I wasn’t able to make it to the Class A state game between Lamar and Lake View, unfortunately. That doesn’t mean I can’t comment on the proceedings, though. I mean, do you watch any of those stupid “debate” style sports shows or listen to most sports talk radio? None of those bags of gas (and sometimes bags of other substances) have first-hand knowledge of the stuff they talk about. Really, you just need to be able to use the word “suck” freely, accuse people of being quitters, demand that coaches be fired, summon up some feigned outrage occasionally, pummel poor, defenseless straw men…stuff like that. It also helps if you can yell. Being louder makes your more righter!
I’ll withhold my full breakdown until I can read some accounts of the game and talk to my double-secret, Lamar informant, but I did follow the action on Twitter and converse with a few folks who were there. Lake View won the Class A title with a 31-14 victory. Now, I did pick Lamar, but was honestly torn on which way to go. Lake View had the best player on the field (QB Duane Nichols), had a more explosive offense and was much bigger up front but Lamar had an efficient “move-the-chains” attack and, I thought, a better, more physical defense. There weren’t many obvious weaknesses on either team and the strengths seemed to cancel one another out, so I went with the overall resume. Lamar had proven itself more than Lake View by winning the best region in the state and whipping AA, AAA and AAAA competition. To me, they’d shown more. That ended up being meaning a whole bunch of nothing. If I were one of those drive time goons, I’d go delete my prediction and just harp on how I SAID THE BEST PLAYER ON THE FIELD PLAYED FOR LAKE VIEW! MORE EXPLOSIVE, FATTIES UP FRONT BLAH BLAH I’M LIVE AT JIMMY’S HOUSE OF GRITS COME REGISTER TO WIN SOME HAND SOAP WE STOLE FROM JIMMY’S BATHROOM! The game was scoreless through one quarter, then that explosive Lake View offense I spoke of struck twice (a 38-yard pass by Nichols and a 57-yard run by Tyshawn McDaniel). At halftime, Lamar had attempted 11 passes already, which is a very high number for them…they average about 10 a game. So, if I was BRIAN HAIRY, SPORTS ANIMAL ON 1650 THE SCRUM!!! I’d say crap about how Lamar got our of their gameplan too early, abandoned what had worked all year and whatnot. However, I wasn’t there and it sounded like Lake View was winning in the trenches big time. So size mattered, maybe. At one point early in the third, Lamar had negative rushing yardage, which is galling if you’ve seen them play (they aren’t huge up front but are tenacious and really stay on their blocks) and might speak to why they had to get out of their offensive comfort zone and take to chunking it. Doing so, though, led to turnovers, which is something Lamar hasn’t had to contend with this year. One thing I should have factored into my prediction earlier today is that Lamar has given up a couple of kick returns for touchdowns this year (including one against McBee last week) and Lake View has an excellent kick-return game. WELP! They ran one back on Lamar…so The Sports Animal at this point would just change the subject and start barking about how Stinky Johnson is a bum and a lousy left-handed set-up guy who should never have gotten a scholarship in the first place. YOU’LL NEVER HOST A REGIONAL WITH STINKY JOHNSON GETTING INNINGS! McDaniel busted another long one (41 yards) and then there was the punt return and that was that. Lamar scored twice in the fourth quarter but it was too far gone by that time. Dominance up front, big plays, special teams and turnovers ruled the day and Lake View won its 10th state title. They finished at 14-0 and beat a Lamar team that dominated every opponent this year, had a 21-game win streak going. It wasn’t fluky and it wasn’t playing over their heads. They physically handled Lamar and earned their title in doing so. I’ll have a deeper breakdown on the game Monday, but in the meantime BOB IS ON THE SCRUM LINE, WANTS TO TALK ABOUT SOMETHING I DISCUSSED LAST HOUR SO WE HUNG UP ON HIM! KEEP UP BOB!!!!
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Last Week's Record- 2-0
Playoff Record- 19-3 Lamar (13-0) vs. Lake View (13-0) A football season is often like my navigational skills...I might think I know where things are headed, but I'm usually wrong. Maybe you've never been trying to reach Turbeville, only to have your trip end fruitlessly in front of the state house (which ain't in Turbeville, Jack). Maybe you've never tried to find a popular midlands BBQ eatery, only to end up on an unpaved, one-lane "road" where folks who are really good at tying knots think your mouth is mighty purty...deep in the woods where no one can hear your tormented screams. Anyway, for once, the football path went pretty much the way I thought it would from the beginning of the season on. There were other strong teams, there were very worthy contenders, but Lake View and Lamar were, in my opinion, the two best teams in the state when the year began and since they're the last two standing, they've proven that to be the case. Tonight's match-up will be the weekend's only state championship game to feature two undefeated teams. It's taken me a while to decide which way I'm going on this one, because the two are so evenly matched and are so similar. Their scoring averages are within two points of one another, their points allowed are about 3.6 apart, their total yards accumulated this season are only about 350 apart...in the statistical sense, this one is a push. In terms of schemes, these two are almost mirror images. The Silver Foxes sometimes run the spread, sometimes go with a flexbone look and can play chess matches with formations, sometimes using no tight ends, sometimes one, sometimes two, sometimes there's a full-house backfield etc. The Wild Gators run the spread and the wishbone and run both very well. Defensively, both are primarily 4-3 teams with all kinds of speed and a generally nasty demeanor. "Big, fast and physical," Lamar Coach Corey Fountain said of Lake View. "There just aren't any weaknesses. "They're the defending champions for a reason," Lake View Coach Daryl King said of Lamar. It was sort of comical to see the two chit chatting in the parking lot, poor-mouthing a little bit, talking about how good the other's team was and saying stuff like "number one, number six, number 12, number 18...don't know how we're gonna stop them." Offensively, I think the best overall player on the field is Lake View quarterback Duane Nichols, who has the ball in his hands on every play. In his last high school game, expect to see him take on more of the load than the usually does. In his last game and in the season's final contest, there no reason not to put your fate in the hands of your best athlete. Lake View is more explosive (see the per-play stats I posted last night) and has dynamic playmakers in Tyshawn McDaniel and Randall Washington. When they throw it, they make HUGE plays. Lamar's offense is outstanding, but it's a little more workman-like. They consistently move the chains and don't make many mistakes. Jaquez Lucas is a speedy outside waterbug and Jablonski Green is a pick-up truck in a helmet and pads, just wearing out defenses between the tackles. Defensively, I give Lamar the edge. Though they aren't nearly as big up front as Lake View (on either side, actually), they are probably a little faster and bring a very nasty, tough edge to the field and it shows on every play. They force more turnovers and have shut down every offense they've played. The held a Lewisville team that dropped 40 or more on most everyone they played to 12 points, they stonewalled McBee twice, overwhelmed Williston-Elko, shut out AA Pageland and AAA Darlington and imposed their will on a decent AAAA team in Crestwood. Lake View will be the most talented offense they've played, certainly, but the record shows that if you play Lamar, you better be superb on defense or special teams, otherwise you'll get totally run off the field. Of course, that isn't to say Lake View can't win with defense, because they've done that on a couple of occasions themselves, including against a very good C.E. Murray team in the playoffs. So, when you look at the offenses and defenses, it seems like all the units are good and any area of strength is cancelled out by the opposition's strengths. How then, do you make a pick? In my case, the answer is found in scheduling. Both teams are great...you don't get to 13-0 if you aren't, but how did both get to 13-0? Well, Lamar beat McBee twice and Lewisville once (the second and third best teams in the upstate), they beat a Hannah-Pamplico team that would win seven straight games and give Lake View a decent game 41-3, they pummeled a pair of AA teams, whipped a AAA opponent and again, gave an OK AAAA team a good rootin'. Lake View beat a good AA Latta team 20-14, beat AA Mullins in a 54-30 shootout, then beat up on a pretty weak region slate (Hemingway being the one exception). Their best win, probably was the 19-0 victory over C.E. Murray in the playoffs. All other things being equal, I'll lean on body of work and Lamar's is more impressive. In a low-scoring game...I say we get a repeat champion The Pick- Lamar Points per game:
Lake View- 38.7, Lamar- 40.8 Points allowed per game: Lake View- 12.9, Lamar- 9.3 Turnovers forced Lake View- 23, Lamar- 35 Road to State: Lake View (13-0) Latta 20-14 W Johnsonville 42-14 W Mullins 54-30 W South Robeson 44-14 W Charleston Charter 59-6 W Green Sea Floyds 28-8 W Creek Bridge 43-14 W Hemingway 22-14 W East Clarendon 38-0 W Hannah-Pamplico 38-14 W Baptist Hill 56-26 W C.E. Murray 19-0 W Hemingway 41-14 W Lamar (13-0) Hannah-Pamplico 41-3 W Pageland Central 31-0 W Darlington 23-0 W Eau Claire 48-7 W East Clarendon 55-14 W Crestwood 35-21 W Timmonsville 58-8 W Great Falls 48-0 W McBee 17-14 OT W Lewisville 29-12 W Dixie 51-14 W Williston-Elko 51-14 McBee 41-29 W Total Offense: Lake View-5,035 yards (3,989 yards rushing, 1,046 yards passing). 8.7 yards per rush, 23.2 yards per completion, 40.8 yards per pass attempt , Lamar- 4,751 (3,611 yards rushing, 1,140 yards passing), 6.8 yards per rush, 15.4 yards per completion, 8.3 yards per pass attempt. Individual Rushing Lake View- Randall Washington has 177 carries for 1,367 yards and seven touchdowns, Tyshawn McDaniel has 69 carries for 832 yards and 13 touchdowns, Deante Bridgetthas 94 carries for 665 yards and five touchdowns, Duane Nichols has 39 carries for 528 yards and 13 touchdowns, Devlons Bethea has 55 carries for 374 yards and seven touchdowns. Lamar- Jaquez Lucas has 134 carries for 1,230 yards and 17 touchdowns, Jeblonski Green has 129 carries for 867 yards and 20 touchdowns, Tijuan Burroughs has 59 carries for 497 yards and three touchdowns, Tyrik Herron has 75 carries for 383 yards. Individual Passing Lake View- Duane Nichols is 38 of 55 for 906 yards and 12 touchdowns, Delvon Bethea is 7 of 18 for 140 yards and one touchdown. (Interception numbers not provided). Lamar- Rashard Coleman is 74 of 134 for 1,140 yards, nine touchdowns and three interceptions. Individual Receiving Lake View- McDaniel has nine catches for 310 yards and six touchdowns, Darius Ford has 10 catches for 263 yards and two touchdowns, Bethea has 12 catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns, Jaleek Roberts has six catches for 164 yards. Lamar- Lucas has 18 catches for 328 yards and one touchdown, Roderick Brown has 15 catches for 272 yards and three touchdowns, Green has 14 catches for 190 yards, Randell Woods has six catches for 112 yards and three touchdowns. Defensive Leaders Lake View- LB Xavier Johnson has 8 1tackles, six tackles-for-loss, three sacks, three fumble recoveries, one interception and one fumble return for a touchdown. LB Shawn Williams has 76 tackles, seven tackles-for-loss and one sack. DB Stone Spivey has 70 tackles, 11 tackles-for-loss, two sacks, four interceptions (two returned for touchdowns) and one fumble recovery. DL Datron Jones has 59 tackles, 13 tackles-for-loss, seven sacks and one fumble recovery. LB Tyler Davis has 50 tackles, six tackles-for-loss, 10 sacks and two fumble recoveries. DB Tyshawn McDaniel has 48 tackles and three interceptions. DB James Inman has 44 tackles, two tackles-for-loss, two interceptions and one fumble recovery. DL Brandon Acevedo has 42 tackles, three tackles-for-loss and three sacks. DL William Hayes has 42 tackles and five tackles-for-loss. Lamar- LB Jeblonski Green has 107 tackles, two sacks, seven tackles-for-loss, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, one interception, two pass break-ups and two tipped passes. DE Randy Wheeler has 93 tackles, 4.5 sacks, six tackles-for-loss, two fumble recoveries and one pass break-up. LB David Cribb has 88 tackles, 2.5 sacks, three forced fumbles and one tipped pass. DL Russ Freeman has 73 tackles, two sacks and four tackles-for-loss. DE Randell Woods has 52 tackles, seven sacks, eight tackles-for-loss, and one fumble recovery. LB Zach McClain has 55 tackles, one sack, two tackles-for-loss and one fumble recovery (returned for a touchdown). LB Malik Johnson has 51 tackles, two tackles-for-loss, two fumble recoveries, three interceptions (one returned for a touchdown) and one pass break-up. DB Roderick Brown has 50 tackles, one tackle-for-loss, one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries, nine interceptions (one returned for a touchdown) and seven pass break-ups. It’s been a long season for the Lake View Wild Gators…in good ways and bad.
Lake View was one of the favorites to come out of the lowerstate in 2015. The team’s only losses in the regular season came to eventual AA champ Dillon and Division II-A champ Lamar (in a 36-30 nail-biter). They advanced to the lowerstate title game and were just seconds from earning a rematch with Lamar for the big trophy, but lost to upstart C.E. Murray on a field goal as time expired. Lake View has as proud and storied a tradition as most any school in South Carolina, with nine titles all-time. The reaction of players to the stinging defeat wasn’t what you might expect. There wasn’t much dismay, what if-ing and head-hanging. “They were ready for football to start back the next day,” said Coach Daryl King. “It’s all they talked about and focused on.” That was basically the same attitude the team had demonstrated in 2014 when Lake View made it to the Division II-A title game but came up short against Hunter-Kinard-Tyler. This year’s juniors and seniors were part of both teams and were determined to work harder and do whatever was required to make sure they didn’t have their season end with a loss again. They certainly seemed equipped to make a long run this year. Lake View’s 2016 roster features 19 seniors, which is a big group in any classification, but in Class A, where there sometimes aren’t many more than 19 boys in an entire senior class, it is virtually unheard of. Those aren’t just 19 warm bodies, though. Four senior offensive linemen average right at 300 pounds a man, stud running back combo Randall Washington and Tyshawn Allen have combined for nearly 30 touchdowns and making it all go is quarterback Duane Nichols. One of the best players in the state, Nichols was among the first to start prepping for 2016 when 2015 ended a week short of the ultimate goal. “He’s a tremendous person with a great attitude. If we’ve got anything going on, a workout, a seven-on-seven, whatever, he’s the first one there,” King said. Lake View has talent and a big senior class but the sheer numbers are impressive from top to bottom. So great is the depth of the Wild Gators, that almost no one goes both ways. In most Class A schools, a 6-foot-2, 190 pounder with freakish athleticism and grown-man toughness like Nichols would do everything short of sell hot dogs in the concession stand and top the cheerleading pyramid. “He could play anywhere, but we luckily haven’t had to play him (anywhere but quarterback),” King said. An off-season of lifting and running, a summer full of seven-on-sevens and a pre-season of padded practices in the sauna that is a Dillon County August culminated in a 20-14 win over a good AA Latta team in the season opener. No one would play within 24 points of Lake View until a scrappy Green Sea-Floyds team gave them a 28-8 game on September 30. The team was more than halfway to a perfect regular season at 6-0. They wouldn’t win another game for a while, but that had nothing to do with the Wild Gators getting complacent or not playing well. Before the team’s next game, Hurricane Matthew began tracking toward South Carolina. Governor Nikki Haley declared a state of emergency and ordered that schools south and east of Columbia be closed. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a false alarm. For the second straight year, South Carolina, particularly the low country, were pounded unmercifully by a major storm. According to rainfall maps, Dillon County got somewhere between 15 and 20 inches of rain. That much water deluging an area so quickly obviously leads to quickly saturated soil and runoff flooding. That would have been plenty to contend with, but in Nichols, a small hamlet that sits in Marion County and spills into both Dillon and Horry Counties, there are also a pair of converging rivers (the Lumber and Little Pee Dee), both of which overflowed. The Little Pee Dee River, in fact, crested at the highest point in its recorded history. Before Matthew, there were 100 or so homes and 359 people in Nichols, according to Census numbers. It is not an overstatement or hyperbole to say that now, Nichols is gone. Many of those who left in the face of the storm (many had to be rescued) have left and aren’t coming back, because there’s nothing much to come back to. The few structures that weren’t swallowed up in the surge are so contaminated with sewage and mold that they’ll have to be gutted or rebuilt. Some Lake View students lived in and around Nichols. Luckily they escaped and most of King’s players live just far enough away from Nichols that they didn’t lose their homes. They did lose the ability move freely about because of flooded roads and the lost power for more than a week. “Mine went out Saturday week and didn’t come back until the next Saturday,” King said. The South Carolina High School League immediately extended the fall sports season by one week to allow those affected by the storm to make up missed games. In some areas of the low country, though, roads remained impassable, there was no power and clean drinking water was hard to come by. The clean-up hadn’t really begun in some places after a week, so the League called an emergency meeting to determine how to handle the situation. Specifically mentioning Lake View as a school that could be out for as long as three weeks, a decision was made to extend the season by another week to allow affected schools the time to get back on their feet and play games postponed by the storm and its aftermath. Lake View ultimately missed two weeks of school and with there being no electricity and no dry patches of ground, the Wild Gators weren’t able to practice. They didn’t sit idle, though. Lake View always enjoys great fan support, so the team did its part to support the community. “A lot of our players volunteered and helped out at the community shelter. Just whatever they could do to help,” King said. Finally, on October 21, three full weeks since they last played and with almost no practice or preparation, Lake View took their home field against Creek Bridge. King says his team was ready to play football again, but they may not have been as happy to be back in their stadium as fans were. In small South Carolina towns, life often revolves around the local high school and its sports teams anyway. For folks who’d spent three weeks watching their part of the world be destroyed by storm waters, the local sports team represented a return to normalcy and something to root for. For things to really be back to normal, though, Lake View needed to win. They upheld their end of the deal, whipping Creek Bridge 43-14. “They were just so excited for football to be back,” King said. The team’s season wasn’t interrupted again, but that of its best player was. The next week against Hemingway, Nichols suffered a fractured tibia (which may explain why the game was so close, with Lake View winning 22-14). For most any team at any level, losing a successful starting quarterback is kill shot where continued success is concerned. That wasn’t the case in Lake View. King said he has a couple of luxuries. One is that his team is so deep that back-up Delvon Bethea stepped in and filled the void ably. He didn’t put up quite the number Nichols would have, but he guided his team to wins over East Clarendon and Hannah-Pamplico the next two weeks and then over Baptist Hill in the playoffs. On top of that, King’s best player also happens to be his hardest working. With his return pegged at about six weeks, Nichols dedicated himself to therapy and rehab and returned in five. That was good timing, considering that coincided with a third-round playoff match-up with the C.E. Murray squad that ended Lake View’s run last year. It was among the hardest hitting games of the season, but the Wild Gators emerged with a 19-0 win that might not have happened without Nichols on the field. The team played Hemingway again for the lowerstate title last week and with a healthy Nichols in tow, that one wasn’t close (41-14). That put Lake View in the season’s final game. The year was extended by another week, but this time for a good reason. Now the Wild Gators, a year later than they would’ve preferred, will play unbeaten Lamar for the Class A state title. A win would be the school’s 10th in a state title game and the first for the Wild Gators since 2006. It would also be King’s first as head coach (he was an assistant at the school in ’06). He’s a home-grown coach who wore the Wild Gators uniform himself, so a state title means the world to him, of course. Winning it all would have some special significance this year, though, given what the area has been through. Against a team as good as Lamar there aren’t many guarantees, except one…the interruptions are over now. Win or lose on Friday night, the long season will finally be over. Preparing to stop what Lamar and Lake View do offensively is nearly impossible. After all, you can’t prepare for something when you don’t know what’s coming.
For many years, Lamar employed a spread attack that was very balanced, able to chew up yardage on the ground or through the air. That changed last year, though, when the Silver Foxes moved to what one opposing coach called a weird cross-breeding of the I and the Wing-T. Coach Corey Fountain said the change (to what he called a flexbone) was made somewhat out of necessity. “We were basically using a wide receiver at quarterback last year,” Fountain said. Decobie Durant was that quarterback and while he added a nice dimension with his running ability (right at 600 yards) he only threw for 600 yards in 14 games. Really, there wasn’t much point in throwing it anyway, since mega-stud running back Tre Ceasar was in the fold (he ran for nearly 2,200 yards) as was another outstanding runner in Dashon Barr. Given that the top talent was lined up in the backfield taking handoffs, the philosophical switch in ofense made sense. On top of that, Fountain said keeping the ball on the ground brings a lot of residual benefits. “It helps with clock management,” Fountain said. “It was our best advantage to get the ball in our running backs’ hands last year, so we just handed it to them or tossed it to them.” This season, old has met up with new when it comes to formations and play-calling for Lamar. Opponents see everything from a flexbone look to multi-receiver spread formations. “This year we’re spreading it a little more. We’re really multiple. We can go shotgun and pistol, with a tight end or with no tight ends, we can go with trips, two backs or three backs,” he said. The stats bear that out. There isn’t one dominant back like Ceasar this year, but there are four talented guys who regularly tote the rock. Sophomore Jaquez Lucas is the leading rusher, having eeked his way past the 1,000 yard mark two weeks ago against Williston-Elko and blown past 1,200 yards Friday night against McBee. He now sits at 1,230 yards and 17 touchdowns on the season. Shifty and quick, he is the outside speed compliment to the crushing inside power of Jeblonski Green, who plays even bigger than his 6-foot-2, 210 pounds dimensions indicate. While generally stepping on the faces of opposing tacklers, he’s run for 867 yards and a team-best 20 touchdowns. Tijuan Burroughs (497 yards and three scores) and Tyrik Herron (383 yards and five touchdowns) are also contributors. Junior quarterback Rashard Coleman hasn’t run the ball a lot, but he’s hit over half his passes for 1,140 yards. Not huge numbers, but roughly double what the team accounted for through the air last year and more than enough to keep anyone from loading up against the run. Coleman also has a knack for coming up with big completions at key times. He converted on third-and-long at Lewisville when the Lions had scored a second-half touchdown to get back in the game and were close to a key stop and good field position. When Lamar’s 28-0 dominance over McBee turned into a 28-21 dogfight Friday, the Silver Foxes faced third-and-20 from inside their own 20. A McBee stop there would have fueled their surging momentum and likely given them excellent field position with a chance to tie, but instead, Coleman completed a 50-yarder and Lamar scored shortly thereafter to tamp down the Panthers rally. Lake View, much like Lamar, is difficult to pigeonhole offensively, because the Wild Gators absolutely run the gamut from one extreme to another. “We run the spread and the wishbone,” said Coach Daryl King Lamar’s switch from spread to a bone-hybrid and drift back to somewhere in-between came somewhat as a result of talent on hand and necessity. That isn’t the case with Lake View. They spread and throw it sometimes and pound it out of the wishbone sometimes, basically, because they can. “We have the personnel to run both,” King said. Any mention of personnel at Lake View has to start with Duane Nichols. Class A’s lone Shrine Bowl selection (he won’t be able to play in the game since he’s competing for a state title Friday and the game is Saturday) is an explosive athlete with impressive size. Despite missing multiple games with an injury, Nichols has run for 528 yards and 13 touchdowns this year and has thrown for 906 yards and 12 more scores. As a team, Lake View has right at 1,100 yards through the air. That’s a complimentary feature of the offense, certainly, but it’s also one more thing to worry about and keeps the opposition from packing the box to stop the running game. As with Lamar, it’s a pick your poison situation when it comes to who is carrying the ball for Lake View. On top of Nichols, there is Randall Washington (1,367 yards and seven touchdowns), Tyshawn McDaniel (832 yards and 13 scores), Deante Bridgett (665 yards and five touchdowns) and Delvon Bethea (374 yards and seven scores). McDaniel is also the leading pass catcher with 310 yards and six scores. So with both teams, you might see multiple backs and tight ends lined up in a phone booth set dole out some blunt force trauma, or you might see four receivers and a quarterback in the shotgun ready to go deep. Each will have its hands full trying to stop the other just like opponents did all year. After all, it is hard to stop a team when you don’t know what’s coming…and it’s hard to stop a team when they’re flat-out good, too. Almost any high school football team that enjoys prolonged stretches of success has some type of feeder system preparing young athletes to contribute when they reach the ninth grade. Lamar has one, but preparing kids to be champions at the varsity level one day has very little to do with Xs and Os, schemes or systems.
In the last 22 years, Lamar has had one losing season, that being a 5-6 mark in 2011 and even that comes with the caveat of one loss being in overtime, one by two points and three two schools of higher classification. Fourteen times in that span, Lamar has won at least 10 games, they have collected four state championship trophies and the success rolls along in spite of coaching changes. This year’s team is undefeated, having made it through the toughest region in the state unscathed and beaten a pair of AA schools, a AAA school (Darlington) and a AAAA team (Crestwood). In small Class A programs, there are always ebbs and flows in talent. Some areas generally seem to be blessed consistently with athletes, but no small school “always” has more athletes than everyone else, especially not in the numbers needed to field successful squads on the gridiron. When you are dealing with student bodies that often number under 300, there can sometimes be large imbalances between the numbers of boys and girls. Having a student body be 65 percent female might make it easier for boys to find a prom date, but it doesn’t do much for their football team’s fortunes. It’s a genetic crapshoot no one can account for or do anything about but as with most every other pitfall that Class A schools have to navigate, Lamar somehow seems immune. Current Lamar Head Coach Corey Fountain thinks he knows why. It should be evident to anyone who watches the Silver Foxes that the team, most nights, just physically whips the opposition. The team is aggressive and plays with a hint of nastiness. It’s nothing dirty or illegal, but opponents need to know they will be hit, blocked, pushed and fought until the echo of the whistle on every play. Every coach wants his team to play that way, but not all of them do. Fountain says that’s where the feeder system comes in, which in this case is rec ball. In Lamar, it produces tough players but also tough coaches…like Fountain. “I grew up playing rec ball. The rec coaches were tough on us. These kids played rec ball too and that’s why they’re tough,” Fountain said. The Town of Lamar has just under 1,000 people and the high school had 297 students as of last year’s 135-day enrollment numbers. Even at that size, the school has turned out five NFL players in the past 25 years, most recently New York Giants linebacker B.J. Goodson and most famously linebacker Levon Kirkland, who made the NFL All-90s team playing for the Steelers and Seahawks. That amazing output of professional athletes from such a small town generated a lot of interest when Goodson was drafted earlier this year. It generated a must-read story from Yahoo Sports (you should read it now if you haven’t already) that touched on the influence of Shot Windham, a Vietnam veteran and farmer who started a youth football program in Lamar. There isn’t a posh recreation center in Lamar with neatly manicured fields and top-of-the-line equipment. They practice and play where there’s room to practice and play on, learning to play the right way in terms of safety, but also in terms of hitting hard, imposing your will on the opposition and giving maximum effort. Lamar's current offensive line isn't huge by any stretch, but what it might lack in bulk it makes up for in tenacity. This year's defense certainly has talent (with speed being a primary attribute) but it's the ability to lay a lick that people often can't or don't want to get up from that set it apart and make it so good. It's not really a coincidence that all five of the players from Lamar to make the NFL were paid to hit people, with all being defenders. Fountain played for Windham coming up and said it made him a tougher, better football player. Most of his current players played for him too and now play for one of his disciples. “That’s why they have a little bit of an edge to them,” he said. “It’s a great advantage for us to have.” Fountain said it’s also why Lamar is a force to be reckoned with every year. Lamar goes through up and down cycles of athletes like any other Class A team, but fundamentals, hard work and being physical are never up and down, don’t ever graduate and don’t figure to leave Lamar anytime soon. That’s what feeder systems are for. “You need to have toughness and work ethic when you get here, it’s not something I can put in you.” Upperstate Championship Game
Lamar- 41 McBee- 29 Lowerstate Championship Game Lake View- 41 Hemingway- 14 Breakdown- So, for the first time since the playoffs began, I don’t have to start off with an explanation of the one game I missed and how there were unforeseen circumstances that would have tripped up anyone brave enough to venture into the realm of prognostication…BECAUSE DIDDY DIDN’T MISS ANY !!!! WHOOO!!!! Granted there were only two and I said both would be close and neither really was, but details are unimportant. The big picture is what matters and I think we can all agree on that. Maybe there’s money in the checking account because you worked extra last week or maybe you sold one of your kids to the circus…the check for the light bill didn’t bounce and that’s all your wife or anyone else should care about. As I understand it, Lamar’s win over McBee wasn’t actually as close as the final score makes it appear. Lamar was up 21-0 at the half and 28-0 early in the third. McBee, to its credit, cut that to 28-21 and had Lamar facing third-and-20 from inside its own 20. They make a stop there and we may have been in for a down-to-the-wire contest like we saw when the two played in the regular season. Instead, Lamar used one of the real advantages it had over McBee, that being enough of a passing game to make a play when needed, to hit a 46-yard completion from Rashard Coleman to Jaquez Lucas. Lucas scored a few plays later and that effectively tamped down the flame-up. Lucas had a huge game, with 227 yards rushing and five touchdowns. Down then by two scores and three soon after, McBee just couldn’t catch up. The Panthers fought and scrapped and competed until the final whistle as it always does. It was another great season for the Panthers, one that ends in the upperstate finals for the second straight season. The team got a kick return for a touchdown, forced a turnover to set up another and Richardo Wright did what people in McBee named Wright do…ran a long way very, very fast, scoring on a 90-yard run to get back in it. Still, outside of his one long run, McBee’s offense, which is normally a combination of speed and blunt force trauma (think big scary boulders hepped up on truck stop pills) managed only 159 yards against that smothering Lamar defense. The Silver Foxes outdid their wishbone-running brethren on the ground (more than 300 yards) and added a complimentary passing attack (128 yards). I felt like, from day one, Lamar was the best team in the upperstate. McBee nearly beat them in the regular season. ..now, McBee is a terrific team, but it sure feels in retrospect that maybe Lamar went into that one a little a flat and even then they pulled it out of the fire in overtime. They have beaten AA, AAA and AAAA competition this year and made it out of the state’s toughest region unscathed. They have the state’s longest winning streak (21 games now) and deserve to be where they are I haven’t seen any full accounts of the Lake View, Hemingway game and don’t really need to. Shrine Bowl pick Duane Nichols scored two early touchdowns for Lake View and the game was never really close. This was another rematch and the first time these two tangled, Hemingway gave the Wild Gators one of their closest games of the year, a 22-14 contest. I feel like, though, Lake View is peaking at exactly the right time. For one thing, Nichols is back after missing a couple of weeks with an injury. On top of that, Lake View has 19 seniors and such tremendous depth that Nichols and other offensive studs don’t have to start on defense. They have great size, speed…Lamar Coach Corey Fountain said he doesn’t see a noticeable flaw. Hemingway had a fantastic year and I don’t mean in any way to minimize what they accomplished, but I said last week’s 19-0 Lake View win over C.E. Murray was the de facto lowerstate title game and I meant it. Once they got out of their with a win, their ticket to Columbia was punched. So, we get a pair of undefeated teams duking it out for the Class A state title Friday night in what should be the weekend’s most physical and closely contested state title game. I was able to catch up with both head coaches at today’s state championship press conference and will have some stories and information for you every day leading up to the game. Last Week’s Record 3-1
Playoff Record 17-3 McBee (10-3) at Lamar (12-0) The upperstate title game is essentially the Region II invitational, which is not a surprise. I felt like, going in, that Lewisville, McBee and Lamar were the three best teams in the upperstate. Lewisville is only out because they played McBee last week and the three have outscored their playoff opponents (when not playing each other) 301-56. But, the Panthers and Silver Foxes are the last two standing. McBee defeated Lewisville last week 27-20 to advance to the upperstate finals for the second straight year. The game last week was fairly even. I knew that the Lions were going to try to attack McBee through the air and I wondered if the Panthers would be able to withstand a big-time passing attack, since the few teams they played that throw the ball at all gave them trouble. Well, in the early going, it looked like Lewisville was going to run them out of the building. The first two drives by the Lions did not feature one rushing attempt, but Trey Keels had 110 yards passing and a pair of touchdowns. After that, though, McBee’s defense settled in, dialed up the pressure and got a lot more physical with the Lions wide receivers. Lewisville also turned the ball over three times. McBee’s defense scored once on a fumble return, an interception set up a touchdown and another, late in the game, clinched the victory for the Panthers. McBee made some mistakes too, losing three fumbles, but it didn’t hurt them, really, because the Lions didn’t take advantage. McBee’s offense did pretty much what the McBee offense does, lining up in the bone and pounding it on the ground with Dashonnell Wright, Richardo Wright and Wilber Wright (not really he’s been dead for a long time). Lewisville really only allowed one long run (a 35-yard touchdown by Dashonnell Wright) and kept McBee out of the end zone in the second half, which was no small feat, but the Panthers had already built a lead they would not relinquish. It was a great game between two great teams. Lamar’s contest was great to watch, if by “great to watch” you mean “painful and non-competitive.” Some people like to watch gnats and skeeters sizzle into oblivion on bug zappers in the summertime, so I guess there are those that might have enjoyed it. W-E did a good job to win nine straight after an 0-2 start, but a lot of those wins came in what turned out to be a weaker region than I realized until the playoffs began. It was 7-6 late in the first quarter, then it was 28-6 in short order in the second and 44-6 by early in the third. Lamar’s speed and physical nature just sort of overwhelmed W-E, according to my clandestine lowcountry informant. I didn’t see that game, but I’ve seen Lamar this year. I can’t overstate this…defensively they are imposing and intimidating. You’re getting blocked and hit and shoved to the echo of the whistle. Nothing dirty, just all out aggression right up to the point that they might draw a flag. The defense is also very fast at pretty much every position. They’re so good they don’t really blitz, stunt or change coverages much. They go in a 4-3, play it straight up and know that man for man, you probably can’t stop them. Offensively, Lamar throws it a little more than last year, but still not a lot. They are capable, though. Otherwise, they use what one coach called “an offense that is like if a wing-t and the spread had a baby.” You see kids, when one offense likes another offense very much they…..Anywho, it’s a full house backfield that makes use of several different backs. My favorite, both in name and style is Jablonski Green. He’s kind of like an angry cross-breeding of a bulldozer and, uh, an even bigger bulldozer, but with booster rockets and maybe a grenade launcher or something. Seriously, he’s a big kid, he steps on the faces and dreams of opposing school children tasked with tackling him but he’s pretty quick to be that big. They don’t try to trick you much…they mix in a little misdirection, but for the most part they just know that man for man, they’re better than you and that you probably can’t stop them. I already said that once but it totally applies on both sides of the ball. They’ve won 20 straight games, so it’s a pretty good philosophy. As for this game…first of all, it’s going to be a physical war. These are two of the toughest, most physical teams in the state. They will beat the absolute crap out of one another. It’ll be a throwback to the days when guys named “John Wayne” and “States Right” smoked in the huddle and played without helmets in a rock quarry. The two already played once, of course,, and on that night, Lamar’s streak nearly came to an end. They trailed by three late but drove the field, kicked a field goal to tie it then won it 17-14 in overtime. My understanding is that McBee fullback Alex Miller was injured late in that one, and even though his last name isn’t Wright, he really makes the offense go. He looked healthy last week, so does that mean I think we’ll have an upset? No. No it doesn’t. McBee can certainly win this game and the state title and I won’t be surprised if they do both, but I’ve been given the impression that Lamar maybe walked into that first game a little flat. Sometimes, when a team loses or at least comes close, it wakes them up a little bit and forces them to re-focus. And really, that’s just what everyone wanted was Lamar ticked off and really focused. It was like goading a bear. Judging by what they’ve done since their first game with McBee, I think that’s what happened in this case. The game will be close because in terms of talent and execution, these two teams are, but I say Lamar’s ability to threaten a little bit through the air and the way they take care of the ball makes the difference. The Pick- Lamar Hemingway (10-3) at Lake View (12-0) Lake View remained unbeaten last week with a very hard-fought 19-0 win over C.E. Murray. It marked the return from injury of quarterback/defensive back Duane Nichols. Really, their offense didn’t do much to speak of. Nichols threw one touchdown pass to Darius Ford, but that was a short one that Ford turned up the field for 65 yards. Tyshawn McDaniel really won it for them, scoring on a punt return in the third quarter and a touchdown run in the fourth. Defensively, they obviously did a good job in shutting out a team of C.E. Murray’s caliber, though three big-time players for the War Eagles were hurt over the course of the game. Still, they’ve only given up about 12 points a game all year, so the defense is obviously solid. Hemingway avenged a regular-season loss to Hannah-Pamplico last Friday, taking a 48-20 win. Hemingway put it away early, intercepting three passes in the first quarter, two of which were returned for touchdowns and another of which set up a score. Quantea’ and Troy Singletary were both over 100 yards rushing in the game and Troy added just over 100 passing. So, big plays on defense and lot of guys contributing on offense. These two teams played earlier this season and it was Lake View’s closest game of the year, a 22-14 win. I can see this pretty close too, but really, Lake View has been on a mission since losing to C.E. Murray on a last-second field goal in last year’s lowerstate finals. So much so that I don’t think much more need be said here. They have a combo of size up front and speed at the skill spots that is tough to contain. I said last week their game with C.E. Murray basically felt like the lowerstate title game, so my pick here shouldn’t be hard to figure. 20 seniors and superior defense make the difference... The Pick- Lake View I’ll hopefully be at the state title press conference Monday. I’ll try to do some tweeting (@CNR_Sports) and have some stories from it next week. McBee- 27
Lewisville- 20 Lamar- 51 Williston-Elko- 14 Hemingway- 48 Hannah-Pamplico- 20 Lake Murray- 19 C.E. Murray- Nam Breakdown- Once again, I was one game from perfection, hitting 3-of-4 predictions last week. In baseball that would be a stupendous average, one that would net me untold wealth and fame. Seriously, your average annual salary would be, like, one of Hawaii’s islands and just giant bags full of money. If you’re a dentist and only do your job properly 3 out of every 4 times, you’d get you tail plum et up with liability insurance. “Look, I have a great track record. I bet I only permanently damage the teeth of one out of every four patients. So just start huffing on this happy gas hose and rest assured I probably won’t remove the wrong teeth or cut out your tongue.” Let’s start with the one game I missed, that being McBee’s 27-20 win over Lewisville. I thought that the Lions were uniquely equipped to attack the Panther defense with their potent passing game, something that no other Class A team really possesses this year. And for a while, I didn’t smash anyone’s incisors with a hammer, er, I was really on the money. Lewisville did not attempt a run on its first two possessions and torched the McBee secondary. The Panthers, to their credit, made a few adjustments, dialing up even more pressure and getting physical with Lewisville’s receivers, maybe more physical than is actually allowed, but if it isn’t getting called…WELP, no reason not to keep it up. It looked, in the second quarter, like McBee would be dictating the pace entirely and physically imposing their will on Lewisville. They went opposite the Lions, not throwing it all, but chewing up big chunks of yardage with Dashonnell Wright, Richardo Wright, Orville Wright, wait, he’s a dead aviator. You get my much belabored point…they have lots of people named Wright, and a beast of a fullback in Alex Miller. It was 24-12 Panthers at the half. Lewisville’s defense absolutely played its guts out in the second half. They forced a couple of turnovers, they got better penetration, kept the Wrights from getting loose in space and went to gang tackling. McBee didn’t get in the end zone once in the second half, settling for one late field goal, though they were able to eat some clock late when they needed to. Lewisville QB Trey Keels had his third touchdown pass of the game in the second half to cut it to 24-20 at one point and the Lions had two late drives with a chance to take the lead, but weren’t able to gain any traction either time. McBee scored once on defense, returning a fumble for a score and had another score set up by a turnover and I think, as I reflect on it, that mistakes (or what each team did with the other’s mistakes) was basically the tale of this one. McBee got a couple of touchdowns off Lewisville turnovers, the Lions forced and recovered three fumbles and only turned one of those into points. They also had a couple of promising drives thwarted by flags. The two teams, in my eyes, were about even Friday night in every respect except for mistakes. Lewisville had a great season, will have 12 starters back next year and should be good again. McBee moves on to the upperstate title game for the second straight year and get the rematch I’m certain they wanted… Because Lamar gave Williston-Elko a fairly sound rootin’ to move on to the upperstate finals themselves. My omnipotent lowcountry expert said the game was fairly close early (7-6 at the end of the first), but then the Silver Foxes ran it to 28-6 by halftime and 44-6 by early in the third. W-E is fairly young and did a good job to click off nine straight wins after an 0-2 start. However, I think the playoff results have demonstrated that their region wasn’t particularly strong. I don’t think they’d played anyone with the speed and physical intimidation factor of Lamar. Keep in mind, the Silver Foxes have now won 20 straight dating back to last year and have laid the wood to AA, AAA and AAAA teams during that streak. I didn’t figure the game would be very competitive and it wasn’t. If I’m being honest, I think the three best teams in the upperstate, heck, maybe in the state in general, all resided in Region II this year. They were three of the last four standing and two of them will play in what should be an absolute war Friday night. When they met a few weeks back, Lamar struggled to keep its winning streak intact, kicking a late field goal to tie the game up before winning in overtime. In what sort of felt to me like the lowerstate title game, Lake View defeated C.E. Murray 19-0 Friday night. It was scoreless until less than a minute remained in the second quarter, when Duane Nichols (just back off an injury) hit Darius Ford in the flat and he took it 65-yard to the house. Tyshawn McDaniel ran a punt back in the second half and capped a short drive with a touchdown run in the fourth. Now, it has to be noted that C.E. Murray lost its starting quarterback to an injury late in the first half, then lost two other starters on helmet-to-helmet hits in the second half, including all-everything Swiss Army knife offensive ninja Darius Rush. Rush had to be taken off the field in an ambulance. C.E. Murray ended up having to stick a freshman at quarterback, one who would be considered the third-stringer since I think Rush is the normal back-up. From the story I read (link is below) and from what I’ve seen on Twitter, War Eagles Coach Brian Smith seemed to indicate the hits that took his players out were illegal and cheap. I’ll withhold judgment, not having seen them yet, but I don’t blame any coach for sticking up for his kids. Coach Smith, like most every coach I know, cares deeply about his players and I hope all those hurt Friday are on their way to a full recovery. Minus those injuries, maybe the outcome would have been different, since Rush is capable of scoring whenever the ball is in his hands. C.E. Murray held that powerhouse Lake View offense to about 200 total yards and remember that 65 came on one play. Defensively, you can’t play much better than that against a team as good as Lake View. But, the Wild Gators, who lost to C.E. Murray last year in the playoffs, remain unbeaten and, just like in the upperstate, we’ve got a rematch for the lowerstate crown. The magical, mystical, “holy wow, how do you keep yanking your junk out of the fire like that?” ride of Hannah-Pamplico came to an end Friday night with a 48-20 loss to Hemingway. H-P won six games by six points or less this season and won three in the last minute, including over Hemingway last month with one of the plays of the year (a forced fumble and touchdown return with about a minute left as Hemingway tried to run out the clock). In this game, though, they weren’t within spitting distance late to craft one of those improbable endings. Hemingway returned two interceptions for touchdowns in the first quarter and picked off another pass to set up a score. It was 26-0 before Verne and Pert and everybody’s mama got their hot dogs and got in their seats. Quantea’ and Troy Singletary were both over 100 yards rushing and Troy added just over 100 passing for Hemingway. Hannah-Pamplico got 152 yards from Dazwon McCormick, but their passing game, which you kind of need to dig out of a 26-0 first quarter hole, was stifled. The ability to win close and make big plays in crunch time isn’t a product of luck, it comes from good athletes who never quit and good coaching, but it’s mighty hard to win that way every week. So, it was a great year for H-P, but that year is over. Now we get Hemingway v Lake View, Part II. Lake View beat Hemingway 22-14 on October 28, its closest game against a Class A opponent this year (they beat Latta by six). Rematches (as was the case with McBee-Lewisville) often go by a completely different script than the first game. We’ll see. Suggested Reading Lake View stayed unbeaten, winning a tough battle against C.E. Murray. Imagine Pert’s dismay when she got to her seat and it was 26-0. Weenie’s still steamin’ in the bun and the game is already over. Last week’s record 7-1
Playoff Record 14-2 Lewisville (10-2) at McBee (9-3) Both teams notched impressive wins last week. Lewisville thumped McCormick 42-14, while McBee rolled Blackville-Hilda 41-8. I saw Lewisville’s game in person and can tell you it didn’t feel as close as the score makes it sound. Now, I’ll certainly factor in that McCormick had been doing stuff other than playing competitive football games for the previous month, which I’m sure made some difference. It gets to be late November and some guys start hearing basketballs bouncing in the gym and, you know, 17-year-old boys might find stuff other than practice and focusing on a far-off opponent to occupy their time…like 17-year-old girls, and 18-year-old girls, and maybe 16-year-old girls. Or I certainly did when I was a 17-year-old boy, but I digress. That layoff might have played a role, but Lewisville was just a much more talented team. The offense had success doing, basically, whatever it wanted to do. The Lions made use of their single-wing package, with Quentin Sanders running for 113 yards and Jene Thompson converting on short yardage and at the goal line. They also threw the ball well out of their spread look, with Trey Keels throwing for 291 yards and three touchdowns. To me, he’s among the most overlooked players in the state. Keels goes about 6-foot-5 now, is calm in the pocket, is surprisingly agile for his size and has a bazooka for an arm. He put up those stats without North-South All-Star Mike Hill, who was out with an injury. A.J. Robinson stepped right into his spot, though, with 100 yards and a pair of scoring catches. The offensive line did a good job of opening running lanes and keeping him clean. Sanders has played well all year, but he’s really elevated his game down the stretch, not only as a runner but as a potent weapon in the passing game. He had an over-the-shoulder catch for a touchdown against the Chiefs that was as pretty as anything you’ll see. Defensively, they did give up 141 yards and two touchdowns to Mataeo Durant, but those number are actually below his season averages. Seriously, he’s a PO’d fire hydrant on rocket roller skates, one of the best backs I’ve seen in a while, but aside from a 67-yarder when the game was pretty much already decided, Lewisville at least held him in check. Beyond that, nobody for McCormick hurt Lewisville and the complimentary passing game they normally have never got rolling because of heavy pressure from Josh Belk and Thompson. I couldn’t find any full accounts of McBee’s win, but it sounds like the bevy of talented backs named “Wright” just kinda boat-raced Blackville-Hilda. Richardo Wright, I think, has mainly been a defensive player during his McBee career…which may have been terrible oversight on someone’s part since he ran FOR 304 FLIPPIN’ YARDS last week. Dashonnell had his usual 100-something yards. You probably think it’s part of my normal tomfoolery to tell you there’s another back at McBee named Wright, but there actually is. THEIR ENTIRE TEAM IS NAMED WRIGHT! Or, they will be going forward in this silly blog. Blackville-Hilda had a nice turnaround year and had some excellent size up front, but their region, in retrospect, wasn’t as tough as it once appeared and they struggled when they played folks they couldn’t push around physically. The Panthers have a big risk, big reward defense, that sends the house and plays man coverage behind it. That made them ideally suited to shut down Blackville-Hilda, which runs a single-wing variation and rarely throws the ball. McBee is now without quarterback Charles Wright (Herrington) who is out for the season. That is a loss, because he ran that offense well and was willing to move around for the good of the team, having also played some tight end, I think. In his place is Shane Hammonds, who does bring some nice running ability to the table. I was a little concerned when McBee only led one-win Estill 14-0 at halftime last week, but was told stud fullback/linebacker/general-all-around-butt-kicker Alex Wright (Miller) was playing a bit hurt. That makes sense. Richardo and Dashonnell put up the flashy numbers but he makes that offense go and is a lynchpin on defense, according to multiple coaches I’ve talked to. But onto this game…McBee beat Lewisville 44-16 earlier this season. It was a one-score game at halftime and late in the third, but McBee built a lead, then Lewisville was forced to go for it on fourth-and-long from inside its own 25 twice late, which set up two easy McBee scores. It’s also worth mentioning that Belk missed that game. His impact can’t be overstated. I don’t know if Hill is playing, which is certainly a big factor, as he is one of the state’s top receivers. I don’t know if Miller is totally healthy yet. On paper, given that McBee has won four straight over Lewisville with essentially the team it has right now (or Wright now HAHAHAHAHA), this seems like an easy pick for McBee. However…I keep hearing how McBee has struggled in pass defense. No team in Class A, in my opinion, is as well-equipped to exploit that as Lewisville, which created big plays even with Hill out last week. Lewisville got in a hole early last time against McBee and had some guys trying to do more than they should have on defense, which against McBee’s wishbone offense, which features some misdirection, is like dropping lit sparklers in your pants…you’re gonna get burned man, you’re gonna get burned. I also don’t think that happens this time, I think with Belk on the field for Lewisville, a one-dimensional offense doesn’t have as much success. McBee is a great team and could certainly win this game and even the state title, but what fun is picking games without going against the chalk occasionally? I think this is surprisingly high-scoring given the defenses, I think this is down to the wire and the best game in the state on Friday…and I think on the strength of Lewisville’s big play passing game we get an upset. The Pick-Lewisville. Williston-Elko (9-2) at Lamar (11-0) It’s totally not by easy draws or lucky seeding that Region II has three teams left in the upperstate final four. I think any of the three can win the whole thing. Let’s start with Williston-Elko, though, they actually trailed HKT at halftime last week 8-6, then just laid the kind of beating down where you not only pummel the other dude, you take all the steak out of his refrigerator and call his wife “sweet thang” on the way out the door. They outscored HKT 38 TO NOT NAM in the second half. Their defense obviously locked down Davonte Scott, but the offense got humming as well. Tyran Parker ran for 187 yards and W-E (which was actually the name of one of my grandfathers and sounds like a throwback name to when dudes in leather helmets cracked one another’s skulls open out of a straight T while coaches smoked Lucky’s on the sidelines, but I’m getting off topic again here) piled up 349 as a team. Lamar, by comparison, had nearly 200 yards rushing in the first half, got two defensive scores and had a running clock the entire second half in a 54-0 toolin’ of Dixie. The Hornets made great strides this year, but at this point in their building process they were just outmatched in every respect by Lamar. I could give a long-winded breakdown of this game, but I feel like it’s unnecessary. Lamar has now won 20 in a row, they have multiple backs that can move the chains and throw it just enough to keep you honest. They have a physically imposing and intimidating defense and all 11 guys can run. Williston’s offense is different than it was a few years ago in that it’s fairly one-dimensional, which ain’t cutting it against that defense, Jabbo. Williston had a great run after an 0-2 start and is legitimately good, but I’ve come to think that run was against a much weaker schedule than Lamar has played. The champs move on… The Pick- Lamar Hemingway (9-3) at Hannah-Pamplico (8-3) Did you ever have a friend in high school who was kind of a troll but did well in the lady department? You know the guy, had an overbite, weird-looking feet and smelled like soup, but he was always dating the head cheerleader or something? That guy is kinda like Hannah-Pamplico. As a note to first-time readers, I make the worst analogies in the history of ever. Somehow, improbably, no matter what happens, H-P just finds a way to come out smelling like a rose every week. It may not look pretty, it almost always comes in the last minute on a “holy crap did you see that” sort of play, but they just keep finding ways to win. I tend to think that sort of thing is contagious, breeds enormous confidence and can carry a team a long way. H-P has now won six games by six points or less this season. SIX! They won on a last-second touchdown pass, they won on a last-second interception (last week) and they won by causing a fumble, scooping it up and returning it more than 70 yards for a touchdown when the other team led with 1:11 left and was just trying to run out the clock. Oh, that happened against Hemingway less than a month ago. There isn’t just some magic fairy dust making this happen, they have good players. The defense has been stingy through this run where they’ve won eight-of-nine games (they held a high-scoring Cross offense to 12 points in a five-point win), Eric Mays and Nick Owens both rushed for TDs last week, and again, they’re on some kind of roll right now. This feels like a different team than lost to Lamar 41-3 to open the year. Hemingway has a signature win this year (over C.E. Murray) and gave unbeaten Lake View as good a battle as anybody, but then has odd hiccup games like the one where they only beat East Clarendon by two and lost on that freaky, last-second fumble return to H-P. Since then, though, they pitched two shutouts, then intercepted passes on three straight possessions in a road win over St. John’s last week. So the defense is obviously playing well and quarterback Troy Singletary threw two touchdown passes and ran for another last week. I’ve not seen either team in person, but from talking to some lowcountry folks, I understand that Hemingway is probably is little more talented. Of course, that didn’t seem to matter the last time they played. I can’t say enough about what H-P has done this year. To keep pulling it out of the fire late the way they have takes a special team. It seems like a sucker’s bet to pick against them, and if it’s close late they will win, make no mistake, but I’ll reason that against a good team like Hemingway lightning won’t strike twice. The Pick- Hemingway Lake View (11-0) at C.E. Murray (7-2) All four of these games, really, are good match-ups and prove what I always thought…that we didn’t need a split 1A playoff. This game should be outstanding. On one hand you have Lake View, an undefeated team with 20 seniors that has been the pick of a lot of people to represent the lowerstate in Columbia. On the other, you have last year’s Division II-A (when there was such a thing) champion, a team that beat Lake View 16-14 on a last-second field goal in the lowerstate title game. Lake View blew out Baptist Hill 56-26 last week and did so without Shrine Bowl quarterback, cornerback Duane Nichols. I’m told he’s expected back this week but I don’t know how his injury or the time off will affect him. He’s among the best players in the state regardless of classification. I was a little surprised at the 26 they gave up, but not having seen a full account of the game, a lot of that may have been junk scores late. Against a pretty good schedule, Lake View averaged 40 a game and gave up only 14 a contest. With Nichols back, the backfield is scarier than a poisonous snake in your crapper, with Tyshawn McDaniel (180 yards and two scores) and Randall Washington (130 yards and a touchdown) each capable of taking over a game. The line has size and power. There aren’t many weak spots one can pick out. I figured C.E. Murray would win comfortably last week but that Green Sea-Floyds would keep it close for a while. Of course, I also thought pretending everyone in McBee has the last name “Wright” was HYSTERICALLY FUNNY too, so… Green Sea has run the ball on everybody this year, but managed just over three a carry on C.E. Murray. Since the loss to Hemingway, almost no one has peed a drop against that defense. Offensively, the War Eagles are showing a lot more variety than last year, when they went the blunt-force trauma route. Darius Rush, who more than one coach has told me is among the most explosive athletes in the state, is now being used as a freaky, multi-purpose Swiss Army knife on offense. He can play any skill position and play it well. They have more than just him, though. Last week, C.J. Robinson had 96 yards rushing, Sean Swaringer ran for 78 yards and two scores and Elijah Bey hit 6-of-10 passes for 87 yards and a touchdown to go with Rush’s two scores. That’s a lot of guys that can hurt you. I’m honestly torn on this game and I’ve gone back-and-forth on it. I think C.E. Murray coach Brian Smith has done as good a job as anybody. Before last year, they had one winning season in the previous 20 years. It takes talent and kids who are willing to work hard and buy in, which they have, but it takes great coaching too at a place that hasn’t had much success to speak of in a long time. He seems like the kind of coach kids would want to play hard for.I can make the case that they can match Lake View athlete for athlete, that there’s no telling how Nichols will play coming off his injury. I can also make the case that Lake View, with its enormous senior class spotless record, stifling defense, big offensive line and powerhouse backfield might be the favorite to win the whole thing. It’s super close either way and I think these are the two best teams in the lowerstate. I’ll defer to my embedded low country soothsayer, since I’m legitimately confounded. He too calls this, basically, the lowerstate title game and thinks it goes down to the wire, just like last year, but with a different outcome. The agonizing pick that I may have wrong, and kinda hope I do- Lake View |
TravisI am Travis, the king 0f SC 1A Football Archives
November 2021
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