Southside Christian (4-0) at Calhoun Falls Charter (1-1)
Calhoun Falls Charter was off last week and has only played two games so far this season, for some reason. Southside Christian is ranked second in the AA polls, which is curious since three of their wins are against not-very-good Class A teams and their four opponents combined are 5-11 on the season. Clayton Coulter had more than 300 yards passing and four touchdowns last week in a win over Dixie, the defense has only allowed 18 points this year, the Sabres beat Calhoun Falls Charter 55-0 last year and, you know, this may not go well for the Flashes. Spartanburg Christian Academy (2-2) at Dixie (2-2) Dixie has, wisely, dialed back their schedule a bit this year, which is a good idea for a program that has struggled for several years, has a new coach and is trying to gain some traction. They beat Camden Military two weeks ago and now take on Spartanburg Christian Academy. I'm not even going to pretend to know by butt from a mailbox where SCISA is concerned (though I do have a guy for that) but I do know SCA lost to Thomas Sumter Academy 14-13. I was surprised to learn Thomas Sumter Academy's mascot was not the Gamecock, which is strange, since Thomas Sumter's nickname was "The Gamecock." They're named "The Generals," which is still a means of honoring Thomas Sumter, I guess since he was one. They could also have named themselves "The Planters" or "The jaunty wig wearin' soldiers" and both would've been accurate where ol' Thomas is concerned...no YOU'RE talking about irrelevent crap to distract people from how little you know about these teams. Let's move on. Ware Shoals (1-3) at Greenwood Christian (1-3) I've got big fat nothing on this game too, other than Greenwood Christian's coach is named Jolly Doolite. That sounds like the name of Santa's laziest elf. "He's got a real sunny dispostion, but he won't put together a doll house for crap, Santa. You need to light a fire under him. Ware Shoals actually trailed Great Falls 22-0 last week early in the second, then scored 72 straight points to win in a rout. Janius Jefferson racked up nearly 200 yards rushing on the night and scored five touchdowns for the Purple Hornets. They were rightly excited about a huge blowout win and given the program's struggles the past few years, who can blame them...now, I'm not here to tell anybody how to do their job, live their life and raise their kids, but if it was me, and it ain't, I don't think that excitement would compel me to go for an onside kick up 40 in the fourth quarter...but that's just me. Whitmire (1-3) at Branchville (1-2) I don't think you can actually get from Whitmire to Branchville. Seriously. You have to get out of your car at some point and cross a stream on a donkey or something. Anywho, Branchville was off last week, but Whitmire was on the business end of a vigorous rootin' from Lewisville, losing 62-8. They allowed 500 yards of offense and managed only 100, 70 of which came on one play. Coach Charlie Jenkins, whose name sweats and poops greatness, has done a good job building a program at Whitmire and has some young talent on hand, but when you have 160ish students and lose 18 seniors, it's going to take time to plug all the holes and develop those young players. This is a game they should have a good chance to win, however. East Clarendon (0-4) at Lamar (4-0) East Clarendon lost to Latta 48-14 last week, while Lamar whipped Eau Claire 48-7. The Wolverines have averaged just nine points a game this year, the Silver Foxes have allowed only 2.5 a game. This isn't really an irresistable force meeting an immovable object, it's more like an anemic gnat with a hernia and a missing wing meeting an immovable object. NOTE TO SELF: Work on crafting better analogies. Timmonsville (1-3) at Hannah-Pamplico (1-2) Timmonsville is probably better than its record indicates, with competitive losses to Lee Central, North Central and Wilson on the resume so far this year. HP beat the sausages...I should rephrase that, they defeated Johnsonville 36-35 and showed some mega stones by going for two (and the win) after scoring a touchdown in the final minute. Blackville-Hilda (2-1) at Denmark-Olar (1-2) The Fighting Hawks appear to be taking a step back toward contention this year, with back-to-back wins. I'm told they run a sort of funky single-wing offense with two quarterbacks and have tremendous size. Denmark-Olar did win over Branchville last week, but prior to that had scored a total of six points in two games...the Hawks have allowed just 12 points in their last two games. This isn't really an irresistable force meeting...wait, have I done this already? I've done this already. This is a region game, by the way. Does anyone but me have trouble grasping the fact that we have region games being played already? Estill (0-2) at Williston-Elko (1-2) After an atypically slow start, Williston-Elko got it going a bit last week, knocking off AA Woodland 29-14. The team still hasn't shown the offensive firepower you expect from a program that has scored 70 bajillion points in the last 10 years (I'm estimating and am not good at numbers). They had only 30 points in the their first two games and the 29 points last week was aided by four interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown. Tyron Parker did have 110 yards on the ground in that one. Estill didn't play last week, hasn't shown much in the way offense either, but hasn't been terrible on defense. HKT (1-2) at Wagener-Salley (3-0) This is a fairly big game this early in the season between a recent state champion and a team that is definitely on the rise. It's hard to know what to make of HKT right now. They beat the team on their schedule they should have beaten (Edisto, badly) and lost to the two teams you figured they'd lose to (Calhoun County and Fairfield Central). Unfortunately, junior quarterback Davonte Scott (a huge two-way threat) has an injured shoulder and had to come out early in last week's loss to the Saints. If he can't play, that's bad news with the team going against the Creek Slung All-Stars. Wagener-Salley got the best 1A over 1A win last week, in my opinion, knocking off previously unbeaten Bethune-Bowman. The special teams played a huge part in the win, with two first-wuarter punt returns for scores. A healthy Scott might make this interesting and a bit of a shoot-out, but minus that, it sure feels like Wagener-Salley will keep on rolling. North (0-3) at Ridge Spring-Monetta (1-2) North is struggling pretty badly right now. They're losses havent been close, including those coming to struggling Branchville and C.A. Johnson (DO YOU C.A. JOHNSON!?!?! WOO HOO). RSM got kicked around pretty good playing up against good teams in Saluda and Batesburg-Leesville, but bounced back to throttle Whitmire its last time out. The team's match-up next week with Williston-Elko figures to be a pretty good measuring stick game for both teams. Cross (2-1) at Baptist Hill (4-0) This is the game of the week in Class A football. Baptist Hill is the feel-good team of the year in Class A, starting 4-0 after winning five games the past two years. Quarterback Corey Fields is a big reason why. In four games he has 1,228 yards passing, 14 touchdown passes and NOT NAM interception. Richard Bailey (23 catches, five touchdowns) and Rashad Maxwell (23 and two) are his favorite targets and the scary prospect for everybody is that all three are juniors. Cross is 2-1, but they've played a growed-up man's schedule that included Timberland (whom they nearly beat) and AA Kingstree (whom they diddled 38-0). That win last week came despite Cross's starting quarterback being out and several other starters missing. Their stable of backs (Nate Walker, Kendale Gadis and Qwan Felder all had at least one rushing touchdown) was more than enough to make up the difference. Torrest Richardson had three interceptions, so he vs Fields should be an interesting battle. Cross beat Baptist Hill 30-6 last year, but it's worth noting that the Bobcats have already beaten two schools this season that routed them last year. This should be a great one. Allendale-Fairfax (2-1) at Charleston School of Cosmetology and Haberdashery (0-4) This doesn't need much analysis. Charleston has lost its four games by a combined score 209-0 and are playing a ranked AA squad in A-F. But on the bright side, the kids will get some exercise and, um...that's probably about it, really. Military Magnet (0-4) at Green Sea-Floyds (1-2) GSF is another team that's probably better than the record indicates. They lost in overtime to Aynor 22-20, then fell 28-14 last week to Loris. They are a power running team with several productive backs, though Mahammud Graham is the primary threat and had 85 yards and both touchdowns last week. Military Magnet has struggled on defense and has given up more than 50 points twice. Exercise, mamas will be proud of 'em anyway, etc. Hanahan (1-3) at St. John's (2-2) Hanahan opened with a win over May River, which honestly sounds like somebody's grandmama, then then lost three straight. Last week was a close one for them as they fell to Berkeley 26-25 despite a 161-yard rushing effort from Jerry Bradley. St. John's beat up on North Charleston last week and have the awesomely-named LaRhynz Givens at running back and a good QB in Cameron Smiley. Outside of those things, I've got big fat nothing for you on this one, Hoss. C.A. Johnson (1-2) at Bethune-Bowman (3-1) The Mohawks suffered their first defeat of the season last week, falling to Wagener-Salley 29-6. The kicking game put the team in an early hole and they obviously found the offensive sledding tough against the guys from Chittlin' land. Playing a struggling Hornets team should give them a chance to rebound and take out their frustrations...the unhealthy kind your doctor says you need meds for that scares the neighbors and led the court to rule that you couldn't own another parakeet. You know what I'm talking about...or don't, since I don't either. Let's just move along. C.E. Murray (1-1) at Creek Bridge (0-4) Coach Brian Smith and the War Eagles are probably just glad to get on the field after a two-week layoff. They had an off week built in, but the closing of Lincoln High School in late May left a hole in the schedule they weren't able to fill, leading to the long stretch between games. I had an interesting chat with a coach recently, one who's pretty plugged in...he thinks Detrel Rush from C.E. Murray is the most explosive athlete in Class A this year. When you think about some of the studs playing in 1A (many of whom are mentioned above) that's high praise indeed. I'm not going to sit here and pretend to know a lot about Creek Bridge, but I'll give them some credit on one front. They've played a completely beastly schedule this year, playing up in all four contests. The games haven't been close, but against fellow Class A teams, they could be more competitive. We'll see. Scott's Branch (1-2) at Edisto (1-2) Scott's Branch's 1-2 record is really not that bad if you look at it closely. The two losses came to Bamberg-Ehrhardt, one of the top teams in AA 25-6, and 28-0 to a 3-1 AAA team in Manning. Edisto broke the state's longest losing streak with a close win over Eau Claire last week. Thus ends the relevant things I have to say about this match-up. Waccamaw (1-2) at Hemingway (2-1) This could be a 1A over AAA upset in the making. Waccamaw lost by 41 points to Carvers Bay last week...who scored 41 points, so I'll let you figure out how many Waccamaw scored. It's the educational portion of the program. Hemingway rolled over Kingstree and Johnsonville to start the year and acuitted themselves well in a loss to a good Andrews team last week. Here's another team that doesn't schedule weenie sewing circles and Cub Scout troops. Good on you Hemingway. Lake View (3-0) at South Robeson (0-3) I have no idea what to tell you on South Robeson, a team from North Carolina, other than they are 0-3 and lost to someone or something called Purnell Swett two weeks ago. Purnell Swett? Lake View is 3-0, they are probably the favorite to win the lowerstate crown right now and South Robeson will lose to them, even if Purnell shows up to help them out.
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TravisI am Travis, the king 0f SC 1A Football Archives
November 2021
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