Note: My apologies for not having previews last week. About the time I would normally have been writing them I was sitting on 285 loudly cursing the person who decided rush hour on Friday in metro Atlanta was the PERFECT TIME TO CLOSE TWO LANES OF TRAFFIC. On the plus side I did find a restaurant that had a chitterlings platter and neck bones on the menu. I opted to pass, but they had spectacularly awesome BBQ chicken with a delightfully spicy sauce (photo evidence to follow).
Dixie- 41 West Oak- 22 Fox Creek- 42 McCormick- 6 Greenwood Christian- 46 Ware Shoals- 28 Whitmire- 42 North- 6 Andrew Jackson- 47 Great Falls- 2 Lamar- 33 North Central- 7 Timmonsville- 29 Marion- 6 Hannah-Pamplico- 36 McBee- 9 Silver Bluff- 48 Denmark-Olar- Maybe it was nothing, maybe it was something, who are we to say? Mr. T Haircuts- 10 Hunter-Kinard-Tyler- 8 Williston-Elko- 22 Allendale-Fairfax- 14 Baptist Hill- 72 Academic Magnet- LADIES AND GENTLEMEN…KEITH WHITLEY!!!! Garrett Academy of Learning and Whatnot- 46 Military Magnet- MORE OF THAT SOLID COUNTRY GOLD!!!! St. John’s- 45 North Charleston- 14 Branchville- 52 Charleston Charter School for Physics, Higher Math and VCR Repair- 21 Mullins- 42 C.E. Murray- 8 Kingstree- 46 Cross- Hey… Edisto- 26 Scott’s Branch- 7 Latta- 42 Creek Bridge- 6 Green Sea-Floyds- 32 Loris- 28 Carvers Bay- 42 Hemingway- 6 Dillon- 41 Lake View- They played Dillon, you can figure this out Breakdown- Our Class A buddies were 7-11 against larger classifications this week. That included another “we scored a lot and you didn’t so much” defensive manhandling by Lamar. I talk a lot about the edge they bring to the field, how they hit you so hard that you have trouble digesting meat and making babies later in life and all that is true, but there is something else that needs to be noted. They play a 4-3, they rarely come out of it, they don’t blitz or stunt much and don’t have a lengthy “coverages” chapter in their playbook. They play you straight up and tackle well (and also hard). I think that’s really smart. Rather than jam a bajillion assignments in the heads of 16-year-olds, they keep it relatively simply and let their athletes react, win one-on-one match-ups and slowly drain the will to compete in contact sports out of you. They are scheduled to start a pretty rugged month-long slate this Friday with a game against Cheraw, but what with the that hurricane a’comin’, I doubt that any games are being played down there this week. Whenever they’re on the field again, though, Jacquez Lucas will run for a bunch of yards, the defense will kick somebody in the face and they’ll build on a streak that has them winners in 39 of their last 40 games, which is remarkable… After scoring 14 points in their first two games (which would have been a subpar quarter last year) Baptist Hill moved studly WR Rashad Maxwell (who had 19 flippin’ TD catches last year) to QB in hopes of giving the offense a jolt. Well, it’s been a yellow pills at the truck stop kind of jolt. They hung 60 on Burke last week, then dropped SEVENTY DADGUM TWO on previously unbeaten, AA Academic Magnet. I bet that had to smart. See what I did there? Smart? Cuz, Academic Magnet kids are like, intelligent and stuff? HERP DIDDLY DAW HAW!!!! Anyway, Maxwell had one of the most cartoonishly freakish stat lines I’ve ever seen in that one, throwing for 265, running for 269 and accounting for nine touchdowns. That gives him 16 touchdowns in two weeks, which would a pretty good season for a lot of QBs. I wondered how anyone could ever come close to duplicating the made-up looking stats of Corey Fields and while it’s only a two game sample, it a HOTAROCKY sample. Having seen him play in person twice last year, I’m not that shocked by the rushing stats. He’s not a real big guy, but he’s an upper level athlete. And maybe, a receiver is actually the perfect person to put at the controls, since he obviously knows the offense really well. It does take one of the best receivers in the state out of running routes and torching opposition, but it doesn’t seem have had a negative impact the past two weeks. The thing is, as you look forward, they only have two games left (St. John’s and Green Sea-Floyds) that figure to even be competitive. This move could be the spark that lights the fuse to another deep playoff run… I admitted after their hot start that I had undersold the Timmonsville Whirlwinds just a tad, in large part because I didn’t realize that QB Jamaric Morris has returned after transferring. Well, a look at the tasty buffet of stats and numbers he piled on his plate Friday night shows why his presence makes a huge difference. In the win over Marion he had 82 yards rushing and two touchdowns, he threw for 58 yards, he kicked three PATs AND had six tackles and a pick on defense. The thing is, he isn’t a one-man band at all. Fanando Jackson rushed for 187 yards and two scores himself. I made it a point to find some highlight film on him. He’s one of those guys that as you’re watching him, it doesn’t look like he’s running that fast, then it dawns on you he’s pulling away from defenders who are sheepishly grabbing at air or pretending to have pulled a hammy because they have no prayer of catching him. Very smooth, fluid athlete and another guy who makes big-time contributions on both sides of the ball. New Coach Ron Baker has his team at 3-1 with the only loss being a nail-biter in OT to a pretty good AA Lee Central team. Just looking at the numbers, the defense has obviously taken a big step forward this year. They are off this week (and wouldn’t have played even if they weren’t what with Florence spinning our way) but two of their next three should be real challenges in Scott’s Branch and Green Sea-Floyds. They don’t open region play until October 12, but when they do, it’s against Lamar. So, their chance to make a statement overall and to slay the giant, scary, fire-breathing, iron-plated dragon with razor teeth and machete fingers is all laying right in front of them in the next five weeks. As an aside, you are no doubt aware that Whirlwinds LB Ty Eaddy suffered a severe concussion in that game and had to be airlifted from the field. That’s a scary thing for him, his family and teammates to have to endure, it was obviously a very serious injury and hopefully you’ll join me in keeping the Eaddy family and larger Timmonsville family in your prayers… Along with the rejuvenated Baptist Hill, I think a team that is definitely starting to have the look of a contender is St. John’s. They rolled North Charleston 44-14 Friday. What I like about what Coach Josh Harpe is doing down there is how nicely they spread the wealth offensively. Tyrone Hicks had three touchdowns on the ground and QB Tyler Durham threw for two. They are also, and this is key, great on special teams. They had another kick return score and Alex Marchisello had a field goal and five extra points. He has legit leg strength to about 50 yards. I can’t even start to tell you what an advantage having a kicker like him makes in Class A, where I am seeing more and more teams just go for two and squib kickoffs. When games are close and teams are evenly matched, the kicking game can win or lose it for you in a hurry. If you look at their schedule, you see a tough matchup with The OC Semi Pros out of region, Waccamaw (who has been outscored 176-34 this year), Calvary Day (I don’t know what that is) and two region games where they’ll be huge favorites (Military Magnet and the Charleston Charter 80s Action Show). They close out the regular season with a game against Baptist Hill that I think is for a region title and number one playoff seed… None of the other “up” wins were very surprising. Dixie ran for nearly 400 yards in a physical reeming of AAA West Oak. Deiveon Donald and Chandler Smalley are a terrific one-two punch in the backfield, they have experience and size up front and a defense that’s definitely improved over last year. They get an improved, scrappy Great Falls team this week (the game has been moved to Thursday), then face a big-time test in a really good AA Ninety-Six squad, then hit region. Whitmire obviously won’t be a pushover by any stretch and maybe McCormick is better than they’ve been able to show against a tough schedule, but as of now the Hornets are probably a favorite in Region I…Williston-Elko’s win over Allendale-Fairfax almost shouldn’t count as an “up” win since Allendale has fewer students than Dixie and only one more than McBee or St. John’s and there is no good reason they SHOULD NOT BE IN 1A, but don’t get me started on realignment. Anyway, Williston’s scary man beast of a TE/WR Keshawn Toney had seven grabs for 107 yards and two touchdowns in that game. They are supposed to start region play this week with another winnable game against Estill, but then get Ridge Spring-Monetta and Wagener-Salley back-to-back, which seems like a mighty heavy lift given their start, but I sure wouldn’t count them out…Green Sea-Floyds broke a two-game skid with a tight win over Loris and I couldn’t find an account of that game so let’s assume they ran ball well and blah blah... As for the losses, I don’t think there’s any reason for anyone to downgrade Lake View or make brown in their britches worrying about the long-term prospects of the Wild Gators. Yes, they lost in lopsided fashion Friday but did so a team that is almost certainly going to play for the AAA state title and will beat lots of AAA competition far worse than they did Lake View. They are supposed to play Marion this week but there’s no way that’s happening, then we get a marquee match-up as they battle Lamar. After that, it’s hard at this point to see anyone but Green Sea-Floyds giving them much trouble, unless Hemingway gets things turned around. Even if you give them an “L” against the Silver Foxes, I think if you look at that schedule and see a 7-3 team, you still feel like they have a chance to come out of the lowerstate…Some teams we are accustomed to seeing light up the scoreboards are continuing to labor. HKT did score its first touchdown of the year Friday but still fell to the Mr. T Haircuts 10-8. The soothing salve for their offensive rash isn’t likely to be found this week as they play one of the nastiest defenses in their region with the fellows from Chitlinvania. Cross has been shut out in all four of their games and coming up on the docket are Baptist Hill, AAA Lake Marion, C.E. Murray a pretty respectable team in Branchville, the Mr. T Haircuts and a good defensive squad in Scott’s Branch. Cross lost tons of firepower from last year (including a Shrine Bowl RB) have only two seniors and are WAY young in general. They might find the end zone but it’s tough to look at their slate and find many wins at this point, unfortunately. Given their reputation as one of the toughest nuts to crack in the lowerstate, I figure this is a year where young guys take their licks, realize that doing so sucks, and start doling out the licks next season. Suggested Reading Before I present the links in semi-humorous fashion, one serious note. I go to a lot of games, I watch some film online and I talk to coaches for info for this blog, but one of my best resources for Class A info is newspapers. I hope that you will support the papers that are willing to dedicate time and manpower to covering the Class A football we all love so much. Subscribe if you can, buy a single copy if you happen to pass a rack or just click the links I put here every week and maybe share them with friends you think would like the stories. Every little bit helps. Thanks! You can read lots of game capsules here and also here, or you can not read them and say you did, but you’ll soon be consumed by the giant spider that inhabits your tangled web of lies, Jimbo. Every time I see Fox Creek’s mascot’s name I am tempted to make a joke about a panel van with a flashing neon “free candy” sign in the window and always decide I shouldn’t. After losing by 36 to Whitmire, one could say that things went south for North in a hurry…if one was into directional humor. Jesus Benjamin is at good football. COACH…MY ANKLE IS PINCHING. I HURT MY GIBLETS. I CAN’T GO BACK IN AND CHASE FANANDO AND JAMARIC ANYMORE! Do they play “Dixieland Delight” when Dixie scores a touchdown? They should. And they should change their mascot to a Chubby Ol’ Groundhog while they’re at it.
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November 2021
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