Division I Upperstate
Southside Christian-56 Williston-Elko-33 McBee-31 Christ Church-21 Division I Lowerstate Latta-35 Bamberg-Ehrhardt-28 Allendale-Fairfax-28 Calhoun County-20 Division II Upperstate Lamar-34 Hunter-Kinard-Tyler-6 Ridge Spring-Monetta-26 McCormick-24 Division II Lowerstate C.E. Murray-55 Baptist Hill-6 Lake View-14 Cross-6 Breakdown- As I predicted, both defending state champions went down to defeat Friday night...uh, let's not look at the rest of my picks...pretty much irrelevent in the grand scheme of things, really. Unimportant footnotes in history the way I see it. That was so long ago, I was young and needed the money etc. Eh, we'll get to them. As for those mutli-time defending champons going down, I saw one in person as Christ Church fell to McBee. The Cavs were still a very good team this year. Class A teams that beat playoff-bound AAA squads (they knocked off Eastside early in the year) can't be called anything but good. They were not, however, the same team that came into the year having won four state titles in-a-row and riding the state's longest-ever winning streak. Christ Church was still formidable up front and had a growed-up man playing wide receiver in Braxton Westfield. The passing game just didn't have the precision or efficiency of the past few years, though. Their QB was a good athlete but was also, I believe, a first-time starter and it takes time to grow into the position. Their running game was solid but didn't have a home run element or a lot of size. Defensively, again, good up front, but (again) breaking in new starters, struggled some on the back end. I thought we were in for a shoot-out when McBee scored on a long run on their first possession, then Christ Church answered with a long toughdown pass to Westfield. The pace slowed considerably after that. Christ Church took the lead on another long one to Westfield, but that brought a little defensive tweak for the Panthers. Generally they blitz like crazy and play man coverage, but when the opposition has a 6-foot-5 speedster like Westfield who stuck it in you sideways and on fire twice already, it's time to give something else a try. They gave some help to his side and kept him in check the rest of the game. Really, outside of their fourth-quarter scoring march, Christ Church just couldn't sustain anything offensively against the Panthers. They couldn't run on them at all and while McBee didn't get a lot of sacks they did get enough pressure to lead to a lot of errant passes. McBee broke a couple of long ones for touchdowns, but more importantly, Jordan Fair and Dashonnell Wright consistently moved the sticks, especially in the second half. By late in the game they even had a little success running up the middle, which no one has done on Christ Church this year. I didn't keep track of their third-down conversions, but Christ Church couldn't get them off the field. McBee also threw it twice, including once on first down...I promise I wasn't drinking at the game and am not now. Don't have rubber cement or a sharpie open on my desk. Totally of clear mind right now. It really happened! The first one netted them a 49-yard touchdown. The receiver was so open, if a football field was as long as a marathon course, he still would've scored a touchdown. Could've stopped at every water station. If they continue to mix in a complimentary passing game, I don't think they can be stopped...not when you have to worry about Fair and Wright in the backfield. McBee, surprisingly, also won the special teams battle. They successfully kicked a field goal just before the half to take the lead, but also blocked a Christ Church field goal attempt and didn't get killed on field position. The game had a sense of finality to it...somebody finally slayed the private school dragon and Christ Church is done playing Class A football, at least for a while. "There won't be a five-time state champion this year...but there can still be a first-time champion," McBee coach Charlie Poole said after the game. Then one of the players did a dead-on impersonation of the Ric Flair "kiss-stealing, wheeling-dealing..." bit, which drew a big "WOOO" from the rest of the Panthers. A lot of teams do that...why not mix it up a little a do a KoKo B. Ware kinda thing? Maybe it's because they don't have a bird. It probably is. Anyhow, the Panthers can't put the frightening power drill away just yet, though. They face Southside Christian for the upperstate championship this Friday. Neither has ever won, or even played for state before. The other state champion that went down was a little bit more predictable as Lamar offed two-time defending Division II champion Hunter-Kinard-Tyler by a 34-6 score. You remember earlier in the season when a couple of Class A teams played some SCISA squads I'd never heard of, and I mentioned I have a SCISA guy? Well, I now have a Lamar guy and a McBee guy, both of whom are slightlfully more useful to the author of a Class A blog than a dude who knows the name of Ben Lippen's deep snapper, impressive as that is. Anyway, my Lamar informant told me that you can't get an accurate picture of this game based on the box score. The final score wasn't close and Trey Ceasar had his customary 200-plus rushing yards, but this was a 14-6 game in the third. Ceasar was really having to work for every yard he got and padded his stats late with an 85-yard scoring run. Lamar apparently also had trouble containing HKT quarterback Devante Scott, though that didn't show itself on the scoreboard. The completely put the hammer down in the fourth quarter, though. Basically, I've thought since they beat McBee a few weeks ago that Lamar is the team to beat in this bracket and nothing has changed my mind on that. Quick Hits-We have no unbeaten teams left after Bamberg-Ehrhardt and Calhoun County both lost Friday. Bamberg's loss was a bit more curious. They turned it over four times and had perhaps not seen a passing offense like Latta's (they had five passing touchdowns Friday). Bitter pill for them to swallow I'm sure, but look at Latta, making it to the lowerstate finals. They lost a couple of one-sided games early (McBee probed their no-no's with that drill 56-14) but they're playing their best football at the right time. They'll face Allendale-Fairfax, who returned two kicks for touchdowns and recovered a bad punt snap that set up another against Calhoun County. So special teams bit the Saints, but it's worth noting that their quarterback Terrence Brunson had 55 touchdowns and two interceptions this year. I have a book that details all things that are good and bad in sports. For example, running for 300 yards in a game is listed as "good" while fumbling at the goal line, or accidentally crapping yourself while fielding a punt is "bad." 55-2 is falls under "good." And he's only a junior!...Isiah Odom has eight touchdowns for C.E. Murray in the last two weeks (the book says that's good) and the War Eagles are playing for a lowerstate crown. They've had a couple of easy ones in the first two rounds, a benefit of being the number one seed, and that will change this week when they battle Lake View, but this is the best season in school history, that area has been decimated by flooding and I couldn't be happier for coach Brian Smith, his players and that community as a whole. Suggested Reading DRILL POWER ARRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!! Southside Christian rallied from a halftime deficit to earn a spot in the Division I upperstate title game. I picked Bamberg to win last week and would have this week too, but they got all fumbly and junk against Latta. McCormick hadn't played in three weeks before losing narrowly to RSM. So did they get rusty instead of rest-y, or whatever the old saying is? Offense, defense and uh...isn't there another component to football...one that can get you beat even if you totally outplay somebody? It'll come to me.
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November 2021
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