Midlands Feature for Early November
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Midlands Feature EARLY NOVEMBER
Midlands Top 10
- Dutch Fork (9-0, 4-0 Region 3-AAAAA)
- Lugoff-Elgin (9-1, 5-0 Region 4-AAAA)
- Camden (8-2, 5-0 Region 4-AAA)
- Ridge View (7-2, 4-0 Region 4-AAAAA)
- Mid-Carolina (10-0, 5-0 Region 3-AA)
- Fairfield Central (10-0, 4-0 Region 3-A)
- Hammond (11-0, 5-0 SCISA Region 1-AAAA)
- Keenan (8-3, 3-2 Region 3-AA)
- River Bluff (8-3, 3-1 Region 3-AAAAA)
- Lexington (6-5, 2-2 Region 3-AAAAA)
- Chapin (5-6, 1-3 Region 3-AAAAA)
The march to the championships begins
By WORTHY EVANS
With the regular season in the books, several Midlands teams moved into the postseason brackets and began the pathway to the state championship games. In all classifications, 19 teams reached the playoff rounds, with 11 kicking off the postseason action last week.
Eight teams were idle last week, either with first-round byes or in the case of the two single-A divisions, begin play. Dutch Fork, Ridge View, Camden, and Mid-Carolina received first-round byes in their respective brackets. Eau Claire, Fairfield Central, Batesburg-Leesville, and C.A. Johnson were idle because the two single-A brackets open play Friday.
Of the 11 Midlands teams that played last week, Gray Collegiate, Irmo, Keenan, Dreher, and Gilbert advanced to play in the second round of action Friday.
In SCISA action, Hammond was the only Midlands team to advance to the next round.
Gray Collegiate knocks out Socastee
Class AAAAA has been a rough ride for Gray Collegiate Academy, but the War Eagles powered through a tough schedule and let Socastee have it in a 61-27 victory in the first round of the AAAAA playoffs.
Sophomore quarterback Xavier Wright completed 15 of 17 passes for 304 yards and four touchdowns. Royce Williamson returned an opening kickoff for a touchdown and had five catches for 144 yards and three scores. Both athletes did so over the course of one half.
With Gray leading 48-13 to start the second half, most of the starters were on the sidelines.
“That’s what we set out to do,” head coach De’Angelo Bryant said. “We felt like we had a great opportunity to score, score fast, get the ball in our playmakers’ hands and make plays. We executed in a big way.”
Gray Collegiate lit into No.10 Socastee (4-7) right from the kickoff. Royce Williamson took the kick and returned it 75 yards for a touchdown.
The Braves bounced back, responding with a quick drive that ended with Markus Duke’s 39-yard touchdown strike to Paul Livingston.
From then on through the first quarter, it was all War Eagles.
Up 7-6, Gray got a Wright-to-Royce Williamson touchdown of 56 yards, a Jhais McKiever TD run from four yards out, and Trevon Williamson’s 49-yard touchdown as the first quarter expired to give the War Eagles a 28-6 lead.
Ethan Rich scored for Socastee on a 15-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter, but Gray Collegiate closed out the first half with three scores in the final three minutes–Wright’s 4-yard TD pass to McKiever, Wright’s 4-yard touchdown run, and after a fumble, Royce Williamson’s catch-and-run touchdown reception of 55 yards as the clock ran out in the first half.
When play resumed in the second half, David Quattlebaum’s 40-yard interception return–his second pick of the night—gave the War Eagles a 55-13 lead and kept the momentum going.
Jayshon Singleton’s 61-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter was the last score for Gray. Socastee scored twice in the second half.
The win sets up a meeting between seventh-seeded War Eagles and No.2 Berkeley. The 9-1 Stags had a first-round bye.
“We played in big games and we’re going to expect our best because we know we’re going to get their best,” Bryant said. “They’re a team that have proven themselves throughout the season and they’re sitting in a position because they’ve been able to do that. We want to go down there and take care of business and move on to the third round.”
Keenan outlasts Newberry
The No.4 Raiders had their hands full with No.13 Newberry (4-7) Friday night at Keenan,
but the home team’s running game in the second half enabled them to get past the Bulldogs 30-21.
Keenan (8-3) advances to play host to No.5 St. Joseph’s Catholic (9-2) in the upper state bracket of the AAA playoffs. The Knights beat Andrew Jackson 58-20 last week.
Hunter O’Neal stole the show with 289 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 36 attempts. Late in the game, it was quarterback Dante Howse who put the game on ice.
Howse was just 8-for-22 in passing with two interceptions at the time of the final scoring drive, but Howse connected with Jamauri Johnson for a 35-yard touchdown pass that restored the Raiders’ 10-point cushion.
“It wasn’t the cleanest football game, especially offensively,” head coach Jarrett Neely said. “we’ve got to clean up a few things. We didn’t block well early on, but over time I think we began to control the line of scrimmage.”
Keenan led 16-14 at halftime but built up a 24-14 lead in the fourth quarter. Bulldogs running back Sincere Glymph scored on a 2-yard TD run to cut that lead to 24-21. After that score Keenan took the ball and restored the lead.
“I think we played pretty good defense tonight. Those guys have a really good team. No.5 (Glymph), he’s a load, man, but we played good overall defensively, and of course we leaned on our guy (O’Neal), the same guy I’ve been leaning on in the last four years here. Looking forward to continue to keep seeing what we can do in the playoffs.”
Irmo eases past South Aiken
At W.C. Hawkins Stadium Friday, No.6 Irmo (8-3) had little trouble with Region 5-AAAA rival No.11 South Aiken (6-5) in the lower state bracket of the AAAA playoffs. Britton Davis threw for three touchdowns in the first half and the Yellow Jackets cruised to a 39-0 victory over the Thoroughbreds.
The Yellow Jackets beat South Aiken 38-14 Oct. 9.
Irmo its the road to take on another region rival No.3 North Augusta, which received a first-round bye. North Augusta beat Irmo 25-16 Oct. 2.
Irmo head coach Aaron Brand said that shutting out its first-round opponent boosted the spirit of his team.
“Momentum. What we need is momentum,” Brand said. “We’ve ben playing good in the last couple of weeks, but going into next week we’ll give those guys a little something extra to prepare for. We’re a tough team and we’re still one of the best teams around and we’ll keep trying to show people.”
Spartanburg upsets River Bluff 35-31
Down 24-14 and then 31-21, No.12 Spartanburg put together a quick drive to cut fifth-seeded River Bluff’s lead to 31-28 early in the fourth quarter, then knocked out an 83-yard scoring drive to take a 35-31 lead over the Gators with 5:22 left in the game.
Spartanburg picked off a River Bluff pass with about four minutes left to seal the win and move the 3-8 Vikings to a matchup with No.4 Dorman (9-1) Friday.
The Gators finish 8-3.
Other games
No.7 Fort Mill beat No.10 Lexington 58-21, No.6 Hillcrest beat No.11 Chapin 40-27, and No.5 Summerville beat No.12 Blythewood 28-7.
In the AAAA bracket No.9 Dreher beat No.8 Wilson 20-19. The 8-3 Blue Devils travel to No.1 Hilton Head Island (9-1) Friday.
In the AAA bracket, No.6 Gilbert (9-2) edged No.11 Atlantic Collegiate (4-7) 28-27, which sets up the Indians’ visit to Kellytown Friday to take on No.3 Hartsville (6-3) in the second round. No.7 Hanahan (9-2) knocked off No.10 Swansea (5-6) 61-30 to set up a second-round meeting with No.2 Oceanside Collegiate (6-3).
In SCISA, Hammond (11-0) knocked out Augusta Christian 42-7 and will play host to Porter-Gaud (7-4) Friday in the second round of the AAAA playoffs. Also in the AAAA bracket action, Pinewood Prep beat Ben Lippen (7-4) 49-21, and Northwood Academy beat Heathwood Hall (5-6) 35-10. In the 8-Man football playoffs, W.W. King Academy beat Richard Winn Academy (4-6) 36-14.
Laurens Academy plays at undefeated Jefferson Davis with berth in SCISA 8-man title game on the line
