Ridge Spring-Monetta (6-4) at Dixie (8-2)
Almost everything tells me this should be a Dixie win, including the voices in my head, both of my imaginary friends and my talking dog. Dixie has an efficient, power run game on offense, with bull-ish backs like De’iveon Donald operating behind an experienced offensive line. Scrappy as all get out on defense, where they’ve limited some explosive offenses to NOT NAM this year (11 point-per-game allowed). Ridge Spring-Monetta has been up-and-down despite having most of last year’s upperstate finalist team back. Despite everything I just told you, I think it makes a real difference that Dixie hasn’t played in three weeks while the Trojans got to work up a good lather last week in a come-from-behind victory over Timmonsville. They also seem to play their best this time of year and have played a rugged schedule this year. Plus, what fun is it to publish a meat and football blog and never pick an upset? The pick- Ridge Spring-Monetta. McBee (3-8) at Blackville-Hilda (8-2) The Panthers got a blowout win over Estill last week, but this is some kinda step up in competition. I think McBee might prove surprisingly tough early in this game. The Hawks haven’t seen many teams that spread it and get athletes like Jaheim and Tyrece Wright the ball in space the way McBee can. I just think that nasty offensive front, the blunt force trauma offense (with a little bit of a throwing threat courtesy of Adonis Davis) and one of the most intimidating and physical defenses in Class A will prove too much to overcome. The final score might not be close. The pick- Blackville-Hilda Williston-Elko (6-5) at Lamar (8-1) The Blue Devils are one of the few teams equipped to challenge Lamar in the air with frightening TE/WR/Football Cyborg KeShawn Toney. Remember, Lamar’s one loss came to a Gray team that throws the ball a lot. However, Lamar was coming off a long layoff and lost its quarterback for the year early in that contest. Their defense has essentially made every other team on their schedule question their decision to play in competitive athletics. W-E has struggled on defense all year, against the run in particular, which doesn’t seem like a recipe for success against Malik Johnson and Jacquez Lucas. And save for one hiccup, Lamar’s defense has been a big scary wall of fire with razor wire at the top so… The Pick- Lamar Whitmire (7-3) at Wagener-Salley (9-1) Congrats to Whitmire on its win over Estill last week, the program’s first playoff win in 11 years. Coach Charlie Jenkins (no relation) has done a fantastic job in the Pearl of the Piedmont building a consistent winner where there was a four-plus year losing streak just a few seasons ago. Their scrum offense is tough to stop, they have a stable of backs who can tote the tater and they throw it juuuuust well enough to make it dangerous to sell out and stop the run. His teams are well-coached, they always play hard and you’ll always know you’ve been in a game when you play them. Generally, when they lose it’s because they’ve run into someone who is just better than they are. That will be the case tonight. Chitlintown is huge up front, they have experience all over the field, they will just bludgeon you into submission with their big, fast backs and squeezing out a drop against their defense is all but impossible if you can’t spread them out and throw it around a little bit. The Pick- Wagener-Salley Branchville (6-3) at Baptist Hill (6-2) Branchville is a program that is taking nice baby steps forward. They are senior heavy, they won a playoff game, they’re assured of a winning record…all stuff to be proud of. If I were them, I would focus on those positive developments instead of the unholy rootin’ they are going to be on the business end of by one of the state’s most explosive offenses. The Pick- Baptist Hill by a lot Green Sea-Floyds (6-3) at C.E. Murray (5-4) I like C.E. Murray a lot. I think Coach Wilkes and his staff do a fantastic job. Imagine coming in after the best two-year run in program history and keeping things humming. They’ve done so with a completely different offensive philosophy than their predecessor, spreading it out and chunking it all over the yard. They played for a lowerstate title last year, lost a big group of seniors that included one of the best players in the state regardless of classification (Darius Rush), then had their starting quarterback and another upper-tier level athlete transfer. They plugged Antonio McKnight in at quarterback and have continued to win. They’ve lost four games, but look who those four were (people like Mullins and The OC Semi-pros). They’ve managed to win close this year. I think they are running into a team, though, that is senior-heavy, rugged and playing its best football of the year right now. Green Sea was my dark horse pick to make a run this year. I think this one is close and probably low scoring (note, if C.E. Murray’s passing game clicks, then what I just wrote is wrong and dumb and wrong and they’ll win this going away), but the Trojans eek one out behind that ball-control offense. The Pick- Green Sea-Floyds. Hemingway (5-5) at Bethune-Bowman (7-3) Seriously, I’ve got no clue. The Mr. T Haircuts have a steady senior leader under center in Braxton Wedgeworth III, esq, who throws it well and is a heck of an athlete. They also have a plowhorse-style RB in Jesus Benjamin. Hemingway couldn’t have looked worse early, but they played well down the stretch, they have top-level athletes in greater supply (all of them are named Darius, oddly) and maybe that will be enough. Or maybe it won’t. The Pick- Hemingway, I reckon. St. John’s (6-4) at Lake View (6-3) The Islanders have a multi-faceted offense that might throw for 250 and run for 150 one week, then run for 300 and throw for 37 the next. Tyrus Richardson is better at football than you (he ran for 200 plus last week), they’ve been good on defense for the most part and have the best special teams in Class A. They are young but talented and Coach Josh Harpe has the makings of a contender next year. Lake View has an athletic QB in Adarrian Dawkins and when playing actual football teams instead of frightening pod people Dillon and Lamar, they generally win. This is the game of the night, I think, and again I’m stumped. I’ll go with the home crowd and a little bit more experience making the difference but I won’t be surprised if I’m wrong. The Pick- Lake View
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TravisI am Travis, the king 0f SC 1A Football Archives
November 2021
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