Dixie- 23
Ware Shoals- 21 McCormick- 50 Whitmire- 6 Lewisville- 58 Great Falls- A pricey lighter Lamar- 17 McBee- 14 Blackville-Hilda- 53 North- Bob Barker can handle this while reminding you to spay and neuter your pets Williston-Elko- 48 Denmark-Olar- Love, as our tennis-playing friends say Wagener-Salley- 31 Estill- 22 Ridge Spring-Monetta- 45 Hunter-Kinard-Tyler- Wikipedia isn't always accurate, but seems to be in this case St. John's- 53 Charleston Ship-Building and Dry Cleaning Academy- 6 Bethune-Bowman- 32 Branchville- 14 C.E. Murray- 41 Scott's Branch- 18 East Clarendon- 14 Creek Bridge- 12 Hannah-Pamplico- 31 Green Sea Floyds- 28 Lake View- 22 Hemingway- 14 Breakdown- There were a couple of big, important game this past week, none more so than Lamar's 17-14 overtime win over McBee. As regular readers know (if you read this blog often, it would be hard to call you "regular" though, unless it's in the "eats a lot of oat bran" sense, but I'm digressing) I have an embedded, secret Lamar informant who was at the game. He was very impressed with McBee's defensive line, said the Panthers were one of the few teams that has physically matched up with Lamar. He said they punched the Silver Foxes in the mouth early on, to the point that, at halftime, he thought Lamar was going to lose. He said they moved the ball well (about doubled McBee up in total yardage) but struggled to punch it in. That they held that McBee offense to less than 200 total yards should reinforce everything you already think about the Lamar defense. There's not a better one. Anyway, the Silver Foxes faced a late deficit, but drove the length of the field when they had to and got a field goal to take it to overtime. At that point, I was told, McBee's fullback was hurt and rendered ineffective and the offense went down with him, since they aren't really capable of throwing it. They couldn't score, then Lamar drove inside the five and got a short field goal to end it. The Silver Foxes are good on offense and great on defense...but having Audy Tedder kick three field goals, including one to send it to overtime and one to win it in the extra frame, isn't something to be overlooked. Most Class A teams do not have a reliable kicker and that makes a huge difference in terms of field position and in terms of deciding close games. It's entirely possible these two teams will meet again. Lamar has now won a state-best 17-straight games. They'll face another major challenge this Friday at an 8-1 Lewisville team that is playing very well and will have stud hoss lineman Josh Belk available, which was not the case against McBee. Lamar will lock up first place in the region with a win. A loss would mean Lewisville, Lamar and McBee would all finish at 3-1 in the region and each would be 1-1 against the other two. At that point it goes to either defensive points allowed within the three-way tie, or a sudden-death thumb-wrestling contest. Probably the points allowed thing. I don't think Lewisville can get first in that scenario, but if they win by a large enough margin they can finish second and knock Lamar to third, so there's a lot to play for. Another big game, though it wasn't as close or compelling, was McCormick's 50-6 rout of Whitmire to claim the Region I title. The Chiefs, at one point this season, were 0-5 and averaging six points a game. That isn't a recipe for winning titles, or games against teams of "big-for-their age" Cub Scouts. However, you have to toss that bad start out of your head. They played a rugged early schedule, but they were also beat to pieces and minus super-studly running back Mataeo Durant. Once he came back, they won five straight games. He rushed for 197 yards against Whitmire and the defense scored a couple of times to really blow the game wide open. The unfortunate thing for McCormick is their schedule. The team has completed its regular season, which means it will sit idle for the next two weeks while teams affected by the hurricane make up missed games. By virtue of winning their region title, they then get a first-round playoff bye. That means they will have 28 days in-between football games. I've honestly never heard of a break that long and can't imagine any coach wants that. Sure, you get everybody healthy and can get in lots of practice, but there's no way to keep your edge. The routine of the season is smashed to bits and, I can't speak for the young men of McCormick, but when I was 17-year-old boy it was hard to hold my attention to anything that didn't relate to 17-year-old girls for more than two or three seconds, much less a month. You just hope they are somehow able to play their best football when they come back and aren't hurt by something that is totally out of their control. I wish I could find more information on Lake View's 22-14 win over Hemingway, but you know, you get into some pockets of the state and the only means of mass communication is spray painting stuff on water towers. Even then, you have to lug a paint can up a ladder, find space between "Go (local sports team) and about the illicit activity someone's sister engages in. That's what's it like where I live, anyway. My omnipotent Lamar/Lowcountry sage remains convinced Lake View is the team to beat in the lowerstate and they've certainly looked that way, rolling to an 8-0 record. He loves their size, loves their speed and of course they have a Shrine Bowl athlete playing quarterback and defensive back. Hemingway, who I don't have a ton of info on, seems to basically play everyone close lately. They got a signature win over C.E. Murray, then nearly lost to then-winless East Clarendon 8-6. They beat Green Sea-Floyds by six, then gave Lake View a nice battle, sounds like. Lake View hasn't locked up the region title just yet. They face East Clarendon this week, which figures to be a W, then they play Hannah-Pamplico which could, surprisingly, be a bit of a test. H-P gutted out another close one Friday, beating a scrappy Green Sea-Floyds team 31-28 for their sixth-straight win. They were blown out in their season-opener at Lamar and haven't beaten a team with a winning record in their current streak of success. So, you might reason they are feasting on a sweet, delicious schedule of cream puffs but will get dealt with against a quality opponent. I'll tell you this, that may well be the case but a team that consistently finds ways to pull its junk out of the fire and win close games starts to build confidence and believe. If they beat Hemingway this week, we'll know it's a different team than the one whom Lamar savagely flogged. If not, it's still a nice story for a team that hasn't won much in a while, but not a threat to inflict a loss on Lake View. Playoffs- We're in a new era in terms of how the playoffs are formatted. The points system is gone, which I have some mixed emotions about. As convoluted and difficult for fans to understand as the points system was, it made your entire season relevant, not just your region games, which is a notion I support. Also, selfishly, ditching the point system also rendered me somewhat obsolete. You see, I was sort of considered "the 1A points guy" which in terms of prestige was right on line with "guy with scary big thumbs." Anyway, now we have a system where regions are guaranteed a certain number of slots based purely on size and the match-ups are predetermined. In the upperstate bracket, the third-place finisher from Region II will play host to Region III"s number three. Now, this is not official, but that probably means Wagener-Salley at Lewisville. The Stump Whooped All-Stars can't get higher than third in their region but won't drop any lower so long as they don't lose to 1-7 North Friday. If Lewisville is able to beat Lamar, they would likely forge a three-way tie for first in Region II. On points allowed, though, it is impossible for them to pass McBee and they can only get to second (knocking Lamar to third) if they beat the Silver Foxes by 29 points, which, I don't think anyone is doing. The Lewisville-Chitlin Town winner would then go to McCormick, who gets a first-round bye. Region II's number two (most likely McBee) will host the upperstate's one at-large team. I have no clue how they determine who gets the at-large spot. I'd recommend a biscuit-eating contest by each team's left tackle, but my ideas are usually ignored. My guess is that it would be Ware Shoals or Timmonsville, but I'm seriously pulling that our of my tail. The winner of that game (so, McBee) goes to Region III's number two, which will be Blackville-Hilda, who gets a bye. Region I's number three (Dixie) will open at home against Region III's number four, which will almost certainly be Ridge Spring-Monetta. I owe the Trojans an apology, maybe. Last week I saw in multiple places they'd lost to Estill, which shocked me. I wondered if they'd fallen victim to eating gas station tacos for a pre-game meal or if there was some randy cheerleader with mono. Now I look at Maxpreps and they are listed as having won that game. Whatever...four seed. The winner of that contest goes to Region II's number one (probably Lamar), who gets a first-round bye. The last upperstate playoff game will see Region I's number two (Whitmire) playing host to Region III's numbber five seed. I'm fairly certain that will be Hunter-Kinard-Tyler. The winner of that game goes to Region III's number one (Williston-Elko), who gets a first-round bye. In the lowerstate, Region V's number three gets a home game. That will either be Cross or Bethune-Bowman, who close the season against one another next week. The opponent will be Region VI's number three, which will either be Hemingway or Hannah-Pamplico, who play this week. The winner of that one then goes to the number one finisher from Region IV, (St. John's) who gets a first-round bye. Region V's number two seed, (Cross or Bethune-Bowman) faces an at-large team, and I got nothing for you on who that will be, Bubba. The winner of that game goes to the number two finisher from Region VI in the second round (Hemingway or H-P), who gets a first-round bye. Region IV's number three finisher gets a home game and that seriously shows the folly of these pre-determined brackets. Military Magnet, who has won one game (over the winless Charleston Finishing School and Dead Language Repository) will be at home. They'll face the number four finisher from Region VI, which I'll just about bet you ends up being Green Sea-Floyds, provided they beat East Clarendon. The winner of that'n goes to the number one seed from Region V (C.E. Murray), who gets a first-round bye. The final first-round match-up is Region IV's number two finisher (Baptist Hill) against a second at-large team. If I had to take a totally uneducated guess on the at-large teams, I'd say maybe Scott's Branch and Branchville. The winner of that game goes, most probably, to Lake View in the second round, who gets a first round bye. Suggested reading (and viewing) Lewisville set up a big game against Lamar this week with a rousing victory over county rival Great Falls. Your humble correspondent was on hand to obtain shaky, grainy video of the event. Congratulations McCormick, you've won a region title and an all-expenses paid trip to, uh, McCormick for the next freakin' month. The Dixie Hornets created quite a buzz with their win over the Ware Shoals Purple Hornets. Get it? Hornets? Buzz? Do hornets actually buzz, though? I'll have to check. There's some capsules you may enjoy here, including one on Bethune-Bowman's win over Branchville. Also, I checked and hornets do buzz, so feel free to laugh at my pun now if you didn't already. Hannah-Pamplico won another close one, claiming the Hyphenated Two-Town School Trophy over Green Sea-Floyds.
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TravisI am Travis, the king 0f SC 1A Football Archives
November 2021
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