As is tradition (if tradition is a thing you’ve done four whole times) I am posting my weekly Class A poll, which is included in the S.C. Prep Media Poll. Sometimes I just don’t feel like it’s enough to say “1. Lamar, duh y’all, they whoopin’ everybody.” Sometimes a man wants to drink out of a chalice and not a Dixie cup, if you know what I mean. I’m not sure I do actually…anyway, rather than just list 10 teams with some blurb about their “wicked awesome pass defense” I’ve decided to dress things up a little the best way I know how. You see, in my long, sordid, nomadic media career, I’ve done a lot of things, including man the position I refer to as “button-punching monkey.” I was radio DJ for a long time and part of my job sometimes entailed just sitting there listening to countdown shows. Every 10 minutes or so, there’d be a local break, so I’d push a button to play some PSA about how if your poop is weird you show go to the doctor about it (I’m not making this up), then I’d push another button to make the next exciting segment of the countdown play. I joked that a monkey, with proper training, could have done that part of my job. They didn’t turn to monkeys as it turns out, going the whole computer automation route instead. Anyway, I’ve always liked countdown-type shows for some reason. Sure, some caterwauling ditty by Celine Dion has been number one for three weeks, but that song about ice cream vans by the KLF and Tammy Wynette (I’m also not making this up) is zooming up the charts and may unseat her. The drama would build, you’d sit through a request and dedication some 8-year-old named Jim Bob in Nebraska sent in about his ailing pet aardvark and Casey Kasem would play a song that totally didn’t match the sentiment of the child’s letter (“Jim Bob, here’s a song for your sick pet…it’s Oochie Coochie by MC Brains”). I’ve done a Casey countdown/top 10 before and a country version and while I’ll milk the good idea cow until the udder is dry, I do like to mix things up…especially on the ones and twos. You see, along with American Top 40 and American Country Countdown, I also sat and mashed buttons during an R&B/Rap show called “Countdown Countdown” during the early 90s and will draw on that experience to help in crafting this list.
10. Scott’s Branch- This is a new entry for me and one I totally did not see coming. They’d beaten a not-very-good Denmark-Olar team and gotten bleep-housed by an undefeated AAA Manning squad, so they were off my radar a bit. Then, they went ahead and shut out the second-ranked team in AA in Bamberg-Ehrhardt. Looking forward, they could very easily be 6-1 going into their match-up with unbeaten, third-ranked St. John’s in a few weeks. If they win that one, look out, but even if they lose, it’s not necessarily The End of the Road. Here’s the Motownphilly sound of Boys II Men at number 10 on COUNTDOWN COUNTDOWN! 9. Williston-Elko- This is a team that was young last year, got hot at the end of the season and came into this season with high expectations. They did beat Silver Bluff and you can’t really hold the loss to a loaded, ranked Barnwell team too much against them, as it was competitive. The Woodland loss was a head-scratcher for me, though. I feel like asking them, are you guys ever gonna get on the run I’m expecting, and they answer “I’m about to.” Are you gonna Warm it Up, and they say “I’m about to.” I stand by everything I’m saying here. So all of ya'll with them Doctor Suess riddles, you can get the finger…the middle 8. Wagener-Salley- I expected the team from Chitlinberg to engage in one of the best match-ups of the early season this past week in a showdown against Bethune-Bowman. Boy was I wrong, but I was wrong because W-S made it uninteresting. They run the ball well, they play good defense (as evidenced by the goose egg they hung on the Mr. T Haircuts)…they were able to Flex their muscles and win it on physicality, just like Mad Cobra, who is at number eight this week on COUNTDOWN COUNTDOWN! 7. Cross (or should I call them Kris Kross?)- It’s hard to know a whole lot about this team yet, since they’ve only played two games. In those two games they doled out a rootin’ to Burke and lost a close, competitive game to a good AAA Timberland team. We’ll know more about them soon, but based on early returns and what they had back from last year (including RB Nathan Walker, a Wofford commit), they belong here. They just need a little more Offensive production than they had last time out and need to cut down on the Penalties. So the O is for offense, the P for penalties (scratch your temple), the last P, well, that’s not that simple… 6. C.E. Murray- Things looked a bit hairy for the War Eagles this past week as they fell in a 19-0 hole to Oceanside Collegiate. Then Darius Rush happened. He scored four touchdowns, the defense flogged the Landsharks unmercifully and it turned into a runaway. Aside from an early loss to Bamberg-Ehrhardt (who they lost to last year on the way to the third round of the playoffs) this team has been fairly dominant. They have athletes and they are physical as all get out. They seem to relish roughing up opponents…why, you could say they have no problem with a little Bump and Grind, just like R. Kelly, who is up two spots this week to number five! 5. Lake View- I think we all knew with having such huge losses to graduation, the defending state champs wouldn’t be stomping on the collective heads of every opponent the way they did last year, at least not initially. They opened with a close loss to a very good AA Latta squad, then got a couple of “up” wins against The Sausages and Mullins…they also viciously throttled South Robeson, with whose work I am not familiar. De’Ante Bridgett is having a nice year throwing the ball and the thing is, aside from match-ups with Green Sea-Floyds and Hannah-Pamplico, which could be challenging, they won’t face a ranked team until the season finale against Hemingway, so plenty of time to work the kinks out. I think by season’s end they could be a contender again…so it’s the Same Old Song. Here’s come’s Digital Underground! 4. Lewisville. So now we’re down to the top one, two, three and to the four. Some folks were surprised when the Lions lost to Buford two weeks ago, but there are mitigating factors to take into consideration. For one, while Lewisville has as much top-end talent as anyone, they aren’t terribly deep. So when they lost two starting offensive linemen and two starting defensive linemen, plugging the holes isn’t easy. Also, I think Buford is a highly underrated team with an excellent quarterback. Still, the Lions are 3-1, they beat a pair of AA teams (Blacksburg and Andrew Jackson) and rolled over Whitmire. Quentin Sanders is one of the best and most versatile players in the state, Josh Belk is healthy and playing well, Jaylen McFadden is criminally underrated at LB, Mikial Fourney is a fantastic safety/receiver and they have lots of offensive weapons. If you don’t get that this team represents probably the only viable threat to Lamar’s upperstate supremacy, then you’re Never Gonna Get It…or so say the very lovely ladies of En Vogue, down one this week to number four! 3. Hemingway- Along with the two teams I have ranked ahead of them, no one can match the early-season resume of the Tigers. They’ve played up in all three of their games (against Kingstree, the Sausages and Andrews) and they just pummeled all three of them. Against a good Andrews team, they away with it in the second quarter, scoring three times in a five-minute span to turn a game that was at least competitive into another curb stomping. They scored twice on defense, once on special teams and QB Troy Singletary visited the end zone four times in the game. They can beat you so many ways. “Beat” is an overused term…what’s another way to convey the same idea? Could I say they can SLAM you in so many ways? I can and so can Onyx! 2. St. John’s- It’s impressive enough that they knocked off AAA Bishop England and AAAA R.B. Stall, but who in the world would have foreseen them knocking of AAAAA James Island? Nobody. Who would have picked them to be a favorite to come out of the low country? Nobody. Who sings “Nobody?” Mr. Keith Sweat, that’s who…hanging in at number two. 1. Lamar- They got a pretty decent challenge from Hannah-Pamplico in the opener, but since that time, they’ve outscored three teams of higher classification 132-6 (which included a vicious rogering of Darlington). They throw it pretty well, more than good enough to keep you honest, but they pick up yardage in chunks on the ground with Tyrik Herion and Jazquez Lucas…oh, and now Jeblonski Green is healthy enough to play on both sides, so have fun tackling a 225-pound chunk of holy crap, everybody. He’s also nearly unblockable on defense and they have athletes that fly around and just beat you into submission. They are number one and deserve to stay there until someone takes it from them. They are kicking a lot of butts...big ones. Big butts…Mix-A-Lot still on top of the charts! We’ll see if he can keep kickin’ them nasty thoughts at number one again next week on COUNTDOWN COUNTDOWN! Here was what the actual poll looked like and I’m totally not doing 10 more songs… 1. Lamar 2. Hemingway 3. St. John's 4. Lewisville 5, Lake View 6. Williston-Elko 7. C.E. Murray 8. Cross 9. Wagener-Salley 10. Hannah-Pamplico Receiving votes: Bethune-Bowman, Baptist Hill, Branchville, Dixie.
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TravisI am Travis, the king 0f SC 1A Football Archives
November 2021
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