Buford (0-2) at Dixie (0-2)
This game is a little difficult to get a read on because of how the Yellow Jackets and Hornets both got to 0-2. Buford opened with a fairly competitive loss to a good Blacksburg team then lost to what appears to be a pretty salty AAA Indian Land squad. Still feels weird to put “Indian Land” and “AAA” in the same sentence. It wasn’t that long ago Indian Land was like Carlisle with a less exciting night life. I stopped at what appeared to be the area’s only gas station going to a game once upon a time and they didn’t even have a bathroom. The cashier helpfully invited me to do my business behind the building and promised not to look. Really. I’m guessing “just leak it out back, buddy” probably isn’t a thing in Indian Land anymore. Anyway, Buford had one first down in the first half and never visited the end zone. I think we all realized Dixie was in a bit of a rebuilding mode after last year’s senior-laden squad made it to the upperstate title game. They opened with a loss to AA Christ Church, then lost at AA Landrum last week 35-7. Their only score in that game came via special teams as Dixie blocked a punt and Caleb Simpson recovered it in the end zone. With something in the neighborhood of 17 new starters, there is an obvious adjustment period for the Hornets and they’ve had to do that against two really good teams. I saw Buford in the preseason against Chester and from that I will note that Dixie might have a chance here. Travelers Rest (2-0) at Ware Shoals (1-1) Ware Shoals looked good in its opener against Oakbrook Prep, but then went out last week and lost 14-13 to a Calhoun Falls Charter team that hadn’t won a game in nearly three years. Honestly, most of the losses in that stretch weren’t terribly competitive. Maybe the Flashes are legitimately better, but that was still a bit of a stunner. I watched some highlights and even in the loss Jermarius Goodman made a ton of big plays on both sides of the ball for the Purple Hornets (ran for a score and threw one) but it obviously wasn’t enough. Now, coming off that and facing a 2-0 AAAA Devil Dogs squad, um, you know, this might not go real well for the Purple Hornets. Laney (0-1) at McCormick (0-2) The Chiefs had a nice showing in the opener, nearly upending AAA Crescent, but were made the victim of one of my lame zero jokes last week against Lincoln County. They play an ambitious schedule that will include Fox Creek next week. Wouldn’t be shocked to see them 0-4 at that point, but then they get Eau Claire before rolling into region play, so they’ll have a shot to bounce back quickly. I don’t know much about Laney other than that laid it to McCormick pretty badly last year, are 1-0 and are the alma mater of Michael Jordan. Why then they are called the Wildcats and not the Jordans or Swooshes or GOATs or Fightin’ Wenningtons is beyond me. *Update- This is Laney High in Georgia, not the one in North Carolina that Michael Jordan attended. PigskinAndPigskins regrets the error, but not so much that we are going to change what we already wrote and deprive ourselves the chance to make a Bill Wennington joke. Ridge Spring-Monetta (0-2) at Whitmire (1-1) Here’s another team that is really tough to gauge, given who they’ve played. The Trojans opened with a shutout loss to Batesburg-Leesville, then got roasted 41-6 last week by Saluda. But here again, they weren’t playing Larry’s Living Room Rangers, they were playing a couple of really good AA teams in Batesburg and Saluda. They’ve got talent up front in Cameron Davis and scary, QB-mashing football robot Tray Dean, but they’ve done next to nothing offensively. This should be the week we see what they’ve got as they face a like-sized opponent for the first time. Whitmire managed to hold off Great Falls last week 37-29. Great Falls was able to rack up some fairly hefty yardage totals against them particularly through the air, but will do that to a lot of people this year. RS-M is apparently spreading it much more than they used to, so that may be something they try to exploit. The thing about Whitmire is how much pressure they put on you. They onsides kick on every kickoff, they usually go for it on fourth down and they run that scrum offense. You have to be disciplined and it eats clock and shortens the game and if you end up trailing late, you’re sunk. Great Falls cut the deficit to eight with eight minutes to go and got the ball back at their own four with two minutes to play. RB Jaquan Tindell-White has some wheels and is fun to watch. FB Chandler Crumley doesn’t have wheels as much as he has tractor tires that crush possums and corn stalks and defenders unlucky enough to be in his path (I have no idea what any of this means). Should be a good matchup. Lewisville (2-0) at Great Falls (1-1) Dearest Reader, How bout clicking here and reading the preview I wrote on this’n for the newspaper. Best, Me Darlington (0-2) at Lamar (1-1) The Silver Foxes suffered a rare regular season loss last week in falling to Pageland. Here’s the thing, though, their defense played WAY better than the final score would make it appear. Pageland, home of large lineman and fast people, really just wants to push you around and run the ball and they flat could not against Lamar. They hit a long pass early and scored twice on defense and that was pretty much it. So long as the Silver Foxes take care of the ball, they will be fine. They are playing a AAAA team this week in Darlington, but it’s a AAAA team that have routinely dragged. Darlington lost to Cheraw 28-0 in the opener and 47-6 to West Florence last week. Lee Central (1-1) at Timmonsville (0-2) You know, it’s entirely possible that Timmonsville could be this year’s McBee. Last season, the Panthers looked like hot trash in a taco shell for about seven or eight weeks, but only to dumb untrained eyes (like mine, mainly). They were playing arguably the toughest schedule in 1A and struggled, but it made them a better team. They won a couple of games late, made the playoffs and won two games. Timmonsville has already lost to a 2-0 AA team and a 2-0 AAA team. Offensively, the young Whirlwinds haven’t done much of anything really, but they’ve kept their games fairly respectable. I don’t expect they’re going to win this week against a rugged, experienced team like Lee Central…and probably not against Marion or Green Sea Floyds, either. But maybe there will be a payoff down the road… Allendale-Fairfax (0-2) at Blackville-Hilda (1-1) The Hawks may be walking funny and talking with a lisp after the savage flogging laid upon them last week by Barnwell. Really, though, that’s one you just kind of move on from. Barnwell MIGHT have one or two reasonably competitive games during the regular season. They’ll beat fellow AA teams worse than they did Blackville-Hilda, so it’s not a harbinger of anything long-term. I watched some highlights of the game and was kind of surprised to see the Hawks going single-back, four wide as much as they were, since they are generally of the “we’ll just stomp on your face” variety on offense. Maybe they felt like that wasn’t a winning recipe against Barnwell. Maybe Barnwell loaded the box and took that away…maybe I’m pulling stuff out of my tail hole at this point. Anyway, Hawks QB Adonis Davis looked good throwing the ball, both on the short stuff and on a couple of bombs that went for scores. I don’t know a whole lot about Allendale-Fairfax other than I read they looked improved in the preseason, they are 0-2 and the league did them a terrible, crappy disservice by sticking them in AA. Branchville (2-0) at Denmark-Olar (1-0) Two weeks ago, I probably wouldn’t have pegged this as game of the week material, but here we are. Branchville, to be blunt, doesn’t have a WOW win in its first two, having beaten Colleton Prep and long-struggling North, but they’re 2-0 and have done that coming off a six-win season that included a playoff victory. It’s time to start paying attention to them…if that were a thing that’s possible. I’ve haven’t been able to find much of anything on them, save some “hype” videos that feature wacky, montage-style editing that makes it impossible to see what anyone is doing. In some stuff I found from last year they’re go double-back, double-wide a good bit and had a good-sized junior quarterback with a big arm. So maybe that holds or maybe he entered the transfer portal. If you’ve seen them and have a scouting report, I’d love to hear it. Ditto for Denmark-Olar. I do know they had a nice win over the Mr. T Haircuts last week. The defense played especially well, not yielding a score and holding a potent rushing attack in check. Estill (1-1) at Wade Hampton (2-0) Coming off a hard-fought win over Allendale-Fairfax in the opener, Estill got roughed up by Ridgeland/Hardeeville 39-0 last week and I regret to inform you 39-0 would be a good outcome this week. Wade Hampton is a big, good AAA team that runs an offense you never see who gave up 69 yards of offense last week while forcing four turnovers. Better things may be ahead for the Gators but this is a tough matchup. North (0-1) at Bethune-Bowman (0-2) The Mr. T Haircuts hung in there and kept it relatively close in the opener against Blackville-Hilda, mainly on the strength of RB Jesus Benjamin’s 200-plus yard rushing performance. Last week, they were straining at the bowl to make anything move, pretty much, with their only score against Denmark-Olar being a punt return. They’ll find the sledding a bit easier this week. I’m rooting for North and would really like to see them get out of the prolonged losing streak they are mired in, but after a 55-0 loss to Branchville last week, it’s hard to see that happening against B-B. Eau Claire (0-2) at Wagener-Salley (2-0) The Shamrocks have been outscored in their first two games by a margin of 85-6 against Lewisville and HKT. The boys from Chitlin RFD rolled a good Fox Creek team last week, blasted Pelion and are as physical as it gets on both sides of the ball. This will be a lot like a 50-car train full of cinderblocks and dynamite colliding with a donkey cart slowly crossing the tracks. Burke (0-2) at Baptist Hill (0-2) I doubt this is even being played this week, what with there being a hurricane and whatnot, but if it is it seems like the place and time that the Bobcats will get their first win and score seventy-eight gojillion points. Charleston Charter School for Aquatic Biology and Booger Studies (0-1) at Phillip Simmons (0-2) Again, with this game likely not even being played, not gonna expend a lot of energy on it other than to say the Iron Horses have been close in their two losses and might get over the hump against the Riptide. Academic Magnet (1-1) at Military Magnet (0-1) Another likely weather casualty, which is a shame because this match-up between magnet schools is an attractive matchup. I’m positive it would be a good one. See what I did there? Magnets, attractive, positive…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cross (1-1) at Timberland (1-0) Assuming this game is even played, it’s probably not a great matchup for Cross. They’re improved over last year but are still young, challenged offensively a bit and Timberland is a top five AA team. Scott’s Branch (0-2) at Bamberg-Ehrhardt (1-0) You can basically read my Cross-Timberland preview above and apply everything I said to this matchup, minus the “improved over last year” part. Johnsonville (0-2) at Hemingway (0-2) Another “if they even play” game. The Sausages hung in there against Lake View and Marion, but have managed to scratch out only 14 points in two games combined. Hemingway, young, with a new head coach and playing heavy hitters Lamar and Andrews out of the gate has been outscored 107-0 in two games. This could be a spot for Hemingway to start turning things around a bit.
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November 2021
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