Division I Upperstate
Southside Christian-62 Wagener-Salley-14 Christ Church-35 Lewisville-13 McBee-21 St. Joseph's-0 Williston-Elko-59 Fox Creek-39 Lowerstate Bamberg-Ehrhardt-37 Hemingway-6 Calhoun County-65 Hannah-Pamplico-0 Allendale-Fairfax-14 Carvers Bay-8 Latta-36 St. John's-30 Division II Upperstate Lamar-60 Blackville-Hilda-6 McCormick-2 Great Falls-0 (forfeited) Ridge Spring-Monetta-42 Whitmire-8 Hunter-Kinard-Tyler-30 Denmark-Olar-0 Lowerstate C.E. Murray-73 Lincoln-0 Lake View-50 Scott's Branch-0 Cross-36 Estill-0 Baptist Hill-27 Timmonsville-26 Breakdown- Somehow, the doofus who has served up one steaming hot failure after another this year on the prediction front (HKT is over, Calhoun County is the least impressive unbeaten team in the field, there's no way in crap McBee will lose a game all year) went a perfect 16-0 on first-round playoff predictions. That isn't quite as impressive as it sounds on its face...it's kind of like accurately predicting the fat kid will get eliminated first in dodgeball. I mean, maybe he's quick for his size or another kid will trip and fall down, but probably he's taking a ball to the face or taters. With this split playoff format, nearly everyone gets in...including a one-win team and couple of two-win teams. In an ideal system that wouldn't be the case, but those teams are there and it's pretty easy to call for them to make a first-round exit. There weren't any major upsets, but three number five seeds did knock off number fours and I called them, so GET YOU SOME! I took in the Lewisville-Christ Church game. It was much closer than the 35-13 score would lead you to believe. It was a 14-7 game at halftime and the Cavs struggled to mount long drives. They didn't have to much, though, with all five of their scoring marches starting in Lewisville territory. The kicking game and field position battle were a big plus for Christ Church. I was impressed with their front lines. They had a decided advantage in terms of size and with the passing game not clicking (Lewisville's secondary had a good night and they managed to get pressure on quarterback Jeffrey Johnsen) they leaned more heavily on the ground attack. By the fourth quarter, what had been three and four yard runs were turning into nine and 10-yarders as they wore down the smaller Lions. Defensively, it is difficult to run on Christ Church up the middle because of their size. Lewisville had some success outside the tackles and in the passing game. Braxton Westfield, Christ Church's North-South All-Star receiver is as good as advertised. Big, athletic kid that makes things happen with the ball in his hand at receiver and in the return game. They struggled to get him the ball, though. Their match-up Friday with McBee will be a very interesting one. I didn't see any accounts of the McBee-St. Joe's game, but was very surprised to see the Panthers held to seven first-half points and 21 for the game. If you were there, I'd love some kind of report on what happened. After routinely dropping 50-plus points on teams through the season (they scored 84 points TWICE) the team who I once compared to a weirdo wearing a goat mask hiding in the closet with a power drill has now been held to 21 or under in two of their last three games. Some might suggest their gaudy point totals were the product of playing inferior opponents, but I don't buy that, because they ran a good AA Chesterfield team out of the stadium and worked AAA Lakewood. If you're McBee, and you'd won three playoff games in your history coming into this year, the bulk of your starters are seniors and you have a Shrine Bowl stud lining up in your backfield (Jordan Fair) you probably feel like this year is your chance. They'll need the offense, and that demented drill, running at full speed from here on out to get where they want to go. I was really sorry to see Whitmire have their season ended by Ridge Spring-Monetta. I went down and talked to coach Charlie Jenkins and his staff this season and was really impressed with where they've gotten that program just two years removed from a 44-game losing streak. Hard not to root for the smallest of the small public schools. I just think RSM was a really bad match-up for them. One thing Whitmire does lack is size up front...RSM is a big, physical team that runs a true double-tight, full house backfield wishbone most of the time. Whitmire gave teams that tend to spread it out a little more (like Christ Church) much more competitive games that they did RSM. If you look at recent history, RSM has also tended to get rolling once the playoffs start. Still, the Wolverines have taken a huge step forward the past two years. Quick hits- I've said before that I have a soft-spot for Lincoln High School. Any school with barely over 100 students that can not only field a team but win four games and make the post-season get my respect. So, it wasn't fun to see that they were on the business end of vicious rootin' from C.E. Murray. However, if you read the story I did on C.E. Murray last week, you probably know it's impossible not to cheer that team's success, given the adversity that the storms and flooding have had on folks (players included) in that area...Certainly, Carvers Bay was better than its 4-6 record showed, but I was shocked to see them take 9-1 Allendale-Fairfax to overtime before falling 14-8. AF will almost certainly have to put more points on the board the this week as eight in regulation ain't likely to cut it against Calhoun County and scary, video-game stats quarterback Terrance Brunson... Suggested Reading You can read about Christ Church's win over Lewisville here, or you can say "screw it," close your eyes and play out the game in your own head. Maybe Lewisville wins in your version, or your son catches the game-winning touchdown, or the concession stand lady gives you the eye and tells you "your money's no good here" as she gives you a free hot dog weenie. It's fun to pretend. Lamar broke the scoreboard Friday in their game with Blackville-Hilda...no really...broke the friggin' scoreboard. So, Bamberg-Ehrhardt didn't take to sucking during their two-week lay-off. Williston-Elko and Fox Creek scored a lot of points and somebody or another won the game. Click here for some capsules on multiple games, including wins for McBee, Lake View and C.E. Murray.
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TravisI am Travis, the king 0f SC 1A Football Archives
November 2021
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