made some mistakes, but give McBee major credit for going on the road and getting key stops when they needed them. You can say “well Blackville got all drop-y” but that also acknowledges that Blackville was put in a position where they had to throw the ball, which isn’t something that has happened much this year. Once you get this deep in the playoffs, things start to reveal themselves a little bit. Take nothing away from the Hawks and new coach Corey Crosby. You get a program eight wins for the first time in a while and make it to the second round of the playoffs, you’ve had a great season. However, when you look at how poorly Region III has done in the playoffs, you kind of start to wonder if it was actually as good as you thought it was. It’s a really big region, so no teams get many out-of-region contests. When they do they are either playing Larry’s Living Room Rangers or, Barnwell. Teams they are either easily going to beat or ones that will have them toting an ass-whipping for a good gate. They don’t have many games against other quality Class A programs, so it’s difficult to judge just how good they really are. When they were 0-6 and just getting railed every week, the idea that McBee would make a trip to the third round of the playoffs would have seemed like the product glue sniffin’. But they’re 4-2 since then and sure enough are going to Dixie this week for Round three… Speaking of Dixie, the three-week layoff didn’t seem to hurt them as they ran past Ridge Spring-Monetta 27-13. Now, I actually picked RS-M, but did so with the caveat that I didn’t know that they’d actually win. They normally play their best this time of year, Dixie had not played in a while and what fun is it to always pick the favorite. Well, being right is fun, so that pick was sort of the onion on a big ‘ol DERP burger. Deiveon Donald (this week’s winner of CRANKSMACK OF THE WEEK…my stupidly-named player of the week award) ran for 205 yards and a touchdown for the Hornets. They did what they’ve done all year, which is to say run right up the bucket of the opposition with big, strong backs behind a big, experienced line and played great defense. Collier Sullivan ran for 139 yards for the Trojans, but the team barely cracked 160 yards of total offense, more than 70 of which came on one scoring play. I’m not sure what happened with RS-M this year. They had a ton of talent back from last year’s upperstate finalist team. They didn’t have a bad year by any stretch, but I just kinda of kept waiting on them to switch it into high gear like they always do at the end of the year and that never really happened. Dixie gets those resurgent Panthers this Friday… Every other game went like I expected they would. Lamar’s win over Williston-Elko wasn’t nearly as close as the final score makes it seem, since Lamar led 41-0 early in the third. My double-secret Lamar informant said Malik Johnson and Jacquez Lucas established the run early and Williston struggled, in the first half particularly, in trying to force the ball to KeShawn Toney. He also said Williston’s ranks looked a little thin, odd since they started the year with over 50 guys. Lamar was just too physical on both sides for the young Devils. They will face Wagener-Salley this week. The boys from Chitlinvania didn’t allow Whitmire’s offense to do much of anything in a 42-7 win. When the last S.C. Prep Media Poll was conducted, Lamar was number one and Wagener-Salley was number two, so this is a crazy matchup for a third-rounder. I’ll preview that one and all the other games on Friday…No surprises in the lowerstate. I did kinda, sorta raise an eyebrow when I saw how close Branchville was able to keep it with Baptist Hill, but the Yellow Jackets kept a lot of games close this year and were pretty senior-heavy. It may just a radar blip caused by a really fat bird breaking wind or something, but they’ve scored 28 points in each of their last two games after going for 58 or more in five straight. The defending lowerstate champs get a huge test this week from a red hot Green Sea-Floyds team. That they’ve gone over 60 twice in their last two shows you how well they’re playing, since they pretty much just line up and run it right at you. They were able to do that against C.E. Murray last Friday. Their game with Baptist Hill will be a war. On the losing end of that game, though is C.E. Murray. After three straight deep playoff runs, the War Eagles are done, but you have to understand what you’re looking at. C.E. Murray graduated a ton of talent, had two big-time starters transfer yet still found a way to finish with a winning record and win lots of close games. That is usually attributable to a couple of things, things like culture and coaching, both of which they have…The Mr. T Haircuts had one of their best seasons in the last 20 years, but just ran into a team that has more top-end talent. Hemingway has been up and down but seem to have mostly found their way at this point, which is good for them since they get a really, really good Lake View team this week. They took out a young St. John’s team. Let me say this about the Islanders and remember that the weird meat and football blog guy said this…they will be one of the team’s to beat next year. They started a lot of talented young guys this year. They’ve now got a year of experience under their belt, they have a good coaching staff leading the way…they are going to be hard to handle in 2019. Suggested Reading CRANKSMACK!!!! McBee ain’t no living room rangers, Broham. Holding Baptist Hill to 88 yards passing seems like quite an accomplishment…until you read the part about how they ran for 400 yards. Oh well. Ridge Spring-Monetta (6-4) at Dixie (8-2)
Almost everything tells me this should be a Dixie win, including the voices in my head, both of my imaginary friends and my talking dog. Dixie has an efficient, power run game on offense, with bull-ish backs like De’iveon Donald operating behind an experienced offensive line. Scrappy as all get out on defense, where they’ve limited some explosive offenses to NOT NAM this year (11 point-per-game allowed). Ridge Spring-Monetta has been up-and-down despite having most of last year’s upperstate finalist team back. Despite everything I just told you, I think it makes a real difference that Dixie hasn’t played in three weeks while the Trojans got to work up a good lather last week in a come-from-behind victory over Timmonsville. They also seem to play their best this time of year and have played a rugged schedule this year. Plus, what fun is it to publish a meat and football blog and never pick an upset? The pick- Ridge Spring-Monetta. McBee (3-8) at Blackville-Hilda (8-2) The Panthers got a blowout win over Estill last week, but this is some kinda step up in competition. I think McBee might prove surprisingly tough early in this game. The Hawks haven’t seen many teams that spread it and get athletes like Jaheim and Tyrece Wright the ball in space the way McBee can. I just think that nasty offensive front, the blunt force trauma offense (with a little bit of a throwing threat courtesy of Adonis Davis) and one of the most intimidating and physical defenses in Class A will prove too much to overcome. The final score might not be close. The pick- Blackville-Hilda Williston-Elko (6-5) at Lamar (8-1) The Blue Devils are one of the few teams equipped to challenge Lamar in the air with frightening TE/WR/Football Cyborg KeShawn Toney. Remember, Lamar’s one loss came to a Gray team that throws the ball a lot. However, Lamar was coming off a long layoff and lost its quarterback for the year early in that contest. Their defense has essentially made every other team on their schedule question their decision to play in competitive athletics. W-E has struggled on defense all year, against the run in particular, which doesn’t seem like a recipe for success against Malik Johnson and Jacquez Lucas. And save for one hiccup, Lamar’s defense has been a big scary wall of fire with razor wire at the top so… The Pick- Lamar Whitmire (7-3) at Wagener-Salley (9-1) Congrats to Whitmire on its win over Estill last week, the program’s first playoff win in 11 years. Coach Charlie Jenkins (no relation) has done a fantastic job in the Pearl of the Piedmont building a consistent winner where there was a four-plus year losing streak just a few seasons ago. Their scrum offense is tough to stop, they have a stable of backs who can tote the tater and they throw it juuuuust well enough to make it dangerous to sell out and stop the run. His teams are well-coached, they always play hard and you’ll always know you’ve been in a game when you play them. Generally, when they lose it’s because they’ve run into someone who is just better than they are. That will be the case tonight. Chitlintown is huge up front, they have experience all over the field, they will just bludgeon you into submission with their big, fast backs and squeezing out a drop against their defense is all but impossible if you can’t spread them out and throw it around a little bit. The Pick- Wagener-Salley Branchville (6-3) at Baptist Hill (6-2) Branchville is a program that is taking nice baby steps forward. They are senior heavy, they won a playoff game, they’re assured of a winning record…all stuff to be proud of. If I were them, I would focus on those positive developments instead of the unholy rootin’ they are going to be on the business end of by one of the state’s most explosive offenses. The Pick- Baptist Hill by a lot Green Sea-Floyds (6-3) at C.E. Murray (5-4) I like C.E. Murray a lot. I think Coach Wilkes and his staff do a fantastic job. Imagine coming in after the best two-year run in program history and keeping things humming. They’ve done so with a completely different offensive philosophy than their predecessor, spreading it out and chunking it all over the yard. They played for a lowerstate title last year, lost a big group of seniors that included one of the best players in the state regardless of classification (Darius Rush), then had their starting quarterback and another upper-tier level athlete transfer. They plugged Antonio McKnight in at quarterback and have continued to win. They’ve lost four games, but look who those four were (people like Mullins and The OC Semi-pros). They’ve managed to win close this year. I think they are running into a team, though, that is senior-heavy, rugged and playing its best football of the year right now. Green Sea was my dark horse pick to make a run this year. I think this one is close and probably low scoring (note, if C.E. Murray’s passing game clicks, then what I just wrote is wrong and dumb and wrong and they’ll win this going away), but the Trojans eek one out behind that ball-control offense. The Pick- Green Sea-Floyds. Hemingway (5-5) at Bethune-Bowman (7-3) Seriously, I’ve got no clue. The Mr. T Haircuts have a steady senior leader under center in Braxton Wedgeworth III, esq, who throws it well and is a heck of an athlete. They also have a plowhorse-style RB in Jesus Benjamin. Hemingway couldn’t have looked worse early, but they played well down the stretch, they have top-level athletes in greater supply (all of them are named Darius, oddly) and maybe that will be enough. Or maybe it won’t. The Pick- Hemingway, I reckon. St. John’s (6-4) at Lake View (6-3) The Islanders have a multi-faceted offense that might throw for 250 and run for 150 one week, then run for 300 and throw for 37 the next. Tyrus Richardson is better at football than you (he ran for 200 plus last week), they’ve been good on defense for the most part and have the best special teams in Class A. They are young but talented and Coach Josh Harpe has the makings of a contender next year. Lake View has an athletic QB in Adarrian Dawkins and when playing actual football teams instead of frightening pod people Dillon and Lamar, they generally win. This is the game of the night, I think, and again I’m stumped. I’ll go with the home crowd and a little bit more experience making the difference but I won’t be surprised if I’m wrong. The Pick- Lake View Ridge Spring-Monetta- 21
Timmonsville- 17 McBee- 47 Ware Shoals- 12 Williston-Elko- 36 McCormick- Less than WIlliston had, by like, 36. Whitmire- 35 Estill- 3 Branchville- 30 Military Magnet- 22 Hemingway- 34 Scott’s Branch- Remember how many more nights Phil Collins asked for? One less than that. St. John’s- 39 Charleston Charter School for Origami, Engineering and Stink Bait Production- 8 Breakdown- I was a perfect 7-0 picking the first round of the Class A playoffs, so if you followed my advise and bet accordingly, you are now wealthy beyond all measure. Also, if you filled out a Class A parlay card, you have problems and should seek help, but I digress. Sadly, the only two competitive games played last Friday are the two I haven’t found good accounts of. It did sound, though, like Ridge Spring-Monetta’s win over Timmonsville was the game of the night. Timmonsville led 17-0 on the strength of two touchdowns and a field goal courtesy of Jamaric Morris, who can almost literally do anything on the football field. He’s a QB, he’s a DB, he’s a kicker, he’s a punter, he parks cars, he sells fresh boiled peanuts at the concession stand, he’s the ill-tempered gate attendant who doesn’t care that you left your phone in the car. If you leave the stadium you gotta buy another ticket etc. The Whirlwinds carried that lead into the fourth quarter, but the Trojans came storming back to pull out the victory late. I’d love to hear from someone who was there and saw it. My guess (and it’s only a guess) is that in the fourth quarter, the huge disparity in depth started to play a factor, as did the playoff experience of the Trojans and that special knack they have for finding a way to win when the playoffs start. Timmonsville had a good season for new coach Ron Baker despite some tough injuries and a thin roster. They’ll miss Morris (one of the state’s most criminally underrated players) and Fanando Jackson terribly next year. For RS-M, they now go to a good Dixie team in a game they certainly can win. Should they win there, they’ll face either Blackville-Hilda or McBee (both of whom they could beat) for the chance to play for an upperstate title, meaning they could end up right where we expected them to be all along, they’ll just have taken the scenic route to get there. The other close game was Branchville’s win over Military Magnet, but I got nothing for you on that one other than Branchville won. That’s the kind of riveting commentary and inside information you’ve come to expect from this blog. None of the other games were close. Whitmire methodically took Estill apart with one lengthy drive after another. It was the old frog in the boiling water trick. They slowly turned up the heat until the water was bubbling and the poor frog had no choice but to eat himself, being all supple and tasty as he was by that time. That’s how that old analogy goes isn’t it? Anyway, that was the most predictable result of the weekend. It was also the program’s first playoff win in more than a decade so congrats to Coach Jenkins and company down in the Pearl of the Piedmont. They get the unenviable task of going to Chitlinville this week. Williston gave McCormick a proper seeing to. That they won didn’t surprise me, but given their defensive struggles, I was surprised to see them pitch the shutout. That win gets them a trip to Lamar, which, you know, might not go well. We’ll see. I wouldn’t have thought Hemingway would have won by such a large margin either, but almost no outcome, from blowout win, to fetal-position inducing rootin’ surprises me where they’re concerned this year, since they’ve had some of both. That said, hard not to see them as a bit of a favorite this week against the Mr. T Haircuts. St. John’s dispatched the Charleston Charter Academy of Learningness and Haberdashery pretty easily. Tyrus Richardson wins my CRANKSMACK of the week with his 225-yard rushing, two TD performance. The Islanders have one of the most intriguing matchups of the year going to Lake View this week. Suggested Reading See, you can’t throw the frog in the boiling water because he’ll just jump out and whatnot… You can check out capsules of several playoff games right here, including a win for St. John’s…or you can not check it out, claim you did and keep putting up that front Cheryl, but everybody’s onto you. Ridge Spring-Monetta (5-4) at Timmonsville (5-5)
Before the season started, the Trojans were my pick to face Lamar for the upperstate title. They didn’t have a bad season by any means, but they had a two-game stretch against good Blackville-Hilda and Wagener-Salley teams in which they scored six whole, entire points. They also struggled to put away a couple of teams (Denmark-Olar and Williston-Elko) in games where they surprisingly surrendered a lot of points. Odd for a team that had almost everybody back on that side of the ball. Timmonsville was just’a cruisin’ along at 4-1, then struggled to a 1-4 finish in the second half of the season. They have some dynamic skill talent on offense. Jamaric Morris is very much like what you’d get if a bull and a rocket engine could somehow have a baby. He’s strong and fast is my point…which might lead you to wonder why I didn’t just say “he’s strong and fast” to start with instead of concocting that inane bull and rocket engine thing. But I digress. Fanando Jackson is an excellent running back who can break tackles but also has speed to go the distance. So, maybe he’s the offspring of an armored car and a cheetah, since I’ve already driven down Dumb Analogy Boulevard once already. For the most part, they’ve played good defense for new Coach Ron Baker this year, even during a four-game losing streak. I’ve seen them in person and they are as good 1 through 11 as anybody. I think part of their problem is that there ain’t much past 11. I only counted 19 or 20 players total when I saw them. I think depth and overall experience make the difference in this one. I expect it to be fairly low-scoring and competitive, but… The Pick- Ridge Spring-Monetta. Ware Shoals (1-9) at McBee (2-8) This playoff match-up of teams with three combined wins, brought to you by stupid preset brackets. Have I mentioned how much I hate present brackets? Have I held forth in a screed full of righteous indignation that with Class A being so much smaller after the last realignment, we should have a points system, seed the teams 1-16 and be done with it? I think I have. Anyway, Ware Shoals got in by virtue of beating Calhoun Falls Charter. I’ve seen them and they looked a little better than that 1-9 record appears. They used two QBs the night I saw them (Ben Webb and Jermarious Goodman) and had a good-sized RB who wasn’t a blazer, but was a pretty good thumper between the tackles who caught the ball pretty well. Where they’ve really labored is on defense, if by “labored” you mean “give up a metric butt ton of points.” Like Timmonsville, they don’t have a whole lot of depth either, but the kids seem to play hard and keep a good attitude. McBee started off 0-6 and since they graduated so much talent, had a new coach and a new and radically different offense, I figured it was a growing year for them. If you really look at the 0-6 start, though, you see losses to lots of good AA teams (A.J., Chesterfield, North Central, Hannah-Pamplico, Blacksburg) and a very good Class A team in Lake View. They beat Great Falls, then pulled a surprise over Timmonsville on a last-second touchdown pass before getting totally CRANKSMACKED by Lamar and Green Sea-Floyds. Jaheim and Tyrece Wright carry on the tradition of fast people named Wright who play football at McBee. Against good competition, their defense just doesn’t hold up, but they can make some big plays out of their new spread offense, they’re pretty good on special teams and that should be enough in this game. The Pick- McBee. Williston-Elko (5-5) at McCormick (2-8) “Hey guys, so um, good news, bad news. Good news is you made the playoffs. Congrats. Bad news is winner goes to Lamar next week.” That’s kind of like hearing “Hey buddy, we’re hooking you up with a free buffet. All you can eat…because we want’ you really fat and delicious for that bear we’re going to feed you to.” McCormick kind of falls into the McBee category of having played an ambitious schedule and suffered for it. When they’ve played like-sized, comparable teams, they’ve faired OK. I like Silas Cannady…not just because he’s named like a 1700’s blacksmith, but because he’s a big-time playmaker. He plays RB when they go with the I look and takes direct snaps when they flip to a quasi-wishboney looking deal. He’s not real big but he can fly and is very tough for his size. Defensively, it’s a good idea not to throw it in his direction. But outside of him, they’ve had a tough time on offense. Williston-Elko has depth and top-drawer talent like frightening man/beast TE Keshawn Toney, who is a total mismatch for most any high school defender. They too played a manly schedule early and struggled (an oddity for this program) but did win 4 of 5 down the stretch. Where they’ve run into struggles is on defense. So a struggling offense vs a struggling defense. It’s sort of like an irresistible force meeting an immovable object. Or either the opposite of that…I’m getting out of my lane of ridiculous things creating freaky offspring. Anyway, I think depth and a few more playmakers are the difference here. The Pick- Williston-Elko. Estill (1-9) at Whitmire (6-3) Let’s not drag this out. Estill is in the playoffs because, um, two other teams from their region were suddenly unable to fulfill their playoff duties. So, it’s sort of like when Ms. America gets the croup or holds up a liquor store. That runner-up gets to step in and fill the duties. Whitmire runs the scrum on offense, they have about 6 guys that can tote the ball, they throw it just well enough to keep you honest, they are surprisingly deep for a school with less than 175 students, they’re well-coached and their kids battle their tails off for 48 minutes. This probably won’t be close. The Pick- Whitmire. Branchville (6-3) at Military Magnet (1-9) Did I already mention the whole thing about how preset brackets are like having to eat a seven-layer salad made of boogers, cat poop, grass clippings, old ham, spoiled milk, Vaseline and hamster dander? We have a 1-9 team hosting a playoff game here. Military Magnet has some athletes and run a scrum-ish offense that is tough to stop if you don’t see it often. Branchville is not a world-beater, but they are senior heavy, hung in there against the Mr. T Haircuts and C.E. Murray and did win six games, though none was against a team with a winning record. Of course Military Magnet doesn’t have a winning record and Branchville already beat them once this year so… The Pick- Branchville. Scott’s Branch (3-6) at Hemingway (4-5) This year, Hemingway has been the pancakes of confusion, covered in the syrup of consternation, on the plate of unanswered question, with a side of WTH bacon. They couldn’t have looked worst in getting hammered in 3 of their first 4 games (admittedly against a rough schedule), then they up and beat C.E. Murray and an at-the-time red hot Timmonsville. Then they lost their last two to Green Sea-Floyds and Lake View. They obviously have top-end talent in Darius Taylor and Darius Williams. Williams is a big scary defensive end that frequently maims opposing school children…but he’s so athletic that run jet sweeps and stuff with him on offense. Taylor is a phenomenal athlete as well, but this team lost a ton of talent and its coach from last year, which maybe explains their up-and-down nature. Scott’s Branch also has a new coach this year in Brian Smith. I think they are on the cusp of turning things around, having won 2 of their last 3, with the loss being a nail-biter to C.E. Murray. They are dealing with some injuries, but Sean Swarnger has stepped in at QB and rushed for more than 1,100 yards. Kendrick Lesesne and Treyshawn Moore are other weapons to look for on offense. This feels like a game that could be our first surprise of the night. Since they’re at home and facing a team that’s missing some important starters, I’m going to go with the Tigers here, but don’t be surprised if it goes the other way… The Pick- Hemingway. Charleston Charter Institute for Leadership, Personal Growth and Weenie Roasts (1-8) at St. John’s (6-4) The Islanders finished the year with two straight losses, but put that aside. They had Baptist Hill on the ropes and lost in the final two minutes, then handled themselves well against The AA OC Semi-pros last week. This is a young but talented team. Coach Harpe has several guys on offense that can hurt you and seems to alter his attack on a week-to-week basis to exploit the weakness of the defense he’s facing. They can run it, they throw it pretty well, Tyrone Hicks is better than you at football etc. and so forth. Their defensive effort against Baptist Hill was phenomenal and they’ve generally played well on that side of the ball all year. The other thing that truly distinguishes them is their kicking game. It’s the best in Class A in terms of FG accuracy, kickoffs and returns. That’s a huge boost and leg up (pun fully intended) on most everyone they play. It’ll come in handy next week when they have an absolute war against Lake View. The Pick- St. John’s. |
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November 2021
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