Great Falls (5-4) at Ridge Spring-Monetta (6-4)
The Red Devils got in the playoffs with a gutty win last week at Timmonsville. They broke out an entirely new offensive attack, going with a wishbone for the majority of the game. That allowed them to mount a long, time-consuming drive late in the game. They scored the game-winning touchdown with under a minute to go. Great Falls, at one point, was on a roll, winning three-of-four and moving into the Class A top 10 rankings. The defense was making stops for losses in bunches, the team was starting to find a running game to compliment their spread passing attack…and then they had a three-week layoff. A game with Camden Military was cancelled, then came the planned off week, so they went 21 days without a game right before hitting the region slate. Having your routine thrown off for that long is deleterious (and also a giant bowl of suck), and it hurt. They did not look like themselves in a blowout loss to McBee (though McBee certainly had something to do with that too), they looked a bit better against Lamar (in another loss) then took another step forward last week against the Whirlwinds. They aren’t deep, but they are good up front and have some big-time playmakers in D.J. Adams, Kell Brown, Xavion Moore et al. Ridge Spring-Monetta had four losses, all by wide margins, but it’s sort of relevant to note those came against a couple of top end AA’s (Batesburg-Leesville and Saluda) and two REALLY good 1A region teams (Blackville-Hilda and Wagener-Salley). They finished the year, though, with perhaps their best game of the year, absolutely CRANKSMACKING a good HKT team 54-6. They have an awesomely-named and productive QB in Remedee Leaphart (18 total TDs) and uber productive RB (Collier Sullivan). They throw it OK, but their bread-and-butter is still trying to try to step on your face in the run game. Often times, teams from this region have some trouble when they run into spread-y teams. Because their region is so large, they only get three out of region games…of those three, only one spread it and chunked it much, then almost nobody in their region does. So, they are unaccustomed to what Great Falls brings to the table. If RS-M forces turnovers like they did last week (they had SIX!!!!) then this will be a runaway. If Great Falls takes care of the ball, can get their athletes in space and put the Trojans behind the chains, they’ve got a legit shot. In the only first-round game that features two teams with winning records squaring off, I’m going to lean to the experience, depth advantage and mostly mistake-free offensive philosophy of the Trojans. The Pick- Ridge Spring-Monetta. Dixie (1-9) at McBee (2-8) I’ve already held forth in another BLAWG entry about teams with one and two wins being in the playoffs so I’m not going to trod upon that path again. I’ve seen Dixie in person. They have good size up front, actually, but those guys are really young and they really just don’t have any team speed. McBee’s eight losses came to five AA teams, Lamar, Lake View and Green Sea Floyds. That’s a big-boy schedule right there. The thing is, they were 2-8 last year against the same schedule and ended up in the third round of the playoffs. They do have team speed in the form of, um, several people with the last name “Wright” (as per usual in McBee. They might go on a run similar to last year’s and I don’t think this game will be especially close. The Pick- McBee HKT (6-4) at Ware Shoals (3-7) The steaming barf bucket that is preset brackets gives us a 6-4 team at a 3-7 squad. HKT was playing really well, to the point that I thought they might give Ridge Spring-Monetta some trouble last week. I was wrong and dumb and wrong. They experienced a bit of a pants-poopin’ in that one, turned it over six times and lost by a seven-touchdown margin. Truthfully, unless they have that sort of performance in back-to-back weeks, they should cruise in this one. Ware Shoals’ three wins came over Calhoun Falls Charter (to whom they also lost this year), one-win Dixie and Miss Linda’s Finishing School or somesuch. I’ll continue to sing the praises of Jermarious Goodman, who at times looks like the offspring of Tecmo Bowl Bo Jackson and a bottle rocket. You can put him at any skill spot on either side and he’ll thrive, but he won’t be enough here. The Pick- HKT Williston-Elko (3-7) at McCormick (4-6) This is a tough one to decipher. W-E posted its worst regular season record in more than 15 years. My understanding is the school enrollment has dropped and thus the number of athletically talented school children on hand has dropped. They did finish with wins in two of their last three games, though one of those was against North. The thing is, they played three good to holy crap great AA teams out-of-region (Allendale-Fairfax, Silver Bluff and Barnwell), then lost to the good teams in their region and beat up on the bad ones. So what are we actually looking at them? It’s hard to tell. Tres Rimes (Class A has the most kick-ass named QBs) has better than 1,500 yards passing, most of which has gone to AJ Chandler, so they’ve got some talent. McCormick has an all-freshman backfield in QB Suderian Harrison and super-stud RB A’Chean Durant. They played some big boys out of region and accounted for themselves pretty well. This one is kind of a coin flip to me, but I say in one turns into a high-scoring game (both defenses have struggled at times) the best overall player on the field, despite his age, makes a big play late to win it. I think that player is Durant. The Pick, in a close one- McCormick Cross (5-4) at Military Magnet (1-7-1) Cross is a physical team that, while a bit limited offensively, plays some serious, tater-kicking defense. That will be more than enough to advance to the second round. The Pick- Cross Denmark-Olar (4-6) at Lake View (6-4) I didn’t know what to think of the Wild Gators coming into the year, what with them having lost 20 starters from the year before. The young guys came along quickly, obviously, and I’ve had a coach tell me they might the team to beat the next two years. Their only losses this year came to Green Sea Floyds, Lamar (in OT), a good AAA team in Marion (in a close one) and Dillon. So, not much to knock them for there. Their MO is to run the ball and they can do that in the “neener neener can’t catch me” manner or the up-the-gut, blunt force trauma method. Adarrian Dawkins is a threat to score it whenever he touches it. Denmark-Olar started off well, but limped down the stretch a bit. They are capable of hanging in there in this one, but I kinda don’t see that being a thing… The Pick- Lake View NOTE: Hemingway (0-11) lost to Scott’s Branch Thursday night. Given that whole 0-11 part, I think you can accept that I woulda gone with Scott’s Branch. Bethune-Bowman (2-8) at St. John’s (3-6) The Mr. T Haircuts managed to sneak in with an at-large berth. They have one of Class A’s best players in RB Jesus Benjamin but outside of him they don’t have much to scare you offensively and their defense has had a rough go of things. The Islanders are very young on offense and had a tough time against a rough schedule but they’ve got some thumpers on defense and I say they earn the right to go face the defending state champs at Green Sea Floyds next week. The Pick- St. John’s.
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November 2021
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