Look for Defending Champ South Florence to Face South Pointe for AAAA Title

Look for Defending Champ South Florence to Face South Pointe for AAAA Title

By Dennis Brunson

           hssr.com Associate Editor

           Sumter – As is normally the case, the first round of the South Carolina High School League AAAA football state playoffs, the overwhelming majority of the 16 games were blowouts.

Half of them were decided by by 20 points or more with six of the eight having victory margins of at least 30 points. Four more of them came by at least 14 points. Only four games were decided by less than 10 points.

Only three games were won by the lower seeded teams. One was the 8-9 game in the upper state bracket with No. 9 Emerald topping No. 8 Foutain Inn 44-36. The other two came in the lower state. No. 10 seed Wilson beat No. 7 May River 36-28. The other was a fairly significant upset. No. 12 seed Gilbert knocked off No. 5 seed Bluffton 38-21.

A huge upset came oh so close to occurring. Perennial power, once-beaten and No. 2 seed Daniel had to score a fourth-quarter touchdown to beat No. 15 seed Dreher 14-10. The Blue Devils ended the year with a 3-8 record.

With all of the preliminaries out of the way, it’s now time to get down to business. Let’s work our way down each of the brackets and see who will be in Orangeburg on December 6 at South Carolina State’s Oliver C. Dawson Stadium for a noon kickoff with the state championship on the line.

We’ll start with the upper state bracket:

Second Round

(9) Emerald at (1) South Pointe

(5) A.C. Flora at (4) Seneca

(6) Wren at (3) Westside

(7) Camden at (2) Daniel

Easily the most intriguing of these four games is 8-3 Camden visiting 10-1 Daniel. The teams have a long playoff history together, meeting for the AAA state title in 2020, 2021 and 2023. The Lions won all three times with the last one coming by a 45-44 count in overtime.

Camden, the seventh seed, beat No. 10 seed Greer 38-20 to win a first-round playoff game for the eighth straight season. Bulldogs head coach Brian Rimpf said his team is excited for the opportunity to face Daniel again.

“Playing Daniel this year has a little added motivation for us,” Rimpf said. “We have a recent history with them and are excited to be able to play a familiar team. Like all Daniel teams, they are well-coached, play with great effort and will be a tough opponent.”

Daniel is in its first season under head coach Chris Stone. The Lions are led by sophomore quarterback Jace Grass. He has completed 170 of 275 passes or 2,641 yards and 29 touchdowns against just one interception.

This should be a fun game but look for the Lions to be victorious.

South Pointe is 10-1 and the No. 1 seed. The Stallions are led by South Carolina commitment Z’zavien Currence. He is a standout strong safety and is also the starting quarterback. They should come away with a comfortable victory over 6-4 Emerald.

In the matchup between No. 4 Seneca and No. 5 A.C. Flora, you have two 10-1 teams. Flora’s only loss was to Camden while the Bobcats only loss was at the hands of Daniel. The Falcons have an explosive offense led by quarterback Roper Wentzky and will return to Columbia with a win.

The other game pits 2023 state champion and defending upper state champion Westside playing host to Wren. The Rams lost their first four games of the season by a combined score of 199-67. Since then, they’ve reeled off seven straight wins, including a 49-21 win over Pickens last week.

Wren and Westside are Region 1 foes. The sixth-seeded Hurricanes lost to Westside 21-7 on October 30. Wren beat Blue Ridge 42-28.

Westside should win again.

The quarterfinal matchups will be:

(5) A.C. Flora at (1) South Pointe

(3) Westside at (2) Daniel

South Pointe beat A.C. Flora in the regular season, so there’s no reason to think it won’t win again. Look for Westside’s upper state reign to come to an end against Daniel.

The upper state title game will be:

(2) Daniel at (1) South Pointe.

So it will be No. 2 Daniel traveling to Rock Hill to face the Stallions for the upper state title. South Pointe is on a mission and should advance to the state championship game,

Here are the lower state second-round games.

(8) Bishop England at (1) South Florence

(12) Gilbert at (5) North Augusta

(6) Hartsville at (3) Gray Collegiate

(10) Wilson at (2) Hilton Head Island

South Florence is the team to beat, regardless of the success of some of the other teams still remaining. When you’re the defending state champion, the 3-time defending lower state champion and the winner of two of the last three state titles and are 10-1 after a 47-7 win over Darlington, that’s how it has to be.

The Bruins shouldn’t have much trouble against Bishop England. North Augusta has only one loss, that coming to Gray Collegiate, and beat 6-5 Gilbert 56-14 in a Region 4 contest, so it should win.

Hartsville is a perennial power and has the ability to put up points. However, it has struggled defensively this year, and that’s not a good thing against GCA. After losing two of their first three games, the War Eagles have won eight straight. They should make it nine in a row.

Wilson has had a bounce-back season under first-year head coach Brian Wilson. They are 7-4 after traveling down Interstate 95 to beat May River 36-28. They’ll be making a return trip to the Lowcountry to meet 10-1 Hilton Head Island. The Seahawks will be too much.

So for the quarterfinals, you will have:

(5) North Augusta at (1) South Florence

(3) Gray Collegiate at (2) Hilton Head Island

South Florence traveled to North Augusta last year to win the lower state championship. The Yellow Jackets will return the visit this year, but the Bruins will be victorious.

Although Hilton Head has had a tremendous season, Gray will be too much to handle.

So the lower state title game will be:

(3) Gray Collegiate at (1) South Florence

This should be an offensive explosion by both teams, but until someone takes the Bruins down, you’ve got to go with them.

The state championship game will be:

South Pointe vs. South Florence

This is the matchup that everyone has been looking toward this season. This will be an interesting game. Both teams are outstanding offensively but have their moments defensively as well.

The Bruins will be trying to win back-to-back state titles like in 2023, and again they will come up short. Pointe will be behind South on the state championship trophy this year.