One week of the High School football season is in the books, now it is time to shift our focus to week one of the High School football season. Let’s take a look at the matchup in the 5A/4A ranks this week.
Greenwood @ Gaffney
The Gaffney Indians will begin their season this week as they host Greenwood. The Indians come into this season with high expectations. Many view the Indians as the team to beat in Class 5A Region II, as they are returning many players from their team last season.
That includes their Junior Quarterback, Undre Lindsay. Many have high expectations for Lindsay in his second season starting behind center. I expect the ball to be in the hands of Lindsay quite a bit in this game and throughout the season. They will also look to feature their athletic runningback Kelvin Kirby and give him space to run the football.
I see the Indians having no problems against Greenwood and see them winning pretty comfortably in their opener.
Westside @ Boiling Springs
The Boiling Springs Bulldogs also open their season at home this Friday night as they plan to host the Westside Rams. Last season, the Bulldogs had a roller-coaster year, as you never quite knew what you would get from them each week.
Despite the ups and downs they did make the playoffs but lost in the first round. This season they come into the year with a new quarterback, who they have yet to name who will be the guy running the offense. Tristian Smith and Jaylen Dodd are the guys battling for that starting job, and both could see playing time in this one.
Defensively like usual, the Bulldogs are expected to be solid. Coach Rick Tate said to us on Media Day that he believes this could be the strongest secondary he has ever had! Boiling Springs defeated Westside last year 22-7, I see this as a winnable game for the Bulldogs.
Spartanburg @ Greer
This was supposed to be a home game for the Vikings but unfortunately, their stadium was not quite ready to play in. So we have to wait just a little bit longer to see the new beautiful stadium that the Vikings will call home. Both of these teams are coming off disappointing season openers. The Vikings fell to Nation Ford 20-6, while the Yellow Jackets fell to the Byrnes Rebels 33-8.
Both of these teams just could not find any way to get there the offense going. The Yellow Jackets turned the football over way too much last week. Freshman Quarterback Rahiem Jeter made some nice throws but was also fooled by the Byrnes defense and threw some interceptions.
The Vikings could not find a way into the endzone, the only positive sign from their offense was the leg of their kicker Henry Bishop, who kicked two field goals in the loss.
For the Yellow Jackets to win this game, they must take care of the football and finish off promising drives. For the Vikings, they must stop the run and make Jeter try to beat them. Offensively they simply just have to execute better and find a way to get into the end zone.
Dorman @ York
Dorman opened their season with a bang, defeating Wade Hampton 58-7. They started fast and didn’t look back as they lead 28-0 after the first quarter. This game was very similar to how last season’s opener went for the Cavaliers. Hayden Lee had to throw just nine passes in this one, he completed eight of those passes for 150 yards and three touchdowns.
York opened their season against Clover and the game wasn’t close as Clover crushed York with a final score of 48-21. I can tell you one thing, it won’t get any easier this week for York as the Cavaliers already looked in mid-season form. I look for Dorman to repeat their effort from a week ago and put up big numbers in this one.
Byrnes @ Northwestern
The Rebels were impressive in their season opener against the Greer Yellow Jackets. They went on to win 33-8 thanks to a strong defensive effort, as they forced away several turnovers from Greer. Lawrence Scott was sharp as well completing 14 out of 18 passes for 249 yards and three passing touchdowns. He also added a rushing touchdown in the win.
Northwestern started off their season with a loss to South Pointe by a final score of 17-14. I do think Byrnes has a little bit of a test here in the second week of the season, but I do see Byrnes being too much for Northwestern to handle.
Especially, if the Rebels defense is flying around like they were last week and if the Rebels can continue to get a performance like Scott had last week, they will be tough to beat.
