Before I commence with the foolishness, my apologies for the lack of previews and reviews in the last week. With Hurricane Florence forcing so many postponements and cancellations, there were only a handful of Class A games last week, since the heaviest concentration of small schools was in the path of the hurricane. Things aren’t much better for some of our friends now, with the resulting flooding still having some out of school and out of their homes. If you’ve seen images from places like Nichols, you understand how profound and lasting the damage is and will be for the foreseeable future. Water is a funny thing when you think about it. It’s one of the two or three things that are essential for our survival. When we lose control of it, though, and it goes where we don’t want it to be, it can go from lifegiving, to life-wrecking. I’m just a dude with a football and meat blog, but if there’s anything I can do for any of my Class A friends, please shoot me an email at [email protected]. If you are having your life turned upside down by the storm or the hurricane, please know I and a lots of other folks are praying for you.
Now, on with aforementioned foolishness. Dixie (3-1) at Ninety-Six (3-0) Regular readers know I am pretty high on the Hornets. They have a solid stable of backs, they’re good up front, the defense has been solid and they have a lot of upperclassmen. They seem pretty well built for a run in the Class A playoffs, but what they’re facing this week is a mighty heavy lift. Ninety-Six has just been throwing down one scary rootin’ after another this year. They aren’t stalwarts on defense by any stretch (having yielded 46 to Emerald, 42 to St. Joe’s and 33 to Crescent), but consider that they won all those games by at least two touchdowns. Now, last I heard their stud hoss QB is indefinitely suspended and I have no idea how that will impact their silly, pinball-like offensive production. I’m guessing Dixie’s best chance is to play keepaway and hope someone with my level of athletic ability is under center for the Wildcats. Ware Shoals (0-5) at Great Falls (2-2) The Purple Hornets have had about as rough a season as imaginable. They are 0-5 and three of those losses are to non-SCHSL competition, including one to Camden Military on Monday. They also lost to the Living Room Rangers or Backyard Bombers or somebody. I understand overall numbers is a big issue for them now, which a lot of small schools deal with at times. That would include Great Falls, who came into the season not having won a game since mid-2015. They are 2-2 now and have some legit weapons, including noted tall person Kelton Talford a near impossible cover at wide receiver. They don’t have a lot of depth and were pretty beat up after their loss to AJ, but they’ve had two weeks to recuperate. I’ll just remind everyone that Ware Shoals hung 77 on Great Falls two years ago and we’ll leave it at that, OK? Bethune-Bowman (2-2) at Whitmire (2-2) This could turn out to be an endlessly fun game. The Mr. T Haircuts picked up a 10-8 win over HKT two weeks ago. They aren’t putting up quite the gaudy point totals of the past few years, which may be attributable to a new offensive philosophy (the Power I, mainly) and the absence of graduated running back/man tank Makiah Simmons. They still have an athletic and experienced field general in Braxton Wedgeworth III, Esq. They actually do appear to be considerably better on defense this year, however. Whitmire was a big winner over North two weeks ago. In that game they got 111 yards and two scores from C.J. Wicker, 72 yards from Chandler Crumley, 60 from Kyle Hunt and touchdowns from Matthew Prather, Christian McLaren and Hunter Alexander. So every male student at Whitmire can play running back apparently. Seriously, they have run that scrum and spread the sugar around really well on offense giving you a lot to think about. This feels like two pretty evenly matched teams and a really good matchup. Scott’s Branch (1-3) at Timmonsville (3-1) Timmonsville was off last week but beat the brakes off of Marion two weeks ago. They did so with the unrelenting awesomeness of RB Fanando Jackson and QB Ja’Maric Morris. I’ve raved about Morris for a couple of years. He’s basically a lightning bolt with a rocket launcher attached (I don’t know that you can attach rocket launchers to lightning bolts actually, but you get my point). I wasn’t as familiar with Jackson, though. I watched some film on him and there’s a lot to like. He breaks a lot of tackles, he’s a big hitter on special teams and defense and in the open field he has the unique quality where he doesn’t looks like he’s running that fast until you notice that he’s pulling away from defenders who are futilely grabbing at air and pretending to pull their hamstrings so they don’t have to go back in and deal with him anymore. Timmonsville has also put up much better numbers on defense this year. Scott’s Branch is 1-3, which I do consider a bit of a surprise. I like their talent with guys like Amonte Brown and Coach Brian Smith always gets the most out of the talent he has on hand. The thing is, tonight will be the first time they’ve faced a fellow Class A team with their previous four contests all being against AA and AAA competition. Now, they’re playing a dang good Class A team tonight, but this should be a more accurate measuring stick for them. Wagener-Salley (2-1) at Blackville-Hilda (2-1) NOW THEN…this is a huge region match-up. I’m not saying it will settle the region race, because RS-M and Williston will certainly have a say, but I am saying this is big-time game for September. The Chitlinville boys have been off the past two weeks because of an off week and the hurricane. When last we saw them, they were flogging a decent Eau Claire team unmercifully. Blackville-Hilda also hasn’t played in three weeks but were able to grind out a close win over Allendale-Fairfax when last they played. This is going to be an old-timey slobberknocker, a throwback to when dudes named Clem and W.E. smoked in the huddle and beat the crap out of one another wearing leather helmets and no pads, because only sissies wore pads. Two power run games slamming into the teeth of defenses that are both excellent against the run. The Stump Whooped Gladiators are probably a little ahead of the Hawks in terms of program building, but B-H throws it a little more and a little better. This should be an excellent game with big implications. Denmark-Olar (2-1) at North (0-4) The Vikings are an improved team…North has scored six points total in four games and give up 45-ish a game. So let’s just move along… HKT (0-3) at Estill (0-3) Not to give short shrift to these two, but they’ve scored one TD combined this year, though that has come against pretty good competition. HKT is really young, particularly up front. It’s odd to see a team that typically lights it up out of a wide-open spread struggling the way they are. I ain’t got much for you on Estill, Hoss. Williston-Elko (1-2) at Ridge Spring-Monetta (1-2) Don’t let those records fool you, this another huge game in Region III. Williston was off last week but got in the win column last time out against Allendale-Fairfax. In that game, Keshawn Toney demonstrated why he will be a Division I tight end next year. He went off for more than 100 yards receiving and just to be blunt, when they get him the ball, there isn’t much defenses can do to stop him other than pray that he’ll slip or step out of bounds. Their first two losses weren’t as competitive as I expected but they came against VERY good AA teams in Barnwell and Silver Bluff. RS-M hasn’t played since August 31 in a big win over a scrappy Whitmire team. Here again, I think schedule has more to do with that 1-2 mark than any deficiencies they have. They are nasty up front on both sides and don’t fiddle around with finesse much on offense. They also have all three starters at LB back this year and all three of those guys racked up 100-plus tackles last year. This will likely be a “let’s kick each other where it hurts until somebody blinks” contest, similar Blackville-Hilda v Chitlinburg. RS-M has struggled for years to get past Williston…let’s see if this is the year. Baptist Hill (2-2) at North Charleston (1-2) North Charleston has already gotten worked by Calhoun County and St. John’s and now their facing the resurgent Bobcats. Since they moved uncoverable receiver Rashard Maxwell to QB, Baptist Hill has been a scary, monster with meat hooks for hands and laser eyes. He accounted for NINE FLIPPIN’ TOUCHDOWNS against Academic Magnet. So, you know, this might not go well for the home team tonight. Branchville (2-1) at Military Magnet (0-4) Branchville laid a whoopin’ on the Charleston Cipherin and Wildlife Management School of the Arts and Auto Repair last time out. They are senior heavy and might be in some games people aren’t expecting them to be when region play starts. Military Magnet has some athletes as evidenced by their showing at the state track meet a few months back, but it isn’t translating to offense, where they average about 10 a game. The defense has kept them in all but one game, though. Waccamaw (0-3) at St. John’s (3-1) I’ll be succinct here… Waccamaw has given up 176 points in three games. St. John’s is 3-1, they hung 45 on North Charleston two weeks ago, they’re only loss was a competitive one to a good AA AJ team, they’re outstanding on special teams, they have a lot of offensive weapons and that’s all I’ve got to say about that. Hemingway (1-3) at C.E. Murray (2-2) This will be a very telling game. Hemingway certainly has some individual talent, but they have gotten blown out in all three losses, and the one win was a close one to the Sausages. They handled the Sausages, but that’s it. The losses did come to Lamar, Carvers Bay and Andrews, though, so level of competition has to be considered. C.E. Murray was 2-0 after two close wins, but has been on the bad end of things in their last two games against Mullins and The OC Semi-pros. But again, consider the level of competition there. I like QB Antonio McKnight, who from what I’ve seen throws it well and brings some nice athletic ability to the field. This one will tell us a lot about both teams. Cross (0-4) at Lake Marion (1-3) I don’t know a whole lot about Lake Marion. They bombed Military Magnet (WAKA WAKA) but have been on the business end of three shut-out beat downs since. Cross, which features all of two seniors, is just crazy young, up front especially. It’s odd to see a program of this magnitude struggling, but at tiny schools the talent can ebb and flow and sometimes you have a year where a young team gets kicked in the teeth, then grows to the point where they do the kickin’ in years to come. I figure that’s the case here, but for now, they’ve lost 26-0, 46-0, 47-0 and 47-0. Maybe this is an opponent they can have some offensive success against.
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TravisI am Travis, the king 0f SC 1A Football Archives
November 2021
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