Whitmire (5-3) at Calhoun Falls Charter (1-4)
The Wolverines had a little bit more of a tussle with Dixie than I was expecting last week (they only led 8-7 at the half) but they pulled away for a nice 24-7 victory. Chandler Crumley, who is sort of like a cross between an angry pile of bricks and a ball peen hammer, led the way with 75 yards and a couple of scores on the ground. The Flashes lost to McCormick 41-0. Look, CF Charter has a victory this year which is a nice step forward considering the struggles they’ve had in recent seasons and the good news is they get to face the team they beat (Ware Shoals) next week. They win that and they are likely in the playoffs. Huge accomplishment for that program if they pull it off. Whitmire has won three straight, though, and likely has too many weapons for the Flashes to counter. McCormick (3-4) at St. Joe’s (6-1) With Region I having an odd number of teams, somebody is always left with a bye or an out-of-region game and this week, that is the Chiefs. They come in playing really well, having won three straight and that streak was preceded by a near upset of Fox Creek. A’Chean Durant has absolutely lived up to the hype, billing and bloodlines this season at running back. The fact that he’s only a freshman should probably induce pants poopins in defensive coordinators throughout Class A. Have fun stopping this guy for the next three years everybody. They’ve been playing really well on defense too. This is going to be a pretty heavy lift, going up against a AA St. Joe’s team that has pitched three shutouts. It has to be pointed out they’ve really only played one good team (Southside Christian) and lost to them, but they’re legitimately good and will be tough at home. The thing is, the grand scheme of things, this game really doesn’t matter a whole lot. The Chiefs will be playing Whitmire next week for a region title and number one playoff seed. Whatever they accomplish in this one is just gravy. Dixie (0-8) at Ware Shoals (1-6) Welcome to the world of pre-set playoff brackets, where this late October game between a pair of teams with one (non-SCHSL) victory between them is pretty much for a playoff spot. Region I has five teams, four of them get in, so this is an important game. I’ll give Dixie credit for a good defensive performance last week against Whitmire in a game where I expected them to get drug. They have some good size, but they are REALLY young and don’t have a whole lot of team speed. Ware Shoals won its opener over Oakbrook Prep, then lost a 14-13 heartbreaker to Calhoun Falls Charter and haven’t really been competitive since. I like do-everything, football Swiss Army knife/shape-shifting-ninja Demarius Goodman a lot and his speed could be a big difference in this one. Again, despite the records, this is someone’s big chance to punch their post-season ticket. Timmonsville (2-5) at Lamar (5-2) It’s finally nut-cutting time in Region II as they start playing the games that matter. Timmonsville might still be walking funny and talking an octave or two higher than normal after the unholy bludgeoning that Green Sea Floyds laid on them last week by a 62-8 score. The thing about the Whirlwinds is, they are on their third coach in three years, they’re really young and they have played a big-boy, no-joke schedule. Marion, Green Sea, Lee Central, East Clarendon…it’s been rough aside from their games against Scott’s Branch and Hemingway. From what I can tell, they play pretty good defense and hang in there, but are really young on offense and have struggled to scratch out points this year. A trip to Lamar in a game that really matters isn’t necessarily a recipe for getting well. It’s more a recipe for pain and suffering and losing and having your dreams set on fire. The Silver Foxes were off last week and lost the previous time out to Gray Collegiate. It is odd to see Lamar with two regukar season losses, but look at those came to. They lost a close game at Pageland and narrowly lost to Gray (a failed two-point conversion in the final few minutes was the difference) while holding a potent AA offense to its fewest passing yards of the year. As I said when it happened, if you’d have bet me Lamar would end up with more passing yards than Gray I would literally have bet my actual butt against that happening and today I would be here with no butt, trying to figure out how to sit and perform other tasks. They really didn’t throw it a lot, but Cam Galloway hit some big pass plays. I don’t suspect that will be necessary tonight. Galloway and that stable of RBs should find the sledding considerably easier this week on the ground. Great Falls (4-2) at McBee (0-7) You’d think after 7 games you’d have a decent handle on what a team has, but man I sure don’t with the Panthers. The 0-7 makes you think this will be an easy walk over game for the Red Devils, but you really have to examine that schedule a bit more. McBee, like Timmonsville, has played a frightening gauntlet of grizzly bears and knife-wielding clowns. Seriously, AJ, Chesterfield, Green Sea, Lake View, Blacksburg…being a 1A school and going 0-7 against that lineup is understandable. A lot of those weren’t close but dang if they didn’t up and almost beat Blacksburg last week, just like they did last year before winning two-of-three in the region and winning a pair of playoff games. From what I understand they are still using a spread, but not near as much as last year. They are back to the bone and like to get the ball to Jaheim Wright as much as possible. If you don’t know anything about the Wright family, just trust that they are good at football and are into mass procreation. It seems like there are four or five Wrights on McBee’s roster every year. Great Falls had two weeks off after a game with Camden Military was cancelled due to heat (something I’ve never heard of) and they had their scheduled off week last Friday. If I were them, having won three-of-four, I would not have been real keen on that long a layoff. The one upside is they should be fully healthy. Their defense is playing really well right now, making tons of negative yardage plays and forcing a lot of turnovers. I’ve discussed all the offensive weapons they bring to the table before. Tommy Seagle is throwing the ball well, they’ve developed a nice running game and D.J. Adams, Xavion Moore and others are big plays waiting to happen. This should be a really good football game. Blackville-Hilda (5-2) at Estill (2-5) Blackville-Hilda scored on of the most impressive wins of last Friday when they not only beat a hot Ridge Spring-Monetta team, they laid a savage 42-14 beatdown on them. They did that despite losing QB Adonis Davis to injury. Z’Ontre Kinard came on and played well in his stead and Daylon Dickerson had 126 yards rushing. The Hawks also scored twice on defense. I certainly hope Davis’ injury doesn’t keep him out long, but I don’t think it will matter tonight. Since their upset of Allendale-Fairfax, Estill has beaten winless North and gotten knocked around pretty badly by everyone else. Denmark-Olar (4-3) at HKT (4-3) HKT is coming off its first win over Williston-Elko in 16 years, which tells you a lot about the state of both programs. The defense came up big, with Kron Lowery and Katwan Shuler combining for five sacks. Denmark struggled a bit with Estill before taking an eight-point win. Malik Palmer went for 149 on the ground in that one and scored twice. There are bigger “name brand” games and ones with more on the line, but this is as even a contest as will probably take place tonight. Ridge Spring-Monetta (4-3) at Wagener-Salley (7-0) Boy, this seemed like a titanic clash in the making a week ago. A battle between two red hot teams peaking at the right going at it for a region crown and number one playoff seed and…now it doesn’t. At all. RS-M got worked pretty good by Blackville-Hilda last week. Collier Sullivan is a heck of a player, having run for 225 yards and two touchdowns last week, but I just think the boys from Chitlinville are on a different level than everyone else. They’re closest game this year (admittedly not against a monster schedule) was a 42-20 flogging of Fox Creek. The closest against a 1A competitor was a 37-point diddling of a good Blackville-Hilda team (the one who laid it to RS-M) last week. Until they get a deep enough in the playoffs to face Lamar, I don’t know that they’ll be challenged very much. Williston-Elko (1-6) at North (0-8) W-E is having its worst season in 15 years and will likely need to beat Denmark-Olar in the season finale to even make the playoffs. Despite those struggles, tonight will be a chance for them to get out some frustrations and at least notch a second “W” against a North team that has the state’s longest losing streak. Baptist Hill (4-3) at the Charleston Charter School for Propane and Propane Accessories (0-5) Speaking of getting some frustrations out…The Bobcats suffered one of their worst losses in recent memory last time out, getting an M-80 stuck in their tailpipe by Green Sea Floyds. They’ve had two weeks to stew on that and this week they face a Charleston Charter team that has lost its last three games by a combined score of 159-0. On the bright side, Charleston Charter has a sweet nickname (Riptide) and is right across the street from Rodney Scott’s BBQ. St. John’s (1-5) at Military Magnet (0-6) The Islanders have lost five straight against a pretty rugged slate. They are young, (like zygote or fetus young) on offense but aside from a few games when they’ve been totally outmanned, they always come to play on defense. I have a feeling their losing streak ends tonight against a Military Magnet team that is struggling on both sides of the ball right now. Branchville (7-1) at C.E. Murray (4-2) With both of these teams having already gotten by Cross, this is a de facto region title game. Huge stakes on the line here. Branchville narrowly got by Cross last week 24-22, but they are in the midst of one of the best seasons in recent memory and have a dangerous dual-threat weapon in QB Zack Wiles. He’s a big kid with a live arm that is probably their biggest rushing threat as well. The only thing I question on them is this…they did blow out a good Whitmire team and edged Cross, but the rest of their wins have come against teams with a combined record of 6-23 and four of the wins come courtesy of Colleton Prep, a non-SCHSL opponent. Their one loss was to a pretty physical Denmark-Olar team and my understanding is Cross at least matched them physically, or perhaps even won the physical battle up front. C.E. Murray is as physical as it gets. They go the blunt-force trauma, “oww, you stepped on my face” power running game route on offense and possess one of the nastiest and most physical defenses in 1A (they have allowed 36 points this season). They’ve stood toe-to-toe with ranked AA, very solid AA teams in Lee Central and Mullins and they blew out Cross two weeks ago. Branchville is a very good team but I like C.E> Murray’s chances to put the region title on ice tonight. Cross (3-4) at Bethune-Bowman (2-5) The Trojans are coming off back-to-back tough region losses. They nearly upended Branchville last week and kind of took it on the chin against C.E. Murray the week before. They aren’t going to score a lot of points on a given week (last week was the first time they scored more than 20 since late 2017) but they’re physical and play good defense. The Mr. T Haircuts have one of the state’s most underrated players in RB Jesus Benjamin, who just quietly knifes through opposing defenses for 200 yards a week. There isn’t a whole lot on hand to compliment him and their defense has struggled. Honestly, with Branchville and C.E. Murray still to come and having lost (surprisingly) to Scott’s Branch last week, this about their last chance to notch a third win and maybe get in the playoffs, but it’ll be a tall order. Columbia (0-7) at Hemingway (0-7) You hate to put it this way, but this is a chance for one or the other to not have a winless campaign. Columbia has been outscored by the opposition this year 283-94. Hemingway has lost its seven games by a combined total of 280-19. So, who knows? Green Sea Floyds (6-1) at Lake View (5-3) With both of these teams only having winless Hemingway left on the slate, this game is for the region title and a number one playoff seed. Lake View has three losses, but let’s keep in mind one came to Lamar in overtime, one came to AAA heavyweight Dillon and a very good AAA Marion team. Oddly, this was a team almost totally lacking in experience coming into the season and they’ve tweaked their offense, barely throwing the ball, but they’ve had tremendous success. Adarrian Dawkins is a super exciting player who will line up pretty much everywhere on offense. Since their lone loss (to AAA Aynor) Green Sea has obliterated McBee, Baptist Hill (who shuts out Baptist Hill, seriousl?) and Timmonsville. Offensively, they have top, top end skill talent (Bubba Elliot, Jaquan Dixon) but it’s time to start paying that defense some more serious attention. Take out the Aynor game, and they’ve allowed 51 points all year. They are tough as crap to run on, which might complicate things for Lake View. I like the Trojans here, but still, there’s a ton on the line and it could get interesting.
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November 2021
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