Landrum (1-0) at Dixie (1-0)
The Hornets authored an enormous upset last week, blanking Christ Church 19-0. With a big, experienced line and most of their backfield returning from last year I figured they were going to be good, but wasn’t sure how good. You look at the past two seasons (when they posted winning records) and Dixie had a grant total of one win over a SCHSL team that finished with a winning record. Beating Ware Shoals and Calhoun Falls Charter and Bob’s Boarding House for People with Tiny Hands and Jimmy Jack’s Living Room Rangers was certainly better than they’d done in a while. I needed to see them win against quality competition and brother, I saw it. To physically beat the Cavaliers up front like they did essentially announced them as a legit contender. I don’t know a ton about Landrum other than they laid a whoopin’ on Blue Ridge last week 42-0. So this could be a good game. Lincoln County (0-1) at McCormick (0-1) The first game of the post-Mataeo Durant era didn’t go really well for the Chiefs as they were blanked by Crescent 44-0. Hard to tell much from a small Class A team playing a AAA squad, though. For most of the last four years, McCormick’s offense was a one-trick pony. Now, it was an amazing trick. The pony rode a unicycle backwards while whistling “America the beautiful” out of its nose and recreating the Sistine Chapel on an Etch-a-sketch. Now, Silas Cannady played really well last year when Durant was dinged up and I think has the skill to make their wishbone offense go, just maybe not when playing up like they did last week. I know that Lincoln County is in Georgia, lost to Harlem badly last week and is probably named after a former president or the logs I played with as a child. Bout all I can offer on them. Greenwood Raptors at Ware Shoals (1-0) Ware Shoals has obviously fallen on very hard times. They were on the business end of a colossal rootin’ last week at the hands of Oakbrook Prep, which dresses 15 kids and had never beaten a public school before. As I understand it, the Purple Hornets don’t have many more players than that, sadly and the program has struggled for several years now. Here’s hoping they still shoot the cannon and sell tasty, tasty BBQ nachos at the concession stand. I previously did not know the Greenwood Raptors were a thing that existed. I’m going to take a stab and say either home-school team or a former crack commando unit sent to prison for a crime they didn’t commit that escaped and now survives as soldiers of fortune. Whitmire (0-1) at Great Falls (1-0) Whitmire lost to Mid-Carolina 33-7 last week. From what I read, though, the game was actually a little close than that sounds like. It was 14-7 midway through the second and Mid-Carolina popped a couple of quick scores, then added one fairly late in the fourth. The boys from behind the wall, next to the public course in the Pearl of the Piedmont also ran the ball really well and consistently. I think Coach Jenkins (no relation) is going to win his share of games this year. Great Falls broke a 24-game losing streak and it was freakin’ glorious to watch. I hate seeing programs struggle the way they have in the recent years. In that 8-6 victory over C.A. Johnson, their defense forced four turnovers, made a pair of goal line stands and made a lot of tackles in the backfield. They played their tails off. The offense is still a work in progress as they adapt to a new philosophy but lobbing it up in the direction of 6-foot-6 receiver Kelton Talford seemed to be a thing that worked and that I would try repeatedly. This has the potential to be an immensely entertaining game, I think. Lamar (1-0) at Pageland Central (0-1) Here’s all you need to know about Lamar…they left Hemingway, perennial contender, possesses at least two D-1 quality studs, Hemingway, and left them bow-legged and drooling in their wake. Pageland lost to Broome 46-14, so, you know, this one may not go well for them. Chesterfield at McBee (0-1) The Panthers are breaking in a new offense, are young, there appears to be a gap in the procreation cycle of the Wright family. They not only lost to Andrew Jackson 45-3, they managed 80-some yards of offense and gave up nearly 500. So, a trip to the powerhouse AA Rams doesn’t seem like a good opportunity to get well. Denmark-Olar at Bethune-Bowman (0-1) The annual battle for the silver hyphen spittoon commences tonight. This is the opener for the Vikings, who have a new head coach in Derrell Pringle, a terrific RB/KR with Dentel Nelson and a decent-sized group of seniors. They also have skeeters there that require FAA clearance to take off, but that’s largely beside the point. The Mr. T Haircuts, despite having the veteran, athletic law firm of Braxton and Wedgeworth under center produced a grand total of NOT NAM in their new Pro-I offense against Blackville-Hilda. HKT (0-1) at Eau Claire (1-0) The Trojans got worn out last week against Edisto, but again, it’s hard to really judge one of the state’s smallest schools when playing against a AAA squad. The Shamrocks on the other end went to Lewisville, gave up a kick-off return on the opening play of the season, but bounced back and won going away 44-18. They ran a punt and fumble back for scores, but they have an athletic backfield and some nice size up front, both of which may present some issues tonight. North at Branchville North has won one game in the past three years. Haven’t been able to find much information on them. North is one of those places that’s not especially close to anywhere, where information travels via carrier pigeon and Fercie May Rae Williams at over at Antioch Baptist Church. She always was bad to gossip. Anyway, they’re playing Branchville, which seemed to kinda, sorta start turn things around a little bit last year. They’ve got 11 seniors, which is a big group for a small Class A team and a three-year starter at QB in Zach Wiles, a junior. They are apparently experimenting with a no-huddle offense that will be more multiple and have a couple of good weapons on offense for Wiles to lean on. They might have a chance to be a bit of surprise this year. Saluda (0-1) at Ridge Spring-Monetta (0-1) Don’t worry for one second about RS-M losing last week by a touchdown in a low-scoring slugfest to a good AA team in Batesburg-Leesvile. Likewise, don’t fret none if they’re 0-2 tonight after playing another strong AA program. They remain a contender either way. Fox Creek at Wagener-Salley (1-0) Chitlin-vania ran the ball and played defense in a 22-0 win over a not-especially-good Pelion team last week. That’s their deal Chitlin gonna chitlin, I guess. Fox Creek…uh, it’s in North Augusta, their mascot shares a name with an Arnold Schwarzenegger film and really, if you’re going to pick one for a mascot, Predators is a good one. Commandos or Terminators would be pretty sweet too, Twins would suffice and the Running Men wouldn’t suck. Kindergarten Cops and Red Sonjas would be straight trash, though. What was I talking about now? Williston-Elko (0-1) at Silver Bluff No clue what happened to W-E last week. Maybe things got away from them and started snowballing a little in their blowout loss to Barnwell. It could just be that the War Horses are real, real dang good. Or maybe W-E isn’t as good as I suspected. Or maybe they are gas station wieners for their pre-game meal and all got sick. Who knows man. Baptist Hill (0-1) at Garrett Applied Technical Institute A&M The Bobcats seem to have the tools to contend in the lowerstate. They have 14 starters back, including Rashad Maxwell, who had a completely fake-sounding 19 touchdown catches last year. They don’t frightening football cyborg Corey Fields at QB, though, and only put eight points up in a loss to The OC’s semi-pro squad. They beat Garrett 48-8 last year, so this might be a better indicator of what we can expect offensively going forward. Ridgeland/Hardeeville at Estill (0-1) The Fightin’s Gators (the “fightin’” is to distinguish from the the wild gators, I reckon) gave Allendale-Fairfax a pretty good game before falling 24-14 on Monday. Ridgeland/Hardeeville I know little about. They’re named like Hardees, which does give me a jumping off point to plead with the restaurant chain to stop playing “let’s see how much crap we can fit between two pieces of bread” and bring back the big cookie. You’ve got the Cajun squirrel, buffalo short rib, jalapeno western explosion chipotle sourdough EXTREME burger, but not a big cookie. Fix that. The Charleston Charter School For Bovine Fertility Studies and Machine Shop at Academic Magnet The Riptide got blown out 56-nam by Porter Gaud last week. Academic Magnet beat an academy I’ve never heard of by a lot. I know very little about what Academic Magnet runs offensive, other than it is probably complex as crap. Military Magnet (0-1) at North Charleston Military Magnet got bombed by Lake Marion last week. First line in and I’m already making military/football cross reference jokes. I apologize. Andrew Jackson (1-0) at St. John’s (1-0) This is an odd match-up…not so much because it’s a Class A team vs. a AA team, but because I don’t think it’s possible to get from Lancaster County to St. John’s high school without parking your bus, boarding a donkey a fording across a creek or something. They may need a Sherpa. What the what man? That’s one of the longest road trips I’ve heard of in a while. It should be a pretty entertaining game. The Vols pretty much did whatever they wanted to in slapping McBee about, going for 320 on the ground and 120 in the air. St. John’s worked Phillip Simmons, scoring on special teams and moving the ball in chunks on the ground. The Islanders are young but they have a combo of size up front and athletes on the back end that make them formidable. This is a good opportunity, in my opinion, for them to get another AA scalp. Lee Central (0-1) at C.E. Murray (1-0) Lee Central lost to Wade Hampton last week 24-7. Can’t judge a team by one game but I smell burning, the kind flashes in the pan often make. C.E. Murray took out Kingstree 16-12, combining big plays in the passing game with a defense that just sort steer horns you in the face until you give in to their unmerciful sense of bovine justice…whatever that means. Scott’s Branch (0-1) at East Clarendon SB had a tough time with Manning last week, but this seems like a nice bounceback opportunity. Cross (0-1) at Whale Branch (1-0) After getting junk punched by Burke last week, this does not seem like a good match-up for a very young Cross team that has only three seniors. Andrews at Hemingway (0-1) The Tigers were on the wrong end of a profound rootin’ last week, 69-7, at the hands of Lamar. Andrews ain’t usually a walk in the park either. They don’t have many soft touches on the schedule at all really, but it’ll interesting to see how they respond to the unpleasant spectacle that unfolded for them last week. Green Sea-Floyds (1-0) at Hannah-Pamplico (1-0) Both teams should be coming in on a high note. GS-F rolled some directionally-named school from NC 49-0 while H-P pulled out a great win over a talented Lake View squad. GS-F is physical as crap and really just want to pound it down your gullet with a stable of talented backs. They’re nasty up front and on defense and are being slept on in a big way. H-P will throw it a little more, but basically they’ll find as many ways to get it to RB Eric Mays as possible. He went for nearly 200 last week. This has game of the week potential.
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November 2021
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