By Tyler Shugart
The first week of high school football is in the books, week zero, and its time to move on to week one. There were a couple of surprises in week zero like Woodruff’s ability to run the football or Chesnee’s ability to stop the run. What will week one have in store?
Broome at Woodruff-Burrito Hub Game of the Week
Both of these teams won in impressive fashion last week, putting up big offense numbers and playing very stingy defense. Everyone expected Woodruff to throw for a ton of yards last week because of there star qb, but the Wolverines ran the ball better than even Coach Bradley Adams really expected them to. Woodruff had over 300 yards on the ground against Chesnee. I don’t expect them to get that many this week against a much better Broome defense. Plus Broome’s offense led by Brendan Taylor will be able to keep the ball some and keep Woodruff’s offense off the field. I like this Broome team a lot and think they have the potential to go far, if they stay healthy. I worry some about their depth.
Pick-Broome
Spartanburg at Greer
The Vikings got off on the right foot last Friday night knocking off Nations Ford. Greer had a big night running the football but were unable to beat the Byrnes Rebels. Greer always has a really good running back, and Dre Williams is no exception. Watching his highlights from last week he looked like a man among boys. I expect him to have a huge game Friday night against Spartanburg’s defensive front, which isn’t very big. Spartanburg will be without Zykamren Robinson and that will hurt.
Pick-Greer
Northwestern at Byrnes
Byrnes beat Greer last Friday despite giving up a lot of rushing yards to running back Dre Williams. Northwestern got crushed by a very good South Pointe team. Byrnes will be without star running back Rahjai Harris who has a hairline fracture in his ankle and will miss 4 to 6 weeks. According to Coach Reggie Shaw the backups are ready to step up and make the plays. I think the Byrnes defense carries them to victory.
Pick-Byrnes
Boiling Springs at Westside
The Bulldogs open the 2018 campaign on the road against the Westside Rams. Westside has a new offensive coordinator, Rick Scott. Folks familiar with Spartanburg County football know that Rick was a long time OC at Spartanburg High School, so that should add an air of familiarity for Boiling Springs. Last few years the Boiling Springs defenses had the number of Viking offenses coached by Rick Scott. I think this game will be similar and the defense will led the Bulldogs to the win.
Pick- Boiling Springs
Other Picks-
Chapman will defeat Seneca. Panther offense looked like last years offense.
Landrum over Dixie- Dixie is a 1A team but will be a more formidable opponent for Landrum than Blue Ridge.
Gaffney will kick of their season with a win over 1-0 Greenwood who defeated South Aiken last week.
Union County scored 40 last week but it wasn’t enough to beat a talented Chapman team. Defense for Union will need to buckle down this week as the face an AC Flora team that has lost 12 straight games. I think Union outscores them and gets the win.