Race for AA state championship is wide open
Undefeatd Central leading the way, but defending champ Clinton leads grou in close pursuit
Sumter – The Central High School football team is perched atop the High School Sports Report AA poll, and that’s as it should be. The Eagles are the only remaining undefeated team in the classification at 6-0 and has outscored its opposition 232-77.
Central was expected to be in the mix of the race for the AA state championship. However, some of the other teams expected to be big challengers like defending state champion Clinton, upper state runner-up Fairfield Central, Batesburg-Leesville and Hampton County have multiple losses. That doesn’t take any of them out of the running for a state title though as they’ve played difficult non-region schedules to sharpen them up for deep playoff runs
Each of them have faced difficult non-region schedules. Clinton is 4-3 with losses to once-beaten AAA schools Woodruff and Newberry and AAAA power Daniel. Fairfield Central is 5-2 with the losses coming against AAAAA Ridge View and AAA Newberry, while Batesburg-Leesville lost to no-matter-the-class-but-Class-A juggernaut Abbeville, AAAA Lower Richland and 4-2 Strom Thurmond 28-26 in overtime in its Region 2 opener.
Strom Thurmond, for that matter, lost to undefeated Lincoln County out of Georgia and defending AAAA state runner-up North Augusta. Hampton County’s losses have come against AAAA schools Bluffton and Hilton Head Island as well as AAA Christ Church.
So, as you can see, November should be fun n the AA state playoffs. To set that up though, let’s take a look at how each of the seven region races are shaping up entering the final four Fridays of the regular season.
REGION 1
The 5-team Region 1 is Clinton’s to lose until someone else proves otherwise. The Red Devils beat previously 4-2 Liberty 49-6 in their region opener. They’ll meet 4-2 Chesnee on October 10, which beat winless Blacksburg 49-19 in its region opener.
The race in this region will likely be for second place. Landrum, which is 3-3 heading into its region opener against Blacksburg on October 10, will do battle with Chesnee and Liberty for that spot and the first-round home game that comes with it.
REGION 2
This should be a doozy of a region race between Strom Thurmond, Saluda, Pelion and Batesburg-Leesville.
Strom Thurmond, which is 4-2 overall, has an obvious leg up with the overtime victory over Batesburg-Leesville. Saluda and Pelion won their region openers over winless American Leadership Academy and 1-5 Ninety Six, respectively, to both improve to 4-2.
There’s a big game every week the rest of the way. Pelion plays at Saluda on October 10 before going to Thurmond on October 17, B-L is at Pelion and Saluda visits Thurmond on October 24 before Saluda visits B-L on October 31.
REGION 3
Unless someone throws a highly unexpected curveball into the mix, the region title will be decided on October 10 as Fairfield Central visits Chester.
Fairfield is 5-2 while the Cyclones are 4-3. Like some of the previously mentioned schools, Chester has played a difficult schedule. Its losses came to AAAAA schools Fort Mill and Catawba Ridge as well as Saluda.
The other three teams – Columbia, Eau Claire and Mid-Carolina, will be fighting it out for third.
REGION 4
Central and 6-1 North Central are off to 2-0 region starts. The jury is still out on the Knights though. Their one loss was 47-0 to Class A Lamar while the region wins were 42-0 over 1-5 Buford and 8-7 over 3-3 Chesterfield. They still have games left against Central, 3-3 Andrew Jackson High and 3-4 Cheraw.
Central beat Cheraw 34-27 on October 3 in a game that looked like it could decide the region title. AJ brought a rethinking of that notion after it beat Cheraw 41-17 last week. The Volunteers and Central meet on October 17.
REGION 5
This would normally be a battle between Hampton County and defending state runner-up Barnwell. However, unless something drastic happens down the stretch, the Warhorses will not be in contention.
After winning its first two, Barnwell has lost five straight, falling to 3-4 Lake Marion 19-14 in its region opener. After a bye week, Lake Marion will get to test its mettle against Hampton County on October 17.
Hampton County opened reion play with a 47-0 win over 4-3 Edisto. Whale Branch, which is 2-4, begins its region schedule on October 10 at Edisto.
REGION 6
This is setting up to be a battle between 5-1 Timberland, 4-2 Philip Simmons and 2-4 Andrews with possibly a little of 3-3 Woodland thrown in the mix.
Timberland and Andrew posted shutout wins over Burke and Academic Magnet, respectively. Philip Simmons beat Woodland 39-14.
Andrew and Woodland face off on October 10, Timberland and Andrews meet on October 17, Timerland visits Philip Simmons on October 24, and Andrews and Philip Simmons and Woodland and Timberland meet in the final week of the season.
REGION 7
After East Clarendon beat Manning 26-12 on September 26, both EC head coach Larry Cornelius and Monarch head coach Reggie Kennedy both said they didn’t think there would be an undefeated region champion. Of course, that was the thing to say since each team already owned a region loss.
Well it turns out they were right. Kingstree and Mullins were the last undefeated teams, and they fell on October 10. Mullins lost to Lake City 30-28, and Manning topped Kingstree 38-16.
After all of that, that leaves Mullins, Kingstree and Lake City with 2-1 region marks. Manning, East Clarendon and Atlantic Collegiate Academy are each 1-1. Needless to say, each game the rest of the way is pretty much a must win.
THREE AA PLAYERS SELECTED TO SHRINE BOWL
Three players in the AA classification were chosen to play in the Shrine Bowl. The players are Liberty running back Jamijae Karim, Clinton offensive lineman Tre Aiken and Timberland offensive lineman Desmond Green.
