Southside Christian (12-0) at Lamar (9-3)
So, we get a rematch of last year’s upperstate championship game. In that one, The Silver Foxes actually led the Sabres on their home field at halftime before Southside Christian rallied for a 17-6 victory. This one is at Lamar, which could make a bit of a difference. The Silver Foxes beat a very good and very hot Ridge Spring-Monetta team last week 36-16. Now, RS-M had yielded some points this year, so the 36 isn’t a big surprise, but holding Remedee Leaphart and his band of scary playmakers to 16 points represents a day’s work by the Lamar defense. Of course, they shut out A’Chean Durant and McCormick the week before so this defense is playing about as well as a team can. Offensively, they’ll spread it out some, then pack it in to the bone (which is a weird thing to say, now that I go back and read it). They play a couple of QBs, but Tyler McManus is the main guy and, of the two QBs of theirs I’ve seen, the best passer of the group. They have an embarrassment of riches at RB where Ju’Quan Toney and Pat Anderson reside (the latter dropped a cool 209 yards on RS-M last week on just 18 carries). I’ve mentioned before that I kept hearing whispers early in the season of “I’ve heard Lamar is down.” That’s kind of like sticking your hand in a tiger cage at the zoo and when he bites off your hand, saying, “Well, if this tiger was any count, he’d have bit my whole arm off. YOU SUCK TIGER!” It’s late November, four teams remain in Class A and Lamar is one of them. They aren’t real deep but they remain one of the toughest squads in this state Chad Wilkes has done an excellent job overcoming some early COVID pauses to have this team right back in contention. Southside Christian had about as tough a match-up last week as any 1A team has given them in a while, but they beat Calhoun County 28-6. Since the playoffs began, they have yielded a few points here and there (20 in three games, which is more than the 13 they gave up to Class A opposition all year) but they have still been dominant. Coaches (like, good ones) have told me they might have a shot to win AA if they were still there, because they are so much better than everybody else up front defensively and Ja’Corey Martin is a top QB that can literally do it all. They, in general, can attack you however they’d like to on offense. If you have a weakness, they will be able to exploit it. They don’t make a lot of mistakes and don’t beat themselves, which indicates they are very well coached. They haven’t lost to a Class A team, I don’t think, since 2014. Now, they were in AA for a lot of that time, but let’s not forget, that they were a threat to win that classification in 2018 and 2019, losing in the playoffs to the eventual state champions both years. Now, I’m not going to beat the dead horse right now (it’s actually dead, has been picked through by buzzards and has been pooped out on the ground adjacent buzzard nests), but private and charter schools have been dominant in most every sport when they compete in Class A and they have some built-in advantages that help on that front, but it is what it is at this point. Winning against Lamar and in Lamar are SUPER heavy lifts. The Silver Foxes will hang in there, will likely keep it close and the Sabres will know they’ve been in a fight, but I think it’s a fight they’ll ultimately win. The winner- Southside Christian C.E. Murray (7-1) at Bamberg-Ehrhardt (12-0) Friends, if you yearn for old-timey football, where guys named Clem and W.E. beat the crap out of each other, running from wedges and straight Ts sans pads and only wearing leather helmets, while coaches smoke Luckys on the sidelines and deride the injured as sissies and women, this is the game for you. Seriously, this is two of the toughest teams around, neither will throw it much, both REALLY LIKE the idea of hitting you and they play actual real defense. The only game I missed last week was Bamberg-Ehrhardt v Baptist Hill, but boy did I miss it. With the Raiders having struggled in round one with Hannah-Pamplico (a team that throws the ball well) I thought air attack of the Bobcats would be similarly problematic. Instead, they just whipped Baptist Hill on the line of scrimmage in beating them 33-7. They’re undefeated, they’ve only allowed four teams to score in double-digits and the most they’ve given up all year was 22 to Hannah-Pamplico. They haven’t destroyed everybody they’ve played, but they run the ball, they keep you from running it and dangit, in a world of slapnuts, five-wide spreads, that’s still a recipe for winning football games. And they have a variety of backs to choose from in the “ramming it down your gullet sideways” department. Quinton Banks had 152 yards last week, Nick Folk had 135 and Quincy Bias added 53 more. Defensively, they destroyed everything Baptist Hill tried to do and forced some big turnovers. Probably the biggest “WOW” score of last week came courtesy of C.E. Murray. Now, I picked them to beat Whale Branch, but I wasn’t expecting 47-0. Whale Branch was without their top RB, but still, that was a supremely talented team that had a shot to get to Columbia…right up until they didn’t. I would not have foreseen anyone dominating them to the extent C.E. Murray did. Much like with Bamberg, we really need to look back at the season and appreciate how good the War Eagles are. They lost the opener to the OC Semi-pros in a competitive game and haven’t lost since despite having two, three-week COVID layoffs. They’ve really only had one competitive game all year, that was against Carvers Bay and that came when they had only played one game in six weeks. Tyree Prunes played huge on both sides of the ball last week, Quentarius Grant ran for three touchdowns and Amond Myers scored a defensive touchdown. They have played nasty defense all year and seem to be hitting their stride at the right time. They honestly seem to play better each week at this point. This is a tough one to pick. It’s two evenly-matched teams that are similar in so many ways including offensive philosophy, good coaching, deriving enjoyment from pummeling other school children etc. I’m going with a gut feeling, though. I won’t be shocked, no matter who wins, but there is something about the momentum the War Eagles seem to have had building for the past seven weeks that makes me feel like they will carry the day. The winner- C.E. Murray
1 Comment
1A FB Fan
9/16/2022 06:05:40 am
Where are the picks and comments this year? Been checking every week but nothing new here. Come on man!
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