Fox Creek-55
Calhoun Falls Charter-16 Ridge Spring-Monetta-43 Dixie-8 Christ Church-42 McCormick-6 Southside Christian-42 St. Joe's-16 Whitmire-27 Ware Shoals-0 Lewisville-40 Great Falls-13 Lamar-HOLY CRAP THEY BEAT MCBEE! McBee-THEY LOST! WTH?!?! Blackville-Hilda-45 North-16 Calhoun County-57 Williston-Elko-42 Hunter-Kinard-Tyler-62 Wagener-Salley-26 Allendale-Fairfax-34 Estill-12 Bamberg-Ehrhardt-40 Denmar-Olar-6 Bethune-Bowman-53 Branchville-12 Baptist Hill-61 Military Magnet-Much less than 61 Lincoln-38 Burke-19 Cross-52 St. John's-16 C.E. Murray-20 Scott's Branch-6 East Clarendon-14 New Covenant Knight-6 Timmonsville-28 Hannah-Pamplico-21 Carvers Bay-12 Hemingway-2 Lake View-62 Creek Bridge-14 Latta-30 Green Sea-Floyds-14 Breakdown- Do you remember the folk story/tall tale about John Henry? He was a steel-driving man that was pitted against a fancy, new-fangled steam-powered hammer in a "let's dig a hole through this mountain" contest. It seemed improbable that one mortal man with a hammer could defeat an unstoppable machine that didn't require rest or sustinence, but he did. It was inspiring, it was an object lesson on the strength of the human spirit, of determination of...oh, did I mention John's heart exploded or something and he died. Yeah, the ending isn't nearly as uplifting as you'd think. For eight games, the McBee Panthers seemed to be unbeatable. A collection of bloody, bow-legged opponents were left in their wake as they routinely topped 50 points, hit 60 against East Clarendon and scored 84 points on two occasions. Their backfield combo of Shrine Bowler Jordan Fair and Dashonnell Wright averages 10 yards a carry. So pronounced was their dominance over everyone they played, including a AAA team and a couple of good AA squads, that I concocted an inane meme centered around "The McBee Power Drill Massacre." So, imagine my surprise when I saw that Lamar was beating them at halftime. I figured they must've turned the ball over a couple of times or something and that they'd roll in the second half. That never happened, though. The 21-13 score at the break stood as the final score. I've seen Lamar this season and they are very good, particularly on offense. Tre Ceasar and Decobie Durant have rare speed and playmaking ability. Performance against common opponents (Lamar lost to AJ, McBee been them eleventy jillion to five) seemed to indicate it was going to be another night at the office...another bloody, shreik-filled night at the office, for McBee. If I'd seen that Lamar had won a 52-48 shootout over McBee, I'd have been surprised, but not to the point of hollering "Holy Crap" on the sidelines like I did at the 21-13 result. For anyone to limit McBee to around 300 total yards (a third of which came on two plays) and 13 points stunned me, quite honestly. I've read a little about the game, Fair apparently was dinged up and didn't play defense, there were lots of penalties and the Panthers had two scores called back. I have a couple of theories on what could have played into the loss. On September 18, McBee beat a good Latta team 56-14, then had an off week. Because of lightning, their next contest (against Lewisville) was called off at halftime. Then our state was hit with massive rainfall and floods, postponing their next game. They played Great Falls the next week and won easily...maybe too easily, since there was a running clock from the start of the second quarter on. Up next was a game with Camden Military, in which I have to assume they ran the clock and played their backups, then Lamar. They haven't played a real, full football game in about six weeks. Even a powerful, well-oiled drill has to be turned on and revved up occasionally. Maybe not being challenged and not even playing a regular-length game since the middle of September is part of the explanation here. Could it be that the team having such a one-dimensional offense finally bit them? A team with Lamar's athletes can probably find a way to limit an offense if they know what's coming. It could have been an off night in general, but I don't want to take anything away from Lamar. Their defense, the front line especially, had to have played the best game any team has played this year. To keep McBee from ripping off the big 50 and 60 yard touchdowns is a day's work, but to keep them from even consistently moving the sticks with clusters of four and five-yarders...DAMN! McBee is still the favorite to win the Division I title, but they don't seem like the mortal lock they did before Friday night. Lamar now feels like a prohibitive favorite to win Division II, so long as they bring the defense they did Friday, Ceasar and Durant...and a hammer, just to complete the circle on my inane John Henry analogy. For the playoffs, Class A uses a point system. To figure the points out you need a deep, abiding love of Class A football, you have to be good at math and need to be detail oriented. I'm only one-for-three there, but I give it my best effort anyway. Now, I'm still working on lowerstate points and there are several teams down there that still have a game to go because of the flooding we had a few weeks ago, but I will hopefully post projections Wednesday or Thursday. I think I have a pretty good handle on the upperstate points, though. McBee's loss to Lamar shook things up considerably in Division II. Had they won that game, McBee would have locked up the number one seed, but that distinction now goes to Southside Christian, who I have edging Christ Church by just half-a-point for the spot. Below are my projected upperstate Class A pairings... Division I (8) Wagener-Salley at (1) Southside Christian (7) Lewisville at (2) Fox Creek (6) St. Joe's at (3) Christ Church (5) Williston-Elko at (4) McBee Division II (8) Blackville-Hilda at (1) Lamar (7) Great Falls at (2) McCormick (6) Whitmire at (3) Ridge Spring-Monetta (5) Denmark-Olar at (4) Hunter-Kinard-Tyler Quick hits...With McBee's loss, we are down to just two unbeaten teams in Calhoun County and Bamberg-Ehrhardt. Odds seem pretty good that the two will end up tangling in the playoffs at some point, deep in them I'm betting...Hard to not be happy for C.E. Murray. A win next week will make the team 9-1 for only the second time in their history, this breaks a string of 10 consecutive losing seasons for the school and the team has an inside track at being the number seed in the lowerstate Division II playoffs. They have accomplished all that despite having their season halted for three weeks because of the flooding that crippled parts of our state. At one point, some of the team's players were living in shelters and others could not get out of their own homes. They've gone from that to region champions. Congrats to the War Eagles!...Whitmire won again to finish up 6-4, so the "I write a story about you, you stop winning" jinks is over and coaches should totally call me for story opportunities. Suggested reading McBee-Lamar was the game of the week, but Calhoun County's high-scoring win over Williston-Elko had to be a close second. Whitmire won again so I'm totally not the toxic force you might think. Read about Latta's win over Green Sea right here...or don't. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him link. HAHAHAHAHAHAHÅ!!!!!! Lewisville beat Great Falls but take anything read here with a grain of salt. Writer on this one is hack-y deluxe.
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TravisI am Travis, the king 0f SC 1A Football Archives
November 2021
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