SCPrepTalk

High school football is always fun, but this time of year is the most fun to talk about. We all have our allegiances and live in various regions of the state. Many of us think this is the year for our team or someone we have seen play to go the distance. I know I don’t see Greenville/Anderson/Columbia or Low Country teams unless we play you or have a common opponent.

I thought it would be fun to look at the top 5 ranked teams in 4A based on the statewide rankings from MaxPreps. Compare games versus ranked opponents and see what it looks like.

1. Northwestern 9-1
Providence Day (#63 Nationally) L 35-42
11 Gaffney 49-24 W
13 Southpointe 64-31 W
16 Clover 56-12 W

2. South Florence 10-0
13 Southpointe 22-19 W
21 Hartsville 49-21 W

4. Irmo 10-0
21 Hartsville 35-21 W

13 Southpointe 7-3
1 Northwestern 31-64 L
2 South Florence 19-22 L
11 Gaffney 21-27 L
17 Spartanburg 16-14 W

15 Westside 9-1
5 Hanna 42-30 W
12 BHP 28-43 L
20 Greenville 28-14 W

What does all this say to you?

IMO, SF should be #1 until they lose a game.

Strength of schedule goes to Southpointe, but ya gotta win some of them. They are still the most dangerous team in the upstate to not win their region.

Westside is intriguing with the new coach and some really good returning players, but are they better than last year? I would like to hear it.

Irmo is the biggest wild card. Crushing the teams they play, but are they playing anyone decent? Hartsville I understand was without some key players that week and still hung in it seems.

I see Northwestern every week and know what they have and how the games look beyond the final score. If they stay as consistent as they have been all season they will be really hard to beat. Being the 4 seed in this arrangement is a disadvantage for sure, but I don’t expect all the higher seeds to survive, see my thoughts on Southpointe. That could be an interesting rematch for upper state. We will see.

UPPER STATE:
In the first round, Region 3 is bracketed with Region 2 (Lancaster is an At-Large and in the Lower State).

I am most curious as to the results of Greer (R2 #1) vs Indian Land (R3 #4) and Riverside (R2 #2) vs York (R3 #3).

In my opinion, Northwestern and South Pointe (both Region 3) should be victorious in the first round over their Region 2 opponents.

Now back to the other games.

Once these two games are over, many questions will be answered as to just how strong, or not, Region 3 really is......behind Northwestern.

Indian Land and York have been tested. Even though they both lost to Northwestern and South Pointe, playing that level of competition should help them.

York only lost to Northwestern, South Pointe, and Clover (5A Region 3 champion).

Indian Land lost to Northwestern, South Pointe, York, and Nation Ford (5A Region 3 3rd place).

Greer played a tougher non-conference schedule than Riverside and Greer soundly defeated Riverside last week.

Honestly, it would not surprise me if all four Region 3 teams beat their Region 2 opponents in the first round.

LOWER STATE:
I think South Florence and Irmo are on a collision course to the Lower State Championship game. IF, and IF, that happens, that should be a very good game to attend.

Next week, we can talk about 2nd round games

I don’t think anybody in Region 2 gets past the first round. Region 2 is easily the weakest 4A region in the state. As far as overall, I think it comes down to South Florence and Northwestern. Don’t see anybody beating those two

A comparison of DOODLES and MASSEY, side by side, just so you can see how the "experts" think about the First Round.

I don't think South Florence is as strong as they appear. They struggled against Carolina Forest and South Pointe. Their coach is quite sneaky. His coaching gives his team quite an advantage. Your team has to be ready to be in for a shock. Crazy stuff is going to happen when you play them. If they can't handle that kind of duress then they will lose. More teams should be able to hang with them. If those teams can be mentally prepared and get some lucky plays themselves, then they really do have a shot.

Maniac wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 30, 2023 12:50 pm

I don't think South Florence is as strong as they appear. They struggled against Carolina Forest and South Pointe. Their coach is quite sneaky. His coaching gives his team quite an advantage. Your team has to be ready to be in for a shock. Crazy stuff is going to happen when you play them. If they can't handle that kind of duress then they will lose. More teams should be able to hang with them. If those teams can be mentally prepared and get some lucky plays themselves, then they really do have a shot.

That is a fair assessment. We have struggled, especially in those early, non-region games. We had a stout defense, but it took us a few weeks to find the right combinations on offense. And we've had some injuries.

I agree with you, but I'm biased: We do have some great coaches. HC, DC OC and Strength and Conditioning. And it is the 4th one that may be the key to our success. There's a reason we have been a "2nd half team" in the close ones this year.

I'm no Homer. NW was my preseason, 4A pick after what I saw last year, and what they return. But I think my Bruins will run the lower state gauntlet and give the Trojans their best in Orangeburg.

I'm interested in Midland Valley and James Island in the playoffs. Both teams finished undefeated.

SF Band dad wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 30, 2023 10:38 pm

Maniac wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 30, 2023 12:50 pm

I don't think South Florence is as strong as they appear. They struggled against Carolina Forest and South Pointe. Their coach is quite sneaky. His coaching gives his team quite an advantage. Your team has to be ready to be in for a shock. Crazy stuff is going to happen when you play them. If they can't handle that kind of duress then they will lose. More teams should be able to hang with them. If those teams can be mentally prepared and get some lucky plays themselves, then they really do have a shot.

That is a fair assessment. We have struggled, especially in those early, non-region games. We had a stout defense, but it took us a few weeks to find the right combinations on offense. And we've had some injuries.

I agree with you, but I'm biased: We do have some great coaches. HC, DC OC and Strength and Conditioning. And it is the 4th one that may be the key to our success. There's a reason we have been a "2nd half team" in the close ones this year.

I'm no Homer. NW was my preseason, 4A pick after what I saw last year, and what they return. But I think my Bruins will run the lower state gauntlet and give the Trojans their best in Orangeburg.

Hold on there one cotton picking moment!! It’s not over until the fat lady sings. All we got to do is dispatch Poor May River Friday then somehow spank The yellow Jackets and it’s Bruin time.

South Florence is just hard to describe. They remind me of those Jet Turner Clover teams. Clover played with an edge that gave their team a psychological advantage. Clover almost never punted and found ways to always possess the ball for the whole quarter.
For sure SF is strong and fast, but not on the same level as last year. I think other teams do match up or even better them physically. Is conditioning a bigger factor? Maybe not as much as people would think. SF scores with defense, special teams, and they have quite a few effective offensive packages. They just make teams pay for their mistakes.
Multiple times the past 2 seasons teams will be matching them score for score, but all of a sudden that team will have an extra point blocked or missed and the next thing you know SF scores and goes for 2. SF goes up by 9 and effectively ends the game. Teams just can't recover from the shock. This happened to AC Flora, South Pointe, and Carolina Forest.
Then there is that home field advantage. Good luck to any lower state teams that have to travel there. You will soon find out what they are cooking in Florence. Bring your ear plugs. Seriously!

Maniac wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 31, 2023 10:25 pm

Good luck to any lower state teams that have to travel there. You will soon find out what they are cooking in Florence. Bring your ear plugs. Seriously!

That was brought to the attention of SF Admin last week. They had the loud music stopped earlier when the opposing offence lined up. I'm hopeful it will not happen again.